How To Can Venison Or Beef – Easy Recipe (Video)

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Learning how to can venison or beef is easier than you think, and a great way to stock your homestead pantry shelves.  I love having canned chicken, turkey, venison and beef on my pantry shelves for those times when I forget to thaw some meat from the freezer, or need a quick meal.  We use canned venison and beef interchangeably in recipes as you can’t really tell a difference between them once they are canned.  What really gives the canned venison and beef their flavor is the beef tallow we add to each jar.  This gives the meat an amazing flavor.  It’s basically like having roast ready to eat at all times, without having to cook it first.

I love being able to grab a jar of meat off the pantry shelf and quickly make a meal.  Some of our favorite ways to use canned venison and beef include making

• beef salad sandwiches
• beef and noodles – we like to make homemade sourdough egg noodles and simply dump in a jar of home canned venison
• beef or venison stew
• beef casseroles
• beef enchiladas
• beef taquitos
• beef pot pie

And as I mentioned, we use the venison and beef interchangeable and you honestly cannot tell the difference.  

Homestead Fast Food

We cook all of our food from scratch and rarely, if ever go out to eat.  It’s really nice to have some convenience food like home-canned meat on the pantry shelves for those times when we’ve been busy outside all day, the kids are sick, or we just need a fast meal.  As long as you have canned venison, beef, chicken or turkey on your pantry shelves, you can have a nourishing and hearty meal on the table in minutes.  This is a picture of the cold beef sandwiches we make a lot in the summertime using the canned venison.

Learn how to can your own chicken or turkey here.

Sourcing Venison Or Beef For Canning

Go Hunting

Hunting for wild game is an old fashioned skill that is enjoyed by many.  If you don’t know how to hunt, find people in your area that hunt and they will usually show you what you need to know to get started.  Learning how to ethically harvest an animal, and process the meat to feed your family is a satisfying and useful skill to learn.

Donated Meat From Hunters

Sometimes you can find a local program where hunters from out of state that don’t want their deer meat can donate it to a family that will utilize the meat to feed their family.  This not only helps out the hunters, but prevents any waste from happening to perfectly good meat.  Contact your local butcher shops to find out if a program like this is available in your area.

Raise Or Purchase Your Own Beef

The closer you are to your food and where it comes from, the better off you will be.  You will know what the animal is being fed, and how it is cared for.  Keeping supply chains close is always a wise idea.  It cuts down on a lot of extra costs like shipping or transport, and helps you know more about the animal you’re harvesting.  Raising your own beef is so rewarding!  Of course, you have to be set up with enough land for grass and hay, and learn how to care for the animal, but the end result is so worth it.  If you can’t raise your own beef, you can probably purchase a whole or a half a beef from a producer in your area.  

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Why Can Venison Or Beef?

Health Benefits

Knowing what is in the food on your pantry shelf is so important. When you can your own venison or beef, you know there are no artificial flavors or preservatives. If you raise your own beef, or know the person who does, then you know what the animals have been fed and how they have been cared for. Home raised beef will always be healthier than commercially grown chicken.

Peace Of Mind

Another benefit of having your own meat canned on your pantry shelves is just the peace of mind of knowing that it’s there.  It increases your sense of food security, and in case of a power outage where it might be more difficult to cook, you have a pre-cooked meat that can be eaten as is or easily made into sandwich filling without having to cook it at all.  

Saves Freezer Space

Speaking of power outages, if you have all of your meat in freezers and the power goes out, you are at risk of losing all of it if the power doesn’t come back on right away.  And besides, it costs a lot of money to keep freezers running, and they always seem to fill up quickly.  It only makes sense to can as much meat as possible, so it will store for many years to come, and save you lots of room in your freezer.

Healthy Fast Food

When you have canned chicken or turkey on your pantry shelves, you’re never more than a few minutes away from a nourishing and healthy meal for you and your family. I like to call it “homestead fast food”.

Pressure Canning

Whenever you are canning meat, you ALWAYS have to pressure can it.  Water bath canning will not get it hot enough for a long enough period of time to kill any potential bacteria.  To safely can venison and beef, you must process it through a pressure canner.  If you are new to pressure canning, don’t worry, it’s very easy to do and a very good skill to learn.  I explain more in the video below.  Be sure to always refer to your canners instruction manual for specific instructions related to your specific brand of canner.  

For pressure canning venison or beef, the pressure requirements and length of time may vary based on your altitude.  Where I live at less than 2,000 feet in elevation above sea level, I process my quarts of venison or beef for 90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure.  This seems like a long time, but you can accomplish a lot of other things while the canner is simmering away on the stove.  Canning meat is one of the easiest and least time consuming things I preserve every year.

Raw Pack

I always raw pack venison or beef  because it is so quick and easy.  The raw pack method consists of putting raw meat into the jars with some spices and beef tallow, and pressure canning it that way.  

FAQ:  

What Is The Best Way To Can Deer Meat?

Raw pack 2-3″ chunks of meat into quart jars, leaving 2″ of headspace. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, garlic and onion powder to each jar, along with some raw tallow pieces on top. Leave 1/2″ of headspace on top of the tallow. Cover with lids and rings and process in a pressure canner for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

What Cuts Of Venison or Beef Are Best For Canning?  

The best cuts of meat for canning are those you would typically have made into roasts. On a deer that would be the rounds, and sometimes part of the loins unless you make those into steaks. Generally the less fat and grissle in the meat the better.

It is important to note that strong-flavored wild meats, like the meat from an old rutting buck will be nice and tender after canning but may still be gamey tasting.  We try to save some of our better cuts of meat from a young buck or doe for canning.

What does home-canned venison and beef taste like?

Canned venison or beef tastes like cooked beef roast.  It is so juicy and delicious.  I’ve never had canned meat that was tough.  Something about pressure cooking it for a long time during the canning process makes the meat extra tender.

How long will canned venison or beef keep on your pantry shelves?

Canned venison or beef will keep for at least 1-2 years on your pantry shelves.  As long as the seals “pops” when you open it, the meat is still good to eat.  I have kept canned meat on my pantry shelves for much longer than 1-2 years and it’s always been fine.  It’s important to do what you feel comfortable with, but as long as I can hear a nice “pop” when I open the jar, then I know it’s safe to eat.

Is it safe to can meat that has been frozen?

Yes, it is safe to can meat even if it has been frozen.  In fact, sometimes I don’t have time to can our venison or beef at butchering time, so we just freeze the meat and I thaw it out and can it on a snowy winter day when I have the time.

Simple Ingredients

• Raw venison or beef, thawed – cut into 2-3” chunks that will fit into the jar
• Salt – it improves the flavor of the meat
• Black pepper
• Raw beef tallow – can usually get it from your local butcher shop
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder

Supplies You Will Need

• Canning Jars – I prefer to put all of my venison and beef in quart wide mouth jars for our larger family, but you can certainly use pint jars as well.  You can find jars at garage sales and auctions, or you can purchase them from Azure Standard.  If you use the code NEW15 at this link you will get 15% off your first order of $100 or more.
• Lids and rings – I like the lids and rings from ForJarsUSA as they have the best seal rate of any lid I’ve ever tried. Use code wagon10 and get 10% your For Jars USA Order.
• Jar Lifter – for taking hot jars out of the canner
• Towel – for setting your hot jars on when placing them on the counter.
• Pressure Canner – a really good pressure canner is a great initial investment in your canning future and one that will serve you well for many years to come.  I prefer this All American pressure canner or the pressure canner from ForJarsUSA. Use code wagon10 and get 10% your For Jars USA Order.

How To Can Venison Or Beef

Place raw meat pieces into jars, leaving approximately 2” of headspace for adding the tallow.

Add salt, garlic and onion powder to each jar.  ½ teaspoon of each for pints, and 1 teaspoon of each for quarts.  

Add some pieces of raw tallow on top of the beef in the jars.  Make sure it doesn’t stick up above the top of the jar. A half inch of headspace is recommended.  It’s okay to push it down so you have your headspace room.  You do not need to add any water to the jars, they will create their own juice during the canning process.  (See video below)

Wipe the rims of your jars with a clean cloth to ensure the lid will seal well.

Place the canning lids and rings on the jars.  They only need to be hand tight.

Pressure Canning Process

Place 1-2 quarts of water in your pressure canner, place it on your stove and turn your burner on high.  Place jars of meat into the canner and put the lid on, being sure to lock it into place.  You can refer to your canner manual for detail instructions related to your canner.

Allow the canner to continue to heat until a steady stream of steam is coming out of the vents. (See video below)

Place pressure gauge or applicable device over steam vent.

Process quarts at 10 pounds pressure for altitudes below 2,000 feet and 15 pounds pressure for altitudes about 2,000 feet.  

When desired pressure is reached, lower the heat so that the pressure is maintained.  You don’t want it to go too far above or below the desired pressure for best results.  On my canner, it has a little pressure regulator that jiggles, so when it is put on the canner for 10 pounds of pressure, it is supposed to jiggle 4-5 times per minute.  That is how I know it is at 10 pounds of pressure.  This is very simple, but will vary from canner to canner, so please refer to your canner instructions for more details.

Set timer for 90 minutes.

At the end of the processing time, simply turn off the heat and let the canner cool down slowly.  

Once the canner is completely cooled, remove the lid and using the jar lifter, remove the jars and place them on a towel on your counter to cool.

Allow the jars to fully cool to room temperature.  You will hear the satisfying “pop” of the seals as the jars cool.  This means you’ve been successful!

Check The Seals

Once the jars are completely cooled, check to make sure they all have a good seal.  To do this, you’ll want to make sure that the lid on each jar is indented downwards, and when you press on the center of the lid, it doesn’t move.  If you use the For Jars lids, you won’t have any trouble with jars sealing.  If you have a jar that doesn’t seal, you can put it into the refrigerator and use it within a week. Or you can replace the lid and re-process it in the canner.  Sometimes a lid won’t seal if there is a small crack on the rim of the jar, or if a piece of salt or food particle wasn’t cleaned off the jar rim properly.

Wipe down your jars and put them on your pantry shelf to be enjoyed for a long time to come. I hope you try canning your own venison and beef at home, and if you do, please comment below with any questions you may have. 

​When you open a jar of canned venison or beef, remove the chunk of tallow that is on the top of the jar and discard it.  Shred the meat with a fork and add it to any dish or make beef salad sandwiches.

Thanks for following along as we teach you how to grow a simple, sustainable life.