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Canning Stew Meat: A Simple Tutorial

May 24, 2018 by Autumn 16 Comments

For the real food cook, there’s nothing so convenient as canned meat! Because it’s shelf stable and pre-cooked, it makes food prepping easy! Simply open a jar and you’ve got meat ready to go for soups, tacos or stir fry. Here’s a basic tutorial on pressure canning stew meat!

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Put up stew meat for a quick, go-to meat source!

 

Necessary Equipment

When canning stew meat, you’ll need to use a pressure canner. Similar to, yet different from a pressure cooker, its specifically designed for canning low-acid foods.

Your glass canning jars should be no larger than a quart (1 litre). Here, we use pints (500 ml). This size is well suited to most households! New canning lids and metal bands complete your jarring needs.

Apart from these two essentials, a rubber-lined lifter will keep your hands safe (affiliate link) as you remove blistering hot jars from the canner.

 

Preparing Your Meat

On average, expect about 1 lb of red meat to fill a 1 pint (500ml) jar. When canning in quarts, account for 2 lbs per jar. If you don’t have a scale or are too lazy to use one, you can estimate. I usually do!

Your boneless red meat should be cut into bite-size pieces. One inch squares (roughly) are a good choice!

Canning Stew Meat: A Simple Tutorial

 

Raw Packing Your Jars

Ensure your jars and lids are clean. There’s no need to preheat either!

When preserving in pints, 1/2 tsp of salt should be added to every jar. Double the amount for quarts (1 litre). If you like spiciness, go ahead and add a pinch of pepper or chili seeds.

Canning Stew Meat: A Simple Tutorial

Then, begin dropping 1 inch cubes into your jars! I say ‘drop’ because you don’t want to pack the meat down. A loosely filled jar ensures that the canner’s heat will be evenly distributed. It’s an issue of safety, really!

Leave 1 inch of head space.

With a raw pack recipe, there’s no need to add liquid. The meat will create it’s own juices in the canning process!

Pressure canning stew meat is simple!

Dampen a paper towel with vinegar and wipe the rim of each jar. This will remove any fat or blood. Add lids and tighten metal bands to finger tightness. Place them in your canner and seal it’s heavy metal lid.

 

Follow Your Owner’s Manual for Safe Processing

Your pressure canner should come with an owner’s manual. Follow the pressure canning steps outlined for your specific model.

If perchance you don’t have a manual, there should be a model number on the bottom of your canner. By using that number, you should be able to find an online version of what you need!

Canned meat must be processedin a pressure canner for food safety's sake!

 

Processing Times

The processing times don’t change, regardless of canner type or elevation! When pressure canning stew meat, pints must be processed for 75 minutes at full pounds of pressure. Quarts require 90 minutes.

 

Elevation and Pressure Adjustments

While processing times never change, your elevation determines how many pounds of pressure are required for safe canning. If you have a dial gauge pressure canner, you’ll want to check the specifics of your elevation at the National Center of Home Food Preservation’s website.

Elevation and pressure adjustments for the the weighted gauge pressure canner are as follows:

  • 0-1,000 ft=10 lbs pressure
  • 1,001 ft and beyond =15 lbs pressure

 

Canning Stew Meat: the Wrap Up

Once your jars have been safely processed, leave the pressure canner alone until the dial gauge falls to 0. Then and only then remove the lid. Using your nifty jar lifter, set the piping-hot jars to cool on a towel or rack.

After the jars have cooled, test each one for a seal. If some failed, they ought to be refrigerated immediately. The rest are now shelf stable and can be stored away in your pantry for quick and tasty meal prep!

Learn all about pressure canning meat at home

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Heidi Zauner says

    January 17, 2023 at 2:04 pm

    If you normally flour and brown your meat beforehand when making stew, do you skip this step with canned meat?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      January 17, 2023 at 10:27 pm

      You definitely can brown it (its call hot packing the meat when you put it I to jars partially cooked), but don’t add flour. It isnt safe for home canning!

      Reply
  2. Valerie says

    July 6, 2021 at 9:41 am

    I would like to try canning elk stew meat. It is very lean, and has some sinew that sort of dissolves to a gelatinous broth when I slow cook it. I wonder if canning would work to dissolve the sinew?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      July 6, 2021 at 12:21 pm

      Hi Valerie!
      Elk meat pressure cans beautifully! Yes, lots of the sinews will disappear during pressure canning. You’ll be left with a tender, delicious meat!

      Reply
  3. Vickie Jacobson says

    May 22, 2021 at 8:09 am

    Is this a FDA approved method?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      May 22, 2021 at 12:58 pm

      This recipe falls in line with directions and methodology given on the National Center of Home Food Presentation website, according to government testing.

      Reply
  4. Nancy Crolley says

    March 6, 2021 at 7:44 am

    Thank you so much. When adding salt, do you use table salt or Kosher Salt?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      March 6, 2021 at 10:19 am

      Most people use canning salt or sea salt! I don’t use any type of iodinized salt in canning because it can make juices cloudy in the jar. If your kosher salt is iodine free, feel free to use it!

      Reply
  5. Daryl Reeves says

    August 31, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF BOTTLED STEW MEAT

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      September 1, 2020 at 12:34 pm

      Properly pressure canned meat should be shelf stable for 1-2 years.

      Reply
  6. Lindy says

    August 15, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    Can I put a slice of onion in the bottom of the jar before my roast meat ?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      August 21, 2020 at 7:37 pm

      Yes, you can add onions or garlic for added flavor

      Reply
  7. Susan says

    July 23, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    Is it okay to add a tsp of beef bouillon to the bottom of the jar?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      July 23, 2020 at 8:39 pm

      Hi Susan!
      I’ve never looked into that one! But the meat itself will create a very strong broth if you just add the proper amount of salt!

      Reply
  8. Linda Riengeutte says

    March 20, 2020 at 7:52 am

    Would canning any meat be the same as the stewing beef?

    Reply
    • Autumn says

      March 20, 2020 at 10:33 am

      While the process is the same, times differ for various types of meat! You can find all the safety procedures at https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can5_meat.html
      Here, they’ll give you processing times and lbs of pressure for the various types of meat!

      Reply

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