Canning Potatoes {How to Can Potatoes}

Follow this step-by-step tutorial to learn how simple Canning Potatoes can be. Having canned potatoes on hand means your favorite soups, stews, side dishes, and roasts can be ready in a flash. 

While this post is specific to white or baby potatoes, if you’re looking for a tutorial on canning sweet potatoes, check out our post on how to can sweet potatoes.

And before we get too far into this tutorial, I have to reinforce this point: you cannot safely can potatoes in a water bath canner.

HOW TO Pressure CAN Potatoes

*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.

Canning Prep

Wash and clean your jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars before canning (hurray!) but you should make sure they are preheated enough to not crack when placed in hot water.

You can put them in a clean dishwasher and run them through a quick wash cycle, or place them in a large pan with some water in a low-heat oven (my lowest temp is 170˚F degrees) until you need them. I’ve even just put hot tap water in them before and left them on the counter.

Wash your lids with hot soapy water. Rinse and place them in a clean bowl for now.

Preparing Potatoes for Canning

You’ll want potatoes that are waxy and great for boiling. In most cases, red potatoes work best.

Rinse and scrub your potatoes. Peel, and rinse again. Yes, you do have to peel potatoes in order to can them. Sorry!

For canning diced potatoes – cut peeled potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes and rinse. Cook in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. 

For canning whole (baby) potatoes – choose small potatoes that are 1-2 inches in diameter. Cook peeled potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes and drain.

Add 3 quarts of water to your pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner. Fill a medium to large saucepan with clean water and bring to a boil.

Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag. Any food debris left on the rim may impact the seal of the lid in the canner.

Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten them to fingertip tight.

How to Pressure Can Potatoes

Using canning tongs, gently place the jars in the canner. Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe (I call it the steam chimney). Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator (I call it the chimney cap) on top.

Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. That is a sign that you’re starting to build pressure inside the canner (get excited. This is happening!).

Processing times will vary based on altitude. See the chart below.

When the dial gauge reaches the appropriate PSI, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at the PSI or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time. You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.

When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid of the canner. (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).

Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then carefully lift them out with canning tongs. Pro tip: allowing the jars to sit in the canner with the lid off can help reduce the siphoning of liquid in your jars. Siphoning is when liquid seeps out from under the lids and reduces the overall amount of liquid in the jar. 

Place hot jars on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.

HELP! WHY ARE MY JARS LEAKING WATER?

If you find that water has leaked out after they have sealed, you have experienced a common canning issue called siphoning. It happens to the best of us!

Siphoning is typically caused by not allowing the jars to rest in the canner after they have finished processing. In the directions, you’ll see that I recommend you remove the canner from the burner, remove the lid, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

This is important as it allows the jars time to rest before being allowed to cool on the counter. Doing this process will significantly cut down on siphoning.

IF YOU HAVE SIPHONING IN YOUR JARS, FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

• Check – are the lids still sealed?
• Look – have you lost less than half of the amount of liquid in the jar?
• Examine – do the potatoes look fresh with bright colors?

If the answer to the above three steps is “yes!”, then they are safe to eat. If you lost quite a bit of liquid, the uncovered potatoes will turn color more quickly. Plan to eat those jars first.