Canned sausage is a tasty addition to weeknight pasta sauces and casseroles, and a great addition to slow-cooker meals towards the end of cooking.
The broth from the jars is a tasty addition to a collection of stocks for soup in tubs in the freezer.
Canning sausage is a great space-saver in the freezer where you are suddenly hit with an abundance of sausage to preserve, and little freezer space to deal it with.
That being said, however, you get a far-better product quality-wise when you freeze sausage as opposed to canning it. Expect your sausage to come out soft and crumbly.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either half-litre (US pint) OR litre (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.
The half-litre (US pint) jars shown in the photo each accommodated about 350 g (¾ lb) of sausage pieces. After the canning process, a jar of that size will yield about 250 g (8 oz) of sausage pieces.
Canning sausage
How to pressure can sausage. This is a walk-through of the USDA recommendations.
Instructions
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Cut link sausage into 3 to 10 cm (1 to 4 inch) pieces. OR
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If it's loose sausage meat you have, shape into 10 cm (4 inch) or smaller patties or balls.
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Brown lightly in frying pan.
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Drain off excess fat (it might go rancid in storage.)
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Pack hot into ½ litre (US pint) jars or 1 litre (US quart) jars.
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Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
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Fill with boiling water, boiling stock or boiling tomato juice, leaving 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: ½ litre (US pint) jars for 75 minutes OR 1 litre (US quart) jars for 90 minutes.
Guidelines below are for weighted-gauge pressure canner. 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 |
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
More information about Salt-Free Canning in general.
Recipe notes
Spray pan lightly with cooking spray or oil when you start to brown the sausages; after that, they should release enough fat on their own. If it’s a super lean sausage, though, you may have to repeat applications of the cooking spray.
The canning recommendation directions have the expectation that the sausage pieces or patties will be going hot into the jar. A delay of a few minutes would be fine while they are being drained of grease; just not stone cold.
To be clear, if you are canning “link sausage”, it is fine to leave the “casing” on.
No matter what you read on the Internet, do not do a raw pack. The meat would clump together and cause heat penetration issues. And, do not do a dry pack. It is highly risky; the heat penetration and movements in the jar with just air would be very different from what was tested with a liquid to ensure your safety. You must brown the meat to prevent clumping, and you must have a canning liquid in the jar. Otherwise, freeze your sausage (the quality is better, anyway.)
Usage Notes
This is what your canned sausage will look like after it is opened, and drained.
When you go to use canned sausage, drain it. It will be soft and pale, though some of the browning you did will remain.
If you wish to crisp it back up, just turn it into a hot frying pan (lightly sprayed or with a bit of oil) for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. It will look like the sausage pieces in the picture below.
This sausage was re-crisped after opening in a lightly-sprayed frying pan for about 5 minutes.
Recipes for cooking with home canned sausage
Nutrition
Will vary based on sausage meat used.
Source
Ground or Chopped Meat: Bear, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Sausage, Veal, Venison. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 5-6.
Pork Sausage. In: Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. Daleville, Indiana: Hearthmark LLC. Edition 36. 2013. Page 60.
Pork Sausage. In: Bernardin Guide to Home Preserving. Toronto, Canada: Bernardin Ltd. 2013. Page 100.
Deborah Wilkinson
Do you take the outer skin off before browning it
Healthy Canning
The skin can be left on. The USDA directions say, “cut cased sausage into 3- to 4-inch links”. No mention of removing the skin.
Pat
Does anyone know of a pickled pepperoni recipe for canning
Healthy Canning
We don’t know of any tested, guaranteed safe recipes from reputable sources for pickling meat for shelf-stable home-canning. Why not keep the jar in the fridge instead, and be safe?
Barbara D'Angelo
Just wondering what the quality of the meat is afterwards, I have heard people say it was soggy and soft, I make an italian sausage mixing pork and chicken and would like to can whole links in wide mouth pints, but have been dithering on it so far, Making a batch today as soon as the meat defrosts in the fridge.
Healthy Canning
Everyone’s preference is different, but remember as with all things in life, it can often be the few negative people who make their opinions the most well broadcast.
The best thing to do, really, is to can a small amount for yourself and see what the reaction is to the home canned sausage with your audience there at home.
I personally don’t find the inside texture has changed any. Sometimes after opening and draining a jar, I’ll turn the contents into a frying pan with a bit of oil to recrisp and rebrown the outsides for 3 to 4 minutes. It depends how I am going to use them, really.
I put broth from the opened jar in tubs and freeze for future use for soup stock.
Edit: I just want to add one thing. The USDA doesn’t officially have canning recommendations for ground chicken or turkey meat, either alone or in sausage (though So Easy to Preserve, 2014, page 69, does suggest ground turkey in its Spaghetti Sauce with Meat.) I am checking with some Master Food Preservers for you on that point.
Debbie Teachout
Can you use half pint jars? If so how much pound pressure and how long?
Healthy Canning
Hi Debbie, yes you can use half-pint (8 oz / 250 ml) size jars. In fact, that might be a handier size for many people in today’s smaller households. In general, the rule of thumb in tested home canning procedures is that you can go ahead and use smaller-size jars but that you must use the tested processing time for the next largest size up for which a processing time is given. So you would follow the processing directions for the pint (16 oz / 500 ml ) jars, which is 75 minutes at 10 lbs pressure (with the pressure as per usual adjusted for your altitude.) With the smaller size you might get a bit more boiling in the jar, so I would be sure to definitely leave the 1 inch headspace if not 1 1/4 inch (3 cm) to compensate for that. We’ve assembled here on this page for your convenience all the info we found from the experts on using different jar sizes in home canning: https://www.healthycanning.com/jar-sizes/ . Hope that helps.
Rhonda
Can I do this if I don’t have a pressure canner?
Healthy Canning
To can any meat or seafood or low-acid food absolutely requires a pressure canner for shelf-stable storage. If you want to examine alternative storage methods, look into freezing or deyhdration (depending on what it is you want to store.) Cheers!
barb
no