How to Use a Stovetop Pressure Canner: The Steps in Order

Your first time with a pressure canner can feel like a lot. It gets much calmer once you know the order of things, and many home canners were once right where you are. Set aside an unhurried stretch of time, since heating, venting, processing and cooling each take as long as they take.

What do you need?

• A pressure canner with its rack, and the manual that came with it
• A tested recipe, which sets the process for your food and jar size
• Your altitude, because it changes the pressure. The altitude page explains and links to the USDA tables
• Mason jars, new lids, screw bands, a jar lifter and a towel

We don't print times, pressures, water amounts or headspace (the gap at the top of the jar) on this page. The USDA Complete Guide (Guide 1, pages 1-19 to 1-26) and the National Center's Using Pressure Canners walk through the same steps with those figures. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is the US canning experts at the University of Georgia. Your canner's manual speaks for your exact model. Where a manual and this page differ, follow the manual and your tested source.

What are the steps?

1. Check the canner

   Clean the gasket and parts as the manual says, and make sure the vent pipe is clear. Center the canner on a level burner. The National Center says a canner generally should not go on an outdoor LP gas burner or a gas range burner over 12,000 BTUs.

2. Add the rack and water

   Put in the rack and hot water, using the amount your tested recipe or manual gives. Some foods need more than others, so read this each time.

3. Load the jars

   Set filled, lidded jars on the rack with a jar lifter, gripping below the band. Keep each jar upright, since tilting can put food in the sealing area. Fasten the lid securely.

4. Let the air out

   Leave the weight off or the petcock (a small valve) open. Heat on high until steam flows freely, then let it flow for the full venting time in the USDA guide or your manual. This pushes out the air. Trapped air means a lower temperature at the same pressure.

5. Bring it to pressure

   Put the weight on the vent pipe or close the petcock. Start timing only when the dial shows the pressure your recipe gives for your altitude, or the weighted gauge jiggles or rocks as the maker describes.

6. Hold the pressure

   Change the heat to keep a steady pressure at or slightly above the target. If it ever falls below the target, bring it back and start the timing over from the beginning, with the full original time.

7. Let it cool by itself

   Turn off the heat and let the canner lose pressure naturally. Don't cool it with water, and don't open the vent early. The National Center says forced cooling may spoil the food. It can also cost you liquid and seals.

8. Open the lid

   Once the pressure is gone, take off the weight or open the petcock, wait the time your source gives, and unfasten the lid. Lift it away from you so steam can't reach your face. Never force a lid that won't open. The cover lock is there for a reason.

9. Cool and check the jars

   Lift the jars out upright onto a towel, with space between them. Leave them alone for the cooling time in the USDA guide. Don't tighten the bands. Then test each seal, as described below.

How do dial and weighted gauges differ?

On a dial-gauge canner, the National Center says only the dial shows the pressure. The small weight on the vent pipe seals it and doesn't rock like a weighted gauge. On a weighted-gauge canner, you read the pressure by the jiggle or the rocking, and your manual says what yours should do. The gauge comparison explains how to choose. North Dakota State adds that you should check a dial against a calibrated gauge every year.

What do you do once the jars have cooled?

The USDA gives three ways to test a seal. Press the middle of the lid. If it springs back, it hasn't sealed. Tap it with a spoon. A sealed jar gives a high ringing sound. Or look across the lid at eye level. It should curve down slightly. Then take off the bands, wash the jars, label them, and store them somewhere clean, cool, dark and dry.

Remember what a seal can and can't tell you. It does not show that the food got the heat it needed. The National Center says never to taste a suspect jar, because spoiled low-acid food may show little or no sign. Our botulism page explains why. Jars not sealing covers lids that fail the test.

What mistakes should you avoid?

• Using a recipe with no tested process. The CDC points to the USDA guide, the National Center and extension offices. The tested recipes page shows where to look.
• Forgetting your altitude. The USDA says canners must run at higher pressure for the listed altitude ranges.
• Skipping or shortening the air-out step. It looks like nothing is happening, and yet it matters a great deal.
• Rushing the cool-down. The National Center says the cooling period is part of the process.
• Sliding the canner. The National Center says to lift it, and to leave it in place if it's too heavy to move easily.
• Treating a cooker as a canner. See pressure canner vs. pressure cooker.

What's next?

Still choosing a pot? Our stovetop canner guide compares the options. This is the one we'd begin with:

Plug-in machines follow a different order of steps. See how to use an electric pressure canner. You'll get the feel of this with your first batch or two.