Pressure Canning Stew Meat: Easy for Beef or Venison

Canning stew meat is an easy way to get venison or beef out of the freezer, and into the pantry, for maximum convenience and food security! Using this recipe will free up freezer space and is a great way to have ready-to-go ingredients at your finger tips.

What You’ll Need for Canning Stew Meat

Ingredients

• Red meat roast or cubed stew meat – I used a chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces. The pressure canning process is similar to using a pressure cooker, so don’t worry about using an expensive cut of meat. Pressure canning breaks down even the toughest meats into delicious, tender bites. (Note: unless you are getting a beef share, like a side of beef, buying stew meat at the grocery store, already cubed, will usually be more expensive, since the prep work is done for you.)
• Water or beef broth – I use water because the meat creates a delicious broth during the canning process. I prefer to save my hard earned beef broth for other recipes.
• Fine salt – use your favorite salt, but avoid using iodized table salt as it doesn’t do as well in canning applications. I use pink Himalayan

Tools and Equipment

• Canning jars – I prefer to use pint jars for canning stew meat over quart jars for our family of four. You can fit about one pound of cubed stew meat per pint jar. If you have a larger family, you can consider using quart jars instead.
• Canning funnel – to fill your jars.
• Jar lifter – to handle the hot jars after they are canned.
• Pressure canner – mine is a Presto brand, dial gauge pressure canner.

How to Pressure Can Stew Meat

Prepare and Fill the Jars

The first thing you need to do is cube up your meat. Try to cut them into 1-inch cubes.

Any grossly excess fat can be trimmed away. However you do not want to trim away all fat, as it adds flavor and nutrition!

This recipe utilizes the raw pack method over the hot pack method. The hot pack method pre-cooks the meat and deals with hot jars, hot water, and a hot canner.

The raw pack method is just much easier since you’re working with room temperature tools and ingredients!

Fill your jars with the cubed meat to the shoulders, about 1 inch headspace. Don’t pack them too tightly.

You want the water to be able to get around the meat in the jars completely.

Once your jars are full of the meat, add the salt over the meat.

Pour filtered water over the jars of meat to 1 inch head space.

Using a butter knife or chop stick, remove air bubbles from around the meat. You can do this by inserting your de-bubbling tool of choice down all 4 sides, slightly moving the meat as you go to release the air bubbles.

After de-bubbling you might need to add a bit more water to maintain the 1 inch head space.

Using a clean dish cloth or paper towel damp with white vinegar, wipe the rims of your jars. This will ensure that any salt, meat particles, or excess fat are removed from the rim of the jar.

Any debris or chips in the jar can prevent a proper seal, so this is an important step in home canning.

Place lids onto your jars.

Tighten the screw bands to finger tip tightness.

Process the Jars

Fill your pressure canner with 2 inches of room temperature water. You need to heat everything evenly to prevent fast temperature changes that can crack your canning jars.

Place your canner on your stove burner and add the jars.

Tighten the lid, but leave the weight off.

Heat over medium to medium-high heat until the pressure vent pops up.

Vent for 10 minutes before adding the canning weight.

Continue to heat until you reach the pounds of pressure for your altitude. For me, it’s 10 pounds pressure.

Keep the pressure steady for 1 hour 15 minutes for pint jars and 1 hour 30 minutes for quart jars.

You have to pressure can this canned stew meat because meat is considered a low acid food, and pressure canning is the only safe method of preservation for low-acid foods.

I have a post about the differences between Water Bath Canning vs Pressure Canning if you want to learn more!

If this is your first time canning, congratulations on taking the first steps! For more information on safety and processes, you can check out the Ball Blue Book, or the Ball Canning Book for more information. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is another valuable resource.

You can also look at your canner’s manufacturer’s instructions for helpful recipes and processing information.

When your canner is finished, be sure to allow the hot jars and the canner to cool on the burner for 10 minutes before removing the lid.

After removing the lid, allow the jars to rest for another 5-10 minutes

Again, any rapid change in temperature can result in jars breaking or even seal failures from the contents of the jar siphoning out.

Using the jar lifter, place your jars on a dish mat or tea towel to protect your counter from the heat, as well as protecting the jars from your colder counters.

Storing Home Canned Food

When your pint jars of stew meat are finished, and cooled, clean them thoroughly before storing.

I like to use a vinegar dampened dish towel or paper towel to wipe the jars. This will clean off any fat that escaped the jars as well as any hard water stains cooked onto the jar.

Place jars on your pantry shelf or in a cool dark place to store.

Be sure to store your jars without the rings so that you can have peace of mind that the seals are true. That way, if you lose a seal, you will know immediately by just looking at the jar.

How Long Will Canned Stew Meat Last?

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), High-acid foods will keep their best quality for up to 18 months. Low-acid foods can maintain quality for 2 to 5 years.

If jars and lids remain dent free with no swelling or rust, and are stored in a cool, dark place, they are safe indefinitely.

How to Use Home Canned Stew Meat?

After opening your jar, you can simply heat the meat in a small pot on the stove for a quick, protein-heavy snack. I love adding a small sprig of rosemary or a quick gravy if I’m doing that.

I love using this when making easy meals. This meat can go with anything you’d normally cook roast for! Over potatoes with vegetables, in stroganoff with noodles, or added to a stew.

If you want a beef stew recipe for canning beef stew, I have a post on that you can check out here!

Enjoy!

Other Pressure Canning Recipes You Sho Try

Canning stew meat is an easy way to get venison or beef out of the freezer, and into the pantry, for maximum convenience and food security! Using this recipe will free up freezer space and is a great way to have ready-to-go ingredients at your finger tips.

What You’ll Need for Canning Stew Meat

Ingredients

• Red meat roast or cubed stew meat – I used a chuck roast, cut into 1-inch pieces. The pressure canning process is similar to using a pressure cooker, so don’t worry about using an expensive cut of meat. Pressure canning breaks down even the toughest meats into delicious, tender bites. (Note: unless you are getting a beef share, like a side of beef, buying stew meat at the grocery store, already cubed, will usually be more expensive, since the prep work is done for you.)
• Water or beef broth – I use water because the meat creates a delicious broth during the canning process. I prefer to save my hard earned beef broth for other recipes.
• Fine salt – use your favorite salt, but avoid using iodized table salt as it doesn’t do as well in canning applications. I use pink Himalayan

Tools and Equipment

• Canning jars – I prefer to use pint jars for canning stew meat over quart jars for our family of four. You can fit about one pound of cubed stew meat per pint jar. If you have a larger family, you can consider using quart jars instead.
• Canning funnel – to fill your jars.
• Jar lifter – to handle the hot jars after they are canned.
• Pressure canner – mine is a Presto brand, dial-gauge pressure canner.

How to Pressure Can Stew Meat

Prepare and Fill the Jars

The first thing you need to do is cube up your meat. Try to cut them into 1-inch cubes.

Any grossly excess fat can be trimmed away. However you do not want to trim away all fat, as it adds flavor and nutrition!

This recipe utilizes the raw pack method over the hot pack method. The hot pack method pre-cooks the meat and deals with hot jars, hot water, and a hot canner.

The raw pack method is just much easier since you’re working with room temperature tools and ingredients!

Fill your jars with the cubed meat to the shoulders, about 1 inch head space. Don’t pack them too tightly.

You want the water to be able to get around the meat in the jars completely.

Once your jars are full of the meat, add the salt over the meat.

Pour filtered water over the jars of meat to 1 inch head space.

Using a butter knife or chop stick, remove air bubbles from around the meat. You can do this by inserting your de-bubbling tool of choice down all 4 sides, slightly moving the meat as you go to release the air bubbles.

After de-bubbling you might need to add a bit more water to maintain the 1 inch head space.

Using a clean dish cloth or paper towel damp with white vinegar, wipe the rims of your jars. This will ensure that any salt, meat particles, or excess fat are removed from the rim of the jar.

Any debris or chips in the jar can prevent a proper seal, so this is an important step in home canning.

Place lids onto your jars.

Tighten the screw bands to finger tip tightness.

Process the Jars

Fill your pressure canner with 2 inches of room temperature water. You need to heat everything evenly to prevent fast temperature changes that can crack your canning jars.

Place your canner on your stove burner and add the jars.

Tighten the lid, but leave the weight off.

Heat over medium to medium high heat until the pressure vent pops up.

Vent for 10 minutes before adding the canning weight.

Continue to heat until you reach the pounds of pressure for your altitude. For me, it’s 10 pounds pressure.

Keep the pressure steady for 1 hour 15 minutes for pint jars and 1 hour 30 minutes for quart jars.

You have to pressure can this canned stew meat because meat is considered a low acid food, and pressure canning is the only safe method of preservation for low-acid foods.

I have a post about the differences between Water Bath Canning vs Pressure Canning if you want to learn more!

If this is your first time canning, congratulations on taking the first steps! For more information on safety and processes, you can check out the Ball Blue Book, or the Ball Canning Book for more information. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is another valuable resource.

You can also look at your canner’s manufacturer’s instructions for helpful recipes and processing information.

When your canner is finished, be sure to allow the hot jars and the canner to cool on the burner for 10 minutes before removing the lid.

After removing the lid, allow the jars to rest for another 5-10 minutes

Again, any rapid change in temperature can result in jars breaking or even seal failures from the contents of the jar siphoning out.

Using the jar lifter, place your jars on a dish mat or tea towel to protect your counter from the heat, as well as protecting the jars from your colder counters.

Storing Home Canned Food

When your pint jars of stew meat are finished, and cooled, clean them thoroughly before storing.

I like to use a vinegar dampened dish towel or paper towel to wipe the jars. This will clean off any fat that escaped the jars as well as any hard water stains cooked onto the jar.

Place jars on your pantry shelf or in a cool dark place to store.

Be sure to store your jars without the rings so that you can have peace of mind that the seals are true. That way, if you lose a seal, you will know immediately by just looking at the jar.

How Long Will Canned Stew Meat Last?

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), High-acid foods will keep their best quality for up to 18 months. Low-acid foods can maintain quality for 2 to 5 years.

If jars and lids remain dent free with no swelling or rust, and are stored in a cool, dark place, they are safe indefinitely.

How to Use Home Canned Stew Meat?

After opening your jar, you can simply heat the meat in a small pot on the stove for a quick, protein-heavy snack. I love adding a small sprig of rosemary or a quick gravy if I’m doing that.

I love using this when making easy meals. This meat can go with anything you’d normally cook roast for! Over potatoes with vegetables, in stroganoff with noodles, or added to a stew.

If you want a recipe for a ready-made, canned beef stew, I have a post on that you can check out here!

Enjoy!

Other Pressure Canning Recipes You Should Try

• Pressure Canning Chicken Soup: A Recipe for Beginners
• Pressure Canning Ground Venison Meat (Easy How to Recipe)
• Easy Pressure Canned Beef Stew Recipe