30+ Easy & Delicious Canning Recipes for Beginners
If you’re brand new to canning, you’ll want to try some easy canning recipes for beginners that you will definitely use in your pantry.
I remembered when I wanted to start canning, I felt SO intimidated. It seemed quite scary, and I didn’t want to do it wrong. So, I searched out some easy canning recipes for beginners and decided to try strawberry jam first.
I’ll be honest – my first attempt was a flop. I burned my jam, but I tossed it out and tried it again since the canning process didn’t fail. It was my cooking.
After my second attempt – successful! – I was hooked, and I spent time looking for different canning recipes for beginners. Now that I’ve spent plenty of time canning, I feel like most beginners can give any canning recipe a try, but fewer ingredients make it easier for you to get started.
Let’s take a look at some awesome beginner canning recipes.
Related: 24 Tomato Canning Recipes You Need to Try This Year
30+ Canning Recipes for Beginners
Easy Strawberry Jam
The very first recipe I tried was strawberry jam, and this recipe only has four ingredients, making it perfect for beginners. All you need are strawberries – fresh and frozen -, sugar, lemon juice, and low-sugar pectin.
The hardest part is making sure you don’t burn the strawberries. I suggest stirring consistently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of your pan.
Strawberry Chia Jam
If you love strawberry jam, here is an easy, adaptive recipe that is simple and delicious. Strawberry Chia Jam contains four ingredients, and you can keep this in the freezer or can it for the pantry shelves.
This jam recipe tastes great on top of waffles in the morning or mixed in with your yogurt parfait.
Vanilla-Scented Rhubarb Jam
Rhubarb is a spring crop, and if you don’t want to mix it with strawberries like the traditional recipes, you’ll love this three ingredient vanilla-scented rhubarb jam. It tastes amazing on morning toast or on top of scones. The subtle hints of vanilla and tartness of rhubarb is sublime in the wintertime.
Cranberry Jam
I call this my holiday jam because I make it around Thanksgiving time with plenty of cranberries. You can adjust this recipe however you want, using all cranberries or a mixture of cranberries with other sweeter berries.
It tastes great with Thanksgiving or Christmas morning breakfasts!
Mulberry Jelly
Our backyard has a huge mulberry tree that produces at least 80 gallons of berries per year, so you know that I don’t let those go to waste. My kids LOVE mulberry jelly, and we use a ton of it throughout the year.
Trust me, this tastes amazing on toast or mixed with yogurt in the morning.
Grape Jelly Recipe: Quick & Easy
Another favorite for our kids is grape jelly, but I have to tell you – this canning recipe is MUCH easier than the one I used. Skip the annoying step of juicing grapes and use grape juice instead. It only contains a few ingredients and tastes amazing.
Pepper Jelly – Sweet or Hot
Never tried pepper jelly? You’re missing out! I serve it with crackers and cheese, and this recipe is easy to make. Use the peppers you have on hand, whether they are hot or sweet, making this whatever you want.
Sweet Pickle Relish
Another one of the best canning recipes for beginner is sweet pickle relish, made with fresh garden vegetables. It tastes fantastic on hamburgers, hot dogs, and other dishes you might serve at a backyard cookout.
The recipe contains cucumbers, bell peppers, and onions; it’s a mixture of sweet and tangy. It is really the perfect classic pickle relish!
Zucchini Relish
If you have a surplus of zucchini, one way to preserve zucchini is by turning it into relish. It makes a delicious topping for hamburgers and hotdogs. I suggest using smaller zucchini, if possible, to avoid large seeds in your relish.
Related: 15 Ways to Preserve Zucchini for the Fall
Granny’s Bread and Butter Pickles
My personal favorite type of pickles is old-fashioned bread and butter pickles with the perfect balance of sweet and sour. This recipe is easy to follow and makes pickles you will love on your burgers or chicken sandwiches all year round.
Zucchini Bread & Butter Pickles
When I have excess zucchini, I make them into bread and butter pickles as well. Zucchinis soak up all the flavor, making them a delicious addition to your meals. You can make these into spears or slices – whatever you want.
Spicy Dill Pickled Carrots
Typically, when canning carrots, you need to have a pressure canner, but you can make these quick and easy dill pickle carrots in a water bath canner. The added acidity makes it safe to can pickles this year, and this recipe is full of flavors. You’ll find a recipe with plenty of garlic and spices to include; you’ll love them!
Dill Pickle Recipe for Canning
My husband prefers dill pickles, so I needed to find a solid yet easy dill pickle recipe for canning. This is hands-down the best one out there, and I promise, it is most definitely one of the easiest canning recipes for beginners. The results are a tasty, crunchy dill pickle with all the flavor you could desire.
Zucchini Salsa
Another way to use all of the extra zucchini you grow in your garden is to make zucchini salsa. This has become one of our family’s favorite salsa recipes, and it’s quite delicious. You’d never know you were eating zucchini – and lots of it!
Green Tomato Chow Chow
Never heard of green tomato chow chow? You’re missing out!
This recipe is similar to relish with the perfect tangy taste, but it also has the sweetness you want. It’s a traditional Canadian condiment that you find in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, sometimes referred to as tomato chow or green tomato relish.
Serve this condiment on deli meats, burgers, hot dogs, sausages, or whatever else you want!
Canning Diced Tomatoes
If your family is like ours, we use plenty of diced tomatoes in dishes, so having home canned diced tomatoes makes sense for your pantry. This diced tomato recipe is definitely one of the top canning recipes for beginners, using only a few ingredients and a water bath canner!
Homemade Pasta Sauce
Another must-have for our pantry is pasta sauce, so instead of buying the stuff from the store, make your own spaghetti sauce and can it! This canning pasta sauce can be made with fresh or canned tomato sauce from the store.
Not only is this recipe easy, but you know exactly what is in your sauce.
Canning Sliced Green Tomatoes for Frying
Do you love fried green tomatoes? It’s a traditional summer-time treat, and since green tomatoes are rarely – if ever – found in grocery stores. That means you either have to only enjoy them for two months of the years OR learn how to preserve them.
You’ll love these home canned green tomatoes; they look great on the shelves. Then, you can fry them up in the middle of the winter for a delicious snack.
Home Canned Pizza Sauce
Every well-stocked homestead pantry needs to have jars of homemade pizza sauce on the shelves. This recipe for pizza sauce is made from either fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes. You also can freeze the tomatoes ahead of time for reduced cooking time.
This sauce is full of delicious flavor, and it’s easy to put together, making it one of the best canning recipes for beginners.
Home Canned Applesauce
Nothing compares to homemade applesauce, and when apples are in season, it’s one of the best ways to preserve apples. The smell of homemade applesauce fills the kitchen and smells divine.
This is an amazing recipe, handed down through a family. It’s easy to make and will quickly become a family favorite.
Apple Butter
My family loves apple butter; it’s a beloved treat. It started with my aunt making apple butter in a large copper kettle over the fire for decades, and now, I make it inside and can it for my family to enjoy throughout the winter season. You’ll definitely want this as one of your canning recipes for beginners.
Apple Pie Filling
Do you ever wish you had a fresh apple pie but don’t want to put the effort into making it? You need jars of apple pie filling on your shelf.
Canning apple pie filling gives you a way to preserve your apple harvest until you want to use it. All you’ll have to do is pop open a jar, pour it into some pie dough, and bake – fast and easy!
Canning Peaches
When peaches are in season, take the time to can them up to use later. Home canned peaches are a delicious treat, preserved in a mild syrup for a light, refreshing taste. Serve them as homemade peach cobblers with ice cream in the mild of the winter for a real treat or eat them right out of the jar.
They’re addicting – I swear!
Canning Chicken Broth
Whether you raise your chickens as meat birds or cook whole chickens from the store, canning chicken broth makes sense. It’s one way to get the most out of your food, which is so important as the cost of groceries continue to increase.
Canning chicken broth requires a pressure canner to do so safely, but it’s well worth it. You’ll have a rich, flavor-full broth that you can use as the base for many dishes.
Related: Raising Cornish Cross Chickens: 8 Things You Need to Know
Homemade Cabbage Soup
If you have a lot of extra cabbage leftover, try canning up some cabbage soup. This recipe is easy to make, delicious, and fills your belly when it’s cold outside. It’s quickly become a family favorite.
Canning Ground Beef
You don’t need a freezer to store ground meat for the long term. Instead, trying canning the meat in a pressure canner. Too many people assume that these aren’t canning recipes for beginners because they’re meat, but this is so easy – perfect for a beginner.
Home Canned Corn
We use tons of canned corn, and raw packing corn is one of the easiest ways to preserve corn for the long term. The hardest (and longest) part is cutting off the corn from the cob. Then, all you need is the jars, salt, boiling water, and a pressure canner – I swear this is truly for beginners!
Canning Potatoes
Did you find some potatoes in the bottom of the pantry you forgot to use? Canning potatoes at home is an easy way to preserve potatoes before they go bad. Canned potatoes are pre-cooked and ready to use, perfect for last-minute meals.
Canning Green Beans
If you have plenty of green beans, you need to find ways to preserve them, and canning green beans is an easy way to do so. It only takes a few steps, and you’ll have jars of fresh green beans in your pantry to use in multiple dinner dishes!
Related: 11 Delicious Ways to Preserve Green Beans from Your Garden
Canning Fish
If you want to preserve food for your pantry, stock up the fish you catch; fishing is a great way to add to your food stockpile. These instructions can be used for canning salmon, trout, kokanee, and plenty of other types of fish.
Canning Dried Beans
Don’t buy cans of beans at the grocery store; start canning dried beans at home. It’s easier than you imagine, and you only need to use a few steps. Each quart jar holds 3/4lbs of dried beans, and you have to soak the beans ahead of time.
These instructions work for all dried beans like northern, pinto, navy, and black beans.
Canning is one of my favorite food preservation methods, and if you want to start to can foods at home, try some of these canning recipes for beginners. Start with a few easy canning recipes and build your skill level.
Home canned foods are the best!
