Beef broth can be canned at home, but only in a pressure canner. Process pint jars for 20 minutes and quart jars for 25 minutes, at 11 pounds pressure on a dial-gauge canner or 10 pounds on a weighted-gauge canner at low elevations. Those times come from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) meat-stock directions.
A water-bath canner never gets hot enough. Broth is a low-acid food. Sealed jars of it can support Clostridium botulinum if they are not heated to about 240°F, which only a pressure canner can do. Extra boiling time in a water bath does not fix that.
The rest of this guide covers how to make a jar-ready broth, how to tell broth from soup (the times are not the same), how to adjust for altitude, and the mistakes that cause failed seals or unsafe jars.
Why Beef Broth Must Be Pressure Canned
Low-acid foods have a pH above 4.6. Meat broth sits well above that line. Botulism spores survive ordinary boiling. In a sealed jar they can grow and produce toxin without changing the look or smell of the food.
Pressure canning raises the temperature inside the jar high enough to destroy those spores. Water-bath canning tops out at 212°F. That is enough for pickles and jam. It is not enough for beef broth.
An electric multi-cooker with a “canning” button is not a substitute. Instant Pots and similar appliances are not tested or approved for home canning of low-acid foods. You can make the broth in one. You still need a stovetop pressure canner to put it in jars.
If you do not own a pressure canner, freeze the broth.
Broth, Stock, Bone Broth, and Soup Are Not Canned the Same Way
Search results mix these words. For canning, the difference that matters is what is actually in the jar.
Strained meat stock or broth (the NCHFP category) is liquid, with at most tiny bits of meat picked off the bones. That is what the 20- and 25-minute times apply to.
Soup is broth plus a noticeable amount of meat, vegetables, beans, or other solids. USDA soup times are much longer: 60 minutes for pints and 75 minutes for quarts. Seafood soups go longer still.
Thick reduced bone-broth concentrate is a different problem. If the liquid is so reduced that it will not pour easily when hot, heat may not reach the center of the jar. Thin it with water until it ladles like ordinary stock, or freeze it. A broth that gels when cold is fine, as long as it was pourable when you filled the jars. Gelatin from collagen is expected. Thickness from reduction is not.
Do not put these in the jar before processing:
- Flour, cornstarch, or other thickeners
- Milk, cream, or other dairy
- Pasta, rice, or noodles
- Large chunks of meat or a packed layer of vegetables
Add those when you open the jar.
What You Need
Equipment
- A stovetop pressure canner with a rack (dial-gauge or weighted-gauge)
- Pint or quart canning jars, new lids, and rings
- Jar lifter, funnel, ladle, and a clean damp cloth or paper towel
- A large stockpot for making the broth
- Fine-mesh strainer and cheesecloth
Have the dial gauge checked once a year if you use that style of canner. A gauge that reads low under-processes the food.
Ingredients for a basic beef stock
NCHFP’s tested method is simple: fresh trimmed beef bones, water, and optional small bits of meat returned to the pot after simmering. Onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and peppercorns are commonly added for flavor and strained out. Salt is optional.
Bones with some meat and connective tissue (knuckles, joints, marrow bones, roasted leftover roast bones) give better flavor than bare shank bones alone. Crack or saw large bones so more surface is exposed.
A splash of vinegar while the bones simmer is a cooking choice, not a canning requirement. It does not make the broth high-acid and does not allow water-bath canning.
How to Make Broth That Is Ready for Jars
The official NCHFP beef procedure is: cover cracked, rinsed bones with water, cover the pot, and simmer 3 to 4 hours. Remove the bones, cool the broth, skim the fat, return any tiny clinging meat if you want it, reheat to boiling, and fill jars with 1 inch of headspace.
That is the tested baseline. Many cooks roast the bones first at a high oven temperature until deeply browned, then simmer longer. Roasting is a flavor step. Longer simmering extracts more collagen. Neither change is a problem for canning if the finished product is still strained, defatted liquid.
Roast the bones if you want a darker stock
Spread bones in a single layer and roast until well browned, turning once. Deglaze the pan with water and add that liquid to the stockpot. Pale raw-bone stock is acceptable; roasted bones just taste more like beef.
Simmer, do not boil hard
A rolling boil makes cloudy stock and can emulsify fat into the liquid. Keep it at a gentle simmer and add water if the bones start to stick out.
Strain, then remove the fat
Lift out the bones. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Do not squeeze the solids hard, or bits and fat get forced through.
Then skim the fat. The reliable way is to chill the broth until a solid fat cap forms and lift it off. Fat left in the jar can:
- Coat the rim and prevent a seal
- Rise during processing and siphon out
- Turn rancid sooner than the broth itself
A thin film is common. A thick layer is worth another chill-and-skim.
Reheat to a full boil before filling
This is a hot pack. Cold broth in hot jars, or lukewarm broth in any jars, is the wrong starting point.
How to Pressure Can Beef Broth
- Wash jars, lids, and rings in hot soapy water. Keep jars hot until they are filled. Follow current lid-manufacturer directions; most modern lids do not need boiling.
- Put the canner rack in place and add the amount of water your canner manual specifies, usually about 2 to 3 inches. Begin heating the canner while you fill jars.
- Ladle boiling broth into hot jars. Leave 1 inch of headspace.
- Remove air bubbles. Recheck headspace.
- Wipe the rims carefully. Fat on the rim is a common reason lids fail. A cloth dampened with vinegar helps cut grease. Apply lids and screw bands fingertip tight — snug, not cranked down.
- Load the jars onto the rack. Lock the lid.
- Vent steam in a steady stream for 10 full minutes before putting on the weight or closing the petcock. Skipping this step leaves air in the canner, which lowers the temperature even if the gauge later looks correct.
- Bring the canner to the pressure required for your elevation and canner type. Start the timer only after that pressure is reached.
- Keep the pressure steady for the full time. If pressure drops below the target, bring it back up and restart the timer.
- When time is up, turn off the heat. Let the canner return to zero pressure on its own. Do not run cold water over it or jiggle the weight to speed it up. Wait about 10 more minutes after the gauge reads zero, then open the lid away from your face.
- Lift jars straight up onto a towel. Leave them undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
- Remove the rings, check the seals, wash the jars, label them with the date, and store them without the rings.
Unsealed jars go in the refrigerator and should be used within a few days, or the contents can be reprocessed with a new lid within 24 hours if the broth is still in good condition.
Processing Times and Altitude Pressure
Processing time stays the same at every altitude. Only the pressure changes.
Meat stock / strained beef broth
| Jar size | Time | Dial gauge, 0–2,000 ft | Weighted gauge, 0–1,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 20 minutes | 11 lb | 10 lb |
| Quarts | 25 minutes | 11 lb | 10 lb |
Dial-gauge canner — raise pressure as elevation rises
| Elevation | Pressure |
|---|---|
| 0–2,000 ft | 11 lb |
| 2,001–4,000 ft | 12 lb |
| 4,001–6,000 ft | 13 lb |
| 6,001–8,000 ft | 14 lb |
Weighted-gauge canner
| Elevation | Pressure |
|---|---|
| 0–1,000 ft | 10 lb |
| Above 1,000 ft | 15 lb |
These figures match NCHFP Table 1 and Table 2 for meat stock.
Look up your elevation once and write it on a card taped to the canner. Guessing is how under-processed jars happen.
If you packed the jar as soup — half solids, half liquid — use soup times instead: 60 minutes for pints, 75 minutes for quarts, at the same pressures.
After the Jars Cool: Storage and When to Throw Them Out
Home-canned foods are best used within one year for quality. Flavor and color fade after that. A jar that was processed correctly, stayed sealed, and shows no spoilage signs can remain safe longer, but quality is the reason for the one-year target.
Store jars in a cool, dark, dry place. Heat, sunlight, and damp basements shorten quality life and can rust lids.
Before you open a jar, check for:
- A lid that flexes or has come unsealed
- Leaking, spurting, or a bulging lid
- Cloudiness that is new and odd, slime, or mold
- An off or “off-sweet” smell when opened
When in doubt, throw the jar out without tasting it. Botulinum toxin cannot be detected by sight or smell.
USDA still advises boiling home-canned low-acid foods for 10 minutes before eating (add 1 minute per 1,000 feet above 1,000 feet) if there is any question about how they were processed. That is a backup, not a license to skip pressure canning.
After opening, refrigerate leftover broth and use it within 3 to 4 days.
Mistakes That Show Up After Canning Day
Water-bath “just this once.” The jar may seal. Sealing is not the same as being safe. A seal only means air was pushed out. It does not mean spores were killed.
Leaving a heavy fat layer. Fat on the rim stops a seal. Fat in the jar goes rancid first.
Treating thick concentrate like broth. If it mounds on a spoon when hot, thin it or freeze it.
Putting soup solids in a broth load. Tiny meat shreds from the bones are in the tested meat-stock method. A jar packed with cubes of beef and vegetables is soup and needs soup time.
Not venting for 10 minutes. The gauge can lie if air is still inside the canner.
Forcing the canner to cool. Sudden pressure loss siphons liquid out of the jars and can break seals.
Over-tightening bands. Air needs a path out during processing. Fingertip tight is enough.
Using a pressure cooker as a canner. Capacity, venting, and tested heat-up patterns are different. Use a canner built and tested for jars.
Cloudy jars that still look otherwise normal. Hard boiling, pressing solids through the strainer, or minerals in the water can cloud broth. Cloudiness alone is not proof of spoilage. Combine it with a bad seal, off odor, or spurting and the jar should be discarded.
How Canned Broth Compares With Freezing
| Pressure-canned broth | Frozen broth | |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Pressure canner required | Freezer space only |
| Shelf life (quality) | About 12 months in the pantry | A few months before flavor fades |
| Texture | May gel when cold; liquefies when heated | Same, plus freezer-burn risk |
| Best use | Everyday cooking stock without thawing | When you have no canner, or the broth is too reduced to can |
| Safety rule | Must follow tested times and pressures | Cool quickly, freeze promptly |
Canning earns its keep when freezer space is tight or you want a jar you can open on a weeknight without thawing a block of ice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I water-bath can beef broth if I add vinegar or lemon juice? No. A splash of acid does not reliably drop meat broth below pH 4.6 throughout the jar. Tested recipes do not use that shortcut.
Why did my canned broth turn into jelly? Collagen from bones and joints sets when cold. Heat the jar and it will melt. That is a quality sign, not a canning defect, if the broth poured when you filled the jars.
Can I add salt? Yes, for flavor. Salt is not a preservative in this process. About ½ teaspoon per pint or 1 teaspoon per quart is a common amount. Leave it out if you want unsalted cooking stock.
Can I can store-bought boxed broth? You can heat and pressure-can it using the same meat-stock times, because you are still canning a low-acid meat liquid. There is little point unless you bought it on sale and need pantry space. Do not put dry bouillon cubes directly into a jar. Recent NCHFP guidance on concentrates is to dissolve them fully in water first, and only when a tested recipe calls for broth.
Can I use half-pint jars? Half-pints are not listed on the NCHFP meat-stock tables. Use pints or quarts.
What if liquid siphoned out and the jar still sealed? As long as the seal is sound and the rim was clean, the broth is usually still usable. The top of the food may discolor. Use those jars first. Next time, keep headspace at 1 inch, avoid sudden pressure changes, and do not overfill.
Is a little fat on top of a sealed jar unsafe? Not by itself. Skim it when you open the jar. Work on a more thorough chill-and-skim next batch if the layer is thick.
Can I can leftover roast juices with a lot of fat and drippings? Defat them first and treat the liquid as stock. If the pan juices are concentrated and sticky, thin with water until they ladle easily.
Beef broth is one of the shorter pressure-canning jobs once the stock is made. The safety rule does not change with experience: strained low-acid liquid, hot pack, 1 inch headspace, 20 minutes for pints or 25 for quarts, pressure matched to your canner and elevation. Everything else — roasting the bones, overnight defatting, cheesecloth — is about flavor and clean seals, not a substitute for that process.