Pressure Canning 101: Kidney Beans Made Easy

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Canning is a great way to produce quality convenience food right at home. Whether in an apartment or on a large homestead, preserving your food at home ensures only the best quality ingredients enter your pantry. While making homemade meals can be time-consuming, using home-preserved canned goods can make meal prep easier! Canning kidney beans is one of the pantry staples that I like to preserve to make meal time quick and easy on the homestead. 

Currently, we don’t grow our beans for drying, though I do hope that in the future. However, quality dried beans can be purchased in bulk from places like Azure Standard, or Sam’s Club. Buying dry beans in bulk is often much cheaper than buying smaller bags. It is always cheaper than buying prepared canned beans. Dry beans have a long shelf life and are a good staple to keep on hand for long-term storage. At our house we like to can kidney beans and black beans, however, this canning method can be used for different types of beans: pinto beans, navy beans, red beans, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, or lima beans.  

Plan Ahead

Canning kidney beans require some prep. First, sort through your beans looking for any irregular beans: discolored, oddly shaped, wrinkled beans or any beans that don’t meet your quality standards. Also, be on the lookout for any debris in your beans that should be removed. Once sorted place beans in a colander and give them a good rinse or two. The rinse makes a difference when it comes to the clarity of the finished product.  Once rinsed, place beans in a large pot and fill it with fresh water. 

At this point, you have two options to prepare the beans for canning. The first option is to soak your beans overnight for 12 to 18 hours at room temperature. The other option is a quick hydration option. Add hot water to your soaking water and bring it to a boil.  Allow the beans to boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat. Soak the beans for 1 hour and then drain. I usually use the quick soak method, because I don’t always plan far enough to get in an 18-hour presoak, but either method will work. Once your presoak is complete, strain the soaked beans and rinse well with cold water. 

Cook the Beans

Regardless of which presoak method you use, fill the pot of beans with fresh water and boil the beans for 30 minutes. Be aware, that you can skip the cooking step if you prefer. I have read that skipping the cooking steps will produce firmer beans in the finished product.  While skipping the cooking step is an option, skipping the presoak is not a good idea. 

Why Is Dry Canning a Bad Idea?

Earlier this year I did a preserving duel video where I put two canning methods head to head, the USDA canning method and the dry canning method which is considered a rebel canning method. Without a doubt, the rebel canning method is easier! Dry beans are added directly to the jars, there is no presoak or precooking of the beans. However, through the comments I received on the video I decided to dig deeper into why the dry canning method of canning beans was considered a rebel canning method.

When you can beans in a dry state without soaking or precooking them, the temperature inside the beans will not reach a high enough temperature to kill the harmful microorganisms that can cause botulism. This is because, during most of the processing time, the beans are hydrating. Before full hydration, the dry beans are too dense for the pressure and heat of the canning process to penetrate through the beans. The processing times used by home cooks are based on the steam pressure penetrating the beans for the entire 75 to 90 minutes of processing.  If the beans are only fully hydrated for the last 20 minutes of the processing time, then the canned goods are not exposed to the high steam pressure for sufficient time to kill the spores that cause botulism. 

You Do You!

As with all the food preservation in your kitchen, you must decide what processes make you most comfortable regarding the food you prepare for your family. While I have tried the dry canning method, through further research, the peace of mind of knowing that my canned kidney beans are processed correctly outweighs the ease of processing using a shortcut while home canning. While I like a shortcut as much as the next home cook, it’s not worth the risk to me and therefore not a practice I will use in my kitchen.  Only you can decide what safe canning method is right for you. 

Filling the Jars

When canning beans using the hot pack method, everything should be hot: the beans, the liquid, the jars, and the canner. This prevents thermal shock to the jars which can cause the mason jars to crack. When choosing what size jars to use, think about how you will use the can of beans I often make chili with my kidney beans, a quart jar is an appropriate size for one batch of chili. If you like to make refried beans, a pint may be more appropriate. As always, you can make a combination of sizes, however when processed in a single canner, always process using the longer processing time. 

Using a canning funnel. fill the hot jars leaving one-inch headspace at the top of the jar. I like to use a slotted spoon and ladle to fill the jar with mostly beans. You can use a headspace tool to check headspace, however, the raised rim on the outside of the jar at the top of the neck is perfect to measure 1-inch headspace. 

While the canning funnel is still in place, fill the jar with some of the cooking water again leaving the one inch of headspace. If you would like to add salt, add 1/2 teaspoon per pint jar or one teaspoon of salt per quart. While you can use canning salt, I use Redmond’s Real Salt in all my canning. Avoid using iodized salt, as it will make your canning cloudy due to the ingredients added to it. 

Debubbling

Once the jars are full use a de-bubbler, chopstick, or thin spatula to work around the inside of the jar through the hot beans to remove any air bubbles trapped inside. Debubbling may cause the contents of the jar to settle a bit, check your headspace to be sure it’s still accurate. If you make any adjustments be it adding more liquids or beans or removing some, de-bubble once more and do a final check of the headspace.

Once the jars are full, use a cloth moistened with white vinegar to clean the rim on top of the jars. Food or grease on the rim can prevent your jars from sealing properly. If using metal canning lids, use only new lids as they are designed for one use only. Add a clean canning lid to each jar and secure it with a metal ring. If you are using reusable canning lids, such as Harvest Guard canning lids be sure to follow the complete instructions on how to prepare your reusable lids and gaskets and secure them properly. While reusable canning lids do need a little TLC, we are working towards the goal of using them exclusively on our homestead. 

Pressure Canning 

All dry beans are a low-acid food and must be processed in a pressure canner. A water bath canner can never reach temperatures higher than the temperature of boiling water. Pressure canners use steam pressure to increase the temperature to 240 degrees which is appropriate to kill the spores that cause botulism. Be sure your pressure canner has been filled with the appropriate amount of water as recommended by the manufacturer’s instructions. It is usually just a couple of inches of water. I preheat my canner on the stove while I prepare the jars. Remember, everything should be hot when hot pack canning, even the water in your canner. I add just a bit of white vinegar to the water in my pressure canner to prevent the build-up of minerals on my jars and canner. 

Load the canner appropriately. Secure the pressure canner lid and start heating the canner at high heat. At this point, the steam vent should be open to allow the canner to vent. 

As the water begins to boil and steam, steam will begin escaping from the steam vent.  Once a steady stream of steam is escaping your pressure canner vent, set a timer for 10 minutes. 

Start Processing Time

Once the canner is vented, add the weight to the steam vent. This causes the pressure to build inside your pressure canner which is measured by pounds of pressure. If you are using a dial gauge canner you can see the pressure increasing on the gauge. The processing pressure is determined by your altitude as water boils at a different temperature for higher altitudes.  Please see the recipe card for the pressure appropriate for your altitude.  Once it reaches the desired pressure for your altitude reduce the temperature on the stove slightly to maintain a steady pressure. You don’t want to reduce the heat too much and cause the pressure to drop. However, you want it to stabilize and maintain the correct pressure.

If you have a weighted gauge pressure canner, the weight will remain still until it reaches pressure.  Once it does, the weighted gauge will begin to rock regulating the pressure inside. I reduce the heat when the rocking begins to maintain a steady rocking motion.  It should gently rock, not furiously rock. While I have a dial gauge pressure canner, I have purchased a weighted pressure regulator designed for my canner.  It transforms my dial gauge pressure canner into a weighted-gauge pressure canner that self-regulates the pressure inside.  While I do still need to monitor the canning process, the weighted pressure regulator is liberating! 

Once the pressure has been reached, set a timer for your processing times.  Pint jars are processed for 75 minutes, while quart jars are processed for 90 minutes.  If you are using a combination of jars, always process for the longer time. 

Depressurizing and Cooling

Once the processing time has been completed. Turn off the heat and allow your pressure canner to cool and depressurize on its own. Once the pressure is released, carefully open the lid, using the lid to shield your face and direct the heat away from you.  Leave the canner open for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the jars to become accustomed to the cooler temperature of your kitchen. Use a jar lifter to carefully remove the canning jars to a prepared surface.  I place a towel on the counter to protect the jars and counters from the temperature differences.  If your room is especially cool, cover the jars with a towel to allow them to cool more slowly.  Leave the jars undisturbed for about 24 hours.

The Final Steps

Once the jars have cooled for about 24 hours, check the seals to be sure each jar is sealed.  Remove the metal canning rings. The canning rings are only used to process your canning jars, they are not intended for storage. I like to wash the jars of any residue that might attract pests to my pantry or you can wipe them down with a damp cloth.  Label your jars with the date and contents.  While I always think I will remember, this is a little lie I tell myself! Always label! Store sealed jars in a dark, cool place. 

Quality Pantry Staples

Home-canned beans are a wonderful pantry staple for long term storage that is easy to make at home. Making a large batch ensures you have plenty of jars of beans on hand when you need them. Benas are one of the canning projects I like to do in the winter. Summer canning is demanding on the homestead, but canning in the winter is a great way to stock the pantry and heat the kitchen up at the same time! Having a stocked pantry makes cooking a snap. You can easily grab a few cans of beans to whip up a quick batch of bean soup on a cold winter day.