I have a confession. I have spent the last several years completely terrified of pressure canning. It’s not my fault, really. It’s all those horror stories you hear of canners exploding and how you have to keep a super careful eye on them at every moment, etc…
You know how it is with small children. Who can get 90 consecutive minutes of time where your attention isn’t being diverted in one way or another by some sort of mini-crisis??!!
And then Kendra made all those fears completely subside with the release of her new canning tutorial DVD, At Home Canning for Beginners and Beyond.
That 2-hour tutorial, complete with recipes, made the work of pressure canning seem just as simple as it actually is.
AND NOT AT ALL SCARY!
I loved that she went over all the steps and safety concerns over and over again. In fact, by the time the video was done, my little children were able to go into the kitchen with me and “remind” me of all that I should be doing!
But even more than that I love that she has opened up a whole new world of food preservation possibilities for me… particularly the many convenience foods I’ve been missing since having started eating primarily from scratch for which meals take more forethought and advance preparation.
Since having purchased a new pressure canner (for almost 50% off) and watching the confidence-building DVD, I’ve successfully canned:
- Chicken soup and beef vegetable soup that has been used for post-baby meals
- 15 pounds of ground venison leftover from last year that had been frozen in a 5-pound and a 10-pound chunk. I had no idea what to do with all that meat at one time, but now it is in quart jars on the pantry shelf just waiting to be popped open and warmed up.
- Caramelized Onions- Leftover sweet onions from the produce auction that hadn’t been used up and were starting to rot now can be used in all sorts of delicious meals. (may I suggest Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas or French Dip Sandwiches?)
And the possibilities opened up to my food storage plans for next year are endless!
HERE is an excellent, helpful, and free podcast on pressure canning from Christian Farm & Homestead Radio if you’re looking for an additional resource.
Suggested Read: How to Can Superior Meat Stock or Broth
How to Can Quick Caramelized Onions?
~How to Can Caramelized Onions~
Ingredients
- Onions
- Butter
Instructions
- Wear some eye protection such as safety glasses so you can work uninterrupted by the crying from the fumes.
- Remove the ends from each onion.
- Peel off the skin.
- Cut each onion in half and then thinly slice.
- In a skillet, caramelize the sliced onions in some melted butter. (Use your judgement depending on the size of the onions and the amount you’re caramelizing.) I started out with several skillets and combined them all as the onions became smaller in size.
- When the onions are soft and lightly browned strain them out of the juice.
- Pack into canning jars.
- Remove the air pockets with a tool or knife.
- Clean the rims and top with your lids.
- Pressure can according to manufacturers instructions for 70 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure for half pints and 75 minutes for pints.
I suggest you should try making some recipes that use caramelized onions like Sweet & Smoky Strawberry Pizza and Roast Chicken with Caramelized Onion and Apple Honey Stuffing.
{Recommended Canning Products}
I saw your older post on caramelized onions (or something) a little while ago and was hoping you would tell how. Thanks! How do you use them once they are canned?
You can use them anywhere you would use caramelized onions. The prep work is already done for you. 🙂 I’ve tried them in the fajitas I’ve linked to, in a stuffing for roasted chicken (I’ll post in the future), in making a gravy, and as a substitute for canned French Onion soup in a French Dip Roast Beef recipe. They’ve been good in all those!
You can use them anywhere you would use caramelized onions. The prep work is already done for you. 🙂 I’ve tried them in the fajitas I’ve linked to, in a stuffing for roasted chicken (I’ll post in the future), in making a gravy, and as a substitute for canned French Onion soup in a French Dip Roast Beef recipe. They’ve been good in all those!
I love them with lemon marianated liver. nom nom
Hi Pia- do you have a recipe link anywhere? Liver is one of those things I know I should eat but don’t know how to prepare it, and this sounds like it could be a good starting place!
no link, but I use the recipe in Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions. You don’t really need a recipe though, just slice the liver in 1cm pieces, leave in lemon juice for some hours (enough juice to cover the pieces), mix flour salt and pepper, and turn the liver slices in the flour and cook on a skillet with plenty of butter or lard, which ever goodness you feel like.
Thanks so much Pia! I’ll give this a try next time 🙂
you’re welcome, let me know how you like it 🙂
Will be doing this today. I have a lot of onions from the garden, and they are starting to spoil pretty badly. This way, I can rescue them. Thank you so very much!
Fantastic Yolanda! So glad I was able to help save your onions!! It’s painful to throw them out, isn’t it? 🙂
Sadly, I did this two days ago. They were very nice and tasted wonderful Before I canned them, but I tasted a jar the next day and they were just totally mushy and the flavor was not good. I don’t know what could be wrong. So disappointing.
I’m not sure that you did do anything wrong. Like with a lot of canned goods, the texture doesn’t always hold up. This recipe is a good way to save onions that are going bad and can’t be used as quickly as is needed or for someone planning to use them in recipes where they’ll be cooked in with a meal rather than for straight eating.
just a quick hello, and thanks for the lovely blog,,,,,i use the crock pot,,,,,,cook on slow, with butter,,,,,all night long, and in the am, they are ready to pressurecook,,,,,i did put them in another building to cook, as they are very strong smelling,,,,,:))
I love finding ways to use a crockpot to simply! Thank you for the tip!
Hi! What is the headspace? Thanks
Sorry- 1/2″
Thanks! I ended up doing a 1″ but they expanded in my pint jars, so it worked out perfect. Yum! Can’t wait to open them! Thank you
Wonderful! Glad to hear that worked out! 🙂
Are these dry packed or did you put any liquid in?
Just whatever liquid was left from cooking them.
Sounds amazing. Did it taste different. Sometimes I don't can things since I don't like the canned taste. I stopped canning green beans for that reason.
I thought the taste was good, but the texture isn't quite what it would be if you just caramelized them. I treated them like I do say green peppers that I'll freeze and only use them in dishes where I want them to bring flavor.
What if you don't have a pressure canner?
Sadly, you need a pressure canner to safely can onions because of their low acidity.
THank you so much for all the information and especially the videos!
How is this safe to be canned ? Dairy is an unsafe product to can & this has butter in it
Well most of the liquid leftover is strained out. But certainly the milk solids have evaporated out over that long cooking process, much like ghee which is shelf stable (without canning) for 6 months. That said, if you’re not comfortable canning it, you definitely shouldn’t.