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Canning sausage, potato and kale soup means there is a hearty, restaurant-style dinner waiting on the pantry shelf for the nights when you do not feel like cooking. Pop the lid, warm it on the stove, and you have a copycat Zuppa Toscana ready in about ten minutes, even better with a splash of cream stirred in at the bowl.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Choosing Your Sausage
- Ingredients for Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
- Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup Variations
- How to Make Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
- Canning Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
- Altitude Adjustments
- Tips for Success
- Serving Ideas for Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
- Yield Notes
- Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup FAQs
- Soup Canning Recipes
- Canning Sausage Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana) Recipe
- For dial gauge pressure canners:
- For weighted gauge pressure canners:
- Meal in a Jar Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
This is a tested pressure canning recipe adapted from Angi Schneider’s cookbook Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond, and it is built like the dense, full-jar recipes the USDA developed for meat. The jars are packed with solids first and then topped with broth, which is why it carries a longer processing time than a thin, brothy soup. If you want a lighter pot with more liquid in the jar, the same techniques apply to my canning chicken soup and canning split pea soup, both of which use the brothy half-solids pack.
Soup is low acid, so the only safe way to put it up for the pantry is with a pressure canner. There is no water bath version of this recipe, and the processing time and pressure are what make the sealed jars safe. You can adjust the salt, pepper, and the type of sausage to your taste, but the canning process itself stays exactly as written. If you would rather build your own soup from scratch within tested guidelines, my guide on how to create your own soup canning recipe walks through the allowed ingredients and processing times.
Notes from My Kitchen
I started canning this soup the year my kale just would not quit. We were eating it raw in salads, blanching and freezing it, and still had more than we knew what to do with, so a few canner loads of this went onto the shelf to use it up. It has earned a permanent spot in the rotation since then, mostly because it reheats into a real dinner with almost no effort on a busy weeknight.
A full canner load gives me 7 quarts or 14 pints, and I tend to do pints since a pint plus a glug of cream feeds two people with bread on the side. I leave the cream and the cornstarch out of the jars and stir them in at the stove, and that one habit is what turns a plain jar of soup into something that tastes like it came from a restaurant. My kids ask for it by the Olive Garden name, which I take as a win.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana)
- Recipe Type: Soup Canning Recipe (hearty, dense pack)
- Canning Method: Pressure Canning
- Prep Time: About 30 minutes
- Cook Time: About 15 minutes
- Canning Time: Pints 75 minutes, Quarts 90 minutes
- Yield: About 7 quarts or 14 pints
- Jar Sizes: Pints and quarts
- Headspace: 1 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Ground sausage, potatoes, kale, broth or water, salt, and black pepper
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond by Angi Schneider
- Difficulty: Easy
- Similar Recipes: Canning sausage, potato and kale soup is similar to other hearty pressure-canned soups like Canning Potato Leek Soup and Canning White Bean and Kale Soup. If you like a meal in a jar, try Canning Chicken Soup, Canning Split Pea Soup, or Canning Beef Stew.
Choosing Your Sausage
The sausage is what gives this soup its flavor, so it is worth thinking about for a minute before you shop. You can use a seasoned sausage like Italian sausage or chorizo, or you can start with plain ground pork and build the flavor yourself. The salt in the recipe is written for a seasoned, pre-salted sausage, so if you go with plain pork you will likely want a bit more salt plus some dry seasonings like garlic and paprika to make up for it.
Whatever you choose, you are always allowed to adjust the salt and dry spices in a pressure canning recipe to suit your taste, since those are flavor decisions and not safety ones. If you like to keep plain sausage on hand for recipes like this, you can also put up your own with my guide to canning sausage, then pull it from the pantry when soup day comes around.
Ingredients for Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
The ingredient list for this soup is short, and the name covers most of it. Everything that goes in the jar has its own tested home-canning basis, which is what keeps the recipe safe at the processing times below. A full canner batch of 7 quarts or 14 pints uses sausage, potatoes, kale, broth or water, salt, and black pepper, and that is the whole list.
Here is what each part is doing and what to look for when you shop or harvest:
- Ground sausage: The backbone of the flavor. Seasoned Italian sausage or chorizo brings its own salt and spice, while plain ground pork gives you a blank canvas you season yourself. Browning it first is required for a good-quality canned soup, since raw meat tends to make for a poor result.
- Potatoes: They give the soup its body and make it filling enough to eat as a meal. Cut them into half-inch cubes so they hold their shape through the long process rather than breaking down into mush. The amount is weighed after peeling, so plan on buying a little extra to account for the peels.
- Kale: The greens that make this a Zuppa Toscana. Use mostly the leaves and strip out the thick ribs, which tend to turn tough and stringy during canning. Chard works in place of kale if that is what you have, and with chard you can leave the more tender stems in.
- Broth or water: This is the liquid that fills the jars around the solids. I like homemade chicken broth for a richer pot, but vegetable broth, beef broth, pork stock, or plain water all work. Some people split the difference and use half stock and half water.
- Canning salt: For seasoning. If you are using a salted broth or a heavily seasoned sausage, cut the added salt back so the finished soup is not too salty.
- Ground black pepper: For a little warmth and depth. Adjust to taste, since pepper is a seasoning and not part of the safety math.
A few things that belong in the bowl do not belong in the jar. Cream, milk, cornstarch, and flour all get left out at canning time and stirred in only when you reheat the soup to serve. They are too dense or too dairy-heavy to can safely, so they wait until the very end.
Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup Variations
This is a tested recipe adapted from Angi Schneider’s Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond, and it is packed as a dense, hearty soup with the jars filled with solids and topped off with broth. The processing time and pressure are the safety control, so they cannot be shortened, lowered, or swapped for a water bath. Because the soup is low acid, a pressure canner is the only safe method, and the full 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts is required rather than the shorter generic soup times.
You have room to make this soup your own as long as you stay within the safe ingredients. Swap the sausage type, use chard instead of kale, choose broth or water, and adjust the salt and dry spices freely. Save the cream and the cornstarch slurry for serving rather than canning, and never thicken the soup before it goes in the jar, since a thickened soup is too dense for heat to move through safely.
How to Make Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
This is a hot pack recipe, which means the soup is simmered together on the stove before it goes into the jars. Get your pressure canner heating while you prep so everything stays hot and ready when it is time to fill jars.
Prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids. For most canners, that means adding a few inches of water and bringing it up to a bare simmer around 180 degrees F, with the jars kept hot inside. Follow the directions for your particular brand of canner.
Prepare the Ingredients
Start with the potatoes. You will need about 5 pounds of potatoes as purchased to end up with 4 1/2 pounds peeled and cut into half-inch cubes. Keeping the cubes a consistent size helps them cook evenly and hold together through the long process.
Then prep the kale. It takes about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds of kale as purchased to get 1 pound of trimmed leaves. Strip the leaves from the tough ribs and chop them, leaving the stringy stems behind unless you are using chard, in which case the tender stems can stay.
With the vegetables ready, brown the sausage in a large stockpot over medium heat. This takes about 10 minutes, and you want to cook it until no pink remains.
Stir occasionally so it browns evenly, but try to leave some small chunks rather than breaking it down into fine crumbles. A little texture makes for a more satisfying spoonful later.
Once the sausage is browned, add the potatoes, kale, salt, pepper, and your broth or water to the pot. Homemade chicken broth gives the richest result, but pork stock, vegetable broth, or plain water all work depending on what you have.
If you are using a salted broth, remember to dial back the added salt so the finished soup is balanced. You can always add more at serving, but you cannot take it out once it is canned.
Simmer and Pack the Jars
Bring the pot to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, just until everything is heated through. The vegetables do not need to cook all the way at this stage, since they will finish during the long canning process.
Remove the pot from the heat and ladle the solids into your hot jars first, dividing them so each jar gets about the same amount. Then pour the broth over the top to fill the gaps, leaving 1 inch of headspace. If you run short on broth, top the jars off with boiling water.
Run a bubble removal tool around the inside of each jar to release any trapped air, then recheck the headspace and adjust if needed. Wipe the rims with a clean, damp cloth so the lids seal properly.
Cap the jars with two-part canning lids and screw the bands down to fingertip tight. Load the filled jars onto the rack in your prepared canner.
Canning Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
This is a hot pack soup that is always pressure canned, never water bathed, and the minimum batch is 2 quarts or 4 pints so the canner comes up to pressure correctly. A full load fills 7 quarts or 14 pints, and you can run a partial canner load as long as you meet that minimum.
With the jars loaded, put the lid on the canner and turn the heat to high. Allow the canner to vent a steady stream of steam for 10 minutes, then add the weight or close the petcock and bring it up to pressure.
Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 pounds in a dial gauge canner, adjusting for altitude as needed. These are the longer times used for dense, meat-filled jars, so use the full time rather than the shorter generic soup processing instructions.
When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the canner cool and depressurize naturally. Never force cool a pressure canner by running it under water or cracking it open early.
Once the canner has returned to zero pressure and cooled, remove the jars and set them on a towel on the counter to finish cooling, ideally for at least 12 hours. Even when the canner feels cool, the jars can still be hot, so let them rest undisturbed.
When they are completely cool, check the seals. Refrigerate any jar that did not seal and use it within a few days, and store the sealed jars for the pantry.
Altitude Adjustments
With pressure canning, the processing times stay the same at higher altitudes, but the pressure changes. Pints are always processed for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes, no matter your elevation. For more detail, see my guide to altitude adjustments for pressure canning.
Here are the altitude adjustments for pressure canning sausage, potato and kale soup.
For dial gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 2,000 feet: 11 lbs pressure
- 2,001 to 4,000 feet: 12 lbs pressure
- 4,001 to 6,000 feet: 13 lbs pressure
- 6,001 to 8,000 feet: 14 lbs pressure
For weighted gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 10 lbs pressure
- Above 1,000 feet: 15 lbs pressure
Tips for Success
Brown the sausage before it goes in the jars rather than packing it raw. Pre-browning is recommended for any home-canned soup with meat, and it makes a real difference in the quality and flavor of the finished jars.
Pack the solids first and then add the broth, rather than ladling everything in at once. Filling the jars evenly with the chunky ingredients keeps each jar consistent, and topping with broth lets you hit that 1 inch headspace without overpacking.
Serving Ideas for Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup
To serve, empty a quart jar into a saucepan and warm it gently over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until everything is heated through. From there you can eat it as is, or finish it the way it was meant to be served. Stir in about 1/2 cup of heavy cream or half and half per quart for a creamy Zuppa Toscana, and thicken it if you like with a slurry of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per quart.
A sprinkle of fresh herbs over the top is a nice touch, and the classic pairing is toast or breadsticks alongside. All of these finishing steps are optional, since the soup is perfectly good as a simple heat-and-eat meal straight from the jar. If you like keeping ready dinners on the shelf, it sits comfortably alongside lighter pots like my canning carrot soup, the rest of my meal in a jar canning recipes, and the broader soup canning recipes collection.
Because the cream and the thickener go in at serving and not in the jar, every quart is a blank slate you can take in different directions. One night it is a brothy bowl with a handful of greens, and the next it is a rich, creamy soup with breadsticks.
It also reheats well in a single serving, so you can warm just what you need from a jar in the fridge and save the rest for the next day.
Yield Notes
A full canner batch makes about 7 quarts or 14 pints. The exact count depends on how densely you pack the solids and how much broth you use, so you may land a jar over or under depending on your potatoes and your ladle hand. Counting one cup as one serving, a full batch works out to roughly 28 servings.
This recipe halves and doubles cleanly as long as you keep the same ratios and the same processing time. The one rule is the minimum batch of 2 quarts or 4 pints, which is what the canner needs to come up to pressure and process correctly. The processing time never changes with batch size; only the number of jars does.
Before you head to the recipe card, here are a few of the questions that come up most often with this soup.
Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup FAQs
No. Sausage, potato and kale soup contains low-acid ingredients, so it is not safe for water bath canning. You need to use a pressure canner to make safe, shelf-stable jars.
No. Flour, cornstarch, and other thickeners are too dense to let heat move through the jar safely, so they are never added before canning. Thicken the soup on the stove when you reheat it to serve, using about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per quart.
No. Dairy is not safe to pressure can in a soup, so the cream stays out of the jar. Stir in about half a cup of heavy cream or half and half per quart when you reheat the soup to serve, which gives you the creamy Zuppa Toscana texture.
No. The processing time and pressure are what make the sealed jars safe, and this recipe uses the longer times developed for dense, meat-filled jars. Always process pints for the full 75 minutes and quarts for the full 90 minutes, adjusting pressure for your altitude.
Properly processed and sealed jars hold their peak quality for about 12 to 18 months in a cool, dark place, and they stay safe to eat beyond that as long as the seal is intact, though the quality slowly fades. Refrigerate after opening and use within 3 to 4 days.
Here is the full printable recipe, along with a roundup of more soups to keep your pressure canner busy.
Soup Canning Recipes
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Canning Sausage Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana)
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
- 3 lbs ground sausage, seasoned or plain
- 4 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 lb kale, destemmed and chopped
- 10 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water
- 2 tbsp canning salt, less if using salted broth
- 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids. Add a few inches of water to the canner and keep the jars hot at about 180 degrees F.
- Peel and cube the potatoes into even 1/2-inch cubes. Destem and chop the kale, using mostly the leaves.
- Brown the sausage in a large stockpot over medium heat until no pink remains, leaving some small chunks rather than fine crumbles.
- Add the potatoes, kale, salt, pepper, and broth or water to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Ladle the solids evenly into the hot jars first, then divide the broth among the jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles, recheck the headspace, and top off with boiling broth or water if needed. Wipe the rims, then apply lids and bands fingertip tight.
- Place the jars in the pressure canner and lock the lid. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then bring the canner to pressure. Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 lbs pressure in a dial gauge canner, adjusting pressure for altitude.
- When the processing time is complete, turn off the heat and allow the canner to depressurize naturally. Do not force cool. Once the canner reaches zero pressure, remove the weight or open the petcock and wait 10 minutes before opening the lid.
- Remove the jars and cool on the counter for at least 12 hours. Check the seals and store sealed jars; refrigerate any that did not seal.
Notes
Ingredient Notes
You can use seasoned sausage (like Italian sausage or chorizo) for this recipe, or unseasoned ground pork. The salt in this recipe is designed to account for seasoned prepared sausage with salt added. If using unseasoned sausage, you’ll likely need a bit more salt for flavor, and you might also want to add some dry spices like garlic and paprika. (Adjust to your tastes. You’re always allowed to add more or less salt to pressure caning recipes, and you’re able to use a reasonable amount of any dry seasoning as well.) The quantity of potato and kale in this recipe is weighed once prepared. To make about 4 1/2 lbs of peeled potatoes from 5 pounds whole as purchased. Likewise, for 1 lb of stemmed kale, you’ll need about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs with stems.Altitude Adjustments
The canning time for this soup remains the same regardless of altitude. Pint jars are processed for 75 minutes, and quart jars are processed for 90 minutes. Pressure, however, changes based on elevation and the type of canner you’re using. Altitude adjustments for canning sausage potato and kale soup are as follows:For dial gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 2,000 feet in elevation – 11 lbs pressure
- 2,001 to 4,000 feet in elevation – 12 lbs pressure
- 4,001 to 6,000 feet in elevation – 13 lbs pressure
- 6,001 to 8,000 feet in elevation – 14 lbs pressure
For weighted gauge pressure canners:
- 0 to 1,000 feet in elevation – 10 lbs pressure
- Above 1,000 feet – 15 lbs pressure
Serving Notes
To serve, empty the contents of a quart jar into a saucepan and gently heat over medium-low heat. This should take about 10 minutes for everything to fully heat through. If you’d like, you can thicken the soup with a cornstarch slurry made with 1 tbsp of cornstarch per quart. You can also add about 1/2 cup of heavy cream or half and half per quart. A sprinkling of fresh herbs is really amazing too, and it’s best served with toast or breadsticks. All of these things are optional, and it’s also perfectly fine as a simple heat-and-eat meal in a jar.Variations and Changes
The most common question I get asked on this recipe is about adding onions or garlic, and those can be added safely provided you don’t overpack the jars. Remove a cup or two from the total amount of potatoes and you can substitute an equal amount of diced onion (or add an extra jar to the batch).Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This canning recipe for sausage, potato and kale soup is adapted from Angi Schneider’s cookbook, Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond. Lovely pictures in this post by Chez LaRae.
Keep that pressure canner running with more pressure canning recipes. Once you have the canner out, it is worth filling a few extra jars with pantry staples like canning chicken and canning Boston baked beans, or branch into something with more spice like canning Thai red curry duck.
Meal in a Jar Canning Recipes
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I apologize for asking a dumb question….I went back and reread the recipe (twice) and finally found the answer. Sheesh! Thanks for a great recipe that I definitely will be canning soon!
No worries at all! Glad I could help.
How much does one recipe make?
This should make about 7 quarts. Enjoy!
This soup is DELICIOUS! It made more than I could fit in one canner, but two of my jars didn’t seal. Is it okay to add the contents of those jars back to the rest of the soup and reprocess, or would another 90 minutes turn everything to mush?
What I’d do is reheat the two that didn’t seal on in a separate pot, and then pour them back into the jars hot with new lids, taking extra care to wipe the rims to make sure they don’t have any oil on them. And then re-process it, along side the other jars in your next batch.
I wouldn’t mix it back in to the un-canned batch, just incase it gets really soft in the jars.
Enjoy!
I can’tmake enough of this for my friends and my nieces
I’m so glad everyone’s loving it!
5 stars for the recipe because it’s one of my family’s favorites things that I can. My only critique is I’ve made this recipe, as written, several times and I never have enough for 7 jars. I consistently get 6 jars and I have to add more broth to fill them.
This is not a critique of this particular recipe, just an observation… I canned Zuppa Toscana soup last summer and found that I prefer it freshly made. When canned, the vegetables become soggy, the meat overcooked, definitely not the gourmet treat I get at Olive Garden!
I just canned this soup, and two of the jars have spinach up by the lid that won’t shake down, almost like they are partly under lid. The lids feel and look sealed. Do you think they are safe to put on shelves? Or should I refrigerate them?
That’s a tricky call. If they’re properly sealed, the contents don’t have to be under the water line and it’s fine if they’re up stuck to the lid. Anything above the waterline will degrade faster, and you should use those jars first. However, if they’re not actually sealed…then the can’t be stored on the pantry shelf and should go immediately into the refrigerator. I can’t make this call for you, so you’ll have to use your best judgement.
Just made this today. I used mild Italian sausage and spicey. Very tasty. 😋 I canned four quarts in my Nesco pressure canner – three of the four leaked broth during the process. Why? I used the same Ball lids for each.
Jars leaking in the canner is usually related to temperature swings inside the canner, like the element bringing the temperature up too fast. That’s one of the downsides of the nesco, it has less thermal mass than a normal canner, so it heats faster with a powerful electric element…but that can have drawbacks too. One way to help prevent that is to make sure the soup is piping hot when it goes into the canner, and that the water in the canner is really hot when you add the jars. Then everything starts close to boiling, and there’s not much of a swing when the heating element kicks on. There is a learning curve with those electic ones, and that’s one of the tricks.
Hope this helps!
I just tried canning this today and there is a very dark liquid floating at the top of most of the jars (like the fat mixed with the kale coloring, I assume). it looks ominous. Have you encountered this?
Side note, we tried this out before canning and it is delicious! Hoping the batch isn’t ruined somehow.
If the jars are sealed and were processed the correct amount of time, they’re fine. Often depending on your particular ingredients you can get discoloration, and that’s normal. Some potatoes, for example, will turn brown in the pressure canner because they’re a bit sweeter and the sugars caramelize. If I made this and ended up having a kale colored oil at the top of the jars, I’d call that normal (and likely related to your particular sausage or kale that you used, since there’s so much variation in ingredients). But I wouldn’t see it as a safety thing. Enjoy!
Hi! This is just what I’ve been looking for, thank you. Is there any way I could add white beans? I see for adding onions you say to remove some of the potatoes or just add another jar. Could the same thing be done with presoaked, precooked white beans?
Beans are tricky when it comes to adding them to canning recipes because they absorb a lot of water and can lead to dry jars or overly thick soups. One thing you could do is make this recipe as a “brothy soup” which has you fill the jars halfway with solids and then the rest of the way with liquid to 1 inch headspace. In brothy soup recipes, you are allowed to add beans because there’s plenty of liquid in there. I have more information on this in my guide to making your own soup canning recipe here: https://creativecanning.com/choice-soup-canning-recipe/
Any reason the potatoes need to be peeled if the potatoes used have thin skins like Yukon gold or red potatoes?
The skins will fall off in canning and float around the jar, making for a weird texture when you serve the soup. That’s the quality reason.
The safety reason is that according to the NCHFP, canning times for potatoes and other root vegetables were developed assuming peeling. Soil is where botulism spores are found, so anything grown underground in dirt has more of a chance of carrying that sort of thing. They have you peel it to remove the soil contact layer.
Hi. Is this recipe ok with turkey sausage and/or unseasoned ground turkey? Or, do any processing times or headspace need to be changed/adjusted with turkey?
You can use ground turkey or turkey sausage in this recipe with no adjustments. That’s a fine substitution. Enjoy!
Do the potatoes need to be tender before canning or should they still be undercooked as they’ll cook in the pressure canning process? I am hoping to make a large batch, part for canning, part for lunch for the week so I wasn’t sure if I needed to start the canning process before the potatoes were ready.
The potatoes are still quite firm when it goes into the canner. They’re heated through, but not tender. I’d say that you’ll need to get the first half canning and then keep cooking the rest for another 15 to 20 ish minutes for it to be fully done.
Can you safely add cooked bacon and sauted onion to this canning recipe?
Sauteed onion is fine for canning, but bacon is not an “approved” canning ingredient because it hasn’t been specifically tested. You can, however, use salt pork in this recipe since that’s not cured, just salted. It’s the curing that is the not tested part. Best of luck!
Can I use frozen kale for this recipe? I have lots saved from last years garden.
Yes, you can use frozen, that’s fine. Enjoy!
Can you substitute cauliflower for the potatoes for a low carb option?
Califlower isn’t tested for canning (other than as pickles). It may well be fine, but it’s not specifically tested. The reason is cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc) tend to get a sulphur taste when pressure canned, so given that, they didn’t bother testing any of them for anything in a pressure canner.
Can I use pancetta instead of sausage?
According to the NCHFP in the US, salt cured meats aren’t tested for canning and they’re not quite sure how they’ll do in the canner. Pancetta in particular is a lot more dense than sausage, so it’s hard to say if it’d heat all the way through in canning. Since it’s not tested, I don’t have any recommendations for you one way or the other.
Hi Ms Ashley,
!.) I am in Canada and we’re metric. So I hauled out the old slide rule and tried to make the recipe for 14 pints give me the 18 500ml jars that my canner will hold. Didn’t quite get it right, had to add more broth, and some of the jars only had veggie broth, but all got done. I am setting up a spreadsheet to convert this-to-that so I can get full canner loads despite the differences in recipes and measuring systems; if I get it working I’ll send it to you (I owe you Sooo Much!)
2.) So here’s the report: Finally got it all together — you must be a ball of lightening, I can’t get it all ready to can in 20 min. more like 2 days. However, I did finally get it all together and pressure canned. But one jar did not seal (alors!), what a problem! Clearly the DH and I had to eat it, we added the ‘splash of cream’ that you recommend, and ate it with toast. The DH says 10 out of 5 but I cannot find the rater button. Can you please… ?
Regards,
Dawn
So glad you enjoyed it! And yes, maybe that prep time is a bit optimistic. I’m a wicked fast veggie peeler, but even still, I’ll go adjust it to be a bit more reasonable. Thanks for that!
What would the cooking time for half gallon jars?
You cannot safely pressure can in half gallon jars. There are only two recipes with times developed for half gallon jars, and they’re apple juice and grape juice. Both are water bath canning recipes. Those are the only ones that have tested recipes for half gallon jars. (You actually can’t fit half gallon jars in most pressure canners anyway.)
I made a double batch of this soup for dinner and decided that maybe I should can half. I left the soup to simmer a bit longer than ten minutes. Will the potatoes be mushy if I can it? I’ve never pressured canned anything and thought since I made the soup I should just pull the trigger and go for it! Any insight is helpful. I’ve had my 23qt presto for a year and never taken it out of the box.
I’ve generally found that potatoes hold up really well in a pressure canner, and they don’t tend to turn to mush regardless of what I do. I think it’s something about the pressure that actually keeps them together. The main thing here is you want to make sure you have enough broth to cover the soup and so that it’s not too thick in the jars.
I am vegetarian, and I wasn’t sure about using vegan sausage in the recipe, so I just left it out, figuring I could add it at the time I want to serve it. I went ahead and processed at 90 minutes. Only afterwards did I realize that I could have probably reduced the time to 40 minutes because it didn’t have the meat. That might be worth noting.
So in this case, you’re actually still going to use the same canning time believe it or not. (Yes, even without the meat). Many vegetables have longer canning times than meat, and vegetarian soups have the same canning times as those containing meat.
Could spinach be subbed for the kale?
Yes, you can use any cooking green here, including spinach, bok choi, chard, etc. Enjoy!
I am curious as to why you opt for the 90 minutes processing time recommended by Ball instead of the 75 minute time requirement in the NCHP chart above? Since NCHP is from US Dept of Agriculture do you feel their commendations are not trustworthy? Just trying to decode all the details. Thanks
I’m so sorry about that, I put the wrong table in this recipe and I really apprecitate you catching that. The instructions were right everywhere, I just inserted an image of the generic soup guidelines and that was incorrect. Here’s what I’ve edited the post to add:
Note that in general, the USDA suggests canning times of 60 minutes for soup pints, and 75 minutes for quarts, but those recipes have much more liquid in the jars. Their chicken soup recipe, for example, has the jars only half filled with solids.
This recipe uses the times for meat and other dense, full jar recipes developed by the USDA. Be sure to use the full 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts for this recipe, rather than the generic soup processing instructions.
Would it still be safe to add chopped onion?
Yes. Quite a few people have asked that question, so I’ve added this to the notes on the recipe:
The most common question I get asked on this recipe is about adding onions or garlic, and those can be added safely provided you don’t overpack the jars. Remove a cup or two from the total amount of potatoes and you can substitute an equal amount of diced onion (or add an extra jar to the batch).
I love love love this soup! I swap the kale out for Swiss Chard and add carrots. Should I change anything and is this a safe swap?
That is a fine swap, just make sure you add a bit more broth if you add more than a small amount of carrots to make sure there’s enough liquid in there. Pack the jars loose, but yes, both kale in place of chard is fine, as is adding a reasonable amount of carrots if you also add broth or liquid to keep it soupy.
Should I have drains the fat off? mine look way orangeier than yours.
You can drain the fat or leave it, either is fine for canning this recipe and it’s up to your personal preference.
What do you think about subbing turnips for the potatoes? I know it will probably change the flavor/texture a bit. Looking for options to accommodate a restricted diet.
That actually should be just fine. The canning time for turnips is actually ever so slightly less than canning potatoes, and it’s a lot less than this soup is canned for given that it has meat in it. The main thing to watch is that they stay firm in the jars and don’t fall apart to create a creamy/thick soup. They really need to stay as distinct pieces in the jars so that it’s cubes and broth, rather that a smooth soup. That will ensure even processing.
Turnips are pretty durable in canning, and they hold up really well, so I don’t think that should be a problem. Just keep a eye on the texture and be gentle with them as you pack everything.
Enjoy!
Can onions be added to the recipe?
Yes. Quite a few people have asked that question, so I’ve added this to the notes on the recipe:
The most common question I get asked on this recipe is about adding onions or garlic, and those can be added safely provided you don’t overpack the jars. Remove a cup or two from the total amount of potatoes and you can substitute an equal amount of diced onion (or add an extra jar to the batch).
All my broth is gone after the canning process. It looks like the potatoes may have soaked everything up. Is that to be expected, or did I do something out of order?
It looks like your jars siphoned during the canning process. The potatoes will “soak up” a small amount, but no more than a tablespoon or so. If you’ve lost that much liquid, it came out of the jars. Here’s some info on what can cause siphoning, and how to determine if your jars are still ok:
https://www.healthycanning.com/loss-of-liquid-during-home-canning/
I was wondering if I could use linked sausage cut into bites and browned?
Yes, that should be fine. Just make sure you look at the ingredients on the sausage links to be sure they don’t contain flour or bread crumbs, or anything else that’s not canning safe. Most don’t, but occasionally you do find link sausage that has fillers.
Thanks for providing the purchase weight of the veg. Very helpful!
You’re welcome!
Can chicken sausage be used instead of pork sausage?
Yup!
Hi there – love the recipe. I followed instructions, and I ended up with 7 quarts AND 8 pints (had to run two batches in the canner). Not complaining, just telling you the quantities are off for the amount of ingrdients….
Thank you for the heads up! I’ll re-make the recipe to double check the yield.
H Ashley.
What did you find out? I’m going to make this today. Also, can I add carrots and green beans? If so, do I need to adjust anything (Time, ingredients, etc.)?
Kindly,
Terry
I agree. Same for me.
What is exactly canning salt? I usually use redmond real salt (unrefined sea salt). Can I continue using that for canning purposes or what salt is recommended?
Yes, Redmond’s salt works great. Canning salt is a type of salt without any additives (Redmond’s is like that too, which is great). Most iodized salt has anti-caking agents and other things in it, so it’s not just salt. Look at the ingredients list, and if it doesn’t have any other stuff in it, then you can use it for canning. It needs to be just salt.
I wrote up a little guide for you to help: https://creativecanning.com/pickling-canning-salt/
What kind of potato would you recommend? I have yukon gold and russets on hand
Both yukon gold and russets are great for canning generally, and it’s up to you.
Russets are a bit more starchy, which works well in this soup, but can be a cosmetic issue sometimes.
Yukon gold tend to be “sweeter” which you barely notice when you cook them regularly, but when pressure canned occasionally they’ll darken a bit as the natural sugars carmelize. This is not a common problem, but it does happen sometimes.
I’ve canned with both though.
I can’t wait to make this. This is my favorite soup. I’ll have to make it this summer when my kale is ready. Thanks!
Looks delicious! Can more kale be added without creating a problem canning?
Yes, you can add more kale. Reduce the potatoes a bit so you don’t overpack the jars. Enjoy!
I made this last night. I added onion and garlic as well, but otherwise, followed the direction. With the extra veg, I had half a jar left over for lunch today. What I pressure canned though, the color drastically changed. It looks like it has tomatoe added it’s so red. I have the uncanned soup to compare so I see the night and day difference. Any idea why that happened?
You’ll often get color changes when canning, depending on the exact constitution of your ingredients. Sometimes garlic will turn blue/green in the canner…and sometimes not. This recipe could end in a number of colors when it comes out of the canner, as some varieties of potatoes turn brown when canned (usually sweeter varieties with more sugar) and some sausage will have seasonings that change color in the canner. Color aside though, that’s a cosmetic thing, and I’m sure your soup is still delicious.