Canning Ground Meat
Canning ground meat can be done in several ways. The meat can be left in it’s loose state and precooked before packing into the jars or it can be made into patties first. These instructions use the patty method because I have had very good results with it. These instructions may be used for any ground meat.
1. Add 1 tsp. salt to each pound of ground meat. Mix well.
2. Form meat into fairly thin, small patties that can be packed into jars with out breaking.
3. Put meat patties into cooking pan and precook in a 350 degree F oven til medium done. The red color should almost be gone from the inside of the patties.
4. Pack hot patties into clean, hot jars. Leave 1″ head space.
5. Skim fat from drippings and do not use in canning.
6. Cover meat patties with juices and add hot water if needed. Leave about 1″ headspace.
7. Work out air bubbles with knife. If necessary add more hot water. Again leave 1″ head space in jars.
8. Adjust hot lids and rings on jars.
9. Process at once in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure (240 degrees).
According to The Call Canning Book:
Pint jars 75 minutes
Quart Jars 90 minutes
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
what juices are you using to can it with?
I use hot water and a teaspoon or so of salt. If I have cooked my meat prior to canning it, I do that up separately so that I can use the broth in other things.
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Sue
I use the juices the meat was cooked in and if there isn’t enough I add hot water.
I found that ground meat got a strange texture when I did it loose. I made a HUGE batch of bbqs and it didn’t get eaten. I thought I would just can it and use it later. It tasted fine but had a gritty texture. The last sausage that I canned I did in patties and it worked great. I didn’t pre-cook though. Just put it in raw. The jars were NOT pretty but the meat was good. I am guessing if you pre-cooked the meat it would look more appetizing! I have done chicken both raw and pre-cooked and see no difference. My favorite is stew meat canned. I don’t pre-cook that either. It makes FAST suppers! We do a bunch of our venison that way. Then when I am in a hurry we do tacos or stew or something like that.
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After canning the patties can you grill them to warm them up or will they break apart?
Robert,
The patties are going to be rather small to begin with, in order for them to fit inside the mouth of the jars. So they may be too small to heat as patties on the grill. If you have fatty meat though, the patties will hold together better than lean meat. The sausage I can hold together perfectly.
Thanks, Sylvia! That makes sense. I think that’s also why you can’t can pumpkin puree, but can can cut-up pumpkin. I’m going to have to try this 🙂 – Robin
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Yes, that is exactly why, Robin. There are several foods that are bet canned if they are chunked instead of pureed.
Hi, Sylvia – This sounds like a great idea! I have some issues with freezing large amounts of things, and have started canning – mostly jelly, applesauce, and beans at the moment. I was wondering how can you use the hamburger once it’s canned? Can it be a “hamburger” on a bun, or is it for casseroles and things? Thanks a lot! – Robin
Robin recently posted..Living Simply…For Me
Great questions, Robin!
The little patties can be broken up and used like you would any ground meat in recipes. The patties are kind of smallish to use on buns.
The meat is made into patties because if you leave ground meat loose in the jar, sometimes that will prevent the heat from getting to the center of the jar and that could mean harmful anaerobic bacteria can grow in there.
Its the same way with foods like corn and greens, the heat can’t get to the center of the jar so it is not recommended that you can those foods.
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so , you are saying if we want ground meat loose, not in patties.. it should be cooked before putting in jars?…it cooks at 10 lb for 60+ min
why would the heat not get the center of ground meat..but would a jar of patties?..just wondering,
Sally,
Yes that’s basically what I’m saying. I do know people who can ground meat loose but I like to keep it in patties because I don’t have to worry about the heat not getting to the center of the jar.