Easy Pressure Canned Venison: Stock Your Pantry Now

Now that hunting season is well underway, it’s time to make some pressure canned venison.  It is my favorite way to put up deer meat on the pantry shelves.  Pressure canned venison can be used to create quick, flavorful meals and it’s easier than you think.

Ingredients & Supplies for Pressure Canned Venison

• Deer Meat & Salt
• A Splash of Vinegar
• Quart Jars (or pint jars for smaller servings)
• Screw Bands & New Lids
• Pressure Canner
• Jar Lifter

Pressure Canned Venison as a Shelf-Stable Food 

Pressure canning venison, or any meat for that matter, is a great way to free up freezer space. Furthermore, adding meat to the pantry shelves is a great addition to your long term food storage.

Let’s Make Pressure Canned Venison, Shall We?

The pressure canning process is the only way to get meat up to a high enough temperature, for a long enough time to make it safe for food storage. A pressure canner is necessary because meat is a low-acid food. Once you learn to pressure can meat you’ll see how easy it is.

The Raw Pack Method

Around here, we prefer cubed and raw pack venison because of how quick and easy it is.  To get started, cube up your venison, or any raw meat into one-inch cubes, removing excess fat and silver skin.

Prepare Your Canning Jars

Since we will be using a pressure canner to process this meat, sterilizing jars isn’t necessary.  I do prefer to use wide mouth jars. Give your jars a good wash in some hot soapy water to get them clean. I also start with a cold pressure canner so using hot jars isn’t necessary either.  Pressure canned venison couldn’t get any easier. 

Raw Pack Venison Into Your Jars

Once your jars are clean and the raw meat is cut into one inch cubes, pack your jars full of the raw meat cubes.  Leave 1-inch headspace.  

Other Than Meat, What Should You Add?

For quart jars, I like to add one teaspoon of salt to my deer meat or a half teaspoon for pint jars.  Salt is optional though so skip it if you’d like. Sometimes I will throw a little black pepper in the jars as well.

That’s it.  You don’t even have to add any liquid.  As the deer meat processes in the pressure canner, it will create its own juice. 

Clean Your Jar Rims

Using a splash of vinegar on a clean kitchen cloth clean the rims of your jars.  Having nice clean rims will help ensure that you get a good seal, keeping your food safe for long-term storage. Put your lids on and tighten your bands to fingertip tight.

​Load up Your Pressure Canner

After you have added a few inches of water to your pressure canner, fill your canner with your prepared jars of deer meat.  Always make sure that your canner is completely full. If needed you can add jars of water to fill up empty space, which will give you sterile water for the pantry shelves as well.  

Different Pounds of Pressure for Different Altitudes

The National Center for Food Preservation is a great resource for home food preservation.  Depending on what you are canning and the altitude you live at will determine how many pounds of pressure you need to get the job done safely. You can use the tables below from the National Center for Food Preservation as a reference.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Strips, Cubes, or Chunks of Meat in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Elevations of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 – 2,000 ft	2,001 – 4,000 ft	4,001 – 6,000 ft	6,001 – 8,000 ft
Hot and Raw	Pints	75 min	11 lb	12 lb	13 lb	14 lb
	Quarts	90	11	12	13	14

Table 2. Recommended process time for Strips, Cubes, or Chunks of Meat in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.
			Canner Pressure (PSI) at Elevations of
Style of Pack	Jar Size	Process Time	0 – 1,000 ft	Above 1,000 ft
Hot and Raw	Pints	75 min	10 lb	15 lb
	Quarts	90	10	15

Getting Your Pressure Canner Up to Pressure

Once your canner is full, close the lid and turn up the high heat.  I use a weighted pressure canner so these directions will be for that.  

When the canner has reached a high enough temperature, you will have a steady stream of steam coming from the vent.  I like to let that steady stream of steam go for five minutes before adding my weights.  For my altitude in Florida, I will be using 10 pounds of pressure for pressure canned venison.

Maintaining Pressure

Once the pressure has increased, the weighted gauge will start rocking back and forth.  You can start slowly turning the temperature down while being sure to maintain the weights rocking back and forth. Weighted-gauge pressure canners exhaust tiny amounts of air and steam each time the gauge rocks during processing. The sound of the weight rocking will let you know that the canner is maintaining the correct pressure. 

Processing Time Matters for Pressure Canned Venison

Not only does pressure matter but also the processing time.  You can start your processing time once your weighted gauge has started rocking back and forth. To safely pressure can meat, you need to process pints for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes.  This will give you the most tender, shelf-stable meat.

Cool Down Time

Once you have processed your jars for the correct amount of time, turn your stove off and walk away.  Let your pressure canner cool down to room temperature on it’s own. Opening it too soon can be dangerous and cause jars to break or not seal correctly.

What About the Hot Pack Method?

The hot pack method can also be used, I just find that it’s a couple extra steps and isn’t always necessary. When canning gound meat I do use the hot pack method though.  Simply cook your ground meat, fill your hot jars, top the hot meat off with warmed broth, get rid of any air bubbles, put your lids and bands on, and place jars in your warmed pressure canner to process.

Tips for Pressure Canned Venison (Or Any Meat)

• Use the Best Quality Meat 
• You Can Use Previously Frozen or Fresh Meat
• Cubed, Sliced, or Ground Meat Can Be Used

The Benefits of Canning Meat at Home

• Convenience
• Shelf Stable Storage
• Preparedness
• Make the Most of Unsavory Cuts
• Best Quality and Nutrition

How to Use Your Pressure Canned Venison

Canning venison is one of my favorite ways to have the most tender, flavorful meat ready to grab for a quick meal.  You can use pressure canned venison for venison stew, in spaghetti sauce, over mashed potatoes with gravy, with egg noodles, in dirty rice, or even shredded up for the best tacos!

You may also enjoy reading:

Hide Tanning: The Easy Way to Tan Hides at Home

Happy Homesteading & Canning!

Jenny @ The GrahamStead Family Farm

Jenny and her family have been homesteading for more than two decades. They currently live on a 10-acre farm in Northeast Florida, which they built from the ground up, nine years ago.

On their farm, they grow 100% of their meat and most of their vegetables. With a small herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle, pastured poultry, sheep, and seasonal pigs, they not only meet their family’s meat needs but also sell their surplus to the local community. They are dedicated to sustainable practices like making compost, seed saving, and processing much of their garden and animal harvests at home. You can find Jenny wandering through her garden, making herbal tinctures, preserving food, making bone broth, and one of Jenny’s favorite hobbies, tanning all types of hides.

Sources:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/preparing-and-canning-poultry-red-meats-and-seafoods/meat-strips-cubes-or-chunks