By now you might have gathered that I have a bit of a thing for growing and preserving green beans. We always get a bumper crop of beans from the garden and pickled bean salad really hits the spot. Today we’re diving into canning 3 bean salad, plus I’m going to share with you my absolute favorite bean salad recipe.
We enjoy this salad during the summer but LOVE having it in the dead of winter as well. By following my recipe for canning, you can enjoy it all year long as well. And a bonus on this pickled recipe is that you do not need to have a pressure canner.
If you’ve ever tried storebought 3 bean salad, you might not have been a huge fan. Personally, I think storebought is simply too syrupy and sweet. My salad has a sweet tang but is not too sweet.
I usually save any pressure canned beans where the jar didn’t seal properly and can them into bean salad. Yes, it happens. We all have failed jars. Rather than reprocessing (which you can do), I recommend you try this salad.
Fresh, Dried, or Canned Beans?
All of your beans need to be precooked for this recipe and for canning. Below is a breakdown, including cooking/method and times. You can see for all three types, I prefer to use my Instant Pot.
Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)
- Canned – Simply drain and rinse your chickpeas before adding them to your brine.
- Dried – To cook, do NOT pre-soak your beans since they have a tendency to get mushy if pre-soaked. To pressure cook in the Instant Pot, cook on high pressure for 45 minutes and natural release for 20 minutes. You will notice a skin on the outside of your cooked chickpea. While this is tedious, you’ll want to remove the skin, (I recommend you recruit helpers).
Kidney Beans
- Canned – Same thing as the chickpeas, simply drain and rinse before adding them to your brine.
- Dried – To cook, do NOT pre-soak your beans, which can cause them to break down some. To pressure cook in the Instant Pot, cook on high pressure for 30 minutes and natural release for 20 minutes.
Green Beans
- Canned – If you’re in a pinch, you can use canned, drain, and rinse well.
- Fresh – At a minimum, these should be steamed for 5 minutes on the stovetop. I prefer to steam in my instant pot as well. Place your rack in the bottom of your canner, add 1 cup of water, and lay your beans on the rack. Cook on high pressure for 0 minutes and quick release.
Bean Combinations for Canning 3 Bean Salad
Depending on your garden, availability, or taste preferences, you have options for different bean combinations. Here are some ideas for you to mix and match beans for your salad. Just remember that you want to end up with about 9 cups of fresh beans and 7 cups of cooked (dried beans).
Fresh Beans
- Green Beans
- Yellow Wax Beans
- Dragon Tongue Beans – these are my new favorite and easy to see in the garden
- Long Beans
Dried Beans
- Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans
- Kidney Beans
- Black Beans
- Lima Beans
- Cannellini Beans
- Black Eyed Peas
With that let’s get into the recipe and canning 3 bean salad…
Delicious 3 Bean Salad – Canning
Ingredients
- 9 cups fresh beans washed, trimmed, cut, and steamed
- 3 cups garbanzo beans cooked, or 2-15 oz cans
- 3 cups kidney beans cooked, or 2-15 oz cans
- 2 cups celery sliced
- 1½ cups onion sliced
- 1 cup red bell pepper diced and seeded
Brine
- 3½ cup white sugar
- 2 tbsp. mustard seed
- 2 tsp. celery seed
- 2½ tbsp. pickling salt
- 6 cups white vinegar
- 2½ cups water
Instructions
- Prepare jars, water bath canner, and lids.
- Place beans and vegetables in a large stockpot.
- Add enough hot water to cover and let sit while preparing the brine.
- Add all the brine ingredients to a medium pot. Bring mixture to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and gently boil for 5 minutes.
- Drain the vegetables and pack them into sterilized canning jars, leave ½-inch headspace.
- Pour hot brine into jar, maintaining the ½-inch headspace.
- Remove bubbles with a skewer and stirring jar contents slightly. Add more brine if needed.
- Wipe brim, place lid on top and screw on band to finger tight.
- Process in waterbath canner for 15 minutes. Shut off heat and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from canner.
Nutrition
This recipe produces about 6 pints, but I’ve noticed it can vary depending on how tightly I pack my jars. I had leftover brine on one batch and simply heated more vegetables and canned to use that up.
Easy peasy! We’ve been enjoying this salad all winter long and definitely have this on our docket to can this summer again.
Do you have any favorite beans I left off? I’d love to hear your favorites in the comments!
Hi. I have 3/4 pint jars. how long would I process these instead of a full pint. I am a beginner, but we love 3 bean salad. Thank you for your help
Hi Cynthia! I checked the country extension office and they recommend you can 3/4 pint jars for the same processing time as 1/2 pint jars. Happy canning!
Thank you for getting back to me. I have cooked my dry beans by boiling them in a saucepan. Is this okay? I did not do it in the canner.
How long do you steam fresh green beans for?
Hi Lorrie! I suggest you steam fresh green beans for 5 minutes on the stovetop.
How long would you process quarts?
A general rule is 5 minutes longer for water bathing quarts versus pints but I’ve also seen the recommendation to process 3 Bean Salad for the same time for all jar sizes.
To be safe, I suggest you process quarts for 20 minutes, shut off the heat, and leave the jars for 5 minutes before removing them from the water bath canner.
Hi Cynthia, I am going to try this recipe. I am diabetic, so sugar is a no no. I have 2 choices for substitutes; Swerve or Splenda. Swerve is a powdered sugar alcohol
( sorbitol and erythritol) with Splenda mixed in. Since the label states you can substitute ounce per ounce in recipes, I assume you can use it in your recipe. However, I think it would still taste too sweet. I’m also concerned that the vegetables may turn brown. Gmif you or someone else has tried it, please let me know.
I was on vacation and had Amish Chow Chow. I was wondering if you could add corn and carrots to the bean salad recipe, and proceed to canning. Some books say you should pressure can corn but I don’t know how that will affect the vegetables overall. Also in your recipe you mention onion and celery. Do they need to be boiled first or added raw?
Thanks for your anticipated reply.
Gerry
Does the vinegar provide the acid needed for water bathing green beans? New to canning and waterbathing and have read that I cannot do green beans because they are low in acid
Hi there!
Yes, that is exactly right! The vinegar provides the acidity needed for water bathing. Normal canning of green beans without a significant amount of acid requires a pressure canner.
Blessings!
Love love love this!! I leave out the celery however but otherwise follow it and have not bought any since!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear you are enjoying it, Tracy! Blessings!
This recipe actually made 9 pints. Needed to make more brine.