Broth cannot be safely canned in a water bath. Chicken, beef, turkey, bone broth, and vegetable stock are low-acid foods, and a boiling-water canner never gets hot enough to destroy the spores that cause botulism. Shelf-stable jars of broth require a pressure canner and a tested process. If you do not have one, freeze the broth instead.
A water bath holds jars at the boiling point of water, 212°F (100°C) at sea level. That temperature is enough for high-acid foods such as most fruits, jams, and properly acidified pickles. It is not enough for broth.
Why a water bath cannot make broth safe
Food safety in canning turns on acidity. Foods with a pH above 4.6 are low-acid. Meat, poultry, bones, and most vegetables fall in that group, and so does the liquid cooked from them. In a sealed jar, with the air driven out, Clostridium botulinum spores can grow and produce a toxin. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) states that pressure canning is the only recommended method for meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetables, and that boiling-water canners pose a real risk of botulism for these foods.
The spores themselves are the problem, not ordinary bacteria. Boiling kills many microbes, which is why a bad jar may look, smell, and taste normal. Spores survive 212°F. They are destroyed only when the food is held at about 240°F (116°C) or higher for a tested length of time. A pressure canner reaches that temperature by holding steam under pressure. A stockpot of boiling water cannot.
A few workarounds show up often in older books and online comments. None of them is a tested substitute for pressure canning:
- Processing longer in a water bath, even for several hours, does not raise the temperature above boiling.
- Adding vinegar, lemon juice, or citric acid “until it tastes sharp” is not a researched way to acidify broth. Acid is only reliable when a tested recipe specifies the type and amount.
- A sealed lid, a clear broth, or a jar that has sat on the shelf for months is not proof of safety. Botulinum toxin does not always bulge a lid or cloud the liquid.
- An electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot is not a substitute for a pressure canner unless that exact model has been evaluated and approved for home canning of the food you are processing. Most have not.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises discarding home-canned food that might contain botulinum toxin rather than tasting it. If broth was processed only in a water bath, throw the jars out without opening them to sample.
What a tested pressure process actually does
Pressure canning is not just “hotter water bath canning.” Steam under pressure raises the temperature inside the canner, and the published time is long enough for that heat to reach the coldest spot in the jar. For plain meat stock, that cold spot is liquid, so the process is shorter than for chunks of meat.
NCHFP, drawing on the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, publishes a process for meat stock (broth). Chicken or turkey stock and beef stock use the same times. The pack is hot, the headspace is 1 inch, and excess fat is removed before the jars go into the canner.
Dial-gauge pressure canner
| Jar size | Time | 0–2,000 ft | 2,001–4,000 ft | 4,001–6,000 ft | 6,001–8,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 20 min | 11 lb | 12 lb | 13 lb | 14 lb |
| Quarts | 25 min | 11 lb | 12 lb | 13 lb | 14 lb |
Weighted-gauge pressure canner
| Jar size | Time | 0–1,000 ft | Above 1,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 20 min | 10 lb | 15 lb |
| Quarts | 25 min | 10 lb | 15 lb |
Time starts only after the canner has reached the correct pressure, not when the burner is turned on. If pressure drops below the target during the process, bring it back up and start the clock over. Altitude changes the pressure, not the minutes. A dial gauge should be checked for accuracy about once a year; a weighted gauge does not need that check, but it must rock or jiggle as the manufacturer describes.
How to pressure can meat stock
This follows the NCHFP procedure for chicken or turkey stock and the matching beef-stock method. Seasonings such as salt are optional and do not preserve the food. Do not thicken the stock with flour, cornstarch, rice, pasta, or commercial bone-broth bases that contain starches or added gelatin. Those ingredients change how heat moves through the jar, and they have not been tested in this process.
- Use carcass bones or cracked beef bones with the meat largely removed. Cover with water. For poultry, simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until remaining bits of meat fall off the bone. For beef bones, simmer 3 to 4 hours.
- Remove the bones. Cool the broth and lift off the fat. Fat left in the jar can interfere with the seal and shorten storage quality. A small amount of meat trimmed from the bones may go back into the broth if you want it.
- Reheat the broth to boiling. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles and recheck the headspace.
- Wipe the rims with a clean, damp paper towel, apply lids, and tighten bands fingertip-tight.
- Process in a pressure canner using the table above for your gauge type, jar size, and elevation. Vent the canner as the manufacturer and USDA directions require, usually 10 minutes of steady steam before the weight or petcock is closed.
- Let the canner return to zero pressure on its own. Wait about 10 minutes more, then open the lid away from your face. Cool jars upright, undisturbed, for 12 to 24 hours. Remove bands, check seals, label, and store without the bands.
Properly processed meat stock keeps its best quality for about a year in a cool, dark place. A seal can last longer, but flavor and nutrients decline.
Vegetable broth is a different problem
Plain vegetable stock is also low-acid, so a water bath is not safe for it either. The extra difficulty is that NCHFP does not publish a tested home-canning process for vegetable broth alone. Extension specialists have repeatedly pointed people toward the freezer for scrap-based vegetable stock for that reason.
Vegetable pieces left in the jar are not the same product as strained stock, and a mixed vegetable soup has its own tested process. Adding extra vegetables to a meat stock “for flavor” and then using the short meat-stock time is not what was tested. If the jar contains solid vegetables, use a tested soup or vegetable process for those ingredients, not the stock timetable.
Freezing is the reliable route for vegetable broth: cool it quickly, leave headspace in freezer containers or bags, and freeze. Small flat bags thaw faster and take less space than jars.
Freezing when a pressure canner is not an option
Freezing does not create a shelf-stable pantry jar, but it avoids the botulism risk of an underprocessed canner load. Cool the broth in shallow containers in the refrigerator, not on the counter for hours. Leave room for expansion. Fat can be skimmed after the broth chills. Frozen broth is best used within a few months for flavor, though it remains safe longer if it stays frozen and has no off odors once thawed. Thaw in the refrigerator.
Using broth in other canning recipes
A June 2025 NCHFP revision covers broth and stock concentrates in home canning. Broth and stock may be used interchangeably in current pressure-canning recipes from reliable sources. Concentrates such as cubes, powders, or pastes should be used only when the recipe calls for liquid broth or stock, and only after they are fully dissolved according to the label. Do not drop an unreconstituted cube into a jar.
Do not swap broth for water or juice in a boiling-water canning recipe. Broth changes heat penetration, and a water-bath process was not designed for that liquid. The same caution applies inside pressure-canning recipes: add broth only where the tested recipe lists it. A recipe written for water is not automatically safe if the water is replaced with stock.
If broth was already water-bath canned
Do not taste it to “see if it is all right.” Botulism can be fatal from a very small amount, and spoilage signs are not reliable. Discard the jars. The CDC’s advice for home-canned food that might contain the toxin is to throw it out.
Low-acid food that was not processed by a current USDA-endorsed method should not be rescued by a second water bath. Reprocessing in a pressure canner is also not a general fix for an unknown first process, because you cannot tell how the food has already changed. When the method was wrong from the start, the safe choice is disposal.
Common questions
Can bone broth be water-bath canned if it is cooked for 24 hours first? No. Long simmering extracts flavor and gelatin. It does not acidify the broth or destroy spores in a way that replaces pressure canning.
Is clear, fat-free broth safer in a water bath than cloudy broth? No. Clarity and fat affect appearance and sealing, not the pH or the spore risk.
Can I pressure can broth in half-pint jars? Use the pint time if you choose smaller jars. Do not shorten it. Do not use jars larger than the tested quart size.
Does salt make canned broth safe? No. Salt is for flavor only.
What about open-kettle canning, pouring boiling broth into a jar and turning it upside down? That is not a safe canning method for broth. A lid that happens to seal is not a process.