Pressure canning recipes can be a bit harder to find, as most beginning canners are all about simple water bath canning for pickles and jams. Once you have a pressure canner at home, you’ll be able to can almost anything at home, including meat and low acid foods like vegetables.
A selection of pressure canned food. Back Row (left to right): Beef Broth, Pumpkin, Tomatoes, Pinto Beans, Sweet Potato. Front Row: Pasta Sauce, Corn, Beets, Black Beans.
(If you’re not familiar with pressure canning, I’d strongly suggest you read this beginners guide to pressure canning before proceeding. Be aware that a pressure canner is different than a “pressure cooker,” and you cannot make these recipes in your instant pot.)
Water bath canning is a great place to start for beginners, and it’s an easy way to preserve jams, jellies, fruits and pickles. If you really want to put up a substantial amount of food for your family, you’re going to have to graduate to pressure canning.
Pressure canning allows you to put up nutrient-dense meat, vegetables, soups, stews, and stock.
Since they’re low-acid foods, they cannot be preserved in a water bath canner, and they require the higher temperatures of a pressure canner for safe preservation.
What Foods Need a Pressure Canner?
Certain foods, namely low acid foods with a pH above 4.6, must be canned in a pressure canner if they’re canned at all. This includes:
- Meat of All Kinds ~ Beef, Chicken, Pork, etc.
- Stocks and Broths ~ Both Meat and Veggie
- Vegetables ~ Potatoes, Pumpkin, Green Beans, Etc.
- Dry Beans ~ Black Beans, Pinto Beans, Navy Beans, etc.
- Chili and Baked Beans
- Soups and Stews
- Some Tomato Products, like pasta sauce with low acid ingredients such as mushrooms, onions and peppers included.
You can also process water bath canning recipes in a pressure canner, and it’ll allow you to get the job done quicker without steaming up the kitchen (as much).
Keep in mind, that while you can convert water bath canning recipes to a pressure canner, it doesn’t work in the opposite direction.
For example, we can water for emergencies in a pressure canner, though you can also easily do that in a water bath canner.
Things You CANNOT can in a Pressure Canner
Root vegetables are often stored in a root cellar, but that’s not an option everywhere. Locations dry arid locations out west without basements can’t successfully root cellar vegetables, and it’s not the best option for small homes and apartments either.
Even though we successfully root cellar many crops on my homestead here in Vermont, I still love the convenience of canned root vegetables. I eat canned beets right out of the jar as an afternoon snack, and I absolutely love the convenience of canned potatoes on busy weeknights.
Pressure Canning Meat
Preserving meat without refrigeration can be tricky, especially if you’d like to avoid massive amounts of salt (as in bacon, salami and dry cured meats). Living on a solar powered homestead, our freezer space is at a premium and I’ll often can up meat for quick weeknight meals when I need a bit more room in the freezer.
Many of my readers born in the ’30s and ’40s have related fond memories of eating home-canned beef right out of the jar, stealing it from grandma’s pantry shelf as an after school snack. Great nutrition and convenience to fuel growing bodies!
- Pressure Canning Beef – Practical Self Reliance
- Canning Turkey – Practical Self Reliance
- Canning Chicken (or Rabbit) – Creative Canning
- Canning Pork – National Center for Food Preservation
- Canning Beef – Practical Self Reliance
Canning Chicken
Pressure Canning Wild Game Meat
Since game meat is often a bit tough, and harvests are sometimes much larger than even the biggest freezer, pressure canning recipes can come to the rescue. They tenderize the meat while at the same time allow you to store a huge harvest without additional freezer space.
This can be a lifesaver if you’re in a rural cabin without dependable access to electricity.
- Canned Canada Goose Meat – Cornell University
- Elk, Moose, or Caribou – The Canning Diva
- Canning Quail and Other Game Birds – On Big Turtle Creek
- Canning Chicken or Rabbit – Creative Canning
- Canning Squirrel – Meats & Sausages
- Canning Turtle – Life With A Good Wife
- Canning Venison Cubed and Raw Packed – Simply Canning
- Canning Bear Meat – Montana Outdoor Radio Show
Pressure Canning Organ Meats
While these days organ meats are often tossed, they’re actually some of the most nutritious parts of the animal.
Canning up organ meats means you preserve the best parts and can slowly eat them for all their benefits throughout the year.
- Canning Beef Lengua (Tongue) – Kusina ni Manang
- Pressure Canning Giblets – A Traditional Life
- Canning Organ Meat Stock – Practical Self Reliance
Organ Meat Stock
Mark G Bomalaski
What brand/model pressure canner do you recommend?? I am having a hard time navigating the online reviews.
Ashley Adamant
I use the All American 30 Quart, and I did a LOT of research on models before investing in this beauty. I absolutely love it, and I’ve been using it constantly (at least 3-4 times a month, often 2-3 times a week) for 10 years now. No signs of wear, works great, no parts to replace…this thing is going to last 100 years.
(The reason for the 30QT size is that you can fit twice as much in it as the next size down. You stack jars double-decker and can put in two layers of 7 quarts at a time for 14 quarts total, or as many as 19 wide mouth pints.)
Brandi
Can I pressure can high and low acid foods together?
My favorite sweet potato soup has green apples in it and I’d love to pressure can it.
Administrator
It’s fine to pressure can low acid and high acid foods together.
Robin
Can I pressure can my favorite Indian food recipes, such as Palik Paneer (maybe without the paneer), Cickpea or Lentil curries, meat curries, vegetable curries, Tiki Masala, Indian sweets….
Thanks
Administrator
I am not familiar with these particular recipes. I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with safe canning guidelines and seek out tested recipes.
Wendy
I would say yes – I am looking for recipes… I would do a small test batch and see how it turns out and then tweak.
Kathy Schneider
I want to pressure can zucchini mock apple pie filling using erythritol as my sweetener…the filling recipe also includes 2 c of lemon juice and 1/2 c apple juice….any thoughts about the erythritol>
Administrator
From a safety perspective, I don’t think that erythritol would be an issue but the overall taste and quality might be affected. If you decide to try it I would try a small test batch first and see if you like the flavor. The canning process sometimes affects alternative sweeteners in a negative way.
Janet Efaw
If i make homemade noodles and then cook them in Chicken soup, after it is cooked can i process the soup in quart jars and at what pounds of pressure and for how long ??
Administrator
Flour products cannot be canned. This includes noodles.
Lynn
Would I be able to use my pressure canner to make bone broth? I have read where people use it cooking bones for 1 hour under pressure versus 12 to 24 hours in a stock pot. Any thoughts?
Administrator
I have not personally used a pressure canner for making broth. I know that you can use a stock pot, crock pot or instant pot.
Beth
I made a pasta sauce with the last of my summer tomatos, zucchini, peppers, and onions. it came out pretty thick but I pressure canned 2 quarts. Now I’m second guessing whether it’s safe- should i just toss it out? Is there a safe recipe to do something similar?
Ashley Adamant
Possibly? Generally, Zucchini isn’t included in canned pasta sauce because it gets so thick with that in there, and most recipes limit the low-acid peppers and onions. It’d really depend on how much you used in there…use your best judgment here.
Beth
Thank you! I think I’ll just err on the side of caution, toss it, and consider it a lesson in following recipes.
Jade
Hi Ashley! Saw your other post w/your Outdoor Canning Station! I’m looking to build my own, did you find success with the pressure canner outdoors? Our stove is a glasstop indoors, trying to break in this pressure canner and get stocked lol! Hope to hear soon!!
Ashley Adamant
I have not had success running a pressure canner on my big outdoor burner, but it does work on small camp stoves. The big burners just don’t go low enough once it’s at pressure.