Canning soups for beginners: what I've learned filling my pantry with soup
There's nothing like coming in from the cold and knowing a jar of soup is waiting in the pantry. Last weekend I filled my pantry shelf with 14 pints of soup, seven of chicken soup and seven of beef and veggie soup, and I want to share what I've learned so you can do the same.
It was a long day in the kitchen, but the whole house smelled like Sunday dinner, and seeing those jars lined up on the shelf afterward made every minute worth it.
Soup always goes in a pressure canner
Soup mixes low-acid ingredients like vegetables, meat and stock, so it has to be pressure canned. A water bath canner doesn't get hot enough to make it safe. If you're new to pressure canning, start with Pressure cooker or pressure canner? and A beginner's guide to safe home canning.
What goes in the jar (and what waits until you open it)
This is the part that surprises most beginners. The USDA soup method is clear that you should not put these in the jar:
Noodles, pasta or rice
Flour, cornstarch or any other thickener
Milk, cream, cheese or butter
They make the soup too dense for the heat to get all the way through the jar. Instead, you add them when you open a jar to eat it. That's why there are no noodles in my chicken soup jars. They go in the pot on the day I serve it.
Don't mash or purée soup before canning either. Keep the vegetables and meat in pieces.
The basic method I follow
These steps come from the USDA's National Center for Home Food Preservation soup method:
Cook any meat first and prepare each vegetable the way its own canning instructions say (for example, potatoes in 1/2-inch cubes).
Put everything in a pot, cover with stock or water, and boil for 5 minutes.
Fill each hot jar halfway with the solids using a slotted spoon.
Top up with the hot liquid, leaving 1 inch of headspace.
Remove air bubbles, wipe the rims and put on the lids.
Process at the right pressure for your altitude and for the ingredient that needs the longest time.
Hot pack only, and process at least 4 pints or 2 quarts in a load.
Pressure and altitude
We're at about 2,273 feet here on the farm, so I use 15 pounds on my weighted gauge for every soup. Your pressure depends on your altitude and your type of gauge, so check yours in my canning altitude adjustments chart before you start.
Mixing soups in one canner load
If you can both soups in one load, like I do, use the longest processing time of any soup in the canner. Both of mine need 75 minutes for pints. Longer is safe; shorter is not.
My tested soup recipes
Canning beef and veggie soup (coming soon)
Canning chicken soup, my noodle soup starter (coming soon)
Harvesting pumpkins and canning butternut squash for winter soup
Opening and preparing a jar of home-canned soup (coming soon)
Sources I follow
Now when one of those long days hits, a warm dinner is just a jar away ;)
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