Water Bath or Pressure Canner? Knowing Which One to Use

We’ve spent the first part of this week talking about tomatoes.

We’ve talked about acidity, why tomatoes need added acid when they’re canned, and how to process them safely in a boiling-water canner.

Today, we’re going to make a change.

Because tomorrow, we’re moving from tomatoes to chicken.

And that means we’re moving from water-bath canning to pressure canning.

If you’re new to home canning, this is one of the most important distinctions to understand:

The food determines the processing method.

Not the size of your kitchen.

Not which canner happens to be sitting in your cupboard.

And definitely not what your grandmother’s recipe card says.

Let’s look at why.

Water-Bath Canning: For Acid Foods

A boiling-water canner works by surrounding the jars with boiling water.

At sea level, water boils at 212°F.

That temperature is sufficient for safely processing properly acidified high-acid foods when you follow a tested recipe and the appropriate processing time.

Foods commonly processed this way include:

• Fruits
• Pickles
• Jams and jellies
• Fruit spreads
• Properly acidified tomatoes and tomato products

That’s why we started this week with tomatoes.

They can be safely processed using a boiling-water canner when the tested recipe’s acidification and processing instructions are followed.

Pressure Canning: For Low-Acid Foods

Now let’s talk about chicken.

Meat and poultry are low-acid foods.

And boiling water isn’t hot enough to safely process low-acid foods for shelf-stable storage.

That’s where pressure canning comes in.

A pressure canner allows the temperature inside the canner to rise above the boiling point of water.

That higher temperature is necessary to destroy microorganisms of concern in low-acid foods when the food is processed according to a tested pressure-canning procedure.

That’s why you don’t take a water-bath recipe and simply put it in a pressure canner.

The pressure canner isn’t a magic safety button.

The recipe still needs to be tested for that particular food, preparation, jar size, processing time, and pressure.

So Which Canner Should You Buy?

Here’s where things get interesting.

If you’re just starting out and can only afford one canner, I would seriously consider buying a pressure canner.

Why?

Because a pressure canner gives you the ability to safely process low-acid foods such as meat, poultry, and many vegetables.

And it can also be used for boiling-water processing of foods that are appropriate for that method.

That means one piece of equipment can cover both types of processing.

But There’s an Important Catch

You don’t pressure-can an acid food simply because you’re using a pressure canner.

When you’re using the pressure canner as a boiling-water canner, you are not building pressure.

You’re using it as a large boiling-water canner.

That’s something I’ve done myself.

My pressure canner has a rack that keeps the jars up off the bottom of the pot, and because the canner is larger than some of my other pots, I can sometimes fit more jars in it.

For a boiling-water recipe, I use the canner as a boiling-water bath rather than sealing it up and processing under pressure.

The important thing is to follow the tested recipe’s instructions for water level, jar placement, processing time, and any other requirements.

One Canner Doesn’t Mean One Method

This is worth repeating.

A pressure canner can be used for boiling-water processing.

But that does not mean:

“If I put a water-bath recipe under pressure, it’s automatically safe.”

Those are two different processes.

And I learned another lesson the hard way:

Jelly Doesn’t Necessarily Like Pressure

I once tried pressure-processing a jelly recipe.

The result?

It didn’t jell.

I had changed the processing environment from what the recipe was designed for, and the jelly wasn’t happy about it.

That’s a pretty good kitchen lesson:

Equipment can sometimes be versatile. Recipes aren’t necessarily interchangeable.

So if you’re making jelly, use a tested jelly recipe and the processing method specified for that recipe.

If you’re canning chicken, use a tested pressure-canning recipe.

If you’re canning tomatoes, use a tested tomato recipe.

The canner doesn’t replace the recipe.

What About Tomatoes in a Pressure Canner?

Here’s another point that sometimes causes confusion.

Some tested tomato procedures can be processed in a pressure canner.

But that doesn’t mean you can skip the acidification step.

NCHFP’s tomato guidance specifically provides acidification directions for tomatoes regardless of whether they are processed in a boiling-water canner or pressure canner.

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/tomato-acidification-directions

So don’t think of pressure canning as a way around tomato acidification.

The method and the acidity are two separate parts of the safety equation.

The Easy Way to Remember It

If you’re trying to decide which method to use, start with the food.

Think Water Bath

High-acid foods

Think:

🍓 Fruit
🍎 Apples
🍇 Jams and jellies
🥒 Pickles
🍅 Properly acidified tomatoes

Think Pressure Canner

Low-acid foods

Think:

🍗 Chicken
🥩 Meat
🌽 Many vegetables
🥣 Some soups and combination foods

There are exceptions and special cases, which is why we use tested recipes rather than relying on a simple list.

But this is a good starting point.

Don’t Guess With Combination Foods

This is particularly important when you start getting creative.

Suppose you want to make a jar containing:

• Chicken
• Rice
• Vegetables
• Broth
• Seasonings

Sounds like dinner, right?

It does.

But you can’t simply decide how long to pressure-can that jar based on how long it takes to cook those ingredients on the stove.

Different ingredients heat differently.

The density of the food matters.

The jar size matters.

The preparation matters.

The processing time and pressure matter.

That’s why tested recipes are so important for combination foods.

And that’s exactly where we’re headed tomorrow.

Tomorrow: Chicken Meal Starter

Tomorrow I’ll show you the Chicken Meal Starter I put together for my own pantry.

This isn’t just a theoretical recipe.

I actually made these jars.

My canner holds 12 half-pint jars, and I filled all twelve during the batch:

• 8 jars with the Chicken Meal Starter
• 2 jars with extra vegetables and broth
• 2 jars with broth

That’s a lot of future meals sitting on one shelf.

And those jars are going to give us something even more valuable than a canning tutorial:

a real example of how a preserved food can become the starting point for future meals.

Stretch Every Grocery Dollar

This is where pressure canning starts to make sense beyond simply learning another preservation technique.

Chicken can be expensive.

But when you can preserve a larger quantity safely, you can turn one cooking session into multiple future meal starters.

That’s the same philosophy we’ve been talking about all month:

Buy when you can. Preserve when it makes sense. Use it later.

The goal isn’t to have the biggest pantry.

The goal is to have a pantry that works for you.

Kitchen Confidence

If you’ve been intimidated by pressure canning, don’t let the equipment make the whole process seem mysterious.

Understand the basic rule first:

High-acid foods can generally be processed in a boiling-water canner. Low-acid foods require pressure canning.

Then learn the tested recipe.

Then learn your equipment.

You don’t need to memorize every canning rule before you begin.

You just need to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing — and follow the tested procedure.

Tomorrow, we’ll put that knowledge to work.

And we’ll put some chicken in the pantry. 🍗

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Reliable Canning Resources

National Center for Home Food Preservation — Ensuring Safe Canned Foods

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/general-information/ensuring-safe-canned-foods

NCHFP — Canning Tomatoes: Introduction

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/canning-tomatoes-introduction

NCHFP — Tomato Acidification Directions

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/how-do-i-can-tomatoes/tomato-acidification-directions

USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

https://nchfp.uga.edu/resources/category/usda-guide

For pressure-canning meat and poultry, always use a current, tested procedure rather than adapting a cooking recipe for canning.