Here’s what I tell people when they confess that they are intimidated by boiling water bath canning. If you can make pasta, you can handle a boiling water bath canner. And truly, it’s no harder or more complicated that than! Read through this post for a step-by-step introduction to processing high acid preserves in a water bath.
So, a little disclaimer to start out with. I’m going to detail my particular canning workflow. This might not be exactly how you do it in your kitchen and that’s okay. We all find ways to make it work with the tools, equipment and space that we have. In the end, the most important things are that you get your jars hot, that you fill them with a freshly made, hot product to the proper headspace, you use new lids, and that you process them for the amount of time prescribed by your recipe. There’s a good deal of flexibility in the rest of the details.
As I mentioned in the first post in this series, any pot can be your canning pot as long as it’s tall enough to hold a rack and your jars, and that it allows the jars to be fully submerged in the water. I like this one (thought it’s best for pints and smaller, it’s a little too short for quarts) but the best pot to use is the one already in your kitchen. If you don’t already have a pot that’s large enough to serve as a canner, I recommend opting for a durable stainless steel pot rather than a traditional enamel canner, as it will be more durable and versatile.
Once you’ve picked out your pot, position a rack in the bottom. I have a silicone trivet pictured here, but any round rack, or collection of old canning jar rings. Once you have a rack in your pot, place the jars you’re using on top.
Then, fill up the jars and pot with water. I like to use the hottest tap water available, as it speeds up the boiling process a bit to start.
It’s a little hard to see in this picture, but at this point, I only fill the pot enough to just barely cover the tallest jar I’m using. This should be more than enough water for the processing stage, because the jars are currently empty.
Once you remove the hot jars, fill them with your product, close them, and lower those filled jars in the pot, they will displace enough water that they will be sufficiently covered. Sometimes, you’ll even need to remove a little water from the pot to prevent overflow. If this becomes necessary, use something heatproof, like a Pyrex measuring cup so that you don’t burn yourself.
It is always a good idea to pour a generous glug of white vinegar into your canning pot before you start heating it. This will prevent any minerals present in your water from depositing on your canning pot or jars. I don’t live in a place with particularly hard water, but I still do this because it keeps my pot in good shape and makes it easier to clean. If you’re someone who likes more precise measurements, use between 1/4 and 1/2 cup.
Now the pot is ready to go on the stove an come to a boil. I do all of this before I ever apply heat to my preserves. That way, the canning pot has a head start on my product and the jars will be nice and hot when I’m ready to use them.
A note about lids
It used to be that you’d need an additional small pot running next to your canner, in which to warm your new lids before using. Back in 2014, Ball Canning announced that it’s no longer necessary to simmer lids prior to canning, as the plastisol sealant doesn’t require softening. Instead, they just need to be washed in warm, soapy water before applying them to filled jars. This change applies to all Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest, and Bernardin lids. More information about this can be found here.
If you are using lids from a different manufacturer, make sure to read through the package instructions to determine whether or not they need to be warmed before use.
When the product is ready to go into the jars, I slide the canning pot off the heat and pull out the jars with a handy jar lifter. Just a note: These jars are hot, but not sterilized, because I turn the heat down to a simmer as soon as the pot boils. Jars do not need to be sterilized prior to filling if your processing step is ten minutes or longer.
However, if your recipe calls for a processing time that is shorter than ten minutes (very few modern recipes use this shorter processing time), you need to actively boil your jars for at least ten minutes before filled, to ensure you have sterilized jars.
Now you fill up your jars, leaving the amount of headspace required by your recipe. If the recipe doesn’t tell you how much headspace to leave, use 1/2 inch.
Before applying the lids and rings, wipe the rims with a damp paper towel or clean kitchen cloth. I use the hot water from the canning pot as my dampening water, as the heat helps remove any stubborn sticky spots. If your product is super sticky, a little white vinegar on the cleaning cloth will help.
Then, center a lid on each jar and secure it with a ring. Tighten the ring just until it meets resistance. The term for this level of tightening is called “finger tip tight” meaning that you only tighten as much as you can with the tips of your fingers. This allows the oxygen to vent, which is what produces the airtight seal once the jars cool.
Once all the jars have lids and rings, lower them into your canning pot. Make sure the jars are fully submerged and are covered with about an inch of water (you need that much to ensure that they won’t become exposed during boiling). Turn the burner to high. When the pot returns to a boil, set a a timer to the prescribed amount of processing time.
You do want to maintain an active boil throughout the processing of the jars, but make sure you control your boil. If the pot is madly rolling, the chances that you will burn yourself increase. Turn it down a little, to minimize splashing and injury. I like to use one of these spill stopper lids on my canning pot rather than the original lid, as it also helps manage the mess of the boil.
When time is up, turn off the heat. Remove the lid and let the jars stand in the water for five minutes. This allows them to cool more gradually and prevents the product loss that sometimes occurs if you take the jars out too quickly. It can also improve the quality of the seal.
Once that rest period is over, lift your jars out of the pot and place them on a folded kitchen towel or wooden cutting board to cool. You don’t want to set them onto surfaces made from stone, metal or tile, as their cooler temperatures can cause the jars to break.
Once the jars are out of the canner, leave them alone and let them cool. Best practice is to leave them alone for a full 24 hours, but if you can’t manage that, try to wait until they are completely cool to the touch. As the jars cool, you should hear the lids making a series of popping and pinging sounds.
These noises are indications that the jars are sealing as they should. However, don’t freak out if you don’t hear those noises. Jars sometimes seal slowly and quietly. Once the jars are completely cool, remove the rings and test the seals by holding onto the edges of the lids and lifting up an inch or two. If the lids hold fast, the seals are good.
Sealed jars should be stored in a cool, dark place without the rings. If the jars are at all sticky after processing, make sure to wash them before you put them away. Any sticky residue can attracts ants and other pests, so make sure your jars are squeaky clean.
Just wondering why you store the jars without the ring?
Thanks
https://foodinjars.com/2013/10/store-jars-without-rings/
Hi there, any idea how long homemade spaghetti sauce needs to process for in the boiling water??
It totally depends on the recipe. Look for the recipe that most closely approximates the one you made on the National Center for Home Food Preservation website and then follow the processing instructions. http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can3_tomato.html
Hi so I’ve tried the water bath. and yet my jars still wont seal!!! I make my apple butter than I heat up the jars and the caps took one out at a time and than filled them up, than I put the lids on and the rings than I stuck them back in the hot water on the stove for 20 minutes and than I took them out and I checked on them the next day and still wouldn’t seal. but I took one of the jars an stuck it in the fridge and it sealed it. What am I doing wrong?? I used a noodle pan cover the jars to sterilize them. and a sauce pan for the lids and rings. please help!!!!!
If my product isn’t heated before filling the jar, how long does it have to boiling after the seal is placed on?
It depends on the product.
New to canning and want to pickle cauliflower and green beans. A friend told me she doesn’t hot water bath. Is this safe? How can I tell when water is boiling when the lid is on? Any good recipes for both of these food items?
You need to use a water bath for pickles. And you tell that the water is boiling because steam will be coming out of the pot. As far as recipes go, check out the recipe index on this page.
A friend cans green beans , cauliflower, and peppers without water bath. Is this safe?
It’s not safe to do anything without some kind of processing step. High acid foods require a water bath canner and low acid foods require a pressure canner.
I’ve heard some people say you have to put a lid on the pot while it’s boiling to ensure that it stays hot enough but I didn’t see you mention a lid. Do I need a lid?
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter. I typically put a lid on the pot to help maintain the boil, but it’s such a small detail that I figured I’d leave it up to the individual user.
I am making a Large batch of spaghetti sauce, is it ok to fill and lid my jars while I wait for the other batch to finish processing??
Thanks
It’s better to keep the sauce hot in the pot and only fill the jars when the canner is ready for them.
Help! I’m new at canning I followed the directions for water bath! I filled applesauce in jars! My water wouldn’t’t boil! After hours of waiting I took bottles out! So I believe it’s my burner! I’m thinking applesauce is not good! Oh……one of my jars popped! Please advise me! Thanks Donna
Donna, just put the applesauce in the fridge. It should be fine.
My jelly that was put through the water bath for longer that the recipe called for did not jell. Some from the same batch that was not put through the water bath process did jell. Did the longer time in the water bath cause this?
Typically the water bath does not impact the finished set. I don’t believe it’s the reason your jam isn’t setting as well.
Hi. I have made jam quite a bit in the last few years, only using single lids, and not processing them after. After reading more about processing, I bought a ball home canning kit and had a go today. After making jam, heating jars, lids and rims, filling jars and putting lids on and tightening rims to finger-tightness, I lowered them into the boiling pot of water in the basket that comes with the kit. The water was boiling okay, then one of the jar’s lids came off and water rushed into the jar. I was upset but was okay because the 2nd jar appeared to be doing well. When processing time was up, I lifted the jars out after a further 5 minutes, and found water in both of the jars. 🙁 Sooo upset! Why did this happen? Now i am scared about doing it next time! Help!
It sounds like you didn’t tighten the rings tightly enough.
When putting the preserves in the water bath does this cook the contents further?
Just made brandied figs and wondered if I could have put them in uncooked then filled the jar with the syrup so as not to overcook figs. I’m new to canning.
I’m enjoying hearing the popping lids ? I’m from Australia
Can you use any clean and sterile jars and single piece lids?
You want to use jars that have been designed for water bath canning. You can use single piece lids, but ideally they should be new. It’s not good canning practice to reuse commercial jam and jelly jars.
Hello. I’m new to canning and my concern is my product. Im planning to make cooked garlic in oil. Do I need to pat the bottles and seal dry before pouring the mixture or is it okay to just pour it even if it is slightly wet? Im planning to finish it with a boiling bath. Need your advice on this. Thank you very much.
The the product you’re planning on making is a low acid product and so is not safe to can in a boiling water bath. You need to pressure can that garlic to ensure its safety.
I’m canning salsa. The water is very very hot with slight bubbles but not a rolling boil. The stove has been on well over and hour…..Is my salsa safe to take out and store?
Is it possible to get crisp hot peppers when processing in a hot water bath?
Not really. The boiling water bath process always ends up cooking the food to a certain degree, so you will always lose some texture.
please tell me: can i leave the skin on the apple when canning them?
Yes. It’s not a safety issue, it’s just a texture issue.
So I may have made a canning mistake this weekend and I’m having trouble finding answers on the internet, but you may know. I canned crushed tomatoes (which I put in the jar after boiling/reducing for about 20 minutes) using a water bath I set up outside on a large propane burner. When it was time to take them off, I went out and realized a lot of the water had boiled out of the pot – like down to about 2 inches below the jar lids. I took them out and thought “Great, I need to redo this whole thing”, but they were already sealed. Do I need to in fact redo them?
Consider them steam canned. Read this. https://fyi.uwex.edu/safepreserving/2017/10/24/safe-preserving-using-a-steam-canner/
I just made pepper jelly and only 3 jars sealed. I didn’t boil them I just flipped them. so since they seal can I put new lids on and boil to seal? the jelly is pretty cool right now. and how long would they have to boil
The flip method is not recommended. At this point, you should follow the directions in this post: https://foodinjars.com/2018/07/my-jars-didnt-seal-what-happened/
I’m needing how much time to boil? Bacon jam
There is no safe way to process bacon jam in a boiling water bath canner or a pressure canner. More here: https://www.healthycanning.com/bacon-jam/
I have a pesto recipe that contains lemon juice. Is it alright to can this pesto?
No. There is no recipe for pesto that is safe for a water bath.
Is it necessary to keep the lid on while doing a water bath. When I do quart jars, the water just pours out during the boiling stage. It looked like you didn’t cover the pot at all. Thanks!
As long as you can keep the water at a rolling boil and keep the jars submerged, having a lid on the pot is not necessary.
Should I use this canning method for Giardinara? I’m making it this week and not sure. Thanks
You need to start with a giardianara recipe that was designed for canning. Not all pickles are safe for the water bath canner.
How do I prevent the awful burning/scorching that occurs to my electric stove top after each session of water bath canning? I don’t even want to can anymore because of the 2-hour clean up to the stove top afterwards. The pot is 1/2″-1″ larger than the electric coil element and the heat builds up with the long wait for the water to boil (30 min.) and the time to process the jars. My stove isn’t looking that clean anymore…ugh. Does anyone have this problem?
Have you considered getting a smaller canning pot? I cook on an electric stove and I don’t have this problem. But I only use pots that fit the footprint of my burner.
I’d like to be able to use the larger one, as I always have. It processes up to 7 pint jars at a time. If I went smaller, it would double the work. There must be some remedy as I’m sure other “canners” use electric stoves with large pots……
sometimes after hot bathing canned products the water is not over the top….is this okay………i do spagh sauce for 45 minutes is this too long ?
You either need to use a bigger pot or add some additional boiling water so that the jars don’t boil to exposure during processing. You want them to remain entirely submerged. And tomato sauces do typically need at least 45 minutes of processing.
My red pepper jelly and my strawberry jam taste excellent; and they sealed very well. However, both are runny. I know I used the required amounts of sugar and pectin; and I know the pectin was not too old. I timed the boil and the immersion into the water. I wonder if it’s because
a. I might not have had perfectly dry jars
b. My husband picks them up to see if they’ve thickened
c. The lids might not have been dry.
Thoughts?
Did you test for set? Cooking times are typically estimates. You also need to check for set to ensure that enough water has cooked out and that the sugar has reached the proper temperature. Additionally, did you use the amount of sugar the recipe called for?
Damp jars and your husband’s jostling shouldn’t have impacted the set at all.
Sorry if you mentioned it already.
Do you have to put the filled jars directly into the water bath or can they sit for a little bit? We have a ton of processing to do and wanted to fill all the jars and put them in the water bath in groups of 7 one after the other. If we do this that means some will be sitting over one hour filled before we boil them.
Thanks
They need to go into the water promptly. If you let them sit, they will cool and you then risk spoilage and jar breakage.
I just canned some salsa today, first time canning anything, and I didn’t have a tall enough pot to fill much over the top of the jars without overflowing onto the stove. The jars were covered for a couple minutes but by the end of the time (I added some extra time) the water was about 1/3” below the top of the lid. The seals seem to have formed on the lids. Are they safe? Or do I need to start over? If I start over, is it ok to start with the jars as they are again or so I need to get new lids? Thank you!
It’s not ideal. The best course of action is to put the jars in the fridge, since they weren’t fully sterilized. If you reprocess them with new lids in a larger pot, you risk compromising the texture of the salsa.
Hi Marisa, I got to this recipe from one of your posts: https://www.freshpreserving.com/blog?cid=strawberry-rhubarb-jam Could you explain the reasoning behind not boiling the water in step 1? Is there any situation in which this would be unsafe?
You don’t need the jars to be boiled in step one. You just need to heat the jars enough so that they won’t break when you fill them with the hot jam. The jars will get sterilized during the processing step. However, if they do boil in that initial step, it’s no big deal.
I’ve never canned before….so I made salsa and put them in canning jars. At first I didn’t think about sealing them until later. Can I seal them using the water bathing even though the jars aren’t hot? My friend showed me how to do it by boiling the jars in boiling water for a while and take them out and she flipped them upside down til they cooled off. But some of them did not seal and some did. Is this OK to do?
You can only can salsa recipes that have been designed for canning. It needs to have sufficient acid to be below 4.6 pH. What’s more, you need to do a properly long boiling water bath process (any recipe developed to be canned will include these instructions). Additionally, modern canning instructions will never include an inversion step.
I’m canning pickles and my sister said to just fill the water in the hot bath to the neck of the jars. But you said to cover the jars completely. Please advise me the difference and out comes. Thanks
You are always supposed to fully submerge the jars for maximum heat penetration.
I’m wondering if you would address water bath canning and altitude. I live at 3800 ft and have seen charts that indicate I need to add 5, 10 or 15 minutes additional time when using 4000 ft as my guide. That seems like a big difference to me. I want to can some assorted fruit jams, blueberry, apple butter, strawberry, etc., if that has any bearing. Thank you.
I have a blog post devoted to that topic. At your elevation, you add ten minutes to any processing time. https://foodinjars.com/blog/canning-101-on-adjusting-for-altitude/
i am canning Blueberry Jam. The recipe I am using doesn’t have instructions for a water bath, Will the jam last?
If it doesn’t include a water bath processing step, it should be kept in the fridge and used promptly. Don’t trust unprocessed preserves in the pantry.
My first time canning dill pickles. I didn’t realize the pot wasn’t tall enough to cover quart jars. The water only came to the neck. I processed them for ten minutes and they sat in the water five minutes. Will they be alright to eat?
They should be okay, but you’ll want to keep an eye on them. Those jars will have a slightly higher chance of losing their seals or spoiling than ones that were fully submerged.
Help!! We just followed a recipe for escabeche (pickled jalapenos, carrots, onion, cauliflower, etc.) to the letter and it didn’t say ANYTHING about elevation! This was our first time canning and we just moved from Phoenix to 6700′ elevation in Colorado. The recipe said to process for 10 minutes – we probably did 12 to 15 minutes max. All 12 jars sealed properly, but now we’re concerned that we didn’t process them long enough since we read comments after the fact about adding processing time. Will they be OK? Should/can we pop the seals and reprocess? What should we do?
Do you possibly have the refrigerator space to keep them in cold storage? That’s going to be the best course of action. You could reprocess, but that will give the finished pickle a really soft finished texture. I’m so sorry that your recipe didn’t include instructions to adjust for altitude. It’s such an important reminder for all water bath canning recipes.
I’ve never boiled any preserves this way? what are the advantages?
does it make a better preserve/ jam or marmalade?
It ensures a good seal and dependable preservation. There’s a much higher risk of spoilage if you don’t do the boiling water bath process.
I wish I had read this before I started!
I left the jars in the pot waiting for the water to come back to a boil. It never did, so I took them out. They are making the ping, but I am afraid I overcooked my pectin waiting. Did I? Do you have another site that tells more about making jelly?
The bigger issue here is that you didn’t properly process the jars, so they are not shelf stable. For more information on making jelly, there are a number of jelly recipes on this site.
Thank you so much, this was so helpful !
I’m so glad that it was useful!
I forgot to completely submerge my blueberries when water bath canning. Will they be ok?
It’s not ideal, but as long as the jars sealed, it should be okay.
I made chow chow today and I did the water bath but I did not put the lid on the pot and I bathed them for about 15 to 20 minutes I heard all the pops and everything on the on the lid you think there’s still safe. If not can I rebath all of the jars in boiling water with lid
It’s okay if you didn’t put a lid on the canner.
Last night I spaced out and forgot to take my jars out of the water after processing. I turned off the heat after the right amount of processing time to let them sit for 5 min, and then forgot about them until the morning. They all sealed. Are they safe??
They are safe, but the extended heat exposure might impact the taste and texture.
Wonderful website, which I just discovered today. I’ve been trying to learn to can this summer. I started with pickles (I LOVE pickles). Once I’m comfortable with that maybe I’ll expand my repertoire. I’ve done several batches and something goes wrong every time, although every single jar has sealed. I’ve kept notes about what went wrong with each batch. Can these pickles be saved? Don’t see these questions answered on your site.
1. Did not allow to cool 5 min prior to removing from canner.
2. Overpacked jars. I’m assuming I lost brine in the canning process. The pickles completely fill the jar now. Although they are still tightly packed, there are some gaps through the jar and the brine doesn’t completely cover. When I shake the jar, it looks like there may be air bubbles. Sorry, not sure I am explaining this well.
3. Had a timer problem and processed for longer than 10 min.
4. Moved the jars (a serious move — in my car where they were certainly jostled) probably 1.5 hr after they were removed from canner. They weren’t hot, but definitely were not “cool to the touch.”
None of those issues render your jars unsafe. I would eat the overpacked jars first, as they are most likely to be prone to spoilage issues. The ones that overprocessed may be softer in texture than the others. But otherwise, you’re fine.
Thank you for this great information. I have a question for you, I processed tomatoes in their own juice and while boiling the pint jars, my water in the canner got very low without me realizing it, I didn’t notice until my timer went off, I removed and they sealed, are these safe or do I need to reprocess? Thank you so much
I would probably mark on the jars the ones that processed uncovered and would use those first.
I know the jars need to be fully submerged but the pot I used was too short. When the 40mins boiling was up, my jars were *almost* fully covered but missing 3mm. Will this be ok for storage or did I just waste my time? Thanks.
It’s not ideal, but the jars should be okay. I do recommend that you get a larger pot if you plan on doing more canning in the future.
Hi Marisa! I hope all is well with you and yours. I wrote several years ago when I first started canning. You were very helpful. Thanks again!
So, I canned tomato jam today and something happened that’s never happened before. The lid popped on two jars when I was putting the jars in the boiling water bath. The jars are still cooling so I don’t know if they sealed correctly or not. (They look fine.) Any idea why they would pop as I put them in the water bath?
Thanks Marisa!
David
You can get a false seal prior to processing if the jars and content were very hot. Even if that occurs, you still want to process the jars.
Hi, I was hoping you could give me your opinion, I have 2 toddlers, so I roasted tomatoes one night, refrigerated & another I did all the other vegetable & herb processing as I can’t do it all at once. I crockpotted my spaghetti sauce at a low temp overnight & today I jarred the sauce. I submerged the jars in the water bath & at a rolling boil for 40 min. My first batch has what looks to be watery separation at the bottom of the jar. One jar however has foamy white looking bubbles. Is there something wrong with them? Ive never experienced this however, I also haven’t spread my canning processing out in a few days either . My next batch, I did the same but found tinted redin the water. Most jars look like they have water in them. Should I just not use the 2nd batch? A few sealed but most didn’t. I’ve never had an issue before so this is disheartening to me especially after all that work! 19 quart jars to be exact.
When you heat, cool, and then reheat tomatoes, the fiber that holds the tomato together starts to break down. As long as the seals are good, the product is safe. Just shake to reintegrate before using.
Is it possible for water to get inside the jar when processing. I put the rings on finger tight before submerging them. When I took them out, rings were extremely loose and jars looked completely full!!
If the water was boiling extremely vigorously, it is possible that it rattled the rings loose. Perhaps tighten a bit tighter next time.
Thanks for all the instructions on water bath canning. Can I water bath my chutney the following day. All my jars except 3 seem to have sealed. They are now cold, but didn’t want to waste them after the effort of making it all.
The chutney needs to be hot when you process it. If you want to cook one day and process the next, it’s best to leave it in the pot and then reheat when you’re ready to cook.
I did not wait the full 24 hours to take my rings off and 2 of the lids fell off. I put them back on and was going to reprocess them and now the jars are sealed. Are these jars safe for storage? I also have the 1.9l jars. What size stock pot will work for these jars. Thanks
Do not trust the seal on the jars where the lids came off. The interior is no longer sterile and so there’s no guarantee how long those jars will keep on the shelf, even if they are now sealed.