Canning Ground Beef or Ground Sausage

Thirty years ago, as I thawed and browned ground beef or sausage every time I needed it for a meal, I wished there was a way you could buy it precooked and ready to go, so there wouldn't be the dirty skillet and grease to deal with, not to mention the time it took before you could even start on the rest of the meal. "They can other meats," I thought. "Why can't they do ground beef?"

I don't know if anyone sells precooked ground beef in a metal can these days, but I process plenty of it by pressure canning just like other meats. My goodness - it's wonderful to be able to take a jar of ground beef or sausage off the shelf for spaghetti, lasagne, sausage gravy, chili, burritos, tacos, etc!! I would rather process 2 or 3 canner loads in a day and get the mess over with than to do it one pound at a time. I have watched a lot of YouTube videos on how other folks were doing it, and I believe I have it down to about as easy as it gets.

How to pressure can ground beef or ground sausage

Today I processed 10 pounds of ground beef. I canned it in pints, so that made ten jars. A pound of most meats fits into a pint jar - very convenient for recipes. A quart jars holds two pounds and is a good size to use for a family of four or five.

- Cook your ground meat just until the pink mostly disappears.
- Then drain the ground meat and cut the bigger chunks into smaller pieces. I really like using a pastry blender (with blades instead of wires) for this, but a spoon will work, too.
- Then the meat can be packed straight into clean canning jars. I do this as the next couple of pounds of meat is browning, but you can always cook all the meat first, then pack it into jars. I just like to keep the process moving so there's no wasted time waiting around.
- You will need a smaller jar, juice glass, or spoon to push/compact the meat down. Stop filling the (any size) jar when the meat reaches the first ring (about an inch from the top). You have to leave head space.
- I wipe the rims right after I fill a jar with any meat, because meat residue is harder to clean off if it dries on the glass. I wipe them again before I apply the lids.
- Process pint and half pint jars for 75 minutes; quarts for 90 minutes.

TIPS: 

- Remember, you do not have to sterilize jars before pressure canning. They WILL need to be clean, tho, and check the rims for chipping. Do not use jars with chipped rims.
- You do not have to BOIL lids... bring them to a simmer. You do not have to simmer rings - they just need to be clean. (These tips are per the Ball Canning Book.)
- You do not have to rinse the cooked meat before you pack it, just drain it well. Some remaining fat will settle around the top of the meat when it cools. It's ok. Just drain it off after you warm the meat in the pan.
- Use straight-sided jars for meats. It only took a couple of canner loads of meat in regular mouth jars with 'shoulders' to realize what a mess it made trying to dig the meat out past those curves. However, if all you have is regular mouth jars, the ground meats come out easier than the solid chunks of chicken, beef, ham, pork or fish. Mostly because it doesn't matter if the ground meats gets mangled, since you're using them in something anyway.
- If you don't have time to cook a lot of meat AND run the canner in the same day or evening, it's ok. Just cook up the meat, drain it, and either put it in a bowl in the refrigerator or pack them in the jars, cap and ring them and put the jars in the refrigerator. Within a few days, get the meat out and pack it into the jars and can it OR get your jars of meat out of the refrigerator, let them sit at least 30 minutes to get the chill off them, simmer clean lids, get the jars in a canner with cool water and fire it up.
- Never put cool or cold jars in hot water and never put hot jars into cool water. Start the food-packed jars and the water in the canner at similar temperatures.

A plus to pressure canning ground meats

One great benefit of pressure canning meats is how gristle breaks down and is no longer a problem! What a pleasant surprise it was when we discovered 'no gristle' even with cheaper brands of meats. Pressure canning even dissolves small bones in fish.