Safe Changes for Pressure Canning Meat and Poultry

Pressure canning meat at home? Learn which recipe changes are safe and which could be risky. Backed by USDA extension guidelines, this guide explains approved canning modifications you can trust.

Quart sized jars of pressure canned beef and chicken on a table.

Have you ever wondered if it’s safe to tweak a pressure canning recipe for meat or poultry? Maybe you’d like to skip the salt or add your favorite seasonings. These are smart questions, and the answers matter.

Canning meat isn’t the same as cooking dinner. Pressure canning recipes are carefully developed and lab tested to ensure that heat reaches the center of the jar to destroy dangerous bacteria like Clostridium botulinum. Even small changes to ingredients or preparation can affect processing safety.

In this guide, you’ll learn what changes are safe, which ones to avoid, and how to confidently preserve meat and poultry using research-backed USDA guidelines and the North Central Food Safety Extension Network guidelines.

This guide is part of our Safe Canning Substitutions series, designed to help you understand which recipe tweaks are safe to make and which may compromise the safety of your home canned food.

Why Safety Matters

Home-canned meat and poultry can be delicious, convenient, and economical, but only when preserved properly. Because these foods are low in acid, they create an environment where harmful bacteria like Clostridium botulinum can thrive if not processed correctly. Botulism is a rare but potentially deadly illness caused by toxins that can develop in improperly canned foods.

Pressure canning is the only safe method for canning meat and poultry at home. It uses high heat and pressure to raise the internal temperature of the jars to at least 240°F, hot enough to destroy bacteria and spores. Water bath canning cannot reach these temperatures and should never be used for low-acid foods like meat.

That’s why following lab-tested recipes and approved canning methods is important. Even small changes, such as adding thickeners or including untested ingredients, can impact how heat circulates within the jar, potentially making the food unsafe to eat.

Understanding what changes are safe (and which are not) is the first step to preserving meat and poultry confidently and safely.

Safe Adjustments for Pressure Canning Meat and Poultry

While canning recipes must be followed closely to ensure safety, there is a little wiggle room when it comes to seasoning and liquids. These safe adjustments won’t affect processing times or safety, but can improve the flavor of your home canned meats:

Omit or Reduce Salt

Salt is added for flavor and does not play a role in food safety. You can reduce or eliminate the salt based on your preferences or dietary needs. Feel free to season your meats after opening the jar when using them in meals.

Swap the Liquid

You may use water, broth, stock, or tomato juice (not tomato sauce) as the packing liquid. These options are safe and can add flavor to the meat.

Add Dried Herbs and Spices

You may safely include up to 1 teaspoon of dried herbs or spices per pint, or 2 teaspoons per quart. Options include garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, rosemary, thyme, oregano, black pepper, and bay leaves. Avoid using fresh herbs unless they are part of a tested recipe.

Add Fresh Onion

Fresh chopped, sliced, or minced onions can be safely added in small quantities. The limit is 1 tablespoon per pint jar or 2 tablespoons per quart jar.

Add Fresh Garlic

Like onions, fresh garlic can also be added in moderation. You may include up to 1 tablespoon per pint or 2 tablespoons per quart of chopped, sliced, or minced garlic.

These flavoring additions give you some flexibility to personalize your home-canned meats without compromising food safety. Just be sure to measure carefully and avoid exceeding the recommended limits.

Use Smaller Jars

You can safely go down in jar size when pressure canning meat. For example, I often preserve chicken in half-pint jars. They’re the perfect portion for quick meals like chicken salad sandwiches.

If a tested recipe calls for pints, it’s fine to use half-pints instead. Just be sure to process the smaller jars for the full time listed for the original size. This ensures the contents reach the necessary temperature for safe preservation.

However, do not use larger jars than the recipe specifies. Larger jars take longer to heat through, and unless the recipe was tested with that size, there’s no guarantee it will process safely all the way to the center.

Note: If you use half-pint jars to can meat, make sure they sit above the water line. Add a taller rack in the bottom of the canner to prevent, or set the canning rack on a layer of jar rings to prevent the jars from being submerged. Read more on this tip from NCHFP: Jars Should Not be Fully Submerged.

Unsafe Changes to Avoid

While a few flavor tweaks are allowed, the following changes are not safe and should be avoided:

Don’t Add Meat to Non-Meat Recipes

Never add meat to recipes that were not tested to include it, such as tomato sauces or vegetable mixtures, unless the recipe specifically calls for it. Adding meat changes the density and processing requirements and can lead to unsafe food if not properly processed.

Don’t Add Thickeners

Do not use flour, cornstarch, or other thickeners to make a gravy before canning. Thickened mixtures can affect heat penetration and result in uneven processing, leaving harmful bacteria behind. Instead, thicken your meat dishes later when you’re ready to use them.

Don’t Add Starches Like Pasta, Rice, or Noodles

While it might seem convenient to can a complete meal in a jar, starches like rice, pasta, barley, or noodles should never be added to pressure canning recipes. These ingredients can absorb liquid, swell, and thicken the contents, which interferes with safe heat penetration during processing.

Including starches can lead to underprocessing in the center of the jar, increasing the risk of harmful bacteria surviving even in a pressure canner.

If you want to enjoy your canned meat as part of a hearty meal, it’s best to add cooked starches when you open the jar and reheat it for serving. This keeps your meals safe, shelf-stable, and easy to customize later.

Don’t Add Extra Fat

Some tested canning recipes might include a small amount of oil. However, adding extra fat that is not part of the recipe can pose safety risks. While a small amount of natural fat is expected when canning meat, intentionally adding additional fats such as oil, lard, or butter is not considered safe.

Excess fat can interfere with heat transfer inside the jar during processing, preventing the food from reaching the temperatures needed to destroy bacteria.
Fat can cause seal failures. It may bubble up during processing and seep under the lid, preventing the lid from sealing.

To stay within safe guidelines, trim visible fat from meat before canning, and don’t use cooking oils or fats unless the recipe calls for it. If you want to add richness or flavor, wait until you’re ready to use the meat in a meal and add fat or sauces during cooking.

Don’t Can Cured Meats

Cured and brined meats like ham, bacon, and corned beef have not been tested for home pressure canning and should not be preserved using this method. These meats contain added salts, nitrites, and other curing agents that can affect heat penetration and processing safety.

According to Clemson Extension, the salt content in cured meats may interfere with the canning process and prevent the food from reaching the necessary internal temperature to destroy harmful bacteria like Clostridium botulinum.

Examples of cured meats that should not be home canned include:

Ham (dry-cured or wet-brined)
Corned beef
Bacon or salt pork
Sausage that has been cured or smoked

While a few tested recipes use a small amount of cured meats, such as salt pork or bacon in baked beans or ham in habitant soup, Currently, no lab-tested canning recipes exist for canning these meats on their own. If you want to preserve cured meats for later use, freezing is the safest option.

Don’t Can Meat Without a Tested Recipe

Always use a lab-tested, research-based canning recipe when preserving beef, poultry, pork, or game meats. These recipes are developed and tested by food safety experts to ensure that the food reaches the necessary internal temperature to destroy dangerous bacteria.

Avoid improvising or adapting your own recipes when canning meat. Popular but unsafe examples include:

Canning Meatloaf or Densely Packed Raw Ground Meat: There is no approved method for canning meatloaf. Packing raw ground meat tightly into jars can prevent proper heat penetration, especially in the center, creating a breeding ground for harmful bacteria. Ground meat should only be canned using approved methods that call for pre-browning and loose packing.
Homemade Soups and Stews That Haven’t Been Tested: Many homemade soups or stews include a mix of meats, vegetables, seasonings, and thickeners, but these combinations haven’t been tested for safety. Thick mixtures may not allow heat to reach the center of the jar. Always use a lab-tested soup canning recipe, and never add pasta, rice, flour, or other thickeners before canning.

Additional Tips for Pressure Canning Meat and Poultry

Canning meat and poultry at home is a satisfying way to stock your pantry with ready-to-use protein. Here are some extra tips to help ensure a safe, successful experience:

Choose a Tested Recipe

Always start with a lab-tested, research-based pressure canning recipe. While you can make minor changes as mentioned above, follow it closely and avoid substitutions that could affect safety. You can find trusted recipes from sources like the National Center for Home Food Preservation:

Ground or Chopped Meat (Bear, Beef, Lamb, Mutton, Pork, Sausage, Veal, Venison)
Meat Strips, Cubes or Chunks (Bear, Beef, Veal, Lamb, Pork, or Venison)
Poultry (Chicken, Duck, Goose, Turkey, or Game Birds)

Use High-Quality Meat

Select fresh, good-quality meat or poultry. Avoid using meat that is freezer-burned or shows signs of spoilage. Trim excess fat, gristle, and connective tissue.

Prepare Your Workspace

Read the recipe thoroughly before you begin. Set aside plenty of time so you’re not rushed. Make sure your canning equipment is clean and in good working order.

Get everything ready before starting your canning session.
Set up your pressure canner and preheat your jars.
Bring liquids to a boil.

Prepare Your Meat

Trim to remove skin and fat, and cut your meat into the size called for in the recipe.

If the recipe calls for partially cooking the meat, then precook the meat by roasting, stewing, or browning in a small amount of fat, then drain the extra fat before canning.

Pack Properly

Use the hot or raw pack method as directed by the recipe. Remove air bubbles and leave the recommended headspace, usually 1 inch for meat and poultry.

Adjust for Altitude

Processing times and pressure levels must be adjusted based on your elevation. Use a reliable tool like WhatIsMyElevation.com or refer to your trusted altitude chart to determine your correct pressure setting.

Adjust the pressure pounds as indicated below:

Altitude 0-1,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 10 pounds. Dial Guage = 11 pounds.
Altitude 1,001-2,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 15 pounds. Dial Guage = 11 pounds.
Altitude 2,001-4,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 15 pounds. Dial Guage = 12 pounds.
Altitude 4,001-6,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 15 pounds. Dial Guage = 13 pounds.
Altitude 6,001-8,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 15 pounds. Dial Guage = 15 pounds.
Altitude 8,001-10,000 feet: Weighted Gauge = 15 pounds. Dial Guage = 15 pounds.

Allow Jars to Cool Undisturbed

After canning, remove the jars, place them on a towel, and let your jars cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Avoid moving or tilting them during this time, which could affect the seal. After cooling completely, wash the jars well to remove residue, label them, and store them in a cool area.

Four quart sized jars of pressure canned beef and chicken on a table.

Final Thoughts

Pressure canning meat and poultry is a safe and effective way to preserve your harvest or take advantage of bulk buys at the butcher. While there isn’t much room for creativity in canning recipes, a few safe tweaks, such as reducing salt or adding dry seasonings, can help you tailor jars to your family’s taste preferences without compromising safety.

Remember, always begin with a tested, research-based recipe and follow instructions closely. When in doubt, freeze your meats instead.

This article is part of a series on Safe Changes and Substitutions in Home Canning Recipes. If you’re curious about what tweaks you can safely make when canning other foods, be sure to explore the rest of the series for guidance on vegetables, tomatoes, pickles, fruit, and more:

Resources Used in this Article:

Play it Safe! Safe Changes and Substitutions to Tested Canning Recipes. North Central Food Safety Extension Network (NCFSEN)
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning. Part 5: Preparing and Canning Poultry, Red Meats, and Seafoods
There is no safe approved process for home canning cured, brined or corned meats. Clemson Cooperative Extension.

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