This canned black bean soup is a hearty, protein packed soup with a southwestern flair. Top with avocado slices and a little sour cream to make a creamy soup that will delight your family and friends.
Canned soups are so very convenient for quick dinners on busy days or for packing in lunches, but commercial soups tend to have a lot of sodium and other questionable ingredients.
By stocking your pantry with home canned soups you will know exactly what is your food. I like to spend a little time when there’s not much to do in the garden to can soups like this black bean soup and ham and bean soup.
Pressure Canned
This recipe requires a pressure canner. Do not attempt to can this recipe using a water bath or steam canner, it is not safe.
This soup will need to be processed for 75 minutes for pint jars and 90 minutes for quart jars.
If you don’t have a pressure canner the soup can be fully cooked on the stovetop and then frozen to preserve.
I can black bean soup in both quart and pint size jars. We use the quart jars for dinners and the pint jars for packed lunches.
Soak and Boil Beans First
The black beans will need to be soaked overnight for safety and to make them more digestible. Don’t skip this step.
After the beans are finished soaking, drain the water. Put the beans in a large stockpot and cover with fresh water. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 minutes.
Broth Choices
While I prefer to use homemade chicken broth for the liquid in this recipe you can also use vegetable broth to make it vegan.
Store bought broth can also be used but be sure to check the label for the sodium content.
In a pinch, water can be used, however the soup will not be as flavorful as it would be if you had used a broth. If you are going to use water, I would suggest adding a little tomato sauce or tomato juice to the water.
Serving Black Bean Soup
I love to serve black bean soup with avocado slices, a little sour cream and garnished with fresh chopped cilantro. Cornbread, tortillas, or tortilla chips are all good sides for this soup.
Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. We always appreciate your feedback. You can also save the recipe for later by pinning it or clicking on the heart in the lower right hand corner.
Canned Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Put the dried beans into a pot and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Cover and let sit overnight
- Drain the water from the beans. Put the beans back into the pot. Cover with at least 2 inches of fresh water.
- Bring the beans to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, chop the veggies.
- After the beans have boiled for 30 minutes drain the water from the beans.
- Put the beans back into the pot and add all the other ingredients.
- Bring the soup to a boil.
- Fill the jars with the black beans soup – use a slotted spoon to put the solids in first and then ladle the liquid into the jars leaving a 1 inch headspace in each jar.
- Remove air bubbles, wipe jar rims. Place lids and rings.
- Put the jars into pressure canner. Follow the instructions for your canner model.
- Process at 10 pounds of pressure (adjusting for elevation). Process quarts for 90 minutes. Pints can be processed for 75 minutes.
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!
Recipe Source
Your Choice Soup recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Low Acid Canning Combinations from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Rubbermaid, Inc. 2024. Page 126.
I would like to try this, but can I use lemon juice in place of the vinegar?
Yes.
Yum, these taste great! The red wine vinegar is a must, it really brightens up the flavors. I added some fresh jalapeño to my jars.
Sounds yummy! Would it be okay to use the bean cooking liquid as a base for the stock, and just add more water to top it up to the correct amount?
Yes, using the bean cooking liquid for part of the stock is fine.
Could I use regular oregano?
Could I use apple cider vinegar or omit entirely?
Thank you!!
Yes, you can make both of those substitutions or even leave out the vinegar since it’s in the recipe for flavor, not safety, just know that the flavor of your soup will be a little different than the original recipe.
Could I add hot peppers (jalapenos, serrano) to this recipe?
You can safely add dried pepper flakes or other dehydrated peppers but not fresh peppers.
@Angi Schneider, if you are canning the soup fresh peppers are fine.
If you chose to add fresh peppers you will need to reduce one of the other vegetables by the same weight to make it equivalent to the tested recipe this recipe is based on. However, according to the USDA you can freely add dried pepper flakes or dried spices to recipes without it affecting the safely of the tested recipe. To me, spicing it up with dehydrated peppers is just easier than worrying about the weight, which is why I replied the way I did.
Is tomato puree the same as tomato sauce?
Yes, you can use tomato sauce in it. Tomato puree is a little thicker and chunkier, but it really won’t make a difference.
Can I just make the soup and pour into each can? New to it all, not sure why separating solids to fill, then adding liquid . Also I usually puree a very small amount of the beans and add, is that ok?
The beans cannot be pureed before canning, you’ll have to do that after opening the jar to serve. The reason for separating the solids is that each jar should only be filled half way with solids in order to be safely canned. You can certainly do this one jar at a time, I just find it easier to do them all at once so the solids are evenly distributed. Hope that helps!