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Canning taco soup puts a whole dinner on the pantry shelf. It’s spiced like taco night, and hearty enough to be the meal. Open a jar on a night that got away from you, and set out cheese, sour cream, and chips while it warms, and you have a hearty family favorite, ready in minutes.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- Quick Look at the Recipe
- Choosing Beans for Taco Soup
- Ingredients for Taco Soup
- Taco Soup Variations
- How to Make Taco Soup
- Canning Taco Soup
- Altitude Adjustments
- Serving Ideas for Taco Soup
- Storage and Shelf Life
- Yield Notes
- Canning Taco Soup FAQs
- Soup Canning Recipes
- Canning Taco Soup Recipe
- 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.
Taco soup is a good place to start with pressure canning. Nothing has to be cooked through before it goes in the jar, and the spicing is three things you already have. The recipe is adapted from Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond by Angi Schneider. It’s one of the ground beef canning recipes I come back to most.
It follows NCHFP guidance for brothy soups, the same framework behind my chipotle black bean soup and southwestern vegetable soup. Fill jars halfway with solids, then top with broth. Pints process for 60 minutes, quarts for 75.
A full canner load is 7 quarts or 14 pints, and 2 pounds of ground beef covers all of it. The beans and corn do most of the filling. If you haven’t run one before, my pressure canning for beginners guide walks through a whole batch from start to finish.
Notes from My Kitchen
The half-filled jars bothered me the first time I made this. Spoon solids in until the halfway mark, then top the jar with broth. It looks like you’re canning fourteen jars of weak stock.
They don’t come out that way. Beans and corn both swell during processing, so the jars sit on the shelf looking nearly full. Reheating cooks off a little more liquid on top of that. What lands in the bowl is a thick soup, from jars that went in looking thin.
The other thing I do with these jars is open two at once and mix them. Taco soup with a jar of southwest tomato soup is a good one, and so is taco soup with roasted poblano corn chowder. Same shelf, different dinner.
Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Canning Taco Soup
- Recipe Type: Soup Canning Recipe (brothy pack)
- Canning Method: Pressure Canning
- Prep Time: About 2 hours, most of it a quick soak for the beans
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Canning Time: 60 minutes for pints, 75 minutes for quarts
- Yield: 7 quarts, or 14 pints
- Jar Sizes: Pints or quarts
- Headspace: 1 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Ground beef, dried beans, tomatoes, onion, corn, garlic, broth, and taco spices
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: Adapted from Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond by Angi Schneider, following NCHFP guidance for brothy soups
- Difficulty: Moderate. The beans have to be soaked and rehydrated first, and the jars are only filled halfway with solids.
- Similar Recipes: The method is the same as other brothy bean soups, including white bean and kale soup, butternut squash and white bean soup, and Cuban black bean soup. For more taco night jars, there’s canning taco meat, chicken taco meat, and chipotle beef barbacoa.
Choosing Beans for Taco Soup
Red, black, or pinto beans all work here, and so does a mix of them. A pound of dry beans is about 2 1/2 cups. That’s worth knowing, since beans come in one-pound bags and this recipe is written by weight.
The beans go in by dry weight and then get soaked before they go anywhere near a jar. Dry beans swell to two or three times their size. Packed dry, they’d pull liquid out of the soup and wedge the jar too tight for heat to reach the middle. That’s a safety issue and not worth the risk. Soaking the beans is easy enough.
Beans in a brothy soup only have to be soaked and rehydrated, not cooked until tender first, the way they are for canning dry beans on their own. They finish in the jar, which is why they come out tender but not too soft. My bean canning recipes include more bean options, and they all follow a similar process.
Ingredients for Taco Soup
This is a simple soup with a traditional comfort food flavor. Feel free to switch the ground meat to ground pork, pre-seasoned taco beef, or ground venison depending on what you have on hand. If you’d like a vegetarian version, skip the meat and add extra broth to make up the space.
- Ground beef: Browned first and drained, which is required for ground meat in any canned soup. Another ground meat works in its place. If you’d rather keep the beef and the soup separate, canning hamburger puts plain browned beef in its own jars.
- Dried beans: Red, black, or pinto, soaked and rehydrated before they go in. Canned or pre-cooked beans aren’t part of this recipe, since the soak is what the timing was built around.
- Tomatoes: Peeled and chopped. Paste tomatoes give you more solids and less water, but any tomato you’d can whole is fine here. Canned diced or crushed tomatoes work too. About five 14.5-ounce cans, juice and all, replace the 4 pounds of fresh.
- Onion: Diced, and it carries a lot of the flavor. Onions have their own tested process, which is what allows them in a soup you’re canning. There’s more on that in canning onions.
- Corn: Fresh off the cob or frozen, either one. Not creamed corn, which is too starchy to can in a soup. Other ways to put it up are in my corn canning recipes and in canning corn.
- Garlic: Minced, and it mellows a lot over that long in the canner. Garlic is allowed in home canned soups in reasonable amounts on extension guidance.
- Broth or water: Whatever you fill the jars with, it goes in thin. Homemade beef broth or vegetable broth is better than water, and store-bought is fine.
- Canning salt: Canning and pickling salt keeps the broth clear. Table salt has anti-caking agents in it that cloud the jars.
- Chili powder and black pepper: The taco part. Dry herbs and spices are the one thing you can move freely in a canning recipe, so season these to your own taste.
Everything that makes it taco night gets added at the bowl instead of the jar. Cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, rice, and any thickener stay out until you’re serving. Dairy and starch both change how heat moves through a jar.
I made this recipe, and it is one of my favorite recipes for canning. I will definitely make it again. Delicious!
The question I get most on this recipe is what you’re allowed to change. Here’s where the lines sit.
Taco Soup Variations
Brothy soups are built to be flexible. You can swap one allowed vegetable for another, as long as the total volume stays the same, and you can leave something out entirely. The ingredient does have to have a tested canning process of its own, which covers peppers, potatoes, celery, and most of what you’d want in here. Dry seasonings are free to adjust. Where that line sits in general is covered in safe canning recipe changes.
What doesn’t move is the process. This soup is low acid, so it has to be pressure canned. The 60 minutes for pints and 75 for quarts is what keeps it safe on the shelf. The half solids fill is part of that time, so packing the jars fuller isn’t a swap either. No flour or cornstarch, no dairy, no rice or pasta, no cured meats like bacon or ham, and no creamed corn or cabbage. All of those go in the pot when you reheat it.
Want to build your own version instead of adjusting this one? How to create your own soup canning recipe lays out what’s allowed in a brothy soup and what isn’t.
How to Make Taco Soup
Soak the beans, brown the beef, bring everything to a boil, and pack it hot. The soup is not finished cooking when it goes in the jars, and it isn’t supposed to be.
Get your pressure canner going with a few inches of water in the bottom, and wash your jars and keep them warm in it. Set out lids, bands, a jar lifter, and a canning funnel. This is a hot pack, so the jars need to be hot when the soup goes in.
Soak the Beans
For an overnight soak, put the beans in a big pot, cover them with several inches of water, and leave them 8 hours. Drain and rinse them in the morning.
For a quick soak, bring the beans and water to a boil, boil 2 minutes, then take the pot off the heat and cover it for 1 hour. Drain and rinse. Either one gets you to the same place.
Then, whichever soak you used, put the drained beans in fresh water, bring them back to a boil, and cook 5 minutes before draining again. That second boil is not optional. It’s what finishes rehydrating them, and skipping it is how you end up with hard beans in the jar.
Simmer and Pack the Jars
Brown the ground beef, drain it, and set it aside. Put the drained beans back in the stockpot with the broth or water, then add the tomatoes, garlic, spices, corn, onions, and the browned beef. Bring it to a boil, drop it to a gentle boil, and let it go 5 minutes.
The beans and vegetables won’t be cooked through at that point. They’re only meant to be heated through for the hot pack, and they keep cooking in the jars.
Take the pot off the heat and use a slotted spoon to divide the solids between the jars, filling each one no more than halfway. Then ladle broth over the top to 1 inch headspace. Half solids and half liquid is the whole basis for the processing time, so this is the step to be careful with.
Run a bubble tool around the inside of each jar and check the headspace again, topping up with boiling water if a jar came up short. Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth, set the lids on, and screw the bands down fingertip tight.
Canning Taco Soup
Taco soup has to go in a pressure canner, dial gauge or weighted gauge. A water bath canner can’t get hot enough for a low-acid soup. There’s no tested water bath process for any soup, at any jar size. If you don’t have a pressure canner, this one freezes well instead.
Load the jars onto the rack, check the water level against your canner’s manual, and fasten the lid. Let steam vent in a steady stream for a full 10 minutes before you add the weight or close the petcock. The timer starts once it comes up to pressure.
Process pints for 60 minutes or quarts for 75 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 pounds in a dial gauge canner. Adjust for altitude with the chart below. The time is the same at every elevation, and the pressure is what changes.
When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and let the canner come down on its own. Don’t run it under water and don’t lift the weight early. Once it’s down, take the weight off slowly, wait 2 minutes, then unfasten the lid and open it away from you.
Lift the jars out onto a towel, with an inch of space around each one and out of a draft. Leave them 12 to 24 hours. More recipes that run the same way are in my pressure canning recipes.
Altitude Adjustments
With pressure canning, the times stay the same at altitude and the pressure goes up. Here are the altitude adjustments for pressure canning taco soup.
For dial gauge 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 canners:
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 10 lbs pressure
- Above 1,000 feet: 15 lbs pressure
Serving Ideas for Taco Soup
Empty a jar into a pot and heat it about 10 minutes, until it’s bubbling. That’s the whole job. Too thick? Thin it with broth or water. Too thin? Leave the lid off and let it cook down a few minutes.
The toppings are where it turns into taco night. Shredded cheddar or Monterey jack, sour cream, chives, and crushed tortilla chips all go on at the table. A spoonful of southwestern corn salsa or salsa ranchera on top is worth opening a second jar. Lime pickled onions cut the richness. There are plenty more in my salsa canning recipes.
It also works over rice or with cornbread. A drained jar makes a filling for tacos, burritos, or quesadillas. Mixing two jars is the trick I use most, and taco soup goes well with southwestern vegetable soup or chili con carne. More along those lines are in my soup canning recipes and beef canning recipes.
Storage and Shelf Life
Once the jars are cool, press the center of each lid. A sealed lid curves down and doesn’t move or click. Take the rings off before you store them, since a ring left on can hold a failed lid in place and hide a jar that never sealed.
Label them and put them somewhere cool, dark and dry. Canned taco soup is best within a year and stays good about 18 months. It’s safe past that as long as the seal holds, but the beans keep softening and the corn loses its bite.
A jar that didn’t seal goes in the fridge and gets eaten within a few days, or you can reprocess it with a new lid for the full time if you catch it within 24 hours. Once you open a sealed jar, refrigerate it and use it within three or four days.
Throw out any jar with a bulging lid, a broken seal, spurting liquid, an off smell, or cloudy broth, and don’t taste it to check.
Yield Notes
A full batch fills 7 quarts or 14 pints. To hit the prepared amounts in the card, start with about 4 1/2 pounds of whole tomatoes, 1 1/2 pounds of onions, and six or seven ears of corn. Those are weights before peeling and cutting.
The jars go into the canner half full of solids and come out looking two thirds to three quarters full, because the beans and corn swell. That’s expected, and it’s why the finished soup is heartier than the pack suggests.
Halve it or double it freely. The only floor is what your canner needs to run a batch, usually 2 quarts or 4 pints.
Canning Taco Soup FAQs
These are the ones that come up in the comments over and over.
No. Taco soup is low acid, and a water bath canner doesn’t get hot enough to make it safe on the shelf. There’s no tested water bath process for any soup at any jar size, and adding vinegar doesn’t fix that. It needs a pressure canner. Electric water bath appliances don’t count either, since they only reach boiling.
Because it’s processed as a brothy soup rather than as a jar of meat. NCHFP guidance for soups allows 60 minutes for pints and 75 for quarts when the jars are filled no more than halfway with solids, since heat moves through that much liquid quickly. Pack the jars fuller and that time no longer applies.
Yes, and the canning time stays the same. Corn takes as long to process as meat does, so the beef isn’t what sets the time. Skip it and make the rest of the recipe as written, planning on a little more broth to fill the jars.
Yes. Use an overnight soak of 8 hours or a quick soak, then boil the drained beans 5 more minutes and drain again. Dry beans swell to two or three times their size, so beans that go in unsoaked pack the jar too tightly for heat to reach the middle.
Sealed jars in a cool, dark cupboard are best within a year and stay good about 18 months. They’re safe longer than that as long as the seal holds, the beans just keep getting softer. Once you open a jar, refrigerate it and use it within three or four days.
Soup Canning Recipes
More jars worth having on the shelf in February:
If you tried this Canning Taco Soup recipe, or any other recipe on Creative Canning, leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know what you think in the 📝 comments below!
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Canning Taco Soup
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef, lightly browned
- 1 lb dry beans, red, black or pinto, as purchased and pre soaked, see notes
- 12 cups broth, or stock or water
- 4 lbs tomatoes, peeled and chopped, see notes
- 4 cups onion, diced
- 4 cups corn, fresh or frozen
- 10 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp canning salt
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 Tbsp black pepper, ground
Instructions
- Soak the dry beans, either for 8 hours overnight or with a quick soak. To quick soak, bring the beans and water to a boil, boil 2 minutes, then take the pot off the heat, cover it, and let the beans sit 1 hour. Drain and rinse.
- Prepare the pressure canner, jars and lids. Add a few inches of water to the canner following your manufacturer’s directions, set it over low heat, and keep the jars warm inside it.
- Brown the ground beef, drain it, and set it aside.
- Put the drained soaked beans in a pot, cover with fresh water, bring to a boil, and cook 5 minutes. Drain again. Do this whether you used the overnight soak or the quick soak.
- Return the beans to the stockpot and add the broth.
- Add the tomatoes, garlic, salt, chili powder, black pepper, corn, onions, and the browned beef.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, reduce to a gentle boil, and cook 5 minutes. The beans and vegetables will not be cooked through, which is correct, since they finish cooking in the jars.
- Take the pot off the heat and use a slotted spoon to divide the solids evenly between the jars, filling each jar no more than halfway with solids.
- Ladle the broth over the solids, leaving 1 inch headspace.
- Release trapped air bubbles and check the headspace again, topping up with boiling water if a jar came up short.
- Wipe the rims and threads clean, set the lids on, and apply the bands fingertip tight.
- Load the jars into the pressure canner, fasten the lid, and vent a steady stream of steam for 10 minutes before adding the weight or closing the petcock.
- Process pints for 60 minutes or quarts for 75 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 pounds in a dial gauge canner, adjusting for altitude (see notes).
- Turn off the heat and let the canner depressurize on its own, then slowly remove the weight or open the petcock.
- Wait 2 minutes, then unfasten the lid and open it away from your face.
- Remove the jars to a towel lined counter, leaving space between them, and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
- Check the seals, remove the rings, label the jars, and store them in a cool, dark place.
Notes
- Dial gauge: 11 lbs to 2,000 feet, 12 lbs to 4,000, 13 lbs to 6,000, 14 lbs to 8,000
- Weighted gauge: 10 lbs to 1,000 feet, 15 lbs above that
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Meal in a Jar Canning Recipes
Whole dinners you can open and heat:
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Also, can Better Than Bouillon be used to make the broth?
Yes, you can use better than bullion, but you’ll need to fully make the broth on the side so it’s completely dissolved before you start. Don’t just put a blob of the bullion mix in the jars. That bullion is quite salty if I remember right, so you may need to adjust the added salt in the recipe as well. Best of luck with it!
Can canned tomatoes be used instead of fresh? If so, how many cans should I use?
Yes, canned tomatoes work fine here. The recipe calls for 4 pounds of prepared tomatoes, which is about four or five 14.5-ounce cans of diced tomatoes (or two 28-ounce cans plus one small one). Use the juice too, don’t strain. Enjoy!
I just made the this. I ended up with 4 cups of corn from 5 ears. I peeled 4 and 1/2 lbs of roma tomatoes, I measured out 1 lb of black beans which was 2 and1/2 cups, I put 4 cups of chopped onions in and 10 cloves of garlic. I also put in 12 cups of beef broth and 2 lbs of cooked ground beef. After filling my 7 quart jars 1/2 full of solids I had 4 level cups of solids left. I divided the broth between the jars and had to just slightly top off with boiling water to hit my one inch head space. What did I do wrong? Can I fill some pint jars half way with the leftover solids and top off with broth and can it? It tastes very good and I want to do more but don’t want to mess up.
You didn’t do anything wrong! Yield varies a lot with how big your beans swell and how juicy your tomatoes are, so it’s common to end up with extra solids. And yes, you can can the leftovers. Bring the solids back to a boil with some broth or water, then fill 4 pint jars halfway with solids and top them off with the hot liquid to 1 inch headspace. Four pints is the minimum load for a pressure canner, so that works out perfectly. Process the pints for 60 minutes at the pressure for your altitude. Enjoy!
I love taco soup. I will pressure can mine for 90 minutes for quarts because there is meat and beans. Thank you for sharing 💜
Thank you for the wonderful recipe. Your site is my first stop when researching canning and processing methods as I am confident in your research. The fact I have never been disappointed with the recipe is a BONUS! I wanted to let you know your hard work and diligence is very much APPRECIATED.
Thank you so much!
Can I leave out the meat, will that change the pressure time
You can leave out the meat, but that won’t impact the canning time. Beans and corn actually can for as long as meat, so it’s the same canning time either way.
Can frozen corn be used or does it need to be fresh from the cob?
Frozen corn works wonderfully, enjoy!
Doesn’t it have to can for 90 minutes, because it has meat in it?
This one follows the NCHFP’s guidance for canning soups, which allows you to process the jars for less time because they’re only half filled with solids. You can read more about the canning times and guidance used for this recipe here: https://creativecanning.com/choice-soup-canning-recipe/
Hope this helps!
I have canned steamed tomato juice I use in place of broth a lot of times. Can I use that in place of the broth here or should I stick to my canned chicken broth?
You can use tomato juice here, that’s totally fine. Enjoy!
Thanks!! Making some now for meal prep for my new grandbaby due in a few weeks!
Lovely!
If you don’t like diced tomatoes, can you use crushed tomatoes instead?
Of course. Enjoy!
Can I substitute chicken for ground beef.
Yes, you can use any meat in this recipe. Enjoy!
Can I leave out the tomatoes? If I do should I use another vegetable instead or just more broth?
Yes, you can leave out the tomatoes, that’s fine. Just use more broth in place of them instead of another vegetable. Enjoy!
I just finished canning 7 quarts of seasoned taco meat for my daughter’s family. I have about 2 lbs left. I’d like to use it to make this recipe. I was wondering if maybe I could just leave out the chili powder? What do you think?
Yes, that’s perfectly fine! Pre-cooked seasoned taco meat would be great in this recipe, and in that case, yes, I’d leave out the chili powder (and maybe the other seasonings depending on what you used for seasoning in the taco meat). You may also need to adjust the salt. Either way, those are all fine modifications for this recipe. Enjoy!
I made this recipe and it is one of my favourite recipes for canning. I will definitely make it again. Delicious!
Wonderful!
Is it possible to do this with water bath canning method as I don’t have a pressure canner?
No, this one has to be pressure canned. Waterbath canning only works for jams, jellies and pickles.
Can I use ground turkey instead of ground beef ?
Yes, that’s perfectly fine. Enjoy!
Looks wonderful. We love taco soup here. Did I miss how long the beans should soak? Thank you!
You can do an overnight soak (8 hours) or a quick soak. For a quick soak, bring the beans and water to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the beans soak for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans before canning.
Looks yummy! I’ve read that you can sometimes safely substitute vegetables in canned soup recipes, as long as the total measurements remain the same. If so, could I substitute some of the corn and onions for chopped peppers?
For this particular recipe, yes, so long as the total volume says the same. This recipe follows the “brothy soups” protocol for canning, where you fill the jar halfway with solids and then fill to the top with broth. Because the beans expand a bit the jars look a bit more than half full coming out of the canner. Here’s where you can find instructions on what you can and cannot substitute in this recipe:
https://creativecanning.com/choice-soup-canning-recipe/
This sounds so good! How would you adjust the recipe if not able to pressure can and just want to make it for supper?
If you’re not going to pressure can it, the main thing you have to make sure is that the beans get cooked. What I’d do is cook the beans in broth until just tender, and then make the soup from there.
Can you use chicken breast cubed instead of ground beef?
Yes, that’s a fine substitution and I think it’d be delicious. Enjoy!
Unfortunately(or not) my soup canned at 15 pressure for 1/2 the time. Is that ok or do I need to start over?
I’m assuming that 10 pounds is right for your altitude? Canning at a higher pressure than required is fine, and that’s perfectly safe. For most foods, you actually won’t notice much of a difference. In taco soup, you might notice that the beans are a bit softer, and the corn might have changed in flavor a bit. The natural sugars in corn caramelize when canned at a really high temperature. That may or may not be delicious in this soup, you’ll have to see. But in terms of canning safety, if the jars are sealed, you’re good.
Hi, can I use canned diced tomatoes instead of fresh?
Yes, that’s perfectly fine, enjoy!
If I use canned tomatoes I recently canned, how much to tomatos do I need?
Yes, your home-canned tomatoes work great here. Use about 4 to 5 pints (or 2 to 2 1/2 quarts), juice and all. That’s roughly what replaces the 4 pounds of fresh tomatoes. If your tomatoes are whole, give them a rough chop first. Enjoy!
Can I use taco seasoning in the taco soup for canning? If so how much for 2 lbs of ground meat. Do I leave out the chili powder.
You should be able to use a packet of taco seasoning, depending on what’s in it. If it has thickeners (flour, etc), then no, but if it’s just spices then it’s fine. Most taco seasoning has salt in it though, so that’d likely make your recipe too salty if you used all the salt I have in the recipe. You’ll have to play with it and find a recipe that suits your tastes, but canning wise, there’s no reason not to try it. Enjoy!
I have some extra taco soup from my batch as I did some quarts and some pints. How long does the extra amount need to cook in order to soften the beans?
Depends a bit on your beans, but I’d go with an hour and a half, to up to 2 hours.
Can I use canned whole tomatoes?
Yup, that’s fine. Just make sure you chop them, but they can come from a can instead of fresh. Enjoy!
Could I use canned tomatoes instead of fresh for the taco soup? If so, what would be the amount?
Yes, you can use canned tomatoes in place of fresh. One 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes is usually considered equal to a pound, so since this recipe starts with 4 pounds tomatoes, you’d need four or those cans.
I have a Ball electric canner. How many minutes would I need to process in that?
Ball electric canners are water bath only, and this is a pressure canning recipe.
Because the beans are not fully cooked how full should the jars be of solids compared to the liquid so there is space for expansion of the beans? Your finished jars looks like it’s a ratio of 3 to 1 solids to liquid.
When you pack the jars, you’re only filling the jars halfway with solids. The beans do still expand a bit when canned, so they end up looking more like they’re 3/4 full when they’re canned and on the pantry shelf.
I have a good bit of creamed corn in my freezer that I need to rotate out. Could I use it in this?
Creamed corn is one of those that’s tricky for canning because it has so much starch. You can’t add that to soup canning recipes in general, even when you can use regular corn. Sorry about that!
Can I adjust seasonings to my taste without compromising the shelf stability?
You can adjust any dry seasonings you like without compromising safety. Enjoy!
I find it difficult to use a recipe that uses pounds instead of cups like 1 pound of dried beans Are we suppose to weigh the beans and other ingredients Do i need a kitchen scale?
A pound of dried black beans is 2 1/2 cups. I’ll go in and add that note. (Many people buy their beans in 1 pound bags, and don’t know it in cups, that’s why I put the dry bean measurements by weight.)
Unfortunately, I currently do not have a pressure canner. Can I water bath the soup? Also, for how long?
This recipe (and all soup recipes) must be pressure canned.
Hi! How long do you soak the beans for adding them to this recipe?
You can do an overnight soak (8 hours) or a quick soak. For a quick soak, bring the beans and water to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let the beans soak for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans before canning.
Do you cook the beef before adding it?
Yes, the ground beef needs to be browned before it’s mixed into the soup for this recipe.
Could this be canned without meat? I’m a new vegetarian and wondered if I left meat out would it change the time of canning?
You can can this recipe without the meat, that’d be perfectly fine. The canning time would be the same actually, as corn has one of the longest canning times of anything (including meat). Just skip adding the meat and proceed with the recipe as written otherwise. (You’ll likely need more veggie broth to fill the jars, so plan for that.)