Canning Green Beans without a pressure canner,
oh please don’t do it.
I get this question quite often.
“I need information about canning green beans without a pressure canner. Can you help me? “
No, it is not safe to waterbath can green beans. Click on the links to find out why.
Botulism – a type of food poison preventable by using a pressure canner. Green beans are a low acid food and at risk of botulism. Use the pressure canner and it is perfectly safe!
Which canning method should I choose. Learn more about what type of canner to use for low acid or high acid foods.
I’ll say it again…. When you are home canning green beans you have to use a pressure canner.
What others have to say…
Sharon, thanks for stressing the pressure canning method for canning green beans. There is no other way to can green beans, not withstanding what all of our grandmas did. I worked in the operating room for 22 years as a Registered Nurse.
Our preferred method of sterilizing operative instruments was by steam under pressure. U can reach a much higher sustained temperature with steam under pressure. This method kills resistant micro organisms and spores, fungus, yeast, viral and bacterial micro organisms.
Just can’t kill ALL of those organisms by submerging in boiling water. Some of the most nasty organisms form spores around their cell so they can survive without a host for a long time. Boutulism is the condition when a nasty organism isn’t killed by boiling water and comes alive again in a person’s gut after it is unknowingly ingested.
Having said that, PLEASE, everyone, there should be no hesitation when it come to using a pressure canner for non-acid foods! The initial investment in a pressure canner is totally, totally worth it! Thanks.
(name withheld by Sharon) ARNP-C (Family Nurse Practitioner-Certified)
This question has been asked several times….here are some examples.
I canned beans for the first time this year using the water bath method. I sterilized my jars, filled with snipped beans, covered with boiling water (left a one inch head space), put new lids and bands on and then boiled them covered for 25 minutes. The were all sealed for almost a week and now they are all unsealing. The beans inside smell rotten. Why are they unsealing? Thanks! ~ ~Mandy In
Hi Mandy
Green beans are a vegetable and therefore really must be pressure canned, not water bath canned. It sounds as if you did water bath canning.
This page has directions for pressure canning green beans. There are several links to more pressure canning directions on this page as well.
Other than the processing it sounds as if you did everything else right.
Unfortunately you will need to dispose of the beans already done. Throw it away where no animals can get into it. It can make them sick as well.
I’m sure this is discouraging but I hope you will try again.
I don’t have a pressure cooker. How long do I need to boil jars of green beans so as to preserve them? Our parent’s all canned green beans without a pressure cooker. ~ Thank You Tony D
Hi Tony
Many people used to water bath can green beans. They process them for a very long time. However it is now recommended that you pressure can them.
You are at risk of botulism if you only water bath can.
I am sorry I can not recommend a time for you for water bath canning green beans. The only recommendation I can give is to pressure can them.
I don’t have a pressure canner. Can I do a water bath canning instead with green beans. ~Ruth IN
Hi Ruth.
Green beans are a vegetable and to ensure safety must be pressure canned.
If you don’t have a pressure canner do you know someone you could borrow from? Or you might consider freezing your green beans.
Be sure to see what else you can do with Green Beans.
Even though you can’t can green beans without a pressure canner, You can pickle green beans with just a a water bath. And you can preserve them in other ways. Check out these posts to see what else is possible.
Dilly Beans (aka pickled green beans)
Canning Green Beans (with a pressure canner)
If I add a teaspoon of lemon juice will that add acid
You can’t just add acid to vegetables to make them safe for water bath, because it would have to be at a certain level (and only a tested recipe would be able to tell you that) – they need to be pressure canned.
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
Really? Not safe? I have eaten beans canned by water bath method all.ky life and have never gotten sick from them. Nor have I ever met anyone who has.
Hi, John! You can read more of Sharon’s thoughts and perspectives on this subject here: https://www.simplycanning.com/canning-safety-overkill/ There are no canning police, as she likes to say, however, so you have to make your own decisions.
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
Actually! That’s they way it was always done by my ancestors. I do not recall anyone ill or dying from it.
Hi Stewart, I’ll refer you to the same article.:) Canning Safety Overkill? In that post I discuss the statistics of food-born botulism. I’m glad you don’t know anyone who has become ill from this practice. I still would not take that extra risk. Processing with a pressure canner is very easy.
Hi Sharon,
My daughter water bath canned some green beans 6 days ago, not knowing they should be pressure canned. Can we eat them now or attempt to pressure can them? Or do they need thrown out?
Since it’s been 6 days already at room temp (not refrigerated, I assume), they should be thrown away.
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
I just water bathed 24 pints of green beans (last night). Now I’m reading that this is wrong and I’m nervous. Are they a loss or can I put them in my pressure canner today so I don’t waste them?? Thanks!
If it’s been less than 24 hours, you can place the food in the fridge or freezer, or you could reprocess in jars (using the exact same steps as if the beans were fresh). However, I think they would be mushy after being processed again, so I’d suggest freezing or refrigerating them instead.
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
Thanks – I am in the process of pressure canning – fingers crossed they aren’t mushy. Sad thing – I typically pressure can them, but I had a ‘wise ole owl’ of older generation tell me that they water bathed them for years. I decided to try… never again… BTW – I did water bath a batch of green beans in mid-July – they are already spoiled – cloudy – smelled really bad – popped their lids. So – I pitched everything I did in July… sad lesson learned (so much work wasted). Another question – beets – I roasted… Read more »
Sadly yes the risk is the same. Any meat or vegetable must be pressure canned. Also since your beans are already cooked be sure you use the hot pack method for your second pressuring… (is that a word?) You’ll need to heat them up repack your jars and then proceed.
And in case you are wondering… don’t try to reprocess your waterbath beets. 🙁 Sadly I would not eat them either. I hate being the bearer of bad news.
And to clarify, IF you do want to reprocess…you’ll need to remove the beans from the jars, reheat, and pack the beans into the jars again using the hot pack instructions. Please let me know if that isn’t clear. 🙂
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
I make pickled green bean water bath with a recipe out of the ball canning book. Is the article talking about pickled green bean too?
Thank you
No, pickled products can be processed safely in a water bath canner because of the added vinegar, which adds acid and makes it safe. https://www.simplycanning.com/dilly-beans/
-Rachel (Sharon’s assistant)
Thank you for this. I started my canning journey many years ago with a class. The very first slide they showed was a church with multiple caskets from the botulism deaths of a family who had eaten waterbath canned green beans. (I grew up eating canned green beans from my grandmother who I’m pretty sure water bath canned only) They weren’t my favorite to begin with, but since then I have never had a canned green bean 🙂 I freeze, or now freeze-dry my own harvests. I found these when searching for the image. My guess is that this happens… Read more »
I have been canning green beans in a waterbath canner for 45 years. My family and family friends have been doing it for decades, long before I was even around. Adding a pickling solution instead of just water is the key. They come out crisp, delicious and safe.
Oh yes pickled green beans are fine if you are using an appropriate pickling solution. For anyone who wants to try it you can find a pickled green beans recipe here…