CANNING: How to Can a Whole Turkey (or three)
- Advantages to Canning Turkey
- Ingredients in Hot-Pack Canned Turkey
- Equipment Needed to Can Turkey
- How to Can Turkey (Hot-Pack Method)
- Storage & Serving Ideas
That’s not *entirely* click-bait… we’re not going to magically fit an entire turkey in a jar like those weird whole canned chickens. But perhaps more magically, I fit THREE turkeys into many jars. Okay, okay, not magic at all, just a little bit of time and work. But totally worth it.
And unless you have a big family, a whole turkey is pretty hard to get through without getting sick of turkey (or if you take too long, sick FROM turkey). But if you can it, you can spread it out and have it ready to use when you need it. Plus, it’s not taking up all of your freezer space (and that means more room for ice cream, right?).
You’ll end up with a bunch of jars of fully cooked tender breast meat (either diced or in large chunks that you can heat and slice), some of dark meat for soups and casseroles, and even more jars of delicious homemade bone broth. Or you can dice and mix all the light and dark meat together… it’s your show, so do what you think will be most useful in your kitchen.
While you can raw-pack poultry, you’ll get a much better product if you hot-pack it. Raw-packing turkey is exactly what it sounds like. You fill your jars with just raw turkey and perhaps a bit of salt, and process them in your pressure canner as-is. They will cook in the jar in their own liquid.
While this saves quite a bit of time on the front end, the finished product isn’t quite as nice. It can be harder to use (especially if you are canning bone-in pieces), and leaves a protein film on the jars that is a real pain to scrub off (especially if you aren’t using wide mouth jars or don’t have little hands). The meat doesn’t always make enough liquid to fully cover the meat after processing, and the meat above the liquid tends to dry out or discolor. Blech.
I prefer to hot pack most of my meat, which is what I’m going to demonstrate below. We’ll bone out the turkeys into portions, make homemade broth with the bones, and then partially roast the meat before canning it in either chunks or ready to use diced or shredded pieces. Sounds like a lot of work, and it does take some time, but it will save you a ton of time later when you want a quick dinner!
Advantages to Canning Turkey
I lucked out recently and found a fantastic sale on some really nice ten pound frozen turkeys. They were on clearance for $5 each… So I bought five of them. Like you do… (I know, not everyone is like this, but if you’re here, maybe you are too).
In retrospect, I wish I had bought a few more but wasn’t sure I’d have the freezer space until I would have a free weekend to process them, or enough empty jars left when I did. I also bought them online, and didn’t realize they were such good quality they were until the grocery delivery showed up. Se la vie. I did the math and for what I paid for the turkeys, if I just bought the amount of turkey stock I ended up with, I would break even, and the meat is all a bonus. Score!
This is a great way to take advantage of the seasonal sales on whole turkeys, or if like me, you luck out and find a late season sale. I suspect they were clearing out freezer room or had overbought, now that the holiday meals are mostly over, and who just cooks a whole turkey on a random weekend? Me, I guess…
You also might want to can turkey soup or meat in broth if you bought a too-big turkey for your holiday meals. While it’s not generally recommended to can leftovers, if you follow good food-handling procedures (don’t leave that roasted bird out for hours while you nap and then try to can it… keep it hot or cool it down quickly, and you should be ok. I don’t recommend stuffing your bird if you’re planning to can any of the leftovers… make your dressing in a separate dish, since you don’t want to add starch to anything before canning, and it’s almost impossible to get all the bready bits out of your turkey carcass before making stock with it if you stuffed the bird.
Ingredients in Hot-Pack Canned Turkey
Turkey:
You can process whole birds (my preferred method, since it’s usually cheaper per pound, and you get bones that you can use to make your own stock to pack the meat in), breasts, or dark meat. Poultry can be canned deboned or bone-in, though with turkey, you’re usually going to be boning it, since other than wings, the pieces are going to be too large to fit in your jars whole. The process is the same, but the processing time for bone-in is less than for deboned meat (the bones conduct heat and are less dense than meat, so the heat penetrates the jars faster). If you have a mixed canner load (meat, plus a jar or two with wings), process the whole batch for the longer time.
Note: There are no tested or recommended processing times for ground poultry products, so keep your meat in chunks or shreds. Unfortunately if you want to make turkey sausage, you need to freeze it or use it fresh.
Turkey Broth:
You can pack your turkey meat in water, commercial stock, or prepared bouillon, but I like to break the process up over two days so I can make my own stock. If you have the refrigerator space, this is the way to go.
You could make a plain bone stock with just the bones (and a few tablespoons of vinegar to help extract the minerals), but I like to make a full stock. I add mirepoix (two parts onions to one part each carrots and celery), parsley stems, mushroom stems, or whatever I have in the stock bag of little scraps in the freezer.
Season with some whole peppercorns, bay leaves, and maybe some thyme and rosemary. Do NOT add sage to a stock that you are going to can, as it turns bitter and awful tasting after pressure-cooking. It’s best to keep your stock neutral so that it’s versatile and flavor it later.
However, if you already have a fully stocked pantry shelf with plenty of plain canned proteins, you can get a bit creative with your broths, as long as you stick to ingredients that are safe to can. It’s best to experiment with small batches to make sure you and your family like the results… but you could do an Asian-style broth with ginger, garlic, and soy (or add some shitake or lemongrass, or a bit of five-spice powder), that’s great in ramen, pho, stir-fry, and dumplings. Or a Southwestern broth with chili peppers and cumin…
Salt:
Adding salt to your jars is optional, and not necessary to preserve them. It does add flavor, and can help keep the meat moist. I always add a little bit, but if you’re on a sodium-restricted diet or cooking for someone who is, you can leave it out.
Equipment Needed to Can Turkey
Pressure Canner:
You absolutely must use a pressure canner to safely can turkey. Do not try to water-bath can low-acid foods! You also can’t safely can this in an Instant Pot or small pressure cooker. They do not reliably build up enough pressure to safely can foods, especially low-acid foods like meat and veggies that require consistent pressure and long processing times. Botulism isn’t worth the risk… always pressure can low-acid foods like meats and vegetables.
I love my All-American pressure canner, but any pressure canner that is large enough to hold at least four quart jars and that has a pressure weight and/or a tested pressure gauge will work.
Sheet pans or roasting tray:
You can make the stock with raw bones, but lightly roasting them first will add a lovely color and depth of flavor to your stock, and I highly recommend that you take the time to do this. If you’re processing turkeys for some reason in August without air-conditioning… first of all, “what is you doin’?”… second do what you gotta do. Otherwise, roast those bones! If you have room in your oven, roast your mirepoix (stock vegetables) too.
Stock pot, large Instant Pot or Crock-pot, or Nesco Roaster:
Every cook has their own favorite way to make stock (bone broth). I usually either use a large stock pot on the stove top or our big Instant Pot, but if you have another safe method, feel free to use it. I usually bring the stock up to a low lazy bubble and skim it before bed, and then leave it on our simmer burner overnight. Smaller batches of stock I do under pressure in the Instant Pot, which is faster.
Strainer or Large Colander:
Ladle or carefully pour your finished stock through a strainer or colander, then through a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to get a stock with better clarity and less sediment.
Canning accessories:
Jar tongs, a jar funnel, and chopsticks or a debubbling wand aren’t essential but they’ll make you life a lot easier! If you have a pressure canner, you probably already have this, but if you don’t, do yourself a favor and get some.
Mason Jars and Lids:
You’ll need an assortment of quart or pint jars (or a combination of the two). You can also can in some smaller jars for convenience, but don’t try to use half-gallon jars or anything larger than a quart. You’ll need new metal canning lids (or reusable lids with rubber gaskets, like Tattler, Harvest Guard, or Weck, if you’re comfortable with those).
How to Can Turkey (Hot-Pack Method)
step one: Debone your turkeys
- A stiff boning knife is best for this, but you can use a sharp chef’s knife or a stout filet knife as you prefer.
- You can do this in several ways, but I like to start with removing the breast meat- make a long cut on either side of the breast bone, freeing the meat from the bone with small cuts against the ribcage, working down towards the back of the bird.
- Remove the wing tips and wings, then the legs, cutting carefully around the tendons to free the leg quarters.
step two: Make turkey stock
- On a large sheet pan or roasting pans, roast the neck bones, wing tips, and carcasses for stock… about 25-35 minutes in a hot oven (375-425 F).
- Place bones in a large stockpot, crock pot, or Instant Pot, along with mirepoix vegetables: peeled and large chopped carrots, celery, and onion (2 parts onions to one part each carrots and celery). Add a tablespoon or two of black peppercorns, a few bay leaves, parsley or parsley stems, and other fresh or dry herbs if you like. Don’t use sage! It turns bitter when pressure canned.
- Top up with cool water to cover the bones and vegetables by about 3-4″.
- Simmer stock over medium-low to low heat at a very low, lazy bubble for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Strain stock & keep hot.
- If you’d like, especially if you did a shorter cook time on your stock, you can make a remouillage (“remi”, meaning “rewetting”) or second light stock with your turkey bones. Add fresh mirepoix vegetables to the pot, and top up again with cool water. This second stock is lighter in color and flavor, but is good for cooking rice or other grain pilaf, as a soup base, and more. Add the wing and leg bones to your remi stock after prepping the meat for canning, and can the batch of remi stock after pressure canning the meat in broth.
step three: Par-cook turkey
- Partially cook the turkey breasts, leg quarters, and wings… there are various ways to do this, but I like to roast them on sheet pans in a hot oven (between 375-400 F).
- You don’t need to roast them all the way through, just until they begin to color and firm up enough to slice easily. The juices should still be pink, not clear.
- The exact cook times will vary
step four: Dice & debone meat
- Remove from the oven and let cool just enough to handle (if you have latex or nitrile gloves, these can help shield your hands while prepping the hot turkey).
- Slice white meat into large chunks or dice it into ready-to-use pieces. The pieces will shrink slightly during canning, so plan your cuts accordingly.
- Second, debone the dark meat. This can be tricky, especially with the large tendons in the legs. Use a small boning or large paring knife in a scraping motion to free the meat from the bones. Alternately, you can simmer the leg pieces until they are more tender and use them for soup.
step five: Pack jars for processing
- Place the recommended amount of warm water in the bottom of your canner (check your pressure canner manual, but usually 3-4″ of water) and begin to preheat the canner.
- Pack clean, hot quart and/or pint mason jars with the diced or shredded meat, leaving 1″ headspace at the top.
- Top up the jars with hot turkey stock. You can add a teaspoon of salt to each quart jar (half teaspoon per pint) if you like. This isn’t necessary for food safety but adds flavor.
- Debubble the jars with a chopstick, debubbling tool, or thin flexible spatula. Top up with more stock if needed. If you run out of prepared stock, you can use boiling water.
- Wipe the jar rims with a lint-free cloth or paper towel dampened with hot water or white vinegar. Top with new canning lids and jar rings.
- Keep leftover stock hot while you process the meat. If you have room in the canner you can process the stock with the meat, though it has a much shorter processing time. If you are doing a larger batch of turkey, you can can the stock after the batch of turkey meat. Or, refrigerate or freeze extra stock.
step six: Pressure can the jars
- Carefully place the filled jars into the preheated canner.
- Check that the canner vent isn’t clogged and close & seal the lid. Bring the canner up to pressure over medium heat with the vent open, and once the canner is venting a steady stream of steam, set a timer for 10 minutes.
- When the canner has vented for 10 minutes, regulate the heat if necessary and drop the weight over the vent (or close the petcock if you have an older unweighted dial-gauge canner).
-
Can quarts of meat for 90 minutes (75 minutes for pints) at 11 PSI dial gauge/10 PSI weighted gauge up to 1000 ft (adjust to 15 at higher altitudes with a weighted canner). Start your processing timer only once the appropriate PSI has been reached (11 PSI on a dial-gauge canner for up to 2000 ft, see notes for altitude adjustments), or when the weight is jiggling to indicate that the proper pressure has been reached.
Watch or listen carefully, adjust heat as needed, and reset the timer to zero and restart processing time if you lose pressure below the correct processing pressure at any point.
step seven: Remove & cool the jars (+ can additional batches or stock)
- After the processing time is complete, turn the heat off. Once the pressure canner has cooled and returned to neutral pressure (the dial will drop to zero, and no steam escapes from the weight or petcock if jiggled) you should open the canner and remove the jars (follow your canner instructions for opening).
- Remove the jars from the canner using jar tongs or the jar rack.
- Place the jars on a folded dish towel, cooling rack, or wooden surface. Protect hot jars from cold surfaces like granite, stainless, or concrete countertops until they have cooled.
- Process additional batches if needed, or start canning any leftover turkey broth. You can also chill the stock for up to three days before reheating and canning it if you are short on time.
step eight: Check seals & store
- Let the jars cool in a draft-free place where they can rest overnight or for up to 24 hours. Don’t touch the rings until the jars have cooled and the seals are set (disregard for reusable lids and follow manufacturer instructions to tighten rings).
- Remove the rings and check the seals on the jars after they have rested at least overnight. Promptly freeze or refrigerate any jars that did not seal and use within a few days- reprocessing these jars will cause a loss in quality and might not be safe. Gently wash all sealed jars with soapy water, label clearly, and store in a cool, dark place. Protect jars from freezing and safely discard the contents of any jars that lose their seals in storage and sterilize jars before reuse.
Storage & Serving Ideas
You’ll end up with jars of fully cooked, shelf-stable, ready-to-use turkey meat and broth. You can use these anywhere you would use cooked leftover turkey. It’s great for quick weeknight tetrazzini and other pasta dishes, or to use in your favorite casseroles.
Turkey pot pies are easy when you have fully cooked diced turkey in the pantry. Make a roux and use it to thicken the broth, then fold in the meat along with diced fresh or frozen mixed vegetables and peas, and bake in a pie crust. Or pour this filling into a casserole dish, make a drop-biscuit dough and bake it on top like a cobbler for an easy pot pie.
Use it to make quick homemade soups or white chili. You can drain the jars (save the broth for cooking) and make turkey salad for sandwiches… fold the diced meat with some mayo or yogurt, chopped celery and onion, and dried cranberries.
How to Can a Whole Turkey
Ingredients
- whole bone-in turkey(s)
- 1 tsp salt per quart jar (optional- for flavor and texture)
Turkey Stock
- 1 large bones from whole turkey (neck, back, wing tips)
- 2-3 large onions, quartered or large dice outer layers peeled & root end removed
- 1 ½ cups celery, washed & chopped into 1-2" pieces
- 1 ½ cups carrots, washed & chopped into 1-2" pieces
- 1 bundle parsley stems, washed
- 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- 2-3 each bay leaves
- 3-4 sprigs/tsp fresh or dried thyme
Instructions
Debone the Turkeys
- A stiff boning knife is best for this, but you can use a sharp chef's knife or a stout filet knife as you prefer.
- You can do this in several ways, but I like to start with removing the breast meat- make a long cut on either side of the breast bone, freeing the meat from the bone with small cuts against the ribcage, working down towards the back of the bird.
- Remove the wing tips and wings, then the legs, cutting carefully around the tendons to free the leg quarters.
Make Turkey Stock
- On a large sheet pan or roasting pans, roast the neck bones, wing tips, and carcasses for stock... about 25-35 minutes in a hot oven (375-425 F).
- Place bones in a large stockpot, crock pot, or Instant Pot, along with mirepoix vegetables: peeled and large chopped carrots, celery, and onion (2 parts onions to one part each carrots and celery). Add a tablespoon or two of black peppercorns, a few bay leaves, parsley or parsley stems, and other fresh or dry herbs if you like. Don't use sage! It turns bitter when pressure canned.
- Top up with cool water to cover the bones and vegetables by about 3-4".
- Simmer stock over medium-low to low heat at a very low, lazy bubble for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Strain stock & keep hot. See notes if you'd like to make a second remi stock.
Par-Cook Turkey
- Partially cook the turkey breasts, leg quarters, and wings... there are various ways to do this, but I like to roast them on sheet pans in a hot oven (between 375-400 F).
- You don't need to roast them all the way through, just until they begin to color and firm up enough to slice easily. The juices should still be pink, not clear.
- The exact cook times will vary based on how big your pieces are and how hot your oven is, but probably about 25-35 minutes.
Dice & Debone Meat
- Remove from the oven and let cool just enough to handle (if you have latex or nitrile gloves, these can help shield your hands while prepping the hot turkey).
- Slice white meat into large chunks or dice it into ready-to-use pieces. The pieces will shrink slightly during canning, so plan your cuts accordingly.
- Second, debone the dark meat. This can be tricky, especially with the large tendons in the legs. Use a small boning or large paring knife in a scraping motion to free the meat from the bones. Alternately, you can simmer the leg pieces until they are more tender and use them for soup.
Pack Jars for Processing
- Place the recommended amount of warm water in the bottom of your canner (check your pressure canner manual, but usually 3-4" of water) and begin to preheat the canner.
- Pack clean, hot quart and/or pint mason jars with the diced or shredded meat, leaving 1" headspace at the top.
- Top up the jars with hot turkey stock. You can add a teaspoon of salt to each quart jar (half teaspoon per pint) if you like. This isn't necessary for food safety but adds flavor.
- Debubble the jars with a chopstick, debubbling tool, or thin flexible spatula. Top up with more stock if needed. If you run out of prepared stock, you can use boiling water.
- Wipe the jar rims with a lint-free cloth or paper towel dampened with hot water or white vinegar. Top with new canning lids and jar rings.
- Keep leftover stock hot while you process the meat. If you have room in the canner you can process the stock with the meat, though it has a much shorter processing time. If you are doing a larger batch of turkey, you can can the stock after the batch of turkey meat. Or, refrigerate or freeze extra stock.
Pressure Can the Jars of Turkey
- Carefully place the filled jars into the preheated canner.
- Check that the canner vent isn't clogged and close & seal the lid. Bring the canner up to pressure over medium heat with the vent open, and once the canner is venting a steady stream of steam, set a timer for 10 minutes.
- When the canner has vented for 10 minutes, regulate the heat if necessary and drop the weight over the vent (or close the petcock if you have an older unweighted dial-gauge canner).
- Can quarts of meat for 90 minutes (75 minutes for pints) at 11 PSI dial gauge/10 PSI weighted gauge up to 1000 ft (adjust to 15 at higher altitudes with a weighted canner). Start your processing timer only once the appropriate PSI has been reached (11 PSI on a dial-gauge canner for up to 2000 ft, see notes for altitude adjustments), or when the weight is jiggling to indicate that the proper pressure has been reached. Watch or listen carefully, adjust heat as needed, and reset the timer to zero and restart processing time if you lose pressure below the correct processing pressure at any point.
- After the processing time is complete, turn the heat off. Once the pressure canner has cooled and returned to neutral pressure (the dial will drop to zero, and no steam escapes from the weight or petcock if jiggled) you should open the canner and remove the jars (follow your canner instructions for opening).
Cool Jars, Check Seals, & Store
- Let the jars cool in a draft-free place where they can rest overnight or for up to 24 hours. Don't touch the rings until the jars have cooled and the seals are set (disregard for reusable lids and follow manufacturer instructions to tighten rings).
- Remove the rings and check the seals on the jars after they have rested at least overnight. Promptly freeze or refrigerate any jars that did not seal and use within a few days- reprocessing these jars will cause a loss in quality and might not be safe. Gently wash all sealed jars with soapy water, label clearly, and store in a cool, dark place. Protect jars from freezing and safely discard the contents of any jars that lose their seals in storage and sterilize jars before reuse.