Canning Recipes that Actually Taste Good

Over the years that I have been canning, I have to say one of the most frustrating things is to spend all day canning, only to find out a recipe doesn’t taste good. My purpose in creating this post is to share my favorite recipes and where to find them. But if you have some favorites too, I also want to ask you to share.

If you have a favorite recipe, please share the title in the comments and a link to the source (book or website). If you would, please make sure it comes from a website or book where the recipes have been tested for safety or the person making the recipe knows what they are doing.

This post contains affiliate links. Here is the full disclosure.

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure can be found here.

Safety in Canning

I tend to be overly cautious when it comes to canning safety because I personally think it’s not worth the risk of poisoning anyone. But, then again, I also tend to worry more than most people.

On that note, if you’re new to canning and reading this, not to worry my friend. The key is to follow a recipe and it’s all good!

Limited Creativity Makes Finding Great Canning Recipes Difficult

I think the main issue with canning and having poor results from recipes comes from the fact that creativity is limited. It is limited because of the need to maintain safety in recipes and therefore you get recipes from those who can test in a lab or to those who make small tweaks to a preexisting canning recipe.

After years of trial and error, I am sharing all of my favorite recipes from canning books and those I have adapted to make my own. I know, I know. I just said you can’t change much in a canning recipe. To clarify, in canning the rule of thumb is not to change anything from a recipe that could affect the acidity or viscosity.

But there are ways to safely make a few tweaks like adjusting salt, sugar, and dried spices for example. To protect the property and work of others, I won’t be sharing the full recipes here, only pointing you to the source where the recipe can be found. 

However, in some cases, I have changed a recipe so much that it wouldn’t be considered the same. In which case, I have linked a few of my favorite adapted canning recipes.

My Favorite Canning Recipe For…

Applesauce, Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, p. 182. 

This is a simple recipe but turns out great every time. Most of the basic canning recipes I use come from this book.

Notes: 

1. The tastiest apples I’ve tried so far for applesauce is a combination of Jonathan and Fuji.

Dill Pickle Chips, Foolproof Preserving, p. 146 

It took me so long to find a good pickle recipe. This one is the BEST!

Notes:

1. A game changer in this recipe is to change the apple cider vinegar to white distilled vinegar. Make sure it still has 5% acidity and you use the amount the recipe calls for. 
2. This recipe uses a low temperature pasteurization method which keeps the pickles super crispy. It has been tested and it is safe to can pickles this way. This method is approved on  the National Center for Home Food Preservation website and a good visual guide can be found HERE. 
3. This recipe says to put a satchel of dill, mustard seed, and dill seeds in the vinegar and water then boil. I put the satchel of dill in the vinegar and water then boil but leave the spices out. Then I divide the mustard seed and dill seed evenly among all the jars, placing them directly in them prior to adding the salted cucumbers.

Roasted Tomato-Lime Salsa, Foolproof Preserving, p.220

Cameron tells me all the time I should sell my homemade salsa. Well, all the genius comes from this recipe, not of my own making but provided by Americas Test Kitchen. It’s delicious.

Notes:

1. I remove the seeds from the jalapenos on this recipe because my kids won’t eat spicy salsa. My version is very mild. 
2. Instead of 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, I only use 2 teaspoons salt- I use canning and pickling salt. 
3. An important part of this recipe is roasting the tomatoes in the oven to concentrate the flavor. The recipe says to include the blackened tomato skins but if the tomatoes are small there can be way too many tough skins in the salsa (my personal opinion). I usually remove at least half of the skins on the tomatoes after roasting. You could remove all the skins if you don’t like the texture. If you remove some skins, do it prior to adding the lime juice.
4. I add all the tomatoes after roasting plus the juice that comes out on the pan.
5. The recipe calls for red jalapenos but you can swap them out for green without affecting flavor or acidity levels. 
6. The recipe calls for 1 onion. In canning this is a pet peeve of mine, I really wish they would say the weight of the onion since an onion is a low acid food and onions can vary widely in size. If you’re curious, I usually add an onion that weighs a third of a pound or about 5 ounces which would be considered a medium size onion.

Lemony Strawberry Jam, Naturally Sweet Food in Jars, p. 101

Two of my favorite things together in one jar. Lemon and strawberries!

Notes:

1. I swap out the agave nectar in the recipe for honey instead.

Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce

The most of the old Ball tomato and pizza sauce recipes are pretty watery/bland. However, I recently found two water bath safe recipes that were more along the lines of what I was looking for in a tomato sauce.

I combined those two recipes into one roasted tomato pizza sauce canning recipe that is more flavorful. In the summer we make pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes and no cooking and in the winter we use our home canned pizza sauce instead.

Tomato Ketchup

Many years ago, I tried the ketchup recipe from the Ball Big Book of Preserving. The spices were so horrible I swore off canned ketchup for a few years.

Then I learned dried spices, salt, and sugar could be tweaked in a recipe without any effects to safety. I made another attempt at this recipe but took out all the spices I felt were too overpowering.

The result is a ketchup for canning recipe that is SO much better than the Ball version.

Cowpea Soup (Called “Cajun Black-Eyed Peas” in Book), The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning, p.82

My sister Amy recommended this recipe to me and I’m so glad! It was the only “convenience food” I canned last year. We grow lots of cowpeas and this was a yummy way to use them. I plan on tripling the amount I make this year. My kids loved eating this for lunch.

Notes:

1. Instead of adding bacon as well as sausage, I added only the andouille sausage. Since the meat totalled 1.5 lbs that is how much andouille sausage I added.

Now your turn! Share some of your favorites below.

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