Canning Turkey

This is the time of year to plan for canning turkey.  They are often on sale, and I frequently can the turkey day leftovers, and put another sale turkey or two in the freezer to roast and can another day, usually after the holidays, when things aren't so busy.
The day after roasting a turkey, I can both the cooked turkey and broth. If I don’t feel that I have enough time, I make and can the broth on the next day. You MUST use a pressure canner that will can at 10# pressure, not a boiling water bath or small pressure cooker.

Pack the turkey (cut into pieces that fit) into hot, clean jars, about 3 1/2-4 ounces per half pint jar or 7-8 ounces per pint. Leaving 1” headspace, fill the jars with hot broth or water; remove any bubbles with a plastic picnic-type knife or a long bamboo skewer or chopstick. Wipe the rims or the jar carefully, top with a lid prepared according to manufacturers instructions. and add the ring, closing firmly but not with excessive force. Place the jars in the pressure canner on the rack, which is heating with about 3 quarts of hot water in the bottom. Your canner may require more or less water; read the directions. When I have a canner load, I put on the lid, let the steam exhaust in a steady stream 10 minutes, put on the weight, and process 1 hour and 15 minutes at 10 pounds pressure for pints and half pints at 1000' elevation.  Pints and Half Pints are canned for the same time and pressure.
You may need different pressure and time depending on your altitude.
Let the canner return to zero on its own, which takes about 30 minutes for mine. Let it set another 5 minutes, remove the lid, facing away from you so you don’t get burned with steam, and remove your jars with a jar lifter to a folded towel or cloth. It is convenient to place the cloth on a large tray or half sheet baking pan, so you can move it if needed without disturbing the jars. Space your jars apart so air can circulate around them. Let them sit, undisturbed, until cool. Check to see that they are sealed, remove rings, and wash jars.  
Admire your handiwork.
For me, a 20# turkey yielded 13 pints of meat and 8 pints of plain broth.  A 15# turkey yielded about 10-11 pints of meat.  This certainly varies, but should put you in the ballpark.  I most often can turkey and meat in half-pints, just enough for us.
You should read your canner instruction book carefully if you haven’t had any experience canning with it, and perhaps can a load of sealed jars containing just water for practice. You should also consider purchasing a current Ball Blue Book and spend some time reading it.
If you have plain broth to can, process the hot broth in hot jars, with 1” headspace for 20 minutes for pints at 10# pressure.

I have paid 4 times as much for a cup of chicken or turkey in cans from Costco. A 12 oz. can yielded only 6 ounces of cooked meat, the rest was broth.  This turkey, canned, cost me 30¢ per cup or 4 oz. of meat.
One mistake I have made is not measuring my headspace and not getting enough; as the contents of the jar start boiling, the liquid expands, if there is not enough headspace, the liquid will be siphoned from the jar, sometimes causing seal failure. The other mistake was filling out a canner load of meat with some jars of plain broth. At the length of time it takes to can meat, the broth becomes super-heated and often siphons out of the jar into the canner. I now can the broth separately - it's just less worry.
Two other mistakes I have seen others do are leaving the jars in the canner too long after it has returned to zero, and not letting the pressure return to zero on its own – that may take a half hour or more.  Both things will cause seal failure.
If your jars don't seal within 2 hours, refrigerate them, use them right away, or freeze them until you can use them.
Try some of our recipes for using your canned turkey or chicken HERE.

37 comments:

  1. Love this post! I'm hoping you can answer a question for me. I'm new to canning meat and I tried canning chicken when it was on sale using my pressure canner. Some of the jars ended up with some of the meat above the broth (exposed to air instead of swimming in the broth). They sealed fine, though. Are they still good and do you know the shelf-life of canned meats?

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    1. Don't worry about your jars...if the sealed fine and smell good when you open them, they should be fine.
      Sometimes the jars get a little too full and some of the liquid siphons out. It may discolor your meat above the liquid a little, throw it away if the color bothers you, but it should be OK to eat.
      I usually try to turn over my canned goods within 2 years; that said, with a little loss in nutritive value, they are usually good for years if kept in a cool, dry place. Be sure to wash them well and remove the rings so they don't rust the lids.
      Look at the bottom of our post for some recipes to try using your canned chicken.

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    2. It is okay to use. Mine do that sometimes, the meat above the liquid might get a little brown, but it tastes all the same.

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  2. Great post. Love your blog. Thanks for sharing your incredible talent.

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  3. Hello.Thanks for the great post! Cant wait to try it. One question ~ does the meat have to be hot or just the broth and jars?Thanks!

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    1. Your meat needs to be warm, so that it will get to the correct temperature during processing. If I have refrigerated the cooked meat before canning it I warm it up a little before packing.
      This is a "hot pack" recipe; I find it easier to debone poultry after it's been cooked. It only needs to be cooked enough to make it easy to remove the meat from the bone if you are roasting a turkey just to can it.

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  4. We have 2 Turkeys to defrost from a few years ago. I am planning on using them for this. Please forgive the stupid question: How do I get enough broth if I roast them? I remember my Grandma doing something called "carcass soup" after she removed the meat, but unfortunately never paid attention :( Thank you!! I LOVE your site!!

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    1. Home canned turkey stock
      Here are the directions for your turkey stock.
      Remove the meat from the bones, refrigerate it, make your stock.
      The next day, can the meat and stock, warming them up before canning.

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    2. Hey, thanks for the information! its been so useful to us...question, if your canning this in quart jars, what is the cooking time? As I recall, you mentioned 1 hr 15 min for pints... how much time would I add for quart jars?.. thanks for the blog and keep up the good work!

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    3. Quart jars are processed for 1 hour 30 minutes. You'll find that's a lot of turkey to use for a meal for most folks.
      Pint jars yield about 1 1/2 cups of meat, enough for most casseroles or creamed chicken or chicken and noodles for 4-6 people.

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  5. Hi! I found you because I have a canner full of turkey pints and couldn't remember how long to process them. Googled, and you popped up. I'm in Iowa, too. Looking forward to looking through your site and files and recipes.
    ~ Mary

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  6. I just canned two turkeys! Your blog was my backup. I did verify everything with the ball book. Thank-you so much for your incredible talent as this was my first meat canning experience and I was a little nervous. Your clear precise instructions were the most helpful. Diana from Florida

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    1. Diane...Glad to hear of your success! It's great to have those jars ready to use without thawing.

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  7. Can you can meat in 1/2 pint jars?

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    1. I do can both meat and poultry in half pint jars most of the time...just right for two. Use the same time as you do for pints.

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  8. I just bought the new Pressure Cooker XL for canning. Everything is written for you to use 1 jars. My question is.... Will this new Pressure Cooker XL work?

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    1. From the online booklet for your pressure cooker XL, it appears that it will can 4 pint jars at a time.
      As to whether it will work? It appears that it should. A very interesting idea...I don't know enough about it to recommend it or not.
      I wouldn't can in it because of the information below. Also, it doesn't seem to allow for pressurizing and cool-down time; so I don't think it would be safe.
      This information is what I could find:
      November 2014, the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), an offshoot of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), posted an announcement warning consumers against using digital multi-cookers for pressure canning – even if they are advertised as being able to do so. Specifically, they said.. Even if there are referrals to the National Center for HFP in the instructions for canning in the manufacturer’s directions, we do not currently support the use of the USDA canning processes in electric, multi-cooker appliances.

      Read more: Consumer Alert: No Pressure Canning in un-tested Multi-cookers (update) http://www.hippressurecooking.com/consumer-alert-no-pressure-canning-in-un-tested-multi-cookers/

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  9. Hi, just picked this up as I'm about to can the Thanksgiving leftovers. I've had an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker for nearly a year. I used it to can (boiled) chicken I got on sale for that purpose. I followed blue book timings. All jars sealed properly after being processed for 1 hour 15 minutes. They've all been used over the last six months for soup, noodles or casseroles with no adverse affects. The unit I have takes about 15 to 20 min to reach 10 pounds pressure, cooks for the selected time then takes about 15 to 30 min to lose pressure naturally. Do you think we've just been lucky?

    I had never pressure canned anything before and have used it for beets, peppers and pumpkin from our garden. Again, all seems OK and let's me have ingredients that are difficult to get here in Scotland.

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    1. I haven't used an instant pot; however I would listen to what they are saying on the company website. Note the last line "For now, we wouldn’t recommend using Instant Pot for pressure canning purpose. Please note this correction to our early inaccurate information."

      Can I do canning with Instant Pot?
      There are two types of canning: boiling-water canning at 100°C/212°F (for acid fruits, tomatoes, pickles and jellied products) and pressure canning at 115~121°C/240~250°F (for low acid vegetables, meat and poultry). Please refer to “USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning” for more details.

      Instant Pot can be used for boiling-water canning. However, Instant Pot has not been tested for food safety in pressure canning by USDA. Due to the fact that programs in Instant Pot IP-CSG, IP-LUX and IP-DUO series are regulated by a pressure sensor instead of a thermometer, the elevation of your location may affect the actual cooking temperature. For now, we wouldn’t recommend using Instant Pot for pressure canning purpose. Please note this correction to our early inaccurate information.

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  10. Thanks Sue, will reconsider. Hadn't picked up the info on the IP website. "Proper" pressure canners very difficult to obtain here, or are prohibitively expensive. Like you, we only do 1/2 or 1 pints - don't suppose that would make any difference in the temperature situation? Our altitude isn't an issue - probably about the same as Iowa.

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  11. For a more authoritative answer to your question, you might contact these folks...they have responded to questions I have asked.

    Contact the National Center for Home Food Preservation

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  12. Thanks for this great info! I have a silly question. I'm brand new to canning, and just pulled the turkey from the cooker. The liquid inside is bubbling, reminds me of carbonation. Is this normal? I've only done green beans before this so I don't have anything to compare it to.

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    1. Sounds like you were successful canning your turkey! It is certainly normal for them to bubble like that...they get very hot in the canner.
      As they cool and seal, that should disappear. If you didn't try to remove some of the bubbles from your jars when you packed them, this may be more pronounced, but still OK.
      Good luck.

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    2. I did use the plastic stick to remove the bubbles. I just slid it around the edge and poked down into the center. Thankfully, it finally stopped! It kept going for quite a while. Now it looks just like canned "chicken". Saves so much money that we wouldn't have been able to consume in time otherwise!

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    3. It's called boiling....
      The meat and liquid is still literally boiling.

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  13. Glad the bubbles stopped. It sure is handy to have a jar to open for a hot dish, pot pie, etc. without cooking the chicken or turkey first as well as saving some money.

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  14. I have a silly question. It says to store in a cool dry place. I live in Florida without air conditioning. So..... there is no such thing. What's a canner to do?

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    1. I would store them in the coolest cabinet or closet that you have...and that probably won't be in your kitchen. I store mine on shelving I put in my den closet!

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  15. hi, I canned cooked turkey years ago. I used a regular pressure cooker to do the canning. Was I just lucky?

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    1. Yes, I expect that sums it up. Also, years ago, everyone who canned followed the rule to boil their canned food for at least 10-15 minutes before eating.
      Today the USDA recommends that a canner be large enough to hold at least 4 quart jars to be considered a pressure canner. That’s at least a 10 -12 quart canner, not a presource cooker. Otherwise the processing times won't be correct.

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  16. I am very happy to have found your website and this information. I just love turkey and always buy a huge one for lots of leftovers. But this year, it's just me and I thought I wasn't going to be able to make a turkey, because I'd never be able to go through the leftover before the freezer burned. I've become quite adept at canning meats over the last few months, so I went looking for info on canning leftover turkey. One quick question though: Do you find that canning the turkey, in particular the white meat, makes it mushy or gives it poor texture? More suited to soups or pot pies for instance? I'd love to can some in nice sized sliced that I could serve as a regular meal for myself, but I worry about it being mushy and not appealing if canned that way. Any information you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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    1. I haven't found it to be mushy, following this recipe. You notice, I don't cook the turkey well-done, only about to 160°. You might go to the roasting turkey page for that part of the process. (the link is in the second paragraph of this post).

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  17. I just found what I needed to know for pressure canning pints of turkey #10 lbs pressure for 75 minutes. A 23lb turkey gave me 16 pints with 3/4 broth and 1/4 water in each jar.

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    1. Glad you had success! It's sure the right time to can turkey.

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  18. Thanks for the info. I must admit, I have used the Pressure Cooker XL mentioned above for canning before without problems. I realize that I am going up against the USDA recommendation, and do it at my own risk, I wouldn't encourage others to do this without being aware of the issues.

    A couple of points I do take into consideration.

    The advice on the USDA is based on the fact that they just haven't tested the pressure cookers yet.

    My brother in law works for a lab supply company and got me some 10# pressure trigger stickers that they use in shipping chemicals, the stickers have a tab that triggers at a certain pressure, my XL has tripped them every time.

    I live at sea level, so the fact there is a pressure sensor controlling things is not an issue.

    Generally I give it extra time at pressure.

    Mostly what I can I use for soup or pot pies, both of which are going to be at 350degrees for at least 45 minutes before consumption.

    With those three things in mind, I feel the risk is acceptable. However, I certainly don't suggest anyone do the same without similar assesment of risks.

    Well, canning thanksgiving's turkey today! Also seriously considering cooking up a sale turkey to have. Bought some extra pint jars.

    Our turkey this year was an awesome 20# free range farm turkey from a local farm. Spent a fortune on it, but it came out WONDERFUL. There were only four of us at Thanksgiving dinner, so we have a lot left over!

    Best wishes and happy holidays,

    Todd

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  19. Can I use the drippings from my roasted turkey to can it in? Maybe add water to it?

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    1. Yes...skim off the fat (easiest if you refrigerate it for awhile), save the fat in the refrigerator for frying in.
      Then add water to the remaining drippings if needed for canning your meat. Save all that flavor!

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