How to Can Green Beans in a Pressure Canner

We grow a ton of green beans in our garden. I mean, there are 11 of us so we kind of need a lot of food. I really like to pressure can green beans so that our family can enjoy the bounty of out harvest throughout the whole year.

As the garden season winds down, I always find myself picking and canning lots of green beans. We like to plant extra rounds of beans kind of late to get one more harvest in before the first frost. This seems to be working out well for our pantry shelves.  

On my best year, I canned a total of 110 quarts and I’m hoping to top that by a long shot this year! It makes my heart happy to see all of those jars full of yummy beans that will help feed my family through the winter and into spring.

How to Pressure Can Green Beans

Green beans have to be pressure canned because they are not a high acid food. Be sure to always follow a safe method. I prefer the method in the Ball canning book that complies with the safety standard.

Now, I know a lot of you probably have fond memories of snapping beans with your grandma or your momma. That just sounds so sweet and picturesque, doesn’t it? But I digress… Back to business.

Once you are done snapping, you are ready to can green beans. We grow like to grow Blue Lake Bush Beans or Antigua Bush Beans because they are stringless. We also like to try different types of beans like Dragon Tongue and Pole Beans.

Snapping beans can be a chore but as they say, many hands make light work so I get the kids to have a bean snapping party with me. I enjoy spending this time with them. We all like to can green beans together. The reward of having yummy beans all year is well worth the chore of snapping the beans from time to time.

Items needed for pressure canning

There are specific item you need for any kind of pressure canning. Here are my top suggestions:

1- A pressure canner

2- Mason jars. I like to use a high quality name brand for pressure canning to prevent jars from breaking. Cheaper and off brands do fine in water bath but sometimes can’t hold up to pressure canning.

3- Canning lids and rings (be sure your use the right size lid for your jars ie: wide mouth jars need wide mouth lids and regular mouth jars need regular mouth lids.)

4- Canning tools. You can purchase a kit that includes everything you need. I suggest a canning funnel, lid magnet/air bubble tool, and jar grabbing tongs at a bare minimum.

5- A clean rag or paper towel to wipe jar rims

Prepping for pressure canning green beans

Pack the canning jars

Once the beans are all snapped I wash them again to be sure they are dirt and debris free. Next, I use a canning funnel and pack the beans into the sterilized jars. I like to pack my beans in really tight for maximum capacity in each jar.

We always use quart size jars because we cook a large quantity at one time. You can use pint size jars if you won’t need to cook as much at once. After the jars are packed with the beans we add one teaspoon of flake sea salt in with them for flavoring.

While I am working on packing the beans into jars I set a large pot of water to heat on the stove for filling the jars. I also place my canning lids in a pot of water to sterilize them (I just read recently that the new BPA free lids are not supposed to be heated this way).

Fill jars of beans with hot water

Once all of the jars are ready I fill them with the hot water leaving one inch of head space. Next, I run my air bubble tool (or a butter knife) around the inside of the jar to remove any trapped air. Check the rims of the jars to make sure they are clean and don’t have any chips so that nothing inhibits them from sealing.

Load your pressure canner with jars

Put the rings on and only tighten them “finger tight”. Now I load them up into the canner. Be sure to have a rack in the bottom of the canner (most canners come with one). In a pinch, you can place a dish towel in the bottom if you don’t have a rack. Never place jars directly in canner, the jars can very easily break if you do.

Pressure canning green beans

We add enough water to the canner to come up about two inches or so on the jars. Place the lid on the canner and make sure it is tight. Green beans have to be processed at 10 pounds for twenty-five minutes for quarts or twenty minutes for pints, set your timer accordingly.

After the time is up turn off the burner or gently remove the canner from the heat. Do not try to remove the lid or release the pressure. The canner will decompress on its own as it cools. Trying to remove the lid too soon could cause injury or cause the jars to break.

Once the canner has cooled and decompressed you can remove the lid and take the jars out with a handy dandy jar grabber or insulated gloves. The jars are hot, don’t get burned! Be careful not to shake or tip the jars until they are completely cool. The jars need to set out for twelve to twenty-four hours undisturbed. This is where you listen for the glorious “ping” sound that jar lids make when they seal.

Storing you canned green beans

Once they are ready for the pantry check the lids to be sure they are sealed. I like to remove the rings because the jars no longer need them and I can use them for another round of canning. Leaving rings on can also run the risk of a jar unsealing and then resealing without you knowing which would make them unsafe for eating.

It is really pretty simple and safe to pressure can as long as you follow the “rules”. To be honest, I was quite intimidated by the pressure canner at first but now I am not at all. I really love having my shelves full of yummy food for our family.

That’s how easy it is to can green beans. I hope I have inspired you to start canning your own green beans or any other produce you want to preserve. It is really fun and so rewarding to preserve your own food.