Vegetables Good for Canning

Whether you have your favorite vegetables growing in your backyard or have been making regular trips to the farmer’s market to find all the in-season harvests, it is natural to end up with more fresh vegetables than you could possibly use up before they go bad. In such times, canning all the extra vegetables is the most effective way to preserve them.

Canning simply means putting fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and other similar perishable items into large glass containers that lengthen their shelf life. The USDA approves two canning methods for home canning – pressure canners and water baths (boiling-water canners).

It is essential to understand the methods and properly follow the steps because canned fruits and vegetables can easily get contaminated by bacteria and harmful microbes, with Botulism being the biggest risk.

Canning Vegetables: Pressure Canning or Water Bath

A pressure canner is similar to a pressure cooker but large enough to fit 4 or more quart jars. Though each model has different features, a pressure canner can often be used for water baths as well.

Out of the two canning methods, pressure canning is for low-acid foods, while high-acid foods need the water bath technique. Since vegetables are usually low-acid, they need to be pressure-canned. 

All the vegetables in the list below are meant to be pressure canned, except cucumbers, as they are almost always pickled before canning.

Tomatoes are another point to mention because though they may seem acidic, their acid levels are just at the borderline where you can use either pressure or water canning. However, most reliable resources recommend pressure canning unless you store them as a sauce.

Pickled vegetables are acidic enough to be suitable for water bath canning.

Best Vegetables for Canning With How to Do it

When you can just cut, clean, and pack a vegetable directly into the jars, it is raw-packing for canning. Similarly, hot-packing is when vegetables must be cleaned and blanched before canning.

The jar size is usually a quart or a pint. Whether using a hot- or cold-pack, remember to leave about 1-inch head-space for all vegetables.

Name of Vegetable	How to Can	Preparing for Canning	Raw-packed or Hot-packed
Tomato	Whole or diced	Remove skins and cores, blanch and then peel	Hot-packed
Green Beans	Whole or cut	Trim ends	Hot-packed
Carrot	Sliced or diced	Peel and cut into desired shapes	Hot-packed
Bell peppers	Diced or sliced	Remove seeds and membranes	Hot-packed
Jalapeño	Sliced	Remove seeds	Hot-packed
Cucumber	Pickles	Trim ends, peel or leave skin on, slice or leave whole	Hot-packed
Beet	Sliced or diced	Peel and cut into desired shapes	Hot-packed
Corn	Whole kernel or cream-style	Remove kernels from cob	Hot-packed
Asparagus	Whole spears or cut	Trim ends	Hot-packed
Green Pea	Whole or crushed	Shell peas	Raw-packed
Potato	Cubed or whole	Peel and cut into desired shapes	Hot-packed
Onion	Sliced or diced	Peel and chop	Hot-packed
Mushroom	Whole or sliced	Clean and slice	Raw-packed
Okra	Whole or sliced	Trim ends	Hot-packed
Zucchini	Sliced or diced	Peel and cut into desired shapes	Hot-packed
Cabbage	Shredded	Shred	Hot-packed
Spinach	Chopped	Wash and chop	Hot-packed
Kale	Chopped	Wash and chop	Hot-packed
Swiss Chard	Chopped	Wash and chop	Hot-packed
Scallion (Green Onion)	Sliced	Trim ends	Raw-packed
Parsnip	Sliced or diced	Peel and cut into desired shapes	Hot-packed

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