Canning pork meatballs

Pork meatballs are delicious, quick additions to pasta meals, or soups.

They are very easy to make and can too, and very healthy as they contain no added fillers. Any excess fat that was in your ground pork will float to the surface of the jar, making it easy for you to scoop off and discard.

If you want to, you can quickly re-crisp the surface of the meatballs in a skillet with a few light sprays of cooking spray or by putting them in a toaster oven, etc.

Freeze the broth from the jar; it’s great for soups.

See also: Canning beef meatballs, Canning meatballs in tomato juice, Canning homemade spaghetti sauces

Quantities of ground pork needed

On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need about 500 g (1 lb) of ground pork per 1/2 litre (US pint) jar of canned pork meatballs.

The recipe

Jar size choices: Either half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart)

Processing method: Pressure canning only

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

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Pressure canning ground pork meatballs

Course Meat

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Calories 143 kcal

Ingredients

• ground pork
• herbs and seasonings
• water

Instructions

1. Mix ground pork with dried herbs and seasonings of your choice such as oregano, marjoram, parsley, ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, salt or salt sub, etc. (Use no breadcrumbs, flours or starches, cheese, egg, or dairy.)

2. Form into meatballs anywhere up to 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) in size.

3. Spray a skillet with cooking spray or heat a small amount of fat or oil in it.
4. Brown the meatballs in the skillet in batches; transfer the browned meatballs to a covered bowl or pot to keep hot.
5. Pack meatballs loosely into half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
6. Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
7. Top jars up with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, stock, or tomato juice) maintaining 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
8. Debubble; adjust headspace.
9. Wipe jar rims.
10. Put lids on.
11. 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.)

12. 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.

Reference information

How to pressure can.

When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.

More information on canning meat.

Recipe notes

• Do not add any breadcrumbs, flour, or any starch to the meatballs. Do not add any egg or cheese, or any dairy.
• You don’t need to thoroughly cook the meatballs in the skillet; just brown them so they won’t clump and form a huge solid dense mass in the jar that would interfere with safe heat transfer.
• You could also bake them in the oven until they are brown on the outside but still rare on the inside.
• You may use a microwave to bring to a boil any canning liquid such as stock or tomato juice — be careful when moving heated liquid from a microwave.
• In talking about seasoning for meat patties or balls, the Ball Blue Book says, “Spice it up three ways! For mild seasoning, add salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, and basil. Give it the Italian touch with basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. Add some heat for zesty, using garlic powder, paprika, anise seed, fennel seed, dried red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.” ^[1]Blue Book, 37th Edition, 2014, page 99.

Recipe source

This recipe comes from the USDA Complete Guide (2015).

• 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.

Also referred to:

• Ground or Chopped Meat. In: Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 97.
• Chopped Meat, and, Pork Sausage. In: Ball Blue Book. Muncie, Indiana: Healthmark LLC / Jarden Home Brands. Edition 37. 2014. Pp 98-99.

Nutrition

Nutritional information based on extra-lean ground pork being used.

Serving size: 100 g (3.5 oz), drained (about one-fifth of a 1/2 litre / US pint jar, if 500 g went into the jar.)

• 143 calories, 57 mg sodium
• Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 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 essentially free, fat-free and added-salt free pork stock to freeze for use in soups, stocks, gravies etc.