This is a very basic beef stew that should please most people’s tastes.
It’s found in both the Ball Blue book and in the Ball / Bernardin Complete book.
It’s quick to assemble for canning.
Ball does give some options for jazzing it up a bit; see “Recipe options” below.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Half-litre (US pint / 16 oz) OR litre (US quart / 32 oz)
Processing method: Pressure canning only
Yield: 14 x half-litre (pint) OR 7 x litre (quart) jars
Headspace: 3 cm (1 inch)
Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.)
Processing time: Half-litres (pints) 75 minutes; litres (quarts) 90 minutes
If you don’t have a pressure canner, you can freeze this in plastic containers or straight-sided jars with no shoulders. (Water-bath canning is not acceptable for safety reasons.)
Beef stew
Ingredients
- 2 kg potato (diced. 3 quarts / 4 lbs. Measurements after prep. About 18 medium. )
- 1 kg carrots (sliced. 2 quarts / 2 lbs. Measurements after prep. About 15 small.)
- 400 g celery (chopped. 3 cups / 14 oz. Measurements after prep. About 6 stalks.)
- 450 g onion (chopped. 3 cups / 1 lb. Measurements after prep. 4 to 5 medium. )
- 2 kg stewing beef (4 to 5 lbs)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt (Or non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- water (boiling)
Instructions
- Wash and peel the potatoes. Wash again, then dice. Put in a large pot.
- Wash, peel, wash again, then slice the carrots. Add to the large pot.
- Wash the celery, slice. Add to the large pot.
- Wash, peel, chop the onions coarsely. Add to the large pot.
- Cut the beef into 4 cm (1 ½ inch) cubes. Set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add the stewing beef in batches, brown it, add to the large pot.
- Add all remaining ingredients to the pot.
- Add just enough boiling water from a kettle to cover (depending on your pot shape, etc, that may be around 2 - 3 litres / quarts / 8 - 12 cups. Exact amount does not matter).
- Bring to a boil.
- Jar size choices: half-litre (1 US pint) or 1 litre (US quart)
- Ladle mixture evenly into hot jars. Should you need more liquid, use boiling water from a kettle.
- Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
- Debubble; adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet)
- Processing time: half- litre (1 US pint) 75 minutes; 1 litre (US quart) 90 minutes.
Nutrition
See also if applicable: Dial Gauge Pressures.
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
For salt substitute, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.
What is the shelf life of home canned goods?
Recipe options
The Ball Blue Book says, “Customize our recipe to make it your very own. Here’s how you do it: combine potatoes and turnips to equal 3 quarts cubed root vegetables, reduce the measure of onion to 2 cups, then add 1 cup peas, green beans, or corn. Sprinkle in additional dried herbs and spices to your liking. To finish it off, add a splash of hot sauce or maybe wine.”
Recipe notes
- The beef can be a tougher cut such as round, chuck, etc.
- Be prepared for the recipe to possibly make a few extra jars;
- You can always thicken it if you wish upon serving. Stir in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (aka cornflour in the UK) or flour per half-litre (pint). Zap in microwave for 1 minute, stir, and zap an additional 2 to 3 minutes depending on the power of your microwave and the quantity you are preparing.
Source
Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Page 104.
Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 407.
Modifications: none
SALT: The Blue Book calls for 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. The Complete calls for 4 ½ teaspoons of salt. Online, Ball calls for 1 ½ TABLESPOONS of salt (as of December 2016.) We used 1 ½ teaspoons, as more can easily be added to taste at the table.
Cooking with canning
Nutrition
Serving size: 2 cup (500 ml)
Weight Watchers SmartPoints®: 10 points per 2 cups / 500 ml
Regular version
Per 2 cup (500 ml): 406 calories, 419 mg sodium
No-added salt version
Per 2 cup (500 ml): 406 calories, 171 mg sodium
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
Cathy
Hello! This will be my first time canning any kind of soup. I’m wondering if I can cut the amount of potatoes down, as we don’t like it overloaded with potatoes. The recipe option seems to require that I still have 3 quarts of potatoes mixed with another root vegetable. Can I not reduce the potatoes and still add a cup of corn, which is a favorite?
Healthy Canning
It is safe to reduce the amount of potato. That is lowering the density, which is fine to do in pressure canning recipes. Yes, you could still add the 1 cup of peas, green beans, or corn that they suggest. (P.S. Reducing the amount of potato probably doesn’t give us a free pass to double or triple the “cup” measure of additional things such as corn; you’d want to check with Ball directly on that through their FB page.)
Cathy
Thank you!
Cathy
I would like to add sautéed mushrooms and a garlic clove instead of onions to this stew. Is that ok? (Allergies to onion).
Healthy Canning
Leave the onion out, otherwise can as directed, and then when you open a jar, customize however you feel like at the time. You can think of this as a “stew base”. Often, at time of use, we root through the fridge looking for odds and ends of (still palatable!) appropriate leftovers that could be stirred into the pot. A bit of gravy, some peas or corn, etc. (p.s. It would be fine to add some garlic powder; tweaking dry seasonings is always fine.)
Susana
Can you substitute chicken for beef in the beef stew recipe?
Healthy Canning
Yes, you could. For the sake of safety at the time of consumption, you’d want it to be boneless chicken, of course.
Cheryl Hubbard
We don’t care for cooked celery, can I leave it out and if so, do I need to adjust quantities of the other veggies?
Thank you.
Healthy Canning
You can just leave the celery out. No need to adjust quantities of other veg.
Lynn Hagan
I made this last year – and totally love it. I did not use thyme because I don’t like it. Such a lovely meal for the dead of winter when one needs to come up with something in a hurry. (And even us retired folks have those days!)
I love pressure canning – just learned how within the past 4 years and I have been canning for over 50!
Tracey Smoker
Could you add Clear Jel to the recipe for a thickener? And if so, how much would you add to the recipe?
Healthy Canning
No.
Shelia
Do the vegetables turn out mushy when the carrots are sliced that thin? Can you cut them thicker?
Healthy Canning
You can slice the carrots a bit thicker, but they will come out soft in the end regardless.
Joanne Kelley
Mine don’t turn out mushy. Don’t cut them any thicker than 1 inch, they will not cook all the way through and that’s not safe.
Lee R.
I am trying to find information about canning flour which has been added to beef stew. I make a terrific beef stew, I use my seasonings and they are mixed with bleached flour. I want to can some of the stew, however, I forget where I heard it from but was said, you cannot can stews where flour is added. I use general bleached flour, mainly Bluebird flour from Colorado.
Healthy Canning
Lee, thicken the jar after opening. This DIY Beef Gravy Mix makes a terrific thickener for beef stew. And this DIY biscuit mix recipe can be used to make terrific dumplings.
Joanne Kelley
Thicken after you open the jar and as you prepare to cook. Don’t can thick sauces like gravy, they’ll blow out of the lid while processing.
Bernice
It does not say how long to cook the beef soup.
Healthy Canning
The canning process takes care of the cooking perfectly.
Gordy
Can I hot water bath canning Beef vegetable soup if I fully cook the meat before hand??
Healthy Canning
Follow directions above for a delicious beef and vegetable stew.
Bob
So you’re saying that the pressure canning process will turn a tough cut to fork tender where the normal cooking process would take 3+ hours?
Healthy Canning
Yes.
Matthew Concannon
Could I use venison in place of the beef?
Healthy Canning
Yes, you may.
Eric Sieg
I would like to process 1/2 gallon jars of beef veg. soup in my pressure cooker (as my mother did) but I can’t find a time table for 1/2 gallon jars –Mom’s gone and I need to be sure I process for the necessary time but not longer than necessary.
Healthy Canning
Use the Beef Stew recipe above. The maximum jar size is 1 quart.
Nicolette
I had read on another website that you can, can the beef stew raw. That should keep the veggies from getting mushy. Is it safe to can raw meat?
Healthy Canning
The beef in this recipe is raw. It is browned superficially on the surface to stop the cubes from sticking together, but, it is otherwise raw.