This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Bean canning recipes are one of the easiest ways to turn a bag of dried beans into real, ready-to-use food on the pantry shelf. Home canning lets you put up everything from plain beans for quick weeknight meals to hearty soups, meal-in-a-jar dinners, and even tangy pickled bean salads that are already seasoned and ready to serve.
Beans are one of the most useful things you can put up in jars, because they’re the backbone of so many quick meals. A jar of plain beans turns into chili in minutes, a jar of bean soup becomes an instant lunch, and a few jars of pickled bean salad can save a potluck when you need a side dish fast.
This roundup pulls together plain pressure-canned beans, bean-heavy soups and meals in a jar, classic baked beans and even a few pickled bean salads that use shelled beans.
For simplicity, I’m sticking to dried shelling beans, split peas and lentils because they all have similar canning instructions. This list doesn’t include fresh green beans, garden peas or fresh lima beans. I’ll save those for another time, as they’re completely different things when it comes to canning.
While green beans are a side dish, dry beans can make a full hearty meal in a jar that’s ready to go on your pantry shelf.
Canning Plain Beans
Plain beans are the workhorse jars that make your pantry feel like a shortcut. When I have jars of beans ready to go, I can turn leftovers into a real meal fast, stretch soups and stews, or build a quick dinner around whatever’s in the fridge.
It takes about the same amount of time to pressure can dry beans as it does to cook them once, so why not can a batch so you’re set for dinners for months to come?
- Canning Beans (Any dry bean, including Pinto, Navy, Black, etc)
Bean Chili
Bean chili is one of the most satisfying “meal in a jar” options because it’s already built like dinner: protein, sauce, and seasoning all together. The best part is that it’s flexible at serving time, too. A jar of chili can be dinner as-is, or you can stretch it with cornbread, spoon it over baked potatoes, turn it into nachos, or use it as a quick filling for burritos.
For canning, the big things to watch are thickness and add-ins. Tested chili canning recipes are designed to stay brothy enough for safe heat penetration, so don’t thicken the chili before canning, and save things like flour, cornstarch, masa, cream, or cheese for when you open the jar. Bean-based chili is typically pressure canned, and many tested versions include beans with meat (or chicken), which is a great starting point for a hearty, classic result.
Bean Based Meal-in-a-jar Recipes
Meal-in-a-jar recipes are where beans become the main event. These are the jars that make you feel like you meal-prepped months ago, because dinner is basically “heat and eat.”
I like keeping a mix of styles here: one that leans Cajun, one that’s more classic pork-and-beans pantry flavor, and one that’s more of a seasoned side dish. They’re also handy building blocks for bigger meals (think burritos, rice bowls, quick chili upgrades, or skillet dinners).
Bean Soups
Bean soups are one of my favorite categories to can because they’re genuinely useful. A single jar can be lunch, and two jars can be a fast dinner with bread or a simple salad.
This section includes both tested corporate/extension-style recipes and a few blog recipes you can compare and evaluate. If you’re stocking your pantry for winter, this is the section that pays you back the most.
- Classic Bean Soup
- Cuban Style Black Bean Soup
- Chipotle Black Bean Soup
- White Bean and Kale Soup
- Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup
- Taco Soup
- Fasolada (Greek Tomato Bean Soup)
- French Market Soup
- Rosemary and White Bean Soup Starter
Baked Beans or Pork and Beans
Baked beans are where “bean canning” gets opinionated, fast. Some people want dark, sweet molasses beans. Others want tomato-forward beans. Some want BBQ-style beans for summer cookouts, and some want a savory “pork and beans” jar that isn’t overly sweet.
The key for canning is that baked beans need to be saucy enough for safe heat penetration, and the safest place to start is recipes written specifically for canning baked beans.
- Boston Baked Beans
- Vegetarian Baked Beans
- Simple Baked Beans
- Baked Beans with Molasses Sauce
- Seasoned Baked Beans
- Baked Beans with Tomato Sauce
- Beans with Pork & Tomato Sauce
Pickled Bean Salad
Pickled bean salads are the “open and serve” side dishes of the bean world. They’re bright, tangy, and ready for potlucks, lunches, and summer plates without any extra cooking.
This list is for “dry beans” or “shelling beans,” and all of these salads do in fact contain shelled beans, often either garbanzo beans or kidney beans. They also include fresh green beans so you get that multi-bean effect.
These are heavily pickled, with both vinegar and lemon juice, so they’re the one group of bean canning recipes that can be waterbath canned. I know, it seams odd, but there’s enough acidity in there to make it work in these tested recipes.
Don’t change the ratios in these recipes! Most of the other bean canning recipes are forgiving, but these really are specific for a reason.
A pantry stocked with bean jars turns “what’s for dinner?” into a much easier question. Keep a mix of plain beans for flexibility, soups and meal-in-a-jar recipes for busy nights, and a few baked beans or pickled bean salads for potlucks and cookouts, and you’ll always have something hearty ready to go.
The key is sticking with tested canning methods and using these recipes as your starting point, then saving any thickening, dairy, or last-minute extras for when you open the jar.
Canning Recipe Ideas
