Canning Potatoes at Home – Step By Step Tutorial

Find a great deal on potatoes at the store? Garden give you a bigger bounty than you can handle? Let me show you how to keep them from spoiling! Canning potatoes is a lot easier than it may seem! All you need is a few jars, some lids and a canner and you’ll be eating fresh potatoes all year long!

Home food preservation is one of those skills that I feel like everyone should have. Not only can it be relaxing for the person doing the canning, but it can also foster connection between friends and family and provide shelf stable, nutritious food for your family for years to come. And the preservative effect of high heat creating a vacuum seal helps you keep them in your long-term food storage rotation for years to come. They are a hard staple in mine. In other words, if I get down to 10 jars, I’m in the kitchen canning more!

It can seem overwhelming, but the process is straightforward, and once you’ve done it a few times, it becomes second nature. If you’ve got a good pressure canner and a pile of potatoes that need used up, this is a great way to stretch your food budget and keep less going to waste.

What type of potatoes are best for canning?

Any type of potato can be canned. Don’t let anyone tell you that they can’t. But, different types of potatoes do hold up better than others. Waxy potatoes like the red-skinned potatoes or yukon gold potatoes are going to fare better than russets, but russet potatoes can up perfectly fine; especially if you’re using small potatoes and prefer to can them whole. What I do is keep russets back for my favorite soup recipe and for using in mashed potatoes and if I want to be able to fry them up, I use baby reds or Yukon gold. You can even slice them up to use as french fries later on. If you do, use a french fry cutter like THIS one so they are even slices.

If you’re mixing potato types, just try to keep the texture somewhat consistent and skip anything that’s overly soft or already sprouting and you’ll have great results.

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Do you have to peel potatoes before canning?

While I would love to tell you no, that you could skip peeling the potatoes, I can’t. Yes, you do. Leaving the skins on may seem like a time-saver, but it’s not safe. The skins can hold bacteria that pressure canning might not fully kill, and they can make the final product taste a little off. While I generally don’t worry too much about botulism (check the stats, as long as you’re following directions, canning is safe), canning potatoes with skins on is too risky.

I peel everything, cut the potatoes into 1–2 inch chunks, then soak them in cold water while I prep the rest. That keeps them from browning and helps remove some of the extra starch.

Russets will take you the longest to peel, but baby reds have thin skins that tend to move quicker.

Can I raw pack potatoes?

Yes, you can raw pack potatoes, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you absolutely have to. Technically, it’s allowed by USDA guidelines, the National Center for Home Preservation does not recommend it. There’s a tradeoff in quality that usually isn’t worth it. Honestly, the loss in quality is not worth it for me.

When you cold raw pack, you’re adding raw, uncooked potatoes to the jars. You then boil water and pour it over the potatoes in the jar, add a lid and ring and process like normal. It sounds easier at first and to be honest, it is. All you’re doing is boiling water. But what often happens is that the starches start to leach out during canning, which makes the water cloudy and sometimes causes the potatoes to break down or get mushy over time. They also tend to discolor faster in the jar, even if you add something like citric acid or salt to help preserve their appearance. You can lower starch a bit of this by soaking your potatoes first, but that won’t always work.

When you parboil or hot pack instead, you’re helping the potatoes hold their shape better and releasing some of that excess starch up front. It takes a little more time, but the end result is a cleaner jar, firmer potatoes, and a better shelf life overall. So yes, you can raw pack potatoes; but I hot pack every single time.

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How long do home canned potatoes last?

Like anything, canning jars and lids have an expiration date. Those are 18 months from when the jar is manufactured. With that said, in this case, the expiration date is solely the last time Ball, Kerr or whoever manufactured your jar, will guarantee that the lids are able to seal. In other words, Canned potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark place like a root cellar or basement and are best used within 12 to 18 months.

Make sure the seals are still intact before using any jar. If there’s a broken seal, weird smell, bubbling, or anything else off, don’t take chances. Toss it.

How to use canned potatoes

Canned potatoes are already cooked, so they’re ready to use right out of the jar. I like to pan-fry them in a little oil with salt and pepper or toss them into soups or stews when I’m short on time. If they’re cut into 1 or 2 inch cubes, they work great in casseroles or in breakfast skillets. If you’re mashing them, add a few tablespoons butter and milk and you can skip the long cook time on a busy night.

If you’re building a working pantry or just looking to make life easier on busy nights, this is one of the best canning projects to keep in rotation.

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