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Follow this step-by-step tutorial to learn how to can dried beans. Having shelf-stable canned beans on hand means your favorite soups, casseroles, and side dishes can be ready in a flash.
Listen people – home-canned beans are so much better than what you can find in grocery stores! They taste better and they are also one of the easiest recipes to pop into a pressure canner to stock your pantry.
This is the perfect canning project to learn to use your pressure canner. Don’t be intimidated. You can do this, and I’ll help.
In the dark of winter when you’re just exhausted and can’t be bothered to cook dinner, a jar of canned beans can be used to make turkey rice casserole or our Instant Pot white chicken chili. Consider this current you, being kind to future you.
Can You Can Dried BEans Without a Pressure canner?
Sadly, no.
And, I have to reinforce this point: you cannot safely can dried beans in a water bath canner. They must be preserved using a pressure canner.
No pressure canner? You can freeze beans! Allow the cooked beans to fully cool and store in freezer-safe containers. And then go live your best life.
How to can dried beans
*I’ll walk you through it here with photos, and a detailed and printable recipe card is available at the bottom of this post.
This recipe will walk you through the process of cooking and then canning dried beans. Best practices call for only canning already cooked beans. You can’t simply add dried beans to the jar, add water, and then can them.
You can cook your beans using whichever method you prefer—stovetop, slow cooker, or Instant Pot. If you’re new to cooking beans from scratch, my friend Katie has about eleventy-billion posts on how to cook dried beans.
Whether or not you soak the beans before cooking is up to you and the method you prefer. You do not need to discard the cooking liquid in which you cooked the beans.
Wash and clean your jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars before canning (hurray!) but you should make sure they are preheated enough to not crack when placed in hot water.
You can put them in a clean dishwasher and run them through a quick wash cycle, or place them in a large pan with some water in a low heat oven (my lowest temp is 170˚F) until you need them. I’ve even just put hot tap water in them before and left them on the counter.
Wash your lids with hot soapy water and place them in a clean bowl for now.
Add 3 quarts of water to your pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner.
Using a slotted spoon and a canning funnel, add the beans to jars and then carefully ladle in the cooking liquid, leaving 1-inch of headspace.
Using a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), remove all the air bubbles from the jar. Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag. Any food debris left on the rim may impact the seal of the lid in the canner.
Place a clean and new lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.
Using canning tongs, gently place the jars in the canner. Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe (I call it the steam chimney). Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator (I call it the chimney cap) on top.
Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. That is a sign that you’re starting to build pressure inside the canner (get excited. This is happening!).
Processing times will vary based on altitude. See the charts below.
Pressure Canning Dried Beans in a Dial-Gauge Pressure Canner
| Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of | ||||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | Processing Time | 0-2,000 ft | 2,001-4,000 ft | 4,001-6,000 ft | 6,001-8,000 ft |
| Hot | Pints | 75 min | 11 lbs | 12 lbs | 13 lbs | 14 lbs |
| Quarts | 90 min | 11 lbs | 12 lbs | 13 lbs | 14 lbs | |
| *Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation | ||||||
Processing Time for Dried Beans in a Weighted-Gauge Pressure Canner
When the dial gauge reaches 11 pounds of pressure, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at 11 or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time. You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.
When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).
Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then carefully lift them out with canning tongs. Pro tip: allowing the jars to sit in the canner with the lid off can help reduce the siphoning of liquid in your jars. Siphoning is when liquid seeps out from under the lids and reduces the overall amount of liquid in the jar.
Place hot jars on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.
After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.
What if my jars don’t seal?
If you’ve correctly processed the beans, and the lids still didn’t seal, you can reprocess them.
Double-check to make sure there are no:
- Chips in the rim of the jar
- Dried bits of beans on the rim (anything between the rim and the lid may prevent a seal.
Best practices would involve using brand-new lids for reprocessing. Set aside the old lids to use for dry storage (related: Pantry Essentials for the Home Cook).
If the jars don’t seal on the second attempt, you likely have a bad batch of lids, or your canning process has a step missing. Email me and we’ll try to troubleshoot what is going on.
How long do canned dried beans last?
Once the jars have sealed, remove the rings. Label and store sealed jars in a cool (best results are 50-70˚F) dark place for up to 12-18 months.
If you have the space available, do not stack the jars on top of each other more than two jars high.
If you open a jar for use and don’t use it all, you can store it in the fridge for up to three days.
Pro tips/recipe notes
- The processing times in the canner are the same no matter what variety of bean you are canning.
- You can add salt to each jar prior to canning it. Use table salt and add 1/2 tsp of salt per pint or 1 tsp per quart. Personally, I find the unsalted version easier to use in recipes because it allows me to control the overall sodium.
- Pressure canners can often leave white lines on lids and rings. It’s totally normal and safe. To prevent this, add 1/3 cup of white vinegar to the canner before processing.
- If you don’t have enough jars to fill the canner, consider Canning Water in a few jars to stock your emergency drinking water supplies.
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Cook beans using whichever method you prefer—stovetop, slow cooker, or Instant Pot. Whether or not you soak the beans before cooking is up to you and the method you prefer. Soaking is not required.
18 cups COOKED beans
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You do not need to discard the cooking liquid in which you cooked the beans. Keep for filling the jars.
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Wash and clean your jars. Fill with hot water or keep them warm in a clean dishwasher or oven.
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Wash your lids with hot soapy water and place them in a clean bowl.
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Add 3 quarts of water to your pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner.
-
Using a slotted spoon and a canning funnel, add the beans to jars and then carefully ladle in the cooking liquid, leaving 1-inch of headspace.
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{optional}: add 1 tsp of salt per quart or 1/2 tsp salt per pint.
9 tsp table salt
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Use a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), to remove all the air bubbles from the jar.
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Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag.
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Place a new and clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.
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Using canning tongs, gently place the jars in the canner.
-
Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe.
-
Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator on top.
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Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up.
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In a dial-gauge pressure canner, process pints and quarts based on the elevation guide below (see processing chart in post for additional altitude adjustments):*0-2,000k ft {PSI: 11 lbs of pressure} = Pints 75 min, Quarts 90 min*2,001-4,000k ft {PSI: 12 lbs of pressure} = Pints 75 min, Quarts 90 min*4,001-6,000k ft {PSI 13 lbs of pressure} = Pints 75 min, Quarts 90 min*6,001-8,000k {PSI 14 lbs of pressure} = Pints 75 min, Quarts 90 min
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When the dial gauge reaches the appropriate PSI, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at the PSI or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time.
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When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid of the canner (Pro tip: use oven mitts to take the lid off because the steam is super hot).
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Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then lift them out with canning tongs.
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Place on a thick clean towel undisturbed for 12 hours.
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After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.
- Store in a cool dark place for 12-18 months.
