Canning Asparagus Soup Base

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This pressure-canned asparagus soup base combines chopped asparagus, onions, garlic, and savory stock for a simple and shelf-stable start to a creamy spring soup. It’s not pureed before canning, so you can blend it fresh when serving—hot or cold, depending on the season. Just heat, puree, and finish with a splash of cream or a pat of butter for an easy homemade asparagus soup anytime.

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Canning time1 30

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pressure Canning, Soup Canning Recipe

Servings: servings, Makes 2 quarts, see notes

Author: Ashley Adamant

Equipment

Pressure Canner

Ingredients

In total, for a small two-quart canner batch, you'll need:

1 ½ cup onion chopped, about 200 g
6 cups asparagus chopped, about 400 g
2 cloves garlic minced or whole
2 tsp salt
Vegetable stock to fill about 4 cups

Instructions

Prepare your pressure canner and jars. If hot packing, your canner should be at 180°F.
Wash and chop the onions and asparagus, and mince the garlic.
Combine onions, asparagus, garlic, and salt in a pot, then cover with vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup base solids into jars, leaving 1-inch headspace, then top with broth, still maintaining 1 inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, seal jars, and process at 10 pounds pressure for 90 minutes for quarts or 75 minutes for pints, adjusting pressure for altitude.
Cool, check seals, and store.

Notes

Just a quick note—while I’ve shown the ingredients portioned out directly in jars so you can see the ratios, this recipe must be hot packed. That means you can use the jars to measure, but you’ll need to transfer everything to a stock pot, add the broth, and bring it all to a full boil before packing.

This step is important for safety and quality. It helps ensure the ingredients are well mixed and prevents any dense layers from forming in the jars. Even distribution is key to making sure the recipe processes properly in the canner.

Quantities for Each Quart

This recipe follows the University of Alaska's Hearty Soup Canning Guidelines (Publication FNH-00065). The minimum batch size for pressure canning is two quarts, but feel free to scale it up as needed.

If you're scaling up this recipe, here's how much you'll need for each additional quart jar:

¾ cup chopped onion (about 100 g)

1 ½ cups chopped asparagus (about 200 g)

1 garlic clove, minced or whole

1 tsp salt

Vegetable stock to fill (about 1 ½ to 2 cups)

Serving Suggestions

When you’re ready to enjoy your creamy asparagus soup, simply heat it on the stove or in the microwave. It can be served as is, but it’s meant to be pureed at serving time.

For a rich, creamy finish, stir in some heavy cream or a dollop of crème fraîche right before serving. You can also garnish with fresh herbs or a sprinkle of parmesan for extra flavor.

Altitude Adjustments

With pressure canning, the processing times stay the same at higher altitudes, but the pressures change. Here are the altitude adjustments for pressure canning soup:

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

Nutrition