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Home / Meat / Canning stewing beef

Canning stewing beef

Filed Under: Meat, Seasonal Winter Tagged With: Beef

home canned stewing beefEven with a pressure cooker, stewing beef can take quite a while to cook properly. When you have jars of home-canned stewing beef on the shelf, then it becomes a fast food ready to use even on a rushed mid-week night.

The pressure canning process gives it a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and a deep beefy flavour that rivals the most skillful braising.

When opening the jar, don’t waste the broth that is in the jar, it’s pure gold: freeze it for use in soups, stews, risottos, gravies, etc.

Contents hide
  • 1 Quantities of stewing beef needed
  • 2 The recipe
  • 3 Pressure canning stewing beef
    • 3.1 Ingredients
    • 3.2 Instructions
    • 3.3 Nutrition
  • 4 Reference information
  • 5 Recipe notes
  • 6 The canning broth
  • 7 How large should the cubes of meat be?
  • 8 How much fat to use while browning the meat?
  • 9 Recipe source
  • 10 Nutrition

Quantities of stewing beef needed

On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need about 500 g (1 lb) of stewing beef per ½ litre (US pint) jar of canned stewing 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

home canned stewing beef
Print

Pressure canning stewing beef

How to home pressure can stewing beef, following tested USDA methods
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Beef
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 1 varies
Calories 186kcal
Author Randal Oulton

Ingredients

  • stewing beef
  • water
  • pickling salt

Instructions

  • Trim off any gristle.
  • Cut meat into cubes or strips, if it isn't already.
  • Spray a skillet with cooking spray or heat a small amount of fat or oil in it.
  • Brown meat in the skillet in batches; transfer browned meat to a covered bowl or pot to keep hot.
  • Pack meat into half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
  • [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.
  • Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
  • Top jars up with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, meat, stock, or tomato juice) maintaining 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 (US pint) jars for 75 minutes OR 1 litre (US quart) jars for 90 minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 100g | Calories: 186kcal | Protein: 30.3g | Fat: 6.2g | Saturated Fat: 2.4g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 66mg

Processing guidelines below are for weighted-gauge pressure canners. See also if applicable: Dial-gauge pressures.

Jar SizeTime0 to 300 m (0 - 1000 feet) pressureAbove 300 m (1000 ft) pressure
½ litre (1 US pint)75 mins10 lbs15 lb
1 litre (1 US quart)90 mins10 lbs15 lb

canning stewing beef 001

Reference information

How to pressure can.

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

More information on canning meat.

Shelf life for home-canned goods

Recipe notes

  • 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.
  • Ball / Bernardin Complete Book (2015, page 396) suggests that if you have a lot of meat to brown, spread it out in roasting pans / trays and sear in a hot oven until brown on the outside but still rare on the inside.

The canning broth

The USDA Complete Guide (2015) advises to fill with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, meat, stock, or tomato juice). In their advice the liquid is meant to be unthickened.

The Ball / Bernardin Complete Book (2015) allows the canning broth for cubes or strips of meat to be slightly thickened with Clearjel. “If desired, ClearJel can be used to lightly thicken the broth in this recipe.” [1]Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 397. They do not state what “lightly” means.

How large should the cubes of meat be?

Bernardin Guide says, ” ½ to 1 inch (2 to 3 cm) pieces” (Bernardin Guide 2103. page 100).

Ball / Bernardin Complete Book says, “… cut with the grain into jar-size pieces or cubes suitable for cooking and canning.” (2015, page 396.)

How much fat to use while browning the meat?

When canning meat, you don’t want too much fat involved, because it can interfere with the seal of the jar, and go rancid in storage.

You have to use your own judgement, as you don’t get any precise guidance.

The USDA Complete 2015 instructions say, “Precook meat until rare by roasting, stewing, or browning in a small amount of fat.” (Page 5-6).

The Ball / Bernardin Complete Book says, “.. brown it in a skillet, over medium heat, using no more than 1 tbsp of added fat or vegetable oil.” (2015, page 396.)

The Ball / Bernardin advice isn’t much more help, because they don’t say per what quantity of meat the fat applies to.

Recipe source

This recipe comes from the USDA Complete Guide.

  • Strips, Cubes or Chunks of Meat. In: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 5- 6.

Note, the USDA also gives a raw-pack option.

Nutrition

Serving size: 100 g (3.5 oz / ⅕th of a ½ litre / US pint jar)

Per 100 g:

  • 186 calories, 66 mg sodium.
  • Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 3 points

stewing beef nutrition

* 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.

canning stewing beef 010

References[+]

References
↑1 Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 397.
Tagged With: Beef

Filed Under: Meat, Seasonal Winter Tagged With: Beef

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Debra

    July 12, 2022 at 3:31 am

    Can salt free spices, like Mrs. Dash, be used instead of salt, in the beef jars?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      July 12, 2022 at 9:58 pm

      Absolutely. That counts as a dry seasoning, and dry seasonings don’t affect safety.

      Reply
  2. ann

    February 17, 2022 at 4:41 pm

    Is it possible to pressure can beef stew using Bone Broth instead of regular broth or stock?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      July 26, 2022 at 7:00 pm

      Yes, it is. Bone broth is basically just stock, anyway: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/difference-between-bone-broth-and-stock

      Reply
  3. Laurie

    April 29, 2021 at 6:21 pm

    I raw packed some beef and forgot to debubble. And my quart jars are now only a little over half full. Is it still safe to eat? What should I do?

    Reply
  4. Diane

    February 20, 2021 at 8:21 am

    What is the shelf life for canned stew meat?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      June 20, 2021 at 6:55 pm

      See: storage life

      Reply
  5. Wendy

    November 09, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    Can any salt be used like Celtic sea, pink Himalayan?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      June 21, 2021 at 12:57 am

      Yes. The salt is just a seasoning here, and can even be omitted entirely.

      Reply
  6. Hill

    October 23, 2020 at 3:05 am

    5 stars
    Hi there I love this site and recipes! Just wondering how long do you think these are good in the shelf? Also I debubble but after my jars have cool and sealed there will be some bubbles in the meat. Is that okay?

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      June 21, 2021 at 12:03 am

      See: Storage life. Don’t worry about a few residual bubbles, they will sort themselves out in time.

      Reply
  7. Shaunn

    May 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    Is it possible to safely can beef without a pressure cooker? I can’t afford one & there’s little space in my tiny galley kitchen for storage. Can I precook the beef & then proceed to can?

    I have a chance to get beef shanks & bones cheaply. Freezer space is minimal, but I store canned food in under-bed boxes.

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Healthy Canning

      September 11, 2019 at 12:35 pm

      Absolutely not. If you can’t pressure-can, invest in a larger freezer.

      Reply
    • Robert Muylaert

      July 26, 2021 at 5:01 pm

      NO, must be pressure canned. Look on Ebay, Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for a used canner.

      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.

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