Author: Canning green beans is an easy summer activity that allows you to enjoy them all year long! Find out how to can green beans in a pressure canner, as well as how to deal with the fact that green beans are not ready to harvest at the same time.
There’s nothing quite like reaching into the pantry and grabbing a jar of home canned food. Whether it’s homegrown, or purchased from the store, canning your own food is a blessing that lasts all year long!
No matter what level of canner you consider yourself to be, canning green beans is a simple process that will let you enjoy your efforts for many months to come!
I especially enjoy using home-canned green beans for the holidays in green bean casseroles and soups!
Canning Green Beans
If you’ve pressure canned before, you know what to expect from the process…
But if you’re new to pressure canning, or canning in general, it can seem really scary!! In reality, it’s very easy to do and extremely satisfying to complete!
If you’re new to pressure canning, I encourage you to read my in-depth look at the process of pressure canning here. It gives a very detailed account of exactly what to expect so that you’re not caught off guard!
Once you’ve done that, or if you’re not new to pressure canning, then you’re ready to get started canning your green beans!
Before you can them, make sure you snap them and remove the strings first. In the past we’ve had bean varieties that grew 2-4 thick strings PER bean… what a pain!
However, whatever type of bean you have, make sure that you don’t skip the snapping process or your canned beans will be difficult to eat!
Best Green Beans for Canning
When you are sourcing green beans for canning, you will have good luck at farmer’s markets, and local grocery stores. Be sure to reach out to friends and neighbors who might be growing green beans, because it’s likely they will have extra!
Or, if you want, you can grow your own green beans. I love growing green beans because they are a high yield, low space requirement plant. You can grow two five-foot rows of greens beans and harvest them daily for months. That’s a lot of food!
We like to grow Kentucky Wonder green beans since they are pole beans and are very hearty producers! Any pole bean that you like would do well for canning!
You can also grow bush beans if you want less yield. However, they stay low to the ground and can be hard on the back to harvest!
If you’re interested in growing your own food, also check out our post on growing in the Back to Eden gardening method. It’s so easy to set up and helps lengthen your growing season for even more produce.
How to Snap Green Beans
Snapping green beans isn’t terribly difficult, but it is something that needs to be done – especially if you are growing heirloom varieties.
So, to snap (or string) your green beans, start at one end of the green bean and “snap” the tip. You can do this with a knife or with your hands. I like using a knife, but that’s up to you! If you decide to use a knife, only slice through the end about 3/4 of the way and then continue.
Pull the broken tip down along the seam to remove any “string” that may be hiding there. Snap off the other end of the bean in the same way.
Discard the snapped-off ends and any strings in the small bowl and feed them to the chickens or pigs if you have any!
From there, you can leave the beans whole or cut them into 1-2″ segments for canning.
Bulk Canning Green Beans from Your Garden
Even when you’re harvesting several pounds of green beans a day like we were, that’s not really enough to fill up the pressure canner. So in order to make the canning effort more “worth it”, I tried a few different things to help the green beans stay fresh long enough to can in larger batches.
In order to do this you need to refrigerate the fresh green beans right away – without washing them first. Make sure they are in a sealed bag (press out the air before sealing), and they will stay fresh for up to 7 days!
Then you can wash and snap the green beans in larger batches for bulk canning! Once you have enough beans to can, and you have them all washed and snapped, just follow the directions below to pressure can your own home-canned green beans.
Adjusting Pressure Canning by Altitude
It is important to note that the pressure used during canning changes based on the altitude at which the food is being canned. If you are pressure canning a 0-1000 ft above sea level, then no changes are needed.
Refer to the chart below for how to change the pressure according to your altitude:
Water Bath Canning Green Beans
Currently, water bath canning is not recommended for vegetables, unless they are pickled. The added vinegar raised the PH level and allows foods to be water bath canned where they wouldn’t normally be able to. However, if you are canning green beans in just water and salt, they need to be pressure canned.
Many people say “my grandmother did it for 50 years and we are all fine” – and I agree. Feel free to use your judgment when canning – however, pressure canning is currently considered the only “safe” way to can green beans.
Summer Canning Recipes
If you have green beans to can, you likely have other fruits and vegetables from your garden to preserve too! Here are some of our favorite summer canning recipes!
Canning Green Beans (the Easy Way!)
Equipment
- 4 Quart Canning Jars (OR 8 pint canning jars)
Ingredients
- 10 lbs Green Beans
- Canning Salt (optional)
Instructions
- Prep jars according to canning instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Filtered or spring water is my preference.
- Wash and de-string green beans. Remove ends, and cut or snap into 2″ pieces.
- Pack beans tightly into hot jars leaving a 1″ headspace.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to pint jars, and 1 teaspoon to quarts (optional, but strongly recommended!)
- Ladle boiling water over beans/salt, leaving a 1″ headspace.
- Remove air bubbles with canning knife and add additional beans or water as needed. Adjust 2-piece lids to finger tightness.
- Process pints for 20 minutes and quarts for 25 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a pressure canner.
- Remove from canner according to canning instructions and allow to cool for 12-24 hours before putting them away for storage.
Notes
Nutrition
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I used this method and my beans are rancid had to throw them all out. I have canned things before with no problem I don’t know what went wrong. I did 10 pints what a waste. I have gone over the recipe several times to see what I missed, I did everything it send.
Hi Jane, I’m so sorry to hear this! The recipe in this post is the USDA approved canning recipe for green beans, so it definitely works. We use it for about 50-75 quarts of green beans every year without issue.
Is there any way you water bath canned it instead of pressure canning them? Or perhaps used a pressure cooker instead?
I’d love to help you troubleshoot so this doesn’t happen to you again! I’m so sorry again, I know how disheartening it is to do all that work and have to throw something out!
Can I use sea salt instead of canning salt?
Hi Heather! Yes, any pure salt is fine, table salt tends to have additives that cause the quality of the finished food to suffer.
Enjoy!
I have recently started canning, and this year i added cooked bacon to one batch and uncooked bacon to another batch. Both turned out great! Of course with the raw bacon i had to bump up the pressure cooking time as if you were canning meat. We have always added bacon or bacon grease to our beans when we cooked them, so i decided to try this after looking at several sites. I think i will continue to always add the bacon. Everything is better with bacon. :-)
Amen, brother. Eat all the bacon! Glad it worked out well for you!
Hi,
I’m new to canning vegetables. But I have made and canned jelly and apple butter. My question is how long do the canned vegetables stay good stored in a cool dark place?
Thanks for the guidance!
Hi Katy! How exciting! Generally if they are canned and stored properly, they are still safe to eat as long as they don’t smell weird or have mold on them.
We’ve eaten veggies canned a decade earlier that were still as delicious as the day they were canned!
But if you want to have a firm timeline, I would say 3-5 years. :-)
How much water do I put in the pressure canner??? Do I cover the jars or not? Thanks
Hi Sandra, no need to cover the jars as with water bath canning. Just add about 2 inches of water to the bottom of the pot :-) Enjoy!