Canning - Part 3 of 5 Pressure Canning Recipes

Recipes Courtesy of Simply Canning

Directions for canning soup

First cook any meats and vegetables.
If you are canning soup with beans cook them by covering dried beans with water by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes, remove from the heat and let soak for at least 1 hour and drain.
Combine all solid ingredients and add whatever broth you may be using. Chicken broth, beef broth, canned tomatoes or water.
Add spices and seasoning at this point as well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remember no dairy, thickeners, pasta or rice. These can be added later when you serve the soup.
Fill your jars leaving a 1 inch head space. Be sure to fill each jar about halfway full with the solid ingredients. I use a slotted spoon. Then add the liquid to the cover. This way you don't end up with some jars being mostly broth and others having too much solid ingredients.
In this image you can see several jars where I've added the veggies and meat. Then one jar on the left where I've added the liquid.
There is also a safety reason for this. The gist of it is; you want the heat to penetrate fully to the center of the jar. If your soup is too thick, it may not do so.
This soup in these images is Portuguese Bean and Cabbage Soup. Recipe can be found on homemade soup recipes. Having extra liquid can also be helpful if you'll be adding noodles or rice when you serve it.

Tip:

I like chunky soup. So there were a few times where I realized I was not going to have enough liquid to cover each jar. Depending on the soup... chicken broth is the best base. So if that happens to you just evenly distribute the soup liquid you do have. Then if needed top off each jar with a bit of chicken broth. (heat it up first). This has worked well for me. You could just add water... but I'm always afraid it will dilute the flavor. But if you really only need a bit more liquid... water would probably work too.

Place your lids and process following pressure canning instructions.
Process pints 60 minutes, quarts 75 minutes. Be sure to adjust your pressure according to your altitude.
If you are canning soup with seafood you will need process either pints or quarts for 100 minutes.

Be sure to adjust processing according to your altitude. For more information see this altitude adjustments page.

Adjustments for Pressure Canner
Altitude in Feet	Dial Gauge Canner	Weighted Gauge Canner
0-1000	10	10
1001-2000	11	15
2001-4000	12	15
4001-6000	13	15
6001-8000	14	15
8000-10,000	15	15

Source - National Center for Home Food Preservation

Chicken Noodle Soup

Prepare

Gather your canning supplies

• pressure canner
• canning jars
• canning seals and rings
• jar lifter
• canning funnel
• stock pot
• bowls
• large spoons
• sharp knife
• towels and dish cloths

• ladle

Ingredients

• 4 quarts chicken broth - homemade chicken broth is best.
• 4 cups chopped chicken - cooked
• 4 cups vegetables - I use 1 cup celery, 2 cups carrots, 1 cup onion, adjust this to taste.
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• If you like other seasonings you can add them. Remember they will be stronger by being canned.

Procedure

Place chicken broth and chopped chicken in a stock pot, bring to a boil.

Homemade broth makes superior homemade chicken soup.

Chop vegetables. I use about 1 cup each celery and onion and 2 cups carrots. You can alter that as long as you end up with about 4 cups total.

Add vegetables to stock pot bring to a boil.

Add salt and pepper. I use about 1 T salt. I don't really measure my pepper, just shake some in.

Add garlic. This can be finely diced or use a garlic press.

Add any seasonings that you prefer. We like ours with just the ingredients listed.

Remember that fresh seasonings may get stronger as they are canned. If you add bay leaves, let the soup simmer for a bit to get the flavor throughout but remove the bay leaves before filling jars.

Pour hot soup into hot jars, leave 1 inch head space.

Place your lids on and process according to pressure canning instructions.

Process

Process

Pints - 1 hour and 15 minutes
Quarts - 1 hour 30 minutes.

Adjustments for Pressure Canner
Altitude in Feet	Dial Gauge Canner	Weighted Gauge Canner
0-1000	10	10
1001-2000	11	15
2001-4000	12	15
4001-6000	13	15
6001-8000	14	15
8000-10,000	15	15

Source - Ball Blue Book