How to Pressure Can Dry Beans

LEARNING HOW TO PRESSURE CAN DRY BEANS IS SIMPLE AND FUN. IT WILL SAVE YOU TIME IN THE KITCHEN AND SAVE MONEY IN YOUR GROCERY BUDGET.

Pressure canning used to scare me! It looked hard and complicated. So, I put off learning how to pressure can for way too long.

But, it really isn’t hard or scary. Pressure canning dry beans is one of the easiest things you can ever can. And it is so wonderful to have a pantry full of home canned beans ready and waiting for a quick meal.

Why I pressure can dry beans

Yes, I know. I could just cook up dry beans in my Instant Pot or even on the stove. And I could do them in quantity and put them in the freezer for use later.

Or I could just buy cans of organic beans at the store. All of these are fairly cheap options and I have done all these things in the past.

But, here is the list of benefits of why I like to pressure can dry beans at home:

• they are shelf stable which saves room in my freezers for our homegrown meat and berries
• last time I figured it out they were about half the cost of buying canned beans
• I can cook up a really large batch all at once (14 quarts) in my large pressure cooker and save time cooking up individual batches for each meal
• they are ready instantly when I need them for a quick lunch or dinner
• I can use the best organic beans and sea salt
• frees up my Instant Pot for making bone broth and yogurt, which I do several times a week
• I can mix any combinations of beans that I want or need for my family’s needs

The dry beans I like to pressure can

Black turtle beans, red kidney beans, small red or pink beans, navy beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, and great northern are my favorite beans for canning. Most of the time I can only one kind at a time in each can, but I often have jars filled with different types of beans in the same canner load.

I can all my beans with just water and salt…no other seasonings. In this way I can use them in any kind of recipe I need.

And, because we have a large family, I can most of our beans in quarts. Although, I do great northern beans in pints for the Gluten Free Coffee Cake recipe below. Be sure to scroll down and check that out!

How to pressure can dry beans

To prepare ahead:

1. Wash and soak dry beans overnight. (I use 1 1/8 cup dry beans per quart jar and 1/2 cup dry beans per pint jar. I measure for the amount of jars I can fit in my cooker.)
2. Clean and sterilize jars and rings you plan to use
3. Get out your pressure cooker and make sure that all parts are working properly and you can see through the pressure release.
4. Make sure you have the correct amount of new canning lids on hand.

Fill and prepare jars for pressure canning:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil…enough to fill all jars.
2. Rinse soaked beans and divide them evenly into the amount of jars you soaked beans for.
3. Pour 1 to 2 inches of water and 2 T. of white vinegar (to help with prevent water stains in cooker) into pressure cooker and turn on burner so water begins to warm.
4. Put correct number of canning lids in a pan and pour very hot/boiling water over them to soak for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Measure 1/2 teaspoon of salt in each pint jar, or 1 teaspoon of salt in each quart jar. (Salt is not required for canning safety. It is just for taste.)
6. Fill jars with boiling water to within 3/4″ of top of jar.
7. Put on hot lids and rings and place in cooker.
8. Put lid on canner and tighten/seal as per your canner’s instructions.

Cooking the beans

1. Turn on to med/high heat to bring cooker water up to a boil and build pressure in the cooker.
2. Allow the cooker to vent off steam for at least 7 minutes.
3. Carefully place weighted gauge onto steam valve at the correct pressure setting (either 10 or 15 depending on your elevation)
4. Watch dial gauge and listen for the weighted gauge to rattle so you know when to begin timing.
5. Cook pints 75 minutes, Quarts 90 minutes.
6. Adjust burner heat to be sure that the pressure stays at the appropriate level the entire time you are timing. If at any time it drops below pressure you must begin timing again. (The weighted gauge will ideally rattle 2 to 5 times per minute and dial gauge will stay at or above appropriate pressure for your elevation.)
7. Once time is up, simply turn off burner and allow pressure cooker to cool naturally. This may take up to two hours. Do not remove weighted gauge until there is no pressure left inside the cooker. I usually let my cooker just cool for several hours or overnight before taking off the gauge and removing the lid.
8. Once jars are removed and completely cool, remove bands, wash jars and check that all seals are good.
9. Store jars in a cool dark pantry.

For more help with Pressure Canning basics I have found this Ball/Kerr Fresh Preserving website to be very helpful.

Watch my video of how to pressure can dry beans

Ways I use pressure canned dry beans

• Mexican food – quesadillas, tacos, enchilladas, burritos, refried beans, with eggs rancheros style, tamale pie, layered cold tortilla sandwich, nachos deluxe
• soups – minestrone, chili, taco, veggie, ham or whatever
• salads – taco, Greek, mixed veggie, quinoa
• bean dips
• mash and use in baked goods like the Gluten Free Coffee Cake chili mac
• quick baked beans
• chili mac
• and the list and inventions go on!

Pressure canning supplies

All American Pressure Cooker 21.5 quart cooker (holds 7 qt jars/19 pts) or 30 quart cooker (holds 14 qt jars/19 pts) This is the one I use.

Quart Mason Jars (set of 24) or (set of 48),

Pint Mason Jars (set of 24) or (set of 48)

Metal Canning Funnel like mine

Magnetic Lid Wand

Jar Lifter

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving – this is an all around excellent book for water bath and pressure canning information.

THOR 30″ gas range with gas/convection oven. This is the range we have and love, that believe it our not, we actually bought from Amazon about 2 years ago. If you are in the market for a heavy duty range that will work when the power is out this is it! It does have electric convection and ignition but can be lit manually and without the convection feature. This is a workhorse in our home at a fraction of the cost of Wolfe or Viking style ranges. It stands up to hours of canning, and heavy cast iron pans for 3 meals a day. We would definitely purchase this again!

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*see my post on the health benefits of Soaking Raw Nuts and Seeds to learn how to make ‘Crispy’ nuts for this recipe.

Hope that was helpful!

Let me know in the comments below if that was helpful or if you would want to see how I pressure can meat for our family.