• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Healthy Canning
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipes by category
    • Recipe Index
    • Drying food
    • Other online sources
  • Equipment
    • General Equipment
    • Pressure Canning
    • Steam Canning
    • Water bath canning
    • Food Dehydrators
  • Learning
    • Learn home canning
    • Home Canning Safety Topics
    • Unsafe home canning practices
    • Home canning concepts
    • Ingredients for home canning
    • Issues in home canning
    • Learning resources
  • Contact
    • Sitemap
    • About
    • Contact Page
    • FAQ
    • Media
    • Copyright
    • Privacy
    • Terms of Use
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Equipment
  • Learning
×

Home / Soup / Beef stew

Beef stew

Filed Under: Seasonal Winter, Soup Tagged With: Beef

beef-stew-pn

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.

Contents hide
  • 1 The recipe
  • 2 Beef stew
    • 2.1 Ingredients
    • 2.2 Instructions
    • 2.3 Nutrition
  • 3 Reference information
  • 4 Recipe options
  • 5 Recipe notes
  • 6 Source
  • 7 Cooking with canning
  • 8 Nutrition
    • 8.1 Regular version
    • 8.2 No-added salt version

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.)

Print

Beef stew

This is a very basic home pressure-canned 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.
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Keyword Beef
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 7 litre (quart) jars
Calories 406kcal
Metric - US Customary

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)
Metric - US Customary

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

Serving: 2g | Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 35.9g | Protein: 45.5g | Fat: 8.2g | Saturated Fat: 2.7g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 419mg | Fiber: 6.1g | Sugar: 6.4g

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.

beef-stew-103

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

Herb-Crusted Beef Pot Pie

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

beef-stew-nutrition

No-added salt version

Per 2 cup (500 ml): 406 calories, 171 mg sodium

beef-stew-nutrition-salt-free

* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com

* SmartPoints™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the SmartPoints® registered trademark.

beef-stew-102

Tagged With: Beef

Filed Under: Seasonal Winter, Soup Tagged With: Beef

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cathy

    August 31, 2022 at 2:43 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      August 31, 2022 at 2:39 pm

      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.)

      Reply
      • Cathy

        August 31, 2022 at 8:30 pm

        Thank you!

        Reply
  2. Cathy

    August 05, 2022 at 2:41 am

    I would like to add sautéed mushrooms and a garlic clove instead of onions to this stew. Is that ok? (Allergies to onion).

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      August 30, 2022 at 2:27 pm

      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.)

      Reply
  3. Susana

    July 24, 2022 at 11:36 pm

    Can you substitute chicken for beef in the beef stew recipe?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      July 25, 2022 at 12:39 am

      Yes, you could. For the sake of safety at the time of consumption, you’d want it to be boneless chicken, of course.

      Reply
  4. Cheryl Hubbard

    March 22, 2022 at 3:02 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      July 26, 2022 at 2:26 pm

      You can just leave the celery out. No need to adjust quantities of other veg.

      Reply
  5. Lynn Hagan

    November 15, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    5 stars
    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!

    Reply
  6. Tracey Smoker

    September 19, 2020 at 5:00 am

    Could you add Clear Jel to the recipe for a thickener? And if so, how much would you add to the recipe?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 21, 2020 at 6:42 pm

      No.

      Reply
  7. Shelia

    August 04, 2020 at 6:02 pm

    Do the vegetables turn out mushy when the carrots are sliced that thin? Can you cut them thicker?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 24, 2020 at 5:10 pm

      You can slice the carrots a bit thicker, but they will come out soft in the end regardless.

      Reply
    • Joanne Kelley

      October 26, 2021 at 9:39 pm

      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.

      Reply
  8. Lee R.

    April 05, 2019 at 2:45 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 11, 2019 at 2:01 pm

      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.

      Reply
    • Joanne Kelley

      October 26, 2021 at 9:42 pm

      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.

      Reply
  9. Bernice

    September 27, 2018 at 6:55 am

    It does not say how long to cook the beef soup.

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 11, 2019 at 4:42 pm

      The canning process takes care of the cooking perfectly.

      Reply
  10. Gordy

    August 20, 2018 at 9:51 pm

    Can I hot water bath canning Beef vegetable soup if I fully cook the meat before hand??

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 11, 2019 at 6:41 pm

      Follow directions above for a delicious beef and vegetable stew.

      Reply
      • Bob

        September 01, 2021 at 1:43 pm

        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?

        Reply
        • Healthy Canning

          September 04, 2022 at 7:46 pm

          Yes.

          Reply
    • Matthew Concannon

      November 19, 2020 at 2:07 pm

      Could I use venison in place of the beef?

      Reply
      • Healthy Canning

        June 21, 2021 at 12:05 am

        Yes, you may.

        Reply
  11. Eric Sieg

    August 20, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 11, 2019 at 7:10 pm

      Use the Beef Stew recipe above. The maximum jar size is 1 quart.

      Reply
      • Nicolette

        April 29, 2022 at 11:16 am

        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?

        Reply
        • Healthy Canning

          July 25, 2022 at 9:04 pm

          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.

          Reply
If you need FAST or relatively immediate canning help or answers, please try one of these Master Food Preserver groups; they are more qualified than we are and have many hands to help you. Many of them even operate telephone hotlines in season.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

SEARCH

HealthyCanning is a sub-project of cooksinfo.com. Read More…

What's New in Home Canning

What's New in Home Canning

Quote of the day

Various studies through the years show consumers are not following science-based recommendations. They are not willing to change from old methods when science updates indicate new ones are needed. A large percentage are adapting recommendations in their own ways… Over half of home canners underprocess.”

— Dr Elizabeth Andress, Research and Education in Food Preservation. 2014.
Photo of miscellaneous canning equipment
kitchen window with fruit bowl
Ship with lifeboats
Ingredients for home canning
Home canning learning resources
what is pressure canning. Photo of pressure canners
Steam canning
water bath canning

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • About this site
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright
  • Terms & Conditions

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Media
  • FAQ

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Copyright © 2021