I have a confession to make. I love my pressure canner. Of all my home food preservation tools, my pressure canner is my favorite. I adore that I can cook in it and preserve food for my family, even preserving my food faster with the raw pack method.
If you’ve never used a pressure canner before, let me ease your fears. It isn’t as scary as the stories of your grandmother’s canner exploding. They have pressure release valves and safety features built in. As long as you follow the instructions, you’re likely good to go.
I’m all for saving time in the kitchen! No woman ever said, “I have way too much time on my hands these days.” And if by chance I’m wrong, and you’re that woman, would you please come to my house? I need to learn your secrets. 😉
In the interest of saving time, we can’t sacrifice food safety. I consider some quick canning methods to be unsafe. Not the raw pack method, though — it’s both safe and time-saving. A win-win!
What’s The Raw-Pack Method?
It’s exactly as it sounds. You pack raw food into jars and then can them (with a pressure canner). No pre-cooking or heating needed.
This works wonderfully well with green beans. I’ve canned green beans my whole life. My family has been growing and saving the seed from our strain of heirloom green beans for about a hundred years, as far as I can track. We’ve never purchased green beans from the store. I put up about 80 jars of green beans a year.
Jar Size, Batch Size, and Sterilizing
We can our green beans in pints, but depending upon the size of your family, you may want to do quarts.
Figure out how many jars of the size you’re using your pressure canner can hold at a time. And that will tell you how many jars to get ready for a batch.
Because you’re using a pressure canner and everything will get sterilized during canning, you don’t need to sterilize the jars before hand. Simply wash them in hot soapy water and rinse well.
How To Pressure Can Green Beans Using The Raw-Pack Method
Rinse your beans, string (if they’re a string bean), and snap into bite size pieces.
Fill the jars with beans, leaving a 1-inch head space. Push down on the beans to fit a few more in at the end. Add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt for pint jars and 1 teaspoon sea salt for quart jars.
About the salt: I’ve tried not adding salt to the beans and the flavor isn’t the same. I don’t add more salt upon reheating. One year I tried canning them without any addition of salt and those jars had to be used in casseroles or soups. The taste was so bland no one would eat them on their own.
Boil enough water to fill the jars. A pint holds 2 cups and a quart holds 4 cups. You won’t need the full amount of water as the beans take up a good capacity. Take the water off a boil and pour into the jars until it just covers the beans. Be sure you leave a 1-inch head space in each jar.
Run a spatula around the side of each jar to release any air bubbles. Wipe the rim with a clean towel to remove any debris or bits that might interfere with jar sealing. Place the lids and rings on the jars and screw them down, fingertip-tight. Place jars in the pressure canner. Make sure the rack is in place. Add amount of water to pressure canner specified for your model. Mine is a quart and half of water.
Place the lid on the pressure canner and turn heat on medium-high. Do not place the pressure control on yet. When steam has vented for 10 minutes, put on the weighted gauge at 10 pounds of pressure. Once control is hissing and jiggling, begin your time. You want to hear the control jiggle about 3 to 4 times a minute. Adjust the heat up or down as needed. Process pint jars for 20 minutes and quart jars for 25 minutes.
When processing time is up, turn off heat. Allow pressure canner to reduce pressure on its own. DO NOT run it under cold water as if you were cooking fresh food. Once pressure is reduced, take a spoon and touch the weighted gauge. If it hisses, allow to cool longer. If it doesn’t hiss, remove the weighted gauge with an oven mitt.
Remove the pressure canner lid by tilting it away from your face. Hot steam will still rise even after pressure has reduced. Using an oven mitt or jar lifter, place jars on a towel folded in thirds.
Be sure hot jars are in a draft-free area — and never set hot jars on a bare counter. Allow to cool for at least 12 hours without touching them.
I’m not a patient person and hearing the “ping” of a sealed jar is one of my favorite things ever. But I’ve started using some of the re-usable Tattler canning lids and while they don’t ping, the idea of a re-usable lid is definitely awesome in my book. Curious about how they work? Here’s my full review.
Check the seal of each jar, and if any aren’t sealed, put in the refrigerator to eat soon. Store sealed jars in a cool dark place. Be sure to mark the jars with the year they were canned so you can practice rotation with your home food stores.
Do you use the raw pack method? What foods do you put up with a pressure canner?
Also see: Getting Started with Pressure Cooking
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I used Tatler’s and have had great success with them. I really enjoy using them. We’re getting a lot of beans this year but I have not had a lot of time to can them. I’ll keep this in mind ~ I really do like canned green beans.
How do you know with the tatier’s lids that they are sealed, or does it matter? new to canning Thanks.
after they are cooled, you take the ring off. if the lid doesn’t come off, they are sealed.
I’m worried about adding boiling water to any glass jar including cannning jars. How do you keep them from breaking?
The jars ate warm from the washing and on a towel. I’ve done close to a thousand jars in the past ten years this way and never had a jar cracked or break.
You can put in oven at 200 for 20 minutes to sterilize-then take out and fill one at a time-works great!!
I keep my jars in a very low temp oven (as low as my oven will go.) keeps them warm and I don’t worry about adding hot water or food into a cold jar.
I put my jars with the product in a pot and add water up to the middle of the jar. When it boils I add the other boiling water. Never had one break this way.
Silly question Melissa, but can this also be done with yellow beans?
Nancy,
Not silly and absolutely.
Melissa, you may want to put a reminder that canning at altitude requires adjustments in pressure and sometimes time–I know it’s not a factor for a lot of folks, but as I was reading this, I almost forgot that I needed to add for being near the Mile Hi city of Denver…
Thanks!
Dani,
Excellent point, follow the guidelines for your particular pressure canner in regards to high altitude. My guide says at altitudes of 1,000 feet or higher use 15 pounds of pressure instead of 10 pounds.
Can you use real salt. My grandpa said never use regular table salt the iodine will give it a metallic taste. So I always used canning salt. I have been wondering about “real” sea salts and Real Salt if the extra minerals would give the same off flavor but would like to use them for health reasons. thanks in advance
Cassy,
Table salt is what my mother always used and never had an issue with taste. Canning salt it good for pickled goods as sometimes the table salt will turn pickles cloudy. I haven’t used Real Salt, but sea salt is just fine for canning your beans.
I can beans this way every year & use Real Salt. I haven’t noticed any off flavor. I use Real Salt in all my canning, even pickles 🙂
Is this a safe method just in a canning kettle – without the pressure?
No. Beans are only safely canned in a pressure canner unless you are pickling them.
Can you use this same technique for corn? And can you use kosher salt instead of table salt? Thanks for the info!
Melody,
You can use the same technique with corn. I think kosher salt is fine, it’s for the flavor and not the safety of the product when using a pressure canner.
Hello Melissa,
I have stayed away from canning because of the loss of nutritional value. Could you talk about that? Thank you so much!
Hi, Susanne,
I’ve heard that before, but I don’t agree with it (big surprise right? 🙂 ) Here’s an article explaining why pressure canning doesn’t have a nutritional loss like a lot of folks think, can actually be better than just cooking food, and is a main stay in our kitchen. Plus, when you pick food right off the vine and immediately process it, it’s retaining a lot more nutrients than items you’ll get from the store or even farmer markets. This article talks about the good things pressure cooking and canning does for your food on a nutritional level https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2014/03/06/getting-started-with-pressure-cooking/
Good to know that I can do green/yellow beans in a canner and that they are safe as I’ve always been afraid to do them. I’ve always done my tomatoes in a pressure cooker. Just take the skins off (soaked in boiling water) and press down in the jar. Keep pressing down until the jar is full (or near the top). I add no water, so it’s only tomatoes. I always grow the tomatoes that are fairly juicy so you may need water in some kinds of tomatoes. I usually run a knife around and down the jar to make sure no bubbles are left. I do them the way you do the beans but they only need to come up to pressure and then turn off the heat. I guess that’s why beans need 20-25 minutes as they probably take a bit longer to be safe. I don’t put any salt in my tomatoes as I usually use them in soup, etc. and add the needed salt then.
Diana,
I use my pressure canner with tomatoes, but process using the 5lbs of pressure for 25 minutes. I’m not sure just bringing it up to pressure is long enough. And yes, beans are non-acidic so they must be processed the specified time to be sure all forms of bacteria are killed.
I am doing it verbatim right now it is naturally releasing the pressure. I am very literal and these instructions are spot on. Thank you Mi Lady and God bless y’all in doing this. Grow in buckets, potters, anywhere you can. Do not eat processed food or any meat in the market that is not locally organic
I have some old crown sealers and new rubber rings are they safe to use in hot water canning
I have always raw packed green and yellow beans. My family likes the flavor more than hot packed. I also add just a small amount of garlic to a couple of jars for variety. Last…. I can green and yellow together and I have 2/3’s of a 3 bean salad
How long will the beans last?
The beans will last for a couple of years as long as they’re stored in a cool dark place. Always check for bulging seals or off color and throw out if in doubt. We eat ours for up to two years.
Thanks for the great info. I’ve only done steam canning (jams, peaches, applesauce, tomatoes) but I’m investing in a pressure canner this year. This is very helpful.
I do have a question, though. Could you tell me an estimate of how many pounds of beans I need per pint (or quart). I will be picking my beans at a you-pick farm and would like to know what to prepare for. Thanks!
Emily,
I’ve always picked at home and never weighed…. but it’s about 1 and 2/3 cup of snapped green beans per pint jar. I pick my large colander full and that’s enough to do 7 regular pint sized jars. Rough guess would be about 3 pounds per run of 7 pints.
2 one gallon ice cream buckets picked full makes 7 quarts.
Hello and thank you for this very easy and informative step by step process!! I just bought myself a 16 qt Presto Pressure Canner and was not real sure how I should go about using it for our over abundance of green beans, but this post was so EASY to follow, and I am proud to say that I just got done making my first 12 quarts of green beans with your instructions!! Thank you for your help and I will be sure to use your website again in the very near future!!! Happy canning to you!!! ?
Can this method be used on a glass top with the water bath method and if so how long to boil? Thanks. Blessings.
Pat,
sorry but absolutely not safe to do any type of bean in a water bath. They must be done in a pressure canner.
Okay so I used my pressure canner for the first time today and I was trying to follow your directions but I was confused when you said
” … put on the weighted gauge at 10 pounds of pressure. Once control is hissing and jiggling, begin your time.”
because my pressure gauge doesn’t start to move until I put the weight on the vent.
Jacquie,
Sorry if that was confusing. What I mean is once steam is coming out of the vent, allow it to vent without the weight for 10 minutes, then put your weight on. Once the canner has reached 10 pounds of pressure, start your timer for the 20 minutes of processing time. Does that help ?
Can you use cold water to fill the jars with instead of boiling?
No that is what will cause the jars to explode. Boiling water is safe and heats up the jars so when you put them in the canner they don’t explode.
I have always canned green beans this way but I use about half the amount of salt and add a little cider vinegar to each jar, I would guess about an eighth to a quarter cup per quart. My hubby loves the twang and won’t eat green beans otherwise!
This is exactly how I grew up canning green beans with my mom when I was a kid 30+ years ago. Thanks.
Hi! Just got done canning 7 quarts! Pretty excited to see how the next 12-24 hrs go.. One weird thing happened tho.. One of the jars seems to have less liquid in it now.. After I removed it from the canner.. The beans in the top inch are uncovered/exposed.. Are these still shelf stable?
That can happen if you have too much water in your pressure canner or if you process at too high of a temperature. The instructions with my canner says to put 2 quarts of water in the canner. I have the rocker style canner and when the rocker gets to rocking hard I will turn the burner down so it will rock more gently. I have used my beans that had less liquid and they were fine.
Jennifer,
It’s called syphoning and it can happen if temperatures vary too much while canning. It helps if you let the jars sit in the canner with the lid off for about 5 minutes before removing to cool (after pressure has totally reduced). The amount of water in your pressure canner depends upon the size of the canner and model, but it should be 2 to 3 inches of water. For my smaller canner, that’s 1 and 1/2 quarts, my larger canner it’s more, so go with the 2 to 3 inches of water before you add your jars and you’ll be fine.
The jar and food is still fine to eat, I just use those jars first. If you loose more than half the liquid in the jar, it needs to store in the fridge, but just an inch is fine.
Thank you both for illeaviating my fears! I put the two jars in the fridge yesterday just in case.. But I guess they can join the rest of the jars now! I will use them first, but good to know they are still good. I am using an electric canner. Maybe because these were in my last two batches.. I will prob wait next time between batches longer..
Thanks again! ??
We are new to pressure canning and lost almost all the water in the first two batches. Are we over pressure cooking? What can we be doing differently? We do not understand the weight aspect of canning. Also we tried to do smaller jars in stead of quart jars. Any and all help will be appreciated. Thank you.
Here is a website with useful info on canning: http://mobile.dudamobile.com/site/pickyourown_1?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpickyourown.org%2Fcanninggreenbeans.htm&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F#3101
Also, make sure you follow the directions for your canner. Make sure you don’t overfill your jars and have your canner full, i.e., if your canner holds 7 quarts and you only have enough beans for 6 quarts then fill the 7th one with water, no lid or band, and place it in the center spot. I hope this helps!
iI want to can my green beans without snapping them into bite size pieces.I like them beter this way .Is it going to change the canning procedure at all?
Can I add onion and or bacon to the jar of beans b4 putting lids on a d pressure canning?
I think onion would be ok to add, but not sure it would be safe to add bacon. Just add the bacon when you open the jar and cook them.
No, onions have a different processing time and then it becomes a combination recipe with different times. Same with the bacon, no.
So I canned my green beans the other day and I did exactly as you said but when I took them out of the canned pretty much all the water was out of the jars. What did I do wrong?
So I canned my green beans the other day and I did exactly as you said but when I took them out of the canned pretty much all the water was out of the jars. What did I do wrong?
I answered this in the comments above but I copy and pasted it here again for you
It’s called syphoning and it can happen if temperatures vary too much while canning. It helps if you let the jars sit in the canner with the lid off for about 10 minutes before removing to cool (after pressure has totally reduced).
If you loose more than half the liquid in the jar, it needs to be stored in the fridge, but just an inch is fine.
I only pressured my green beans for 15 minutes are they still safe to eat. They were in quart jars
I melissa can I used a canning pot to jarred beans instead of pressure cooker?
I would love to purchase some of those heirloom green bean seeds ?????????
Can we eat the beans right out of the jar, cold after properly pressure canning them?
I only boiled my green beans for 2 to 3 minutes before putting them in the jars, and then used that same water to fill the jars. I processed them in pressure canner for 20 minutes. Are they safe?
can i add a piece of raw bacon to beans when canning the raw pack?
Adding bacon is not advised. When ready to prepare beans I’ve canned, I cook some bacon, then add finely chopped garlic and onions. Then I add some salt and pepper. When sauted, I then add my green beans to heat.
I pressure canned wax beans and their color is okay…..Then I did the green beans and the seed in the beans turned brown. What happened? Could it possibly be a malfuncted pressure guage?
Hi! On conventional table salt. They stopped putting iodine in salt around 1974. They started using bromide, which is in the negative halogen group, opposite of iodine. It’s as bad as the fluoride in city tap water. That fluoride is mostly HYDROFLUOROSILICIC ACID, a toxic industrial waste byproduct containing uranium isotopes. Table salt also contains anti caking agents. I never buy ionized salt. I prefer sea or canning salt.