Can You Pressure Can a Water Bath Canning Recipe?

Wondering if you can pressure can a water bath canning recipe? Learn why canning methods are not interchangeable and when a tested pressure canning option can be used.

I receive a lot of questions about whether a water bath canning recipe can be processed in a pressure canner instead:

“Can I pressure can this recipe?”

“If so, how long should I process it?”

“How many pounds of pressure should I use?”

I understand why this sounds like a reasonable idea. A pressure canner reaches a higher temperature than a boiling water canner, so it may seem as though pressure canning would be safer or that you could simply convert the water bath processing time into a shorter time under pressure.

However, canning methods and processing times are not interchangeable.

You should only pressure can a recipe when a trusted source provides pressure canning instructions for that specific food, preparation method, jar size, and style of pack. There is no standard formula for converting a water bath canning time into minutes and pounds of pressure.

Some fruits and tomato products have been tested for both boiling water and pressure canning. When both methods are included with the recipe, you may choose either complete process and follow its directions exactly.

When a tested recipe provides only boiling water canning instructions, do not invent a pressure canning time or borrow one from a similar food.

Before using any home canning recipe, it is important to know where it came from and whether it includes all the elements of a scientifically tested process. This guide explains how to evaluate a canning recipe for safety.

Let’s look at when pressure canning may be an option, why the two methods cannot simply be exchanged, and what you should do when a recipe does not include pressure canning directions.

When Is Pressure Canning an Option?

You can pressure can an acid or acidified food only when a trusted source provides tested pressure canning directions for that particular product and preparation method.

Some foods have published instructions for both boiling water bath and pressure canning. In those cases, either complete option may be used exactly as written.

If the recipe provides only boiling water bath canning instructions, continue using the boiling water process. Do not guess how many minutes or pounds of pressure would provide an equivalent treatment.

Pressure canning directions are tested processes, not mathematical conversions. A safe process must be scientifically established for the particular food, preparation, pack style, and jar size.

Understanding Water Bath and Pressure Canning

Water bath and pressure canning are both safe methods when they are used for the appropriate foods and according to scientifically tested directions.

The terms “water bath canning,” “boiling water bath canning” and “boiling water canning” refer to the same processing method.

Boiling Water Bath Canning

Water bath canning is used for naturally acidic and properly acidified foods.

Depending on the tested recipe, these may include:

• Fruits and fruit products.
• Pickles and relishes.
• Jams, jellies, and other fruit spreads.
• Acidified tomatoes and tomato products.
• Tested salsa recipes.

During processing, the jars are completely submerged in boiling water and heated for the time listed in the recipe. Additional processing time is required at elevations above 1,000 feet because water boils at a lower temperature as elevation increases.

The food’s acidity, preparation method, jar size, processing temperature, and processing time all work together as part of the tested process.

For a complete overview of the equipment and processing steps, see this beginner’s guide to water bath canning.

Pressure Canning

Pressure canning is required for low-acid foods, including:

• Most plain vegetables.
• Dried beans.
• Stocks and broths.
• Meats, poultry, fish, and seafood.
• Soups, stews, and meals in a jar.

A pressure canner allows the temperature inside the canner to rise above the boiling point of water. This higher temperature is necessary to control the risk of botulism in low-acid foods.

Pressure itself does not destroy microorganisms. The National Center for Home Food Preservation explains that safety depends on applying a sufficiently high temperature for an adequate amount of time. Air must also be vented from the canner so that the jars are surrounded by pure steam at the correct temperature.

It is also important to use equipment designed for home pressure canning. A pressure canner is not the same as a small pressure cooker or electric multi-cooker. USDA pressure canning processes were developed for pressure canners large enough to hold at least four quart jars standing upright, and those processes should not be applied to smaller pressure cookers or multi-cookers.

Pressure canning is not simply a hotter version of water bath canning. Each method is one part of a complete process developed for a specific product.

The exact process depends on the food, how it is prepared and packed, the jar size, processing time, canner pressure, canner type, and elevation.

If you are new to the method, this step-by-step pressure canning guide explains how to vent the canner, build and maintain pressure, adjust for altitude, and cool the canner safely.

There Is No Formula for Converting Processing Times

One of the most important things to understand is that there is no standard conversion between boiling water and pressure canning processes.

For example, a 10-minute boiling water process does not automatically become:

• Five minutes at 5 pounds of pressure.
• Ten minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.
• The same amount of time at a higher temperature.
• Half the published water bath processing time.
• The pressure canning time used for a similar food.
• The processing time for the ingredient that takes the longest to can.

These numbers cannot be calculated safely in a home kitchen.

Scientists develop processing instructions by measuring how heat moves through a specific food inside a jar. Temperature-measuring devices are placed in different areas to locate the jar’s cold spot, or slowest-heating location. Researchers then collect temperature data at that location to determine the processing time required under those particular conditions.

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, heat penetration may be influenced by:

• The size and shape of the jar.
• The size, shape, and texture of the food pieces.
• The ratio of solids to liquid.
• The temperature of the food when processing begins.
• The consistency and thickness of the product.
• How tightly the food is packed.
• Whether the food is puréed, mashed, chopped, or left in pieces.
• The temperature reached inside the canner.

A thin liquid heats differently from a thick purée. Loosely packed pieces surrounded by liquid heat differently from a dense mixture. Large pieces may heat differently from small, evenly sized pieces.

If a recipe is changed in a way that alters the acidity, consistency, texture, or distribution of solids and liquids, it may become a new product that requires its own heat-penetration testing. There is no easy formula for calculating processing times without scientific experimentation and analysis for that particular food.

That is why neither I nor another home canning writer, influencer, content creator, book author, or experienced home canner can calculate a pressure-canning conversion for a boiling-water recipe. You may see suggested times and pressure settings on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook groups, Reddit, blogs, or other online communities, but a recommendation is not the same as a scientifically tested process.

When you are looking for home canning guidance, trace the recommendation back to a trusted, research-based source rather than relying on how confident, popular, or experienced the person sharing it may seem.

Higher Heat Is Not Automatically Safer

Because pressure canning reaches a higher temperature, it is easy to assume that it must be safer than water bath canning in every situation.

That is not how a tested canning process works.

The important question is not simply, “How hot is the canner?” It is:

Did enough heat reach the slowest-heating part of the food and remain there long enough to provide the required treatment for that particular product?

Without testing, there is no way to know:

• Where the cold spot is located inside the jar.
• How quickly that location heats.
• How the food’s consistency affects heat movement.
• How much heat is delivered while the canner comes up to pressure.
• How much heating continues during processing and cooling.
• What combination of time and temperature is necessary.

The come-up and cooling periods are part of the total heat exposure used when a pressure canning process is developed. Changing the equipment, pressure, processing time, or cooling procedure can change the amount of heat delivered to the food.

Adding more time or more pressure does not resolve this uncertainty. Without a tested process, the numbers are still guesses.

Pressure canning a product for an invented amount of time could result in inadequate processing. It could also expose an acid food to far more heat than necessary and reduce its texture, color, flavor, or overall quality.

Using the hottest possible method is not the goal. The goal is to use the correct tested process.

Is Pressure Canning Faster Than Water Bath Canning?

Pressure canning may seem like a faster option because some tested pressure canning times for acid foods are shorter than their water bath canning processing times. However, the processing time listed in a recipe is only one part of the total time required to complete a canner load.

A boiling water bath canner must heat until the water reaches a full boil before the processing time begins. Once processing is complete, the heat is turned off and the jars can be removed after the required resting period.

A pressure canner requires several additional stages. The filled canner must heat until steam flows steadily from the vent, vent continuously for 10 minutes, build to the required pressure, maintain that pressure for the full processing time, and then cool and depressurize naturally before it can be opened.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation estimates that processing a load of acid foods in a pressure canner may take about 55 to 100 minutes from start to finish, compared with about 25 to 60 minutes for most acid foods processed in a boiling water canner. The pressure canner’s cooling period alone may take 20 to 60 minutes.

So even when a tested pressure canning option has a shorter processing time, that does not necessarily mean the entire canning session will be faster.

For acid and acidified foods, boiling water canning is often the simpler and faster choice when that is the method provided with the recipe.

Some Foods Have Both Canning Options

You may notice that some trusted recipes provide tables for both boiling water and pressure canning.

Certain preparations of fruits and tomato products have been tested using both methods. Peaches are one example used by the NCHFP to demonstrate how to select the correct process from separate boiling water bath canning and pressure canning tables.

When both methods are published, researchers have established different time-and-temperature combinations that provide the necessary treatment for that particular product.

These are not general conversion tables. The pressure, processing time, jar size, preparation method, pack style, and elevation adjustments belong only to the food described in that recipe.

When you are given both choices:

• Choose one complete processing method.
• Follow the preparation instructions exactly.
• Use only the jar sizes listed.
• Follow the table for your chosen canner and gauge type.
• Make the required elevation adjustment.
• Do not combine instructions from the two methods.

For example, do not use the pressure listed in one table with the processing time from the boiling water canner table.

The fact that peaches or a particular tomato product can be processed using either method does not prove that pickles, salsa, jam, or another food can be processed using the same time and pressure.

Pressure Canning Does Not Replace Required Acid

Tomatoes provide an especially useful example of why you must follow the complete recipe even when a pressure canning option is offered.

The USDA and NCHFP provide both boiling water and pressure canning options for some tomato products. However, bottled lemon juice, citric acid, or another specified acid is still required when it is included in the preparation instructions.

The NCHFP explains that the boiling water and pressure canning alternatives are equivalent processes with different time-and-temperature combinations. The pressure processes were developed for the acidified tomato product, not for tomatoes canned without the required acid.

Therefore, choosing the pressure canning option does not allow you to:

• Leave out the bottled lemon juice or citric acid required by the recipe.
• Reduce the amount of acid.
• Use fresh lemon juice when bottled lemon juice is specified.
• Change the preparation method.
• Add extra low-acid vegetables.
• Use a larger jar than the recipe allows.

A pressure canning option does not cancel the acidification instructions in the tested recipe.

Do not treat pressure canning as a substitute for the vinegar, bottled lemon juice, bottled lime juice, or citric acid required in any tested recipe.

Tomatoes require special attention because approved changes, acidification requirements, and processing options depend on the particular tomato product. Learn more about safe changes to tomato canning recipes.

Can Common Water Bath Canning Recipes Be Pressure Canned?

Pickles, relishes, salsa, jams, and jellies are among the foods that generate the most questions about switching canning methods.

For each of these products, use the processing method provided with the tested recipe.

Can You Pressure Can Pickles and Relishes?

There are currently no tested home pressure canning recipes for pickles or relishes from reliable canning authorities. Tested recipes use boiling water canning or, for certain cucumber pickles, a carefully controlled low-temperature pasteurization process.

The amount and strength of the vinegar, the proportions of vegetables and liquid, the preparation method, and the published heat process work together to make the acidified product safe.

Pressure canning would not be an “extra-safe” version of the published process. It would be an entirely different, untested process, and the additional heat could also leave pickles soft and overcooked.

Can You Pressure Can Salsa?

Tested salsa recipes are developed for boiling water bath canning. While there are a few Mexican-inspired tomato sauces, there are currently no tested pressure canning processes for home-canned salsa.

Do not attempt to convert a boiling water salsa recipe by using the pressure canning time for plain tomatoes or another tomato product. Salsa is an acidified mixture of tomatoes and low-acid ingredients such as peppers, onions, and garlic. The exact proportions of vegetables and acid, along with the recipe’s consistency, preparation method, jar size, and processing time, all contribute to the safety of the finished product.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation emphasizes that you must use the amount of each vegetable and acid specified in a tested recipe. Salsa should not be thickened with flour, cornstarch, or other starches before canning because thickening changes how heat moves through the food.

Pressure canning does not compensate for reducing the acid, adding extra vegetables, thickening the salsa, or otherwise changing the tested formulation. It would create a different, untested process rather than an extra-safe version of the original recipe.

Continue to use the vinegar or bottled citrus juice, ingredient proportions, preparation method, jar size, and boiling water processing time specified in the tested recipe.

Can You Pressure Can Jam or Jelly?

Use the processing instructions included with the tested jam or jelly recipe.

Tested home canning guidance recommends boiling water processing for jams and jellies. Do not invent a pressure canning conversion unless a trusted source specifically provides one for the product.

Traditional jam and jelly recipes rely on carefully balanced proportions of fruit, acid, sugar, and pectin to produce the intended gel, flavor, and quality. Other recipes are specifically developed for low-sugar, no-sugar, or no-added-pectin preparation.

Changing the heat process may affect the set, color, flavor, and overall quality of the finished preserve. It also creates a process that was not included with the tested recipe.

Pressure canning is not needed simply because the product contains fruit pieces, peppers, herbs, or other added ingredients. What matters is whether the complete formulation and processing method have been tested. Use the exact recipe and canning method provided by a reliable source.

Can You Use a Pressure Canner as a Water Bath Canner?

In many cases, the pressure-canner pot can be used as a boiling water canner, but this is different from processing the jars under pressure.

A boiling water canner is simply a large pot with a rack that holds the jars off the bottom, a lid, and enough depth to cover the jars with boiling water.

Most pressure canners can also be used as boiling water canners, provided they are deep enough to cover the jars elevated on a rack with at least 2 inches of water and allow the water to maintain a full rolling boil without overflowing.

When using it as a boiling water canner:

• Place the filled jars on a suitable canning rack.
• Add enough water to cover the filled jars by 2-inches.
• Position the lid so pressure does not build.
• Bring the water to a full, vigorous boil.
• Process the jars for the boiling water time listed in the recipe.
• Make the correct elevation adjustment.

In this situation, you are not pressure canning the recipe. You are simply using the pressure-canner pot as a boiling water canner.

Why You Cannot Use Directions from a Similar Recipe

When no pressure canning directions are listed, readers sometimes look for a similar product and borrow its processing time.

Examples might include using:

• Plain tomato directions for salsa.
• Plain carrot directions for pickled carrots.
• Plain pepper directions for pickled peppers.
• One salsa’s directions for a different salsa.
• The longest processing time among several ingredients.

These substitutions do not create a tested process.

Once ingredients are combined or prepared differently, the product’s acidity, density, consistency, and heat movement may change.

Plain carrots packed in water do not heat the same way as pickled carrots surrounded by vinegar brine. Plain tomatoes are not the same as a thick salsa containing onions and peppers. Chopped vegetables suspended in liquid do not necessarily heat the same way as a purée or tightly packed relish.

The processing directions belong to the complete tested product, not to one ingredient within it. You cannot safely assign the pressure canning time for an individual ingredient to a mixed or differently prepared recipe.

What Should You Do When Only Water Bath Instructions Are Provided?

When a tested recipe includes only boiling water instructions, the safest choice is also the simplest: follow those instructions.

Here is what to do:

• Use the boiling water processing time provided with the recipe.
• Adjust the processing time for your elevation.
• Follow the listed preparation and pack method.
• Use only the jar sizes included in the directions.
• Add all required vinegar, bottled lemon juice, bottled lime juice, or citric acid.
• Use a pressure process only when one is specifically provided for that product.
• Do not invent a time, pressure, jar size, or elevation adjustment.
• Do not combine portions of two different processing methods.

When no tested home canning recipe exists for the food you want to preserve, look for a trusted recipe that produces a similar product.

Some tested recipes allow limited ingredient adjustments, but those changes must be supported by current research. Do not assume that a recipe can be altered simply because the finished food looks similar to another canned product.

In many cases, you can safely can the individual ingredients of the recipe, then combine and add extra seasonings, dairy products, thickeners, pasta, rice, or other finishing ingredients after opening the jars and while reheating it for serving.

Otherwise, refrigerate the food, freeze it, or prepare it fresh.

Before You Switch Canning Methods: Common Questions Answered

Over the years, I have received many questions from readers who wonder whether a water bath canning recipe can be processed in a pressure canner instead.

The questions may be worded differently, but they usually come back to the same concerns: Is pressure canning safer? How do you convert the processing time? Can you avoid an altitude adjustment, use a larger jar, or leave out the required acid if you use a pressure canner?

Below are answers to some of the most common questions I receive about switching canning methods and why it is important to follow the complete tested process provided with each recipe.

Follow the Complete Tested Process

Pressure canning is an essential method for preserving low-acid foods, and it can be an approved option for certain acid foods when tested directions are provided.

However, a pressure canner is not a safety override for a water bath recipe.

When a recipe includes both boiling water and pressure canning instructions, you may choose either complete method and follow the appropriate processing table exactly.

When the recipe provides only boiling water canning instructions, there is no safe formula for converting the time into minutes and pounds of pressure.

Safe canning is not based on choosing the hottest canner. It comes from following a tested recipe and its complete processing method exactly as published.

You can find reliable recipe sources, current preservation guides, and recommended canning books in this collection of trusted home canning resources.