# Canning Dried/Refried Beans



## shellrow (Feb 8, 2007)

I have some kidney beans and pintos I want to can. I will be using the pintos for refried beans. I was wondering if I could skip the pinto part and just can the refried beans or should I just leave them as the pintos and then fry them after opening? I am concerned that there is no juices in the refried beans and this might make them dry. Has anyone ever done this? Thanks!


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## RVcook (Mar 29, 2008)

shellrow said:


> I have some kidney beans and pintos I want to can. I will be using the pintos for refried beans. I was wondering if I could skip the pinto part and just can the refried beans or should I just leave them as the pintos and then fry them after opening? I am concerned that there is no juices in the refried beans and this might make them dry. Has anyone ever done this? Thanks!


I'm surprised nobody has responded so I'll offer an opinion. 

I don't think that canning refried beans would work. Considering how dense the finished product is, there may be some concern over whether it could be canned safely. Think pumpkin. Pumpkin puree should not be canned, but cubed pumpkin cans very nicely and can easily be pureed once drained.

If I were doing this, I would just stick to canning the beans as dried beans. Then if I wanted to make refried, I'd just drain them, season and mash them. The Ball Blue Book has instructions for how to do this.

RVcook


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## mosepijo (Oct 21, 2008)

I would also stick with just canning the beans dry. I canned a load of pinto dry beans yesterday. Put one cup dry beans in quart jar. Filled with hot water over night. Rinsed three times and then added Hot water and 1tsp. salt per jar. Pressure canned 15# (our altitude) for 90 minutes.

They turned out great and I think you would just mash them up when you open them for refried beans.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

mosepijo said:


> I would also stick with just canning the beans dry. I canned a load of pinto dry beans yesterday. Put one cup dry beans in quart jar. Filled with hot water over night. Rinsed three times and then added Hot water and 1tsp. salt per jar. Pressure canned 15# (our altitude) for 90 minutes.
> 
> They turned out great and I think you would just mash them up when you open them for refried beans.


I really like the idea of canning some beans from dry but I haven't done much pressure canning yet. Reading your instructions, I wondered if you could just soak your beans overnight, rinse, then put them in the jars with hot water and salt, and pressure can. ??? 

I wouldn't try to can refried beans either, because of the reasons RVcook gave.


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## trinityoaks (Sep 17, 2008)

I would can the dry beans. Here is how to do it:

Sort and rinse your dry beans. Fill your jars (pint or quart) 1/3 full of the dry beans. Then fill each jar with boiling water, leaving 1/2" head space. Pressure can the beans under 10 lb pressure, 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts.

When you want refried beans, heat some shortening or lard in a skillet. Pour in a jar of beans with the liquid. Once the beans are heated through and they're no longer liquidy, mash the beans and add salt, cumin, onion, garlic, and chili powder to taste.


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## mosepijo (Oct 21, 2008)

Calico Katie said:


> I really like the idea of canning some beans from dry but I haven't done much pressure canning yet. Reading your instructions, I wondered if you could just soak your beans overnight, rinse, then put them in the jars with hot water and salt, and pressure can. ???
> 
> I wouldn't try to can refried beans either, because of the reasons RVcook gave.


Yes, soak them overnight. Besure to add the salt. The first batch I did, I forgot and they were a lot more compressed. I saw the 1 cup figure in some other site one time and it definitly took our the guess work on how much. I used some the other day when making Western Beans and it was so nice to have them on hand and not the store bought cans of beans. Enjoy..


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## dixienc (Apr 11, 2008)

The recipe I use has dry pintos and seasonings. we open them up and use them for refried beans, chili, or baked beans.

Sort pintos, rinse, fill each quart jar 1/3 full of dry beans. To each quart add 1 tsp salt, 1 TB minced onion, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 1/2 TB chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 2 TB tomato sauce. If you want them spicy add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Fill jars with boiling water. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims and place lids and rings. Pressure can 90 minutes (10lbs here in Eastern NC).

I gave some of these out to my neighbors who love cajun food and they have come back asking for more. They are really good with the seasoning already in the beans, you just pour into a chilie, stew, or pan and heat them up.


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## shellrow (Feb 8, 2007)

dixienc said:


> The recipe I use has dry pintos and seasonings. we open them up and use them for refried beans, chili, or baked beans.
> 
> Sort pintos, rinse, fill each quart jar 1/3 full of dry beans. To each quart add 1 tsp salt, 1 TB minced onion, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 1/2 TB chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 2 TB tomato sauce. If you want them spicy add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Fill jars with boiling water. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims and place lids and rings. Pressure can 90 minutes (10lbs here in Eastern NC).
> 
> I gave some of these out to my neighbors who love cajun food and they have come back asking for more. They are really good with the seasoning already in the beans, you just pour into a chilie, stew, or pan and heat them up.


I use a similar recipe for mine. I did decide just to leave them in the bean form and then fry them up and mash them add more spices when I am ready for them. That made much more sense after I thought about it more. It seems that I cannot make enough of them and that I need to buy more beans and can them in quarts instead of pints. My kids love buritos for snacks and quick lunches. So do I! 

Thanks for everyone's replies!


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## KariM (Feb 18, 2009)

We can pintos to use for refrieds and this is what we do:

Soak beans overnight (we usually do 4 lbs at a time and it yields about 14 pints).

Drain beans and add fresh water.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Fill jars with about 2/3 beans and about 1/3 liquid leaving about an inch of headspace.

Process in pressure canner at 10 lbs. pressure for 75 minutes for pints (at our altitude - check to see if the pressure is right for yours).

To cook them we use a potato masher and some lard and just reheat. Yummy!


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## Gardnpondr (Jun 16, 2009)

dixienc and shellrow, do you soak yours overnight as well? I want to put up some of these. 
I also want to put up some black beans. My daughter went to a restaurant the other day and came home telling me about some she ate and she wanted me to try to make some like them. She said they had cilentro, garlic, onion, and jalepeno peppers cut really fine in them and they must have boiled them in chicken stock. She said they were SOOOO GOOD.
Do I need to soak black beans overnight as well? And would it be OK to use chicken stock to can them with along with the dried cilentro, garlic, onions, and jalepeno peppers? Would I need to put anything else in there to make them safe to eat? Do they need vinegar or lemon juice or something?


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## shellrow (Feb 8, 2007)

Gardnpondr said:


> dixienc and shellrow, do you soak yours overnight as well? I want to put up some of these.
> I also want to put up some black beans. My daughter went to a restaurant the other day and came home telling me about some she ate and she wanted me to try to make some like them. She said they had cilentro, garlic, onion, and jalepeno peppers cut really fine in them and they must have boiled them in chicken stock. She said they were SOOOO GOOD.
> Do I need to soak black beans overnight as well? And would it be OK to use chicken stock to can them with along with the dried cilentro, garlic, onions, and jalepeno peppers? Would I need to put anything else in there to make them safe to eat? Do they need vinegar or lemon juice or something?



I do soak mine overnight. If you don't have the time or forget you can mix the water and the beans, cover them and heat to a boil, let boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat and let stand an hour. After they have sat for an hour you would stir in your remaining ingredients and heat to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and let boil gently until beans are tender for about 2 hours. 

Now as far as canning them goes. I have tried different ways with different ingredients. I have tried canning them with the ingredients without any cooking first, just letting them soak and I have tried cooking them first with the initial ingredients and then canning them. For me it seems to work better to just can them with the ingredients after soaking them only. If I cook them before canning them they tend to turn out too mushy or taste over cooked. I do put my spices and my chopped up onion in mine before canning them but I am not sure how fresh cilantro would hold up. I am sure that the jalapenos and garlic would hold up well for you though. After they are canned I just open up a jar and then fry them/mash them for 5 minutes add some chili powder, cumin and salt and pepper to taste then serve. I found several different recipes on www.about.com I just tested them all out until I found one that we liked. I hope this has helped you a bit.


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## trinityoaks (Sep 17, 2008)

I never bother with soaking. I rinse them and can them--no salt, spices or anything. Spices can somtimes give food a weird, unexpected (and often unpleasant) flavor when canned. I add the spices after I open the jar to use them. I also can black beans, kidney beans, and red beans this way.


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## Gardnpondr (Jun 16, 2009)

OK thank you all. Not sure about adding all the ingredients to them because of safety reasons.


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## Gardnpondr (Jun 16, 2009)

DixieNC, My husband and I made some of your beans yesterday and canned them. We got 18 pints of them. The funny this is, I soaked 5 pounds of the dry ones overnight. My word I had bunches of beans. We canned the 18 pints and we ate some for dinner that night and DH flipped out over them. THEN he ate a WHOLE PLATE full today for lunch! I'm serious! He kept saying, man those are so good! I was laughing at him for getting a WHOLE PLATE full for lunch after eating them for dinner last night. But anyway I still have more in the fridge I plan on making something out of tomorrow. lol


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## dixienc (Apr 11, 2008)

Gardnpondr said:


> dixienc and shellrow, do you soak yours overnight as well? I want to put up some of these.
> I also want to put up some black beans. My daughter went to a restaurant the other day and came home telling me about some she ate and she wanted me to try to make some like them. She said they had cilentro, garlic, onion, and jalepeno peppers cut really fine in them and they must have boiled them in chicken stock. She said they were SOOOO GOOD.
> Do I need to soak black beans overnight as well? And would it be OK to use chicken stock to can them with along with the dried cilentro, garlic, onions, and jalepeno peppers? Would I need to put anything else in there to make them safe to eat? Do they need vinegar or lemon juice or something?


I don't soak the beans first. They are put right into the jars after I rinse and sort them in a strainer. The beans will expand during and after processing, but they taste great because they are cooked in the jar with all the seasonings. You should be able to use any broth you want, I have used pork bouillion in my pressured pork and beans and it tasted really good.


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## dixienc (Apr 11, 2008)

Gardnpondr said:


> DixieNC, My husband and I made some of your beans yesterday and canned them. We got 18 pints of them. The funny this is, I soaked 5 pounds of the dry ones overnight. My word I had bunches of beans. We canned the 18 pints and we ate some for dinner that night and DH flipped out over them. THEN he ate a WHOLE PLATE full today for lunch! I'm serious! He kept saying, man those are so good! I was laughing at him for getting a WHOLE PLATE full for lunch after eating them for dinner last night. But anyway I still have more in the fridge I plan on making something out of tomorrow. lol


Glad to hear ya'll like them! There a big thing in our house, the kids eat em up every chance they get.:cowboy:


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

DixieNC, I've printed off your canning recipe. I can't wait to try it!


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## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

turtlehead said:


> DixieNC, I've printed off your canning recipe. I can't wait to try it!


Me too.


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## House faerie (Apr 29, 2007)

I do as is stated here, however, I do soak mine over night, then w/ the pintos I cook for 30 min and season. Then I precess for the time required... it makes them into mush (refried) beans... very tasty!!


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Can anyone tell me if it's okay to mix types of beans in this recipe, like pinto's and kidney beans?
TIA,
Mickey


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## Macybaby (Jun 16, 2006)

I found after canning the beans, they mush up real easy to use for refried beans. I also added some spices similar to dixienc's and they turned out so good! We dump the jar full into a pot, heat it up and mix, and it is so much better than anything we've ever gotten out of a store bought can. And they were so easy to make too.

I've still got some jars left, but once they are used up I'll be making another batch - very much a favorite here. 

Cathy


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## Gardnpondr (Jun 16, 2009)

I made some chili out of some left overs I had from canning them as well as some left over tomatoes and juice and the chili was awesome! I was out of chili powders and didn't want to go to the store to get any but then happen to think, ugh.... the beans have it IN them already so that was good! Since I have been to town for something else and bought me some more chili powders to can some more with. I have a HUGE BAG FULL of beans to can. lol Pinto beans, kidney beans AND black beans. You know I bet those black beans would be good canned like this to! We love it!!!

I read something on another forum that I also want to try. I was searching for something on google and found this thread. I thought this was a very good idea. 
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/diary/655/

keep those canners going  That was the subject line.........

The most common time to home can is when summer gardens are producing, but there are plenty of items that can be "put up" all year long. 
If you have some canned vegetables that are getting close to expiration, make a big pot of soup and can the excess. You will gain another year of storage.

I have been buying bags of frozen meatballs from Sams/Walmart. There are 80 or so in a bag and I fit 9 meatballs in a wide mouth pint jar and cover them with inexpensive Ragu marinara sauce. I can get 8 wide mouth pints in my canner and I use 3 jars of sauce. There is just enough left over meatballs and sauce to have pasta for lunch.

I brown 6 pounds of ground turkey that I get from Aldi's and divide it evenly between 8 small mouth pint jars. I cover the meat with beef boullion, 8 cups is plenty, and can it up. It is ready to use and tastier than the regular turkey.

Six pounds of ground beef and 6 cans of sloppy joe mix will make 9 pints of instant meals. Again, there is just enough left over for us to have for lunch.


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## tinknocker66 (Jul 15, 2009)

O M G ! Beans just got done cooling and fortunately for me I had to eat 1 cause it didnt seal.I halved the recepee into pints. THEY ARE DELICIOUSE.

Sorry all I cant spell that good


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## wottahuzzee (Jul 7, 2006)

Hope nobody minds but I am bumping this thread up to the top since there have been a couple of posted questions about canning beans. I have used dixie's instructions with great results and I was fortunate another HTer has linked to this thread.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

trinityoaks said:


> I never bother with soaking. I rinse them and can them.


Just to add my 2Â¢, I tried this method and had a high jar seal failure rate after they were put in the pantry. From what I discovered, all the liquid that was added to the jars went to rehydrating the beans as they were canned. Some of the beans did not get rehydrated to the center of the beans, thus turning out crunchy.

As for how many beans to add to a jar, I put 3/4 cup of dried beans in the pint jars, fill with water and soak overnight. Next day, pour off and add fresh water and process. If doing quarts, add 1 1/2 cup beans to the jars. By doing it this way, it's easy to see whether you have too many beans in the jars as different types of beans rehydrate to different volumes.

Yes, you can mix different beans in the same jar.


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