How To Can Vegetable Soup – Easy Recipe
Learning how to can vegetable soup is simple and easy. This old-fashioned recipe is a great way to preserve all the leftover veggies from your garden in the fall. We call it homestead fast food at our house, and this is our go-to quick meal on a cold winter’s day.
This vegetable soup has lots of tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots and more. Brown some hamburger or get a jar of home canned beef, dump in a jar of this soup, and you have an amazing vegetable beef soup in a matter of minutes. Serve it with some sourdough garlic toast, and your meal is complete.
This is a canning recipe, and pressure canning is explained in detail in the video below. It’s a perfect tutorial for first time canners.
Sourcing The Vegetables
I grow all of my own vegetables in our garden, and I like combining them all into this delicious soup for the winter. It’s a good idea when planning your garden to make sure you’ll be growing the veggies you’ll need for this soup. It’s our favorite and it’s gonna be your favorite too. If you’d like to learn more about growing your own vegetables, be sure to check out the grow your own food portion of our blog where we give in depth tips on how to grow each vegetable.
If you aren’t able to grow your own vegetables, you can order them in bulk from Azure Standard, which is our favorite online grocery distributor that sells directly to their customers. Be sure to check them out, and use the code “NEW15” to get 15% off your first order of $100 or more.
For lots of other canning recipes and ways to preserve your own food, click here.
Why You’ll Love This Canned Vegetable Soup Recipe
- A great way to preserve extra garden veggies
- Has an exceptional fresh flavor
- Perfect for a very fast meal on a busy day.
- You can add canned or ground beef, chicken, or even leftover roast to a jar of this soup, and have a hearty meal in minutes.
- You can also add fried potatoes to bulk it up even more.
Tips For Canning Vegetable Soup
- Feel free to add more or less of each kind of vegetable, use the recipe as a guide and it will still be delicious.
- I suggest not skipping the cabbage, it gives the soup the most amazing flavor.
- Also don’t skimp on the salt.
- I like to can this soup in half gallon jars for my family of 7. That gives us enough for one meal, and sometimes part of a second meal.
- Having food like this vegetable soup on hand is perfect for emergency situations. You can easily make a meal from this in the event of a natural or economic disaster where you may not have electricity. Everything in this soup is fully cooked, and it could be eaten cold if necessary. You could also heat it up on a propane stove or over a campfire.
- You can just rough chop the veggies for this soup because they will cook down quite a bit during the canning process.
- Be sure to use name brand jars for pressure canning. You’ll know they are name brand because they’ll have writing on the side of them.
- If you don’t want to can this vegetable soup, but still want to try it, you could cut the recipe down so it makes a small amount and just eat it fresh.
Simple Ingredients
Fresh tomatoes – can be grown in your garden, purchased at a farmers market or ordered in bulk from Azure Standard. Organic is the best of course, especially when you’re canning.
Carrots – these can be grown or purchased from Azure Standard in bulk as well.
Cabbage – also available from Azure Standard
Onions – learn how to grow your own onions here.
Bell Peppers – can be a mix of red or green pepper, or whatever kind of sweet peppers you have
Salt – redmond real salt is our favorite because it has lots of beneficial minerals in it.
Black Pepper
Water
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Tools You May Need
- Sharp Knife – for cutting carrots to fit into jars
- Cutting Board
- Large Stockpot – for cooking the soup
- Canning Jars – Wide or narrow mouth work just fine. I like to use half gallon jars, but use whatever size you think you’ll need for your family.
- Measuring Cup – for ladling the soup into the jars
- For Jars Canning Lids
- Pressure Canner – If you’re using half gallon jars, you’ll need a 22 quart canner
- Jar Lifter
- Camp Chef Outdoor Stove – for outdoor canning.
FAQ
What is the best way to preserve vegetable soup?
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You can preserve vegetable soup by either canning or freezing it. I prefer to pressure can it, because then it is shelf stable and doesn’t use up any freezer space.
Does vegetable soup have to be pressure canned?
That depends on the kind of vegetables that you put in it. Since this recipe includes carrots and cabbage, which are both low acid foods, then it has to be pressure canned. Water bath canning is only safe for higher acid foods like tomatoes.
Do the vegetables need to be peeled before canning?
No, you do not have to remove the peels before canning. The peeling includes a lot of nutrients, and isn’t even noticed in this soup.
How To Can Vegetable Soup
Place the water in a large 5 gallon stock pot over medium high heat.
Roughly chop vegetables and add them to the pot (see video).
Add the salt and pepper.
Cook the soup on a light simmer for 1 hour.
Ladle the soup into jars using a measuring cup and a jar funnel. Leave a half inch of headspace at the top of each jar.
Wipe the rim of each jar to make sure it’s nice and clean.
Place lids and rings on jars and hand tighten.
Canning Process
Put 4-5” of water in your pressure canner, and place it on your camp chef stove (if canning outside). Start heating the water over medium-high heat.
Place jars in pressure canner, and put the lid on the canner.
Wait for the steam pressure to build in the canner. You will know it is building because the steam vents will start releasing steam.
Every pressure canner is different, so please read and follow all directions for your specific canner. For mine, I wait until the steam vents are releasing steam and then place the rocker on the canner for 15 lbs. Pressure.
Once the canner comes up to 15 lbs. Pressure, turn down the heat so that the pressure maintains at 15 pounds.
Set you timer for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the canner to make sure it doesn’t go too far above or below 15 lbs pressure.
After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the canner to depressurize. You will know when it is cooled off, because the safety latch on the lid will allow you to open the lid.
Remove the jars using the jar lifter.
Allow jars to sit at room temperature until fully cooled and sealed. Remove rings and place on pantry shelf.
Will keep for 2-5 years at least.
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How To Can Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 5 cups of water
- 8 quarts tomatoes chopped
- 12 sticks celery chopped
- 12 onions chopped
- 6 peppers chopped
- 2 quarts carrots chopped
- 2 heads of cabbage chopped
- 1/2 cup salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
Instructions
- Place the water in a large 5 gallon stock pot over medium high heat.
- Roughly chop vegetables and add them to the pot (see video).
- Add the salt and pepper.
- Cook the soup on a light simmer for 1 hour.
- Ladle the soup into jars using a measuring cup and a jar funnel. Leave a half inch of headspace at the top of each jar.
- Wipe the rim of each jar to make sure it’s nice and clean.
- Place lids and rings on jars and hand tighten.
Canning Process
- Put 4-5” of water in your pressure canner, and place it on your camp chef stove (if canning outside). Start heating the water over medium-high heat.
- Place jars in pressure canner, and put the lid on the canner.
- Wait for the steam pressure to build in the canner. You will know it is building because the steam vents will start releasing steam.
- Every pressure canner is different, so please read and follow all directions for your specific canner. For mine, I wait until the steam vents are releasing steam and then place the rocker on the canner for 15 lbs. Pressure.
- Once the canner comes up to 15 lbs. Pressure, turn down the heat so that the pressure maintains at 15 pounds.
- Set you timer for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the canner to make sure it doesn’t go too far above or below 15 lbs pressure.
- After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and allow the canner to depressurize. You will know when it is cooled off, because the safety latch on the lid will allow you to open the lid.
- Remove the jars using the jar lifter.
- Allow jars to sit at room temperature until fully cooled and sealed. Remove rings and place on pantry shelf.
- Will keep on your pantry shelf for 2-5 years at least.
Notes
- Feel free to add more or less of each kind of vegetable, use the recipe as a guide and it will still be delicious.
- I suggest not skipping the cabbage, it gives the soup the most amazing flavor.
- Also don’t skimp on the salt.
- I like to can this soup in half gallon jars for my family of 7. That gives us enough for one meal, and sometimes part of a second meal.
- Having food like this vegetable soup on hand is perfect for emergency situations. You can easily make a meal from this in the event of a natural or economic disaster where you may not have electricity. Everything in this soup is fully cooked, and it could be eaten cold if necessary. You could also heat it up on a propane stove or over a campfire.
- You can just rough chop the veggies for this soup because they will cook down quite a bit during the canning process.
- Be sure to use name brand jars for pressure canning. You’ll know they are name brand because they’ll have writing on the side of them.
- If you don’t want to can this vegetable soup, but still want to try it, you could cut the recipe down so it makes a small amount and just eat it fresh.
