How to Can Carrots

Canning carrots is a great way to have them handy to add your your vegetable soup, or serve as a side dish! Follow this step-by-step guide to learn all about how to can carrots.

If you find yourself with a lot of carrots on hand, canning them is a great way to preserve them for later. We just canned ten pounds, so I thought this would be a good time to share the tutorial.

Typically, we don’t can a lot of carrots by themselves. Usually, they go into canned vegetable soup, or our beef stew recipe for canning. But if you have a bumper crop, or find a great deal at your farmer’s market or even grocery store, you can end up with more than you can use for soups. So the easy solution is canning them!

Carrots are super easy to can, The main time consumer here is peeling an dicing them.

When I was a child, we grew and canned lot of food. and when we had a lot of time consuming food prep to do, someone would read a book out loud while the rest of us sliced and diced (or snapped beans for canning green beans, etc.).

Of course, we lived in an Amish community without electricity. These days, podcasts, audiobooks, and even something on the tv now and then can serve the same purpose if you’re working alone (I’ve been known to use my laptop to watch track and field broadcasts while I work!).

How to select carrots for canning

The best carrot for canning is a smaller carrot – less than an inch in diameter is best. Larger carrots can be tough and woody.

That said, as always, I’m a big fan of using what you have. Just because you have a carrot that might be less than ideal doesn’t mean you should waste it. As the say, don’t let the best get in the way of the good.

Beyond basic diameter guidelines, the rest is up to you. Do be aware though, that if you’re canning purple carrots, they may lose some of their color in the process.

Do carrots need to be pressure canned?

As with all vegetables, carrots are a low-acid food, and you will need a pressure canner. pressure allows the canner to reach a much higher heat, killing bacteria that can make your food unsafe.

I’ve known a lot of Amish people who, along with rejecting many modern amenities, reject the pressure canner, opting instead to water bath can everything as this is a method that seems to them to be more natural. This is, frankly, a terrible idea. Every single one of these people also has stories of food poisoning, and even death due to consuming bad food, not to mention countless jars of food being thrown out throughout the year. 

Pressure canners are simple to use, and modern canners are also safe. I do remember having an old canner that didn’t have an adequate pressure release valve, so we had to watch it to make sure it didn’t get too hot when we used it. But today, pressure canners are equipped with a rubber valve that will pop out before the pressure gets too high to be dangerous.

I have this Presto canner, and have had several variations of it throughout the years, and it serves me very well.

Other tools you’ll need for canning carrots

So, obviously you need a pressure canner. What else are you going to need?

A peeler. I have one from Rada Cutlery that I’ve had for 15 years now, and I’m starting to notice that it’s not as sharp as it used to be. That’s a pretty good review! But regardless of what peeler you have, a good, sharp, sturdy peeler will make your job a lot easier and faster.

A good knife. I’m not exactly the queen of knives, so I don’t have a lot of advice here, but a good, sharp chef’s knife is perfect form slicing a lot of carrots.

Cutting board. ‘Nuff said.

Canning jars. You can choose to can your carrots in whatever size jar you want to. I usually choose pint jars. Half pints can be good for adding to small batches of soup, or quarts can be good if you have a large family. Regardless of what you choose, make sure your jars are clean, and free of damage such as chips around the rim, which would prevent your jar from sealing.

Canning lids. Typically, when I get new jars, I use whatever lid came with them. But lids aren’t really reusable, so you’re going to need a new lid each time you reuse the jar. For my replacement lids, I use Denali canning. They have a guarantee to seal, and I’m super impressed by how well they work.

Optional equipment:

A canning funnel. I’m not sure this should be in the optional category to be honest. It makes filling jars so much easier, and keeps the rim of your jar clean.

A magnetic lid lifter. Can be useful if your lids are sitting in hot water, but not really necessary

A jar lifter. This can be useful when you need to remove a jar from a hot water bath. But since we’re pressure canning, your jar won’t be submerged in water. Completely optional.

The prep and canning process

Before prepping your carrots, you need a few ingredients: carrots, and canning salt. 

1. To can your carrots, first, prep them, by peeling, trimming off the ends, and slicing.
2. You can slice them any way you want to, including as carrot sticks. I typically go for whatever size I use when I make soup – pretty small.
   
3. To raw pack, pack raw carrots into prepared jars – and I mean stuff them. Shake them down, pack them tightly. Just leave about a half in headspace.
4. Top each jar with salt. 1/2 teaspoon for pints, 1 teaspoon for quarts, 1/4 teaspoon for half pints.
5. Fill jars, leaving a half inch of headspace, with water. 
6. Wipe rim, and screw down lids and bands.
7. To hot pack carrots, place prepared carrots in a pot, cover with boiling water, and simmer for five minutes, then proceed with filling jars, and adding salt, using the cooking water to cover hot carrots, leaving half to 1-inch headspace. then screw down lids and bands.
8. Prepare your pressure canner. You canner should have directions, but typically, a 16 quart size canner is going to need two quarts of water. Don’t forget to put the rack in the bottom.
9. Arrange your jars so that they don’t touch. A 16 quart canner should fit 7 quarts, or 9 pints.
10. Fix the lid onto the canner, and heat over medium-high heat.
11. As the water comes to a boil, steam should begin to vent from the open valve. Once the steam reaches a steady stream, time it for ten minutes.
12. At the end of the ten minutes, close the valve, and bring the canner to 10 pounds of pressure (for sea level, use this chart to calculate your pressure needs at elevation).
13. Once canner reaches 10 pounds, Process carrots for 30 minutes (pints), or 35 minutes (quarts).
14. When processing time is done, remove from heat and let return to zero pressure naturally. Note that suddenly releasing pressure could result in broken jars, so don’t do that!

It is best to wait to remove the lids and handle the jars until they are significantly cooled. Again, hot jars can break. But if you have to move them while they’re hot, after the pressure has dissipated, cover them with a towel. I use a thick towel, like a bath towel, to grab the jar, and let the towel cover it, while I move it over to another towel, keeping them covered until they’re cooled. Call me overcautious, but jar breaking is not fun.

After the jars have cooled for 24 hours, check for seals, and store in a cool place out of direct light.

Ways to use canned carrots:

Typically, you’ll want to drain carrots before using. They’re delicious and convenient to use in recipes such as:

• Stuffed cabbage soup
• Adding to roasts
• Italian Peasant soup (this recipe doesn’t call for carrots, but they’re a great addition!)
• Clam chowder
• Shepherd’s pie
• Or mash and use for homemade baby food
• Serve with butter and salt

The long and the short of it is that canned carrots are simple to make, and a great addition to your pantry. You can use them in almost any soup or casserole that you plan to make this winter, and add a nutritional boost to nearly any meal.

More canning recipes for you:

• How to can potatoes
• How to can cabbage
• How to can corn
• How to can beets

 

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