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Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you…….

Have you heard that?! Or did I grow up in a weird family.

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is “how do you can [insert type of dry bean here] beans” and I wanted to make a generalized post on ALL dry beans I can, because for one, they are canned for the same processing times regardless of what bean they are!  My method can be used to quickly can with no soak or to soak overnight in the jars you’re going to can them in and then can, which is my preference so my children aren’t flatulating themselves into an outer space orbit… although they find that rather fun.

Why Can Dried Beans?

You may be wondering why someone would can dry beans when they store just fine dry.  And you’re right!  They do store perfectly fine on the shelf dry.  BUT, they don’t store forever.  Beans will only store well dry for a couple years at most before they get old and will never fully rehydrate when cooked.  It’s a super off-putting and strange texture when dry beans get old.  By canning them, they’re cooked, ready to use, and won’t go bad as long as the seal is good.  Yeah, lid manufacturers and the jar people say 18 months or whatever, but really, as long as your seal is intact, your food is fine.  

I choose to can my beans in small batches and work through my long term dry bean storage (learn about long term storage here) out of mylar and flip them to ready-to-use shelf storage simply for convenience.  I rarely meal plan far enough in advance to accommodate for soaking and cooking dry beans for dinner.  It’s way easier to just pop a jar, same as someone would purchase and open a can of store bought beans.  If you prefer cooking beans and don’t have the memory of a goldfish like me, then maybe this isn’t for you and I commend you for your ability to plan and prepare!  But, I will say, during power outages and such, it pays off to be able to dump some jars together and have a meal that heats up really easily versus trying to simmer beans for hours to get them cooked.

The other reason? Ingredients.  When I can my own beans, I control the ingredients.  Not all store bought canned beans contain ingredients other than beans, salt, and water, BUT, some do.  Some store brand beans contain disodium EDTA to help them retain color and not look nastayyyy and then calcium chloride for texture, used as a firming agent.  I find these additives extremely unnecessary, and if you don’t, then again, this may not be for you.

Is This Method ApPrOvEd?

No. LOL. If you know me, you already knew that. The guidelines the NCHFP (National Center for Home Food Preservation) gives for canning dry beans is perfectly fine, but I think it lends to mushy beans and is time consuming.  Not to mention every time I try to boil dry beans I forget about them, they foam and boil over, and completely burn to my stove top.  That’s a me problem, though.  The only reason I can think of that they recommend soaking and then par cooking the beans prior to canning is to get them to look as close to the store bought beans as possible.  To have free floating beans that don’t soak up all the liquid in the jar and easily dump from the jar.  When using my method and not par cooking, the beans soak up most of the excess liquid in the jar and you have to scoop them out with a spoon and some encouragement.  So, if you’re looking for beans that are purdy and dump out nicely, don’t follow my guidelines.  Even thought they’re better :D  

BUT.  I always have to mention, my methods are considered rebel canning, so do what you are comfortable with.  Straying from the guidelines set forth by the NCHFP and such does not automatically equate unsafety.  Most of their recipes are to create the best looking and tasting end product… which, who wouldn’t want their food to look pretty!?  For me, beans that are wildly overcooked aren’t palatable, so I don’t give a rip if they’re pretty or dump nicely out of the jar.  I want to eat them and ENJOY THEM.  Since beans are a low-acid food, I do choose to pressure can them, but if you are a water bath canner that water bathes everything, do you boo!  I just don’t have the energy to babysit a pot for three hours. (Also wild rebel canning LOL).

A Chart for Dry Bean Measurements Per Jar

Here’s a fancy chart I created that I reference a lot when canning dry beans, whether I soak or not, to know how many DRY beans to add to each jar before canning. It has really helped me out in the long run to plan how much I need and also not to have so much guessing when adding soaked beans from a bowl into jars. I save dishes, add them straight to the jar, and go!

And, I have created and given you this chart for FREE. Didn’t ask you to sign up for my email list. Didn’t charge you. Nothin. Cause I’m nice like that mmkaayyyy?

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get started.

Equipment You Will Need:

• Pressure Canner
• Canning jars, lids, and rings
• Jar Funnel
• Jar Lifter

Ingredients:

• Dry beans
• Hot water
• Salt

We’re going to start by figuring out what beans we want to can.  This family likes lots of different types of beans!  The different variety of jars of beans I keep on my shelves are (and I will link to the recipes that are live on my site): 

• black beans
• kidney beans
• pinto beans
• baked beans (navy beans & great northern beans)
• chili beans (kidney beans with spices)
• butter beans (limas cooked with a ham hock)
• lima beans
• garbanzo beans
• red beans & sausage
• ham & bean soup (pinto beans & great northern beans)
• Greek white bean soup (navy beans)  

I used to can lentils to be able to toss them into random dishes, but didn’t really care for how they turn black in the jars.  It’s a bit unsettling :D

Do can beans you will actually use.  I prefer to can a Nesco batch at a time and keep beans in dry, long term storage (see post here about getting started with long term storage!).  My Nesco holds 5 pints or 4 quarts, which is perfect to have some ready to use beans on the shelf without tying up tons and tons of jars.  Once I’m down to 1-2 jars of a certain type of bean, I can more to restock.  Decide what size jar you want your beans in, a pint jar or quart jar, and what amount you would use the most.  

If a recipe I find calls for a “can” of a certain kind of beans, I just use a pint of home canned beans.  Are they the same amount?  I’m sure not, but I also don’t care.  I can my chili beans, butter beans, red beans & sausage, and ham & bean soup in quarts and put everything else into pints.  I will occasionally can pinto beans in quart jars to be used for homemade refried beans.  This is all in how you cook and use beans, so can them according to the serving sizes and recipes you enjoy.  I would recommend maybe canning them in pints to start to see how you use them before committing to a whole quart of beans unless you have a big family.  I have no qualms opening 2 pints if I need extra vs. committing to a full quart of beans.  But that’s just how I work.

I have made a chart (sign up above and it will be sent via email) that gives you measurements for dry beans using the no soak method.  Use these measurements to plan on how many beans you need for what you’re canning.  I do soak my beans but add the no soak measurement of beans to the jar I’m canning them in and add fresh water and a splash of vinegar or lemon juice to that and soak overnight.  This takes the guesswork out of filling jars, because they’re already filled.  I let them sit overnight, then drain water from each jar, rinse them good, and then put the beans back in the jar.  It’s super easy and it doesn’t dirty a large pot or bowl to soak! 

IF I have an extra spot or two in my pressure canner when canning meat, rather than leaving it empty, I will rinse some beans, toss them in a jar, add water and salt and process them with whatever else I’m canning just to run a full canner load.  It just has to be something with the same processing time, obviously.  Any other time for shorter processing time ingredients I will can saline, sterilized water, or just leave it empty.

Let’s get to cannin’

Step 1: Rinse & Sort Beans

Measure out the beans you would like to can for however many jars you would like.  If you missed it, above is a sign up to get my printable list I made of dry bean measurements per jar so you know exactly how much you need!  Otherwise, for larger beans use 1/2 cup per pint jar and smaller type beans use 3/4 cup per pint jar and double it for quarts.  

For the sake of this post, I’m going to do black beans which are a smaller type of bean, so I measure out 3/4 cup of dry beans for each pint I’m canning.  My Nesco pressure canner holds 5 pints, so that’s what I’m going to fill.

I measure out one jars worth of beans at a time, rinse and sort to pick out rocks or wrinkly dudes, and then add it to the jar, rinse, repeat.

If soaking, add water to each jar to 1″ headspace, add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, cover and allow to sit overnight, or 12-18 hours.

Step 2: Drain & Rinse Beans

The next morning, drain the soaking water from each jar by dumping each jar into a mesh strainer, give the beans a good rinse, rinse the jar, and add the beans back to the same jar.  We are pressure canning these, which means the canning process sterilizes the jar and its contents for us, so as long as the jar is clean, you’re good to go.  Promise.  The NCHFP even says so!

After all the beans are drained and back in the jars, take a large stock pot and fill it with water, planning on 2 cups of water for every pint you are canning, and over high heat bring the water to a boil.  If you’re doing a small batch like I do, use a tea kettle.  It works perfectly.  I prefer to heat the water just because it’s not a hard step and it helps the pressure canner heat up a touch faster and prevents siphoning.  If you wanna start totally cold, do it. 

Step 3: Pressure Canning

While the water heats, add up to 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each pint jar and 1 teaspoon of salt to quart jars.

Once the water is boiling, pour hot water into jars to 1-inch headspace.  Don’t worry about needing hot jars.  Thermal shock is 99.9% caused by adding cold to hot, not hot to room temperature jars like I do.  Promise.  Remove air bubbles and add more water if needed to maintain headspace.

Wipe jar rims, add new lids and secure with screw bands.

Place the jars in a pressure canner filled with hot water (I use the hottest water from my sink).

Pressure can pint jars of beans for 75 minutes at your elevations recommended weight (10-15 pounds of pressure) for low acid canning; more info here on the importance of knowing your altitude when canning.  Quarts of beans are 90 minutes at your elevations recommended weight for low acid canning.

Step 4:  Storage

After processing time is complete, allow pressure canner to completely depressurize before removing jars to a heat proof surface lined with a towel.  Allow jars to sit undisturbed to cool for 18-24 hours before removing bands, testing seals, washing jars, labeling, and storing.  Store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.  Any jars that did not seal should be placed in the fridge to use soon or frozen.  Reprocessing isn’t recommended unless you’re cool with using them as refried beans (even then…. oooof, they overcookeddddedddd).

Shelf life is ’til you eat them.  If the seal is good, they’re good.  Aim to use canned goods within 2 years for best nutritional value, but they won’t go bad for a very long time, so don’t toss them!

With very little time and effort, you can have cans of beans on your pantry shelves for pennies on the dollar compared to store bought with ingredients you know and they’ll taste better.  Anyone despise that metallic can taste??  Grab your pressure canner, some jars, and a bag of beans, and GO.  Canning dry beans is a wonderful way to dip your toe in the water of home canning and learn since they’re forgiving and not an overly expensive ingredient to practice with!  AND don’t miss out on the free printable chart I made for dry bean measurements for canning for both pint and quart sized jars.  Scroll up a bit to find it, print it, and add it to your canning recipe binder.  I made it for myself and decided to share with how much I reference it.

Now go can some beans!

Easy Method for Pressure Canning Dry Beans

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 12 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Canning Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 1 pint or quart

Author: Ruby – Red Feather Farm

Equipment

• Pressure Canner
• Canning jars, lids, and rings
• jar funnel
• jar lifter

Ingredients

• Dry beans
• Hot water
• Salt

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Measure out the beans you would like to can for however many jars you would like. For larger beans use 1/2 cup per pint jar and smaller type beans use 3/4 cup per jar and double it for quarts. Rinse & sort.
• If soaking, add beans & water to each canning jar to 1" headspace, add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, cover and allow to sit overnight, or 12-18 hours.
• The next morning, drain the soaking water from each jar by dumping each jar into a mesh strainer, give the beans a good rinse, rinse the jar, and add the beans back to the same jar.
• After all the beans are drained and back in the jars, take a large stock pot and fill it with water, planning on 2 cups of water for every pint you are canning, and over high heat bring the water to a boil.  If you're doing a small batch like I do, use a tea kettle.  It works perfectly.  I prefer to heat the water just because it's not a hard step and it helps the pressure canner heat up a touch faster and prevents siphoning.  If you wanna start totally cold, do it. 
• While the water heats, add up to 1/2 teaspoon of salt to each pint jar and 1 teaspoon of salt to quart jars
• Once the water is boiling, pour hot water into jars to 1-inch headspace.
• Remove air bubbles and add more water if needed to maintain headspace. Wipe jar rims, add new lids and secure with screw bands.
• Pressure can pint jars of beans for 75 minutes and quart jars for 90 minutes at your elevations recommended weight.
• Once the processing time is complete, turn off heat, allow pressure canner to completely depressurize before removing jars and allow them to cool 18-24 hours undisturbed.
• After cooling time, remove bands, test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. Shelf life is 2 years for best nutritional value but they'll last much longer than that. If the seals good, they're good.