Home canned ground beef is great to have on hand to make tacos from or to add to stir-fried rice, casseroles, creamed sauces, noodle dishes, chili, etc.
Freeze the broth from the jar; it’s essentially pure beef stock and is great for soups.
Here, we work through the USDA’s directions.
Please note: dry-canning any ground meat is expressly recommended against by the National Center for Home Food preservation for safety reasons.
See also: canning ground pork, and, can ground poultry be home canned?
Quantities of ground beef needed
On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need about 500 g (1 lb) of ground beef per half-litre (US pint) jar of canned ground beef.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart)
Processing method: Pressure canning only
Yield: varies
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
Pressure canning ground beef
How to home pressure can ground beef
Ingredients
- ground beef
- water
- pickling salt (optional)
Instructions
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Spray a skillet with cooking spray or heat a small amount of fat or oil in it.
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Brown the ground meat in the skillet in batches; transfer the browned meat to a covered bowl or pot to keep hot.
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Pack meat loosely into half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
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Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
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[Optional]: add ½ teaspoon pickling salt to half-litre (1 US pint) jars; 1 teaspoon of pickling salt to 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
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Top jars up with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, meat, stock, or tomato juice) maintaining 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
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Debubble; adjust headspace.
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Wipe jar rims.
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Put lids on.
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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.)
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Processing time: half-litre (US pint) jars for 75 minutes OR 1 litre (US quart) jars for 90 minutes.
Processing guidelines below are for weighted-gauge pressure canners. See also if applicable: Dial-gauge pressures.
| Jar Size | Time | 0 to 300 m (0 - 1000 feet) pressure | Above 300 m (1000 ft) pressure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ½ litre (1 US pint) | 75 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb | |
| 1 litre (1 US quart) | 90 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb |
Recipe notes
- The purpose of browning the meat first is so that it won’t clump and form a huge solid dense mass in the year. You must brown it first; there’s no option for raw packing it owing to the risk of it clumping. To be frank, the colour you will get is probably more of a greyish colour / light brown than a deep brown. That is fine. You are not looking to char the meat or sear it or blacken it or make it crispy: just lightly brown it enough so that it will largely remain loose packed in jar and allow heat flow to pass in between.
- If you have a lot of ground meat to brown, you could bake in a hot oven until lightly brown. Use a high-sided baking pan / tray (lined with tin foil for easier cleanup, if desired), and scatter the ground meat evenly over the tray. Bake at around 175 C / 350 F, probably for 20 to 30 minutes depending how hot your oven runs. Take out of oven in middle of baking to break up any large clumps, if needed. A lot of fat will accumulate in baking trays so be careful when lifting out of oven. Drain well afterward. (Tip! Put the drained-off beef fat in a tub in the fridge for roasting potatoes in. Delicious!)
- Instead of the salt, you can use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We have found Herbamare Sodium-Free performs well in that regard.
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
More information on canning meat.
This ground beef is sufficiently browned so that it won’t clump together in the jar. Browning it any further in the skillet would just toughen it, and waste cooking fuel as it will get thoroughly cooked during the canning process, anyway.
Recipe source
This recipe comes from the USDA Complete Guide.
- Ground or Chopped Meat. In: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 5- 6.
Nutrition
Serving size: 100 g (3.5 oz), drained (about one-fifth of a ½ litre / US pint jar, if 500 g went into the jar.)
Nutritional information based on extra-lean ground beef being used.
Per 100 g: 124 calories, 62 mg sodium
Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 100 g (3.5 oz) = 3 points
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
Do you have to use liquid in the jar?
Regardless of what you may see elsewhere on the Internet, there is no dry-pack option that is guaranteed to be safe. The recommendations were developed with a liquid in the jar to ensure a safe and even distribution of heat.
But it’s the work of seconds to drain the jar when opening it, and you get what is fat-free and added-salt free beef stock to freeze for use in soups, stocks, gravies etc.
Enhancing the taste
Some people say that adding beef bouillon to their jars of ground beef enhances the flavour greatly. Suggested proportions of powdered beef bouillon are between ¼ and ½ teaspoon per ½ litre (pint) jar, and ½ teaspoon and 1 teaspoon per litre (quart) jar. You’ll want to ensure this is mixed up before adding to the jars, to avoid density issues with clumps.
Doing so is absolutely fine safety-wise. The USDA directions allow the canning liquid to be “meat broth, tomato juice, or water.”
Usage notes
If you store your jars of canned food in a cool place, when you go to use a jar of ground beef there can appear to be no water in the jar because it has solidified. Yet, you know there is water in there, because you put it in for canning. Just open the jar, tip into a microwave-safe bowl or jug, and zap in microwave for 1 minute to free up the water, then drain through a sieve. That beef broth can be added to a tub and frozen for soups, etc. (No need to drain the jar at all of course if you are using your jar of ground beef for a recipe where you would want the added liquid.)
Here’s information in detail on how to do that: Using home canned ground beef.
Cooking from canning recipes
Minnesota Mix Macaroni Hotdish
Love your website!! I am wondering how double batches should be handled? I’ve tried finding an article on your site and would love to pin it for future reference. For example I had 14 jars of ground beef prepped and jarred, so when one batch was in the pressure canner I put the other one in the fridge since I didn’t think it should stay on the counter. When the first batch was done I then put the ones from the fridge in the canner. Is this ok? How should double or multiple batches be handled?
Only prep and jar as many jars as you have room for in the pressure canners at that time.
Put the rest of the ground beef in the fridge, as you say. Then, when there is room in the pressure canner, bring that ground beef that was in the fridge back up to piping hot temperature, jar it and process etc.
Don’t put the ground beef cold into the jars and start processing like that. You might break the jars from thermal shock. More importantly, the processing times were developed on the expectation that instructions would be followed with hot ground beef going into the jars. If the beef were instead cold, then the jars could be underprocessed and not safe.
Thanks so much for your quick reply! When I took the jars out of the fridge for the next batch they were still warm, but not hot, and I processed for the 90 mins. I’m hoping they will be ok as I didn’t mark which ones were which. 🙁
Hello,
Just starting canning so please forgive me. Can you add addition spices like cumin, chili powder,onion,pepper flakes for a taco seasoning to the ground meat?
See safe tweaking: https://www.healthycanning.com/safe-tweaking-of-home-canning-recipes/
I tried canning ground beef for the first time. After leaving the jars overnight, they have about 3/4 inch of fat (solidified grease) at the top of each quart. Is the meat still safe? I read that fat should not be canned, but I didn’t know if this small amount is safe or not. The beef was canned in beef broth and tomato juice, but I didn’t drain the fat when frying it because the beef was extra lean with very little grease.
That amount of fat is typical. You will be fine.
I gave you 5 stars because I went by another recipe. Problem: shunk 40% after packing and processing.
The difference I packed the browned meat (little pink) without liquid. So, please help me out and let me know so my next baych will turn out better. Thanks
Hi Rebecca, dry canning ground meat is firmly recommended against on grounds of food safety. https://www.healthycanning.com/dry-canning-ground-meat/
I just canned elk burger in a quart size jars. I left a good amount of headspace and the water in my pressure canner looks like some of the jars leaked during processing. The jar sealed but is the meat safe?
Loss of liquid volume during pressure canning is totally normal! If you pressure canned the meat using USDA directions you are fine.
It’s our first time canning ground beef and some of the jars leaked the juice in the pressure canner but when we took them out one popped in and the other one I touched the top and it popped in, they have meat at the top that isn’t covered in juice, would it last canned at all?
The lids don’t come off at all but I just wanted to know if it was safe and ok to leave them caned or try it again. The rest were perfect and didn’t leak.
Thank you for your response beforehand. Stay Safe.
If you followed the directions to a T, and the jars have sealed, you will be fine. It’s quite common when canning for some of the food in the jar to be above the waterline. That is safe. All that means is that that food will darken more quickly over time. That’s not a safety issue, it could just be unsightly. So put those particular jars at the front for using up first.
Thank you for writing this! I followed the instructions and my results were perfection.
Is there a recommended canning time if you can using smaller jars? (i.e. single serving size jars)
Yes, there are recommendations, see here: using smaller jars for canning
I am wanting to add some chantrelle mushrooms with my ground beef/venison. Can i do this? and should I cook them? or add them raw?
Please check with one of these Master Food Preserver groups for their advice on that combination. https://www.healthycanning.com/master-food-preserver-help-groups/
can I mix the cooked ground beef with potatoes and carrots to pressure can it like a beef stew ?
Here is a pressure canning recipe for beef stew.
Can I use the Milex Power Cooker XL (Electrical Pressure Cooker) to do this? It comes with jars for canning? I am in South Africa and not sure on the weight gauges etc on normal ones. Thanks
Do not use those electrical appliances for any home canning, regardless of what the manufacturers say. See here: Canning in Electric Multi-Cookers
Hello there I canned grd beef for the first time and I would like to know what can you do if you doesn’t hear that click sound to know did it seal. Also if didn’t seal can you canned it again. Its my first time canning.
Sometimes you don’t always hear a distinct ping, but you’ll know if it sealed or not when you remove the canning rings after cooling and do your lift test. You can recan it within 24 hours, but it would be awfully dry.
Can this be adapted to the Instant Pot?
Absolutely not. There are warnings right, left and centre from every reputable home canning source not to use the Instant Pot for any home canning, regardless of what the manufacturers claim.
I used a USDA approved recipe. When I took the ground beef out of the canner, it was boiling inside and kept doing it for a hour. They all sealed but is it still safe.
Yes. All sounds normal!
I would think the beef / hamburger meat could be sauteed in the Instant Pot?
I used boiled beef broth for my liquid, is that okay?
What is the expected shelf life if canned properly?
There is no set shelf life. It is safe to eat as long as the beef was canned properly using USDA procedures, and, the seal remains intact. Rather, instead of absolute shelf life, they focus on “quality life.” See here: https://www.healthycanning.com/the-shelf-life-of-home-canned-goods/
I don’t need to add salt to each jar?
Sure sounds easy1
In the quantities used in home canning, salt is not a safety factor. (It is though a safety factor when fermenting for instance.) So no, don’t need to add salt. You may wish to. But, it’s probably more flexible to leave it out, and then add salt as needed when you go to use it, based on what you are using it for / in.
These are the best canning instructions I have came across. Thank-you so much.
I was told that you should wait 2 weeks before trying a newly canned item. Is that true? I recently canned some meatloaf and I need to check it and make sure it tastes good before I can more.
Hi there, there’s no approved safe way to can meatloaf, as there could be density issues which prevent heat from penetrating the jar thoroughly to kill any botulism spores present. Ground meat can only be safely canned with a loosepack as per USDA guidelines.
That aside, the “sit and mellow” advice applies to canned pickled items such as relishes, chutneys, pickles, etc.
Hope that helps.