Canning Roasted Potatoes

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In this article I show you the process of canning roasted potatoes. Before I get into it, I want to give you just a little disclaimer. These potatoes aren’t actually roasted, but they taste like roasted potatoes. This is super easy to accomplish with the addition of one little, common ingredient.

Canning Roasted Potatoes

Here are the items you need to can 4 quarts of roasted potatoes:

• 5 pounds of potatoes. I used russet potatoes, but you can use whatever potatoes you prefer. Russets actually have a lot of starch, so a lot of people don’t like to can with them. They are what I had on hand, and they work for me.
• Onion soup mix. You’ll need about a tablespoon for each quart jar.
• Canning jars and lids. For 5 pounds of potatoes, you’ll need about 4 quart jars or 8 pint jars. You can use wide mouth or regular, but I find it easier to get the potatoes out of the jars when using wide mouth.
• Vinegar. You’ll use vinegar to wipe the rims. You can put the leftover vinegar into the canner, to keep your jars from getting all cloudy.
• Pressure canner. Potatoes are a low-acid food, so you’ll need a pressure canner to can potatoes. I use the Nesco Smart Canner but you can use any pressure canner you have.

Prepare the Potatoes for Canning

I washed and peeled the potatoes, cut the bad spots out, and soaked them in water. After they had soaked awhile, I dumped the soaking water and filled a bowl with fresh water. I dumped the water because as the potatoes soak, some of the starch from the potatoes goes into the water. Since you don’t want a lot of starch in the potatoes when canning, soaking helps.

As I cut the potatoes into large chunks, I put those chunks into a fresh bowl of water. I ended up soaking the potatoes for about an hour, but that’s not necessary. I recommended a minimum of 30 minutes of soaking, dumping the soaking water, and starting with fresh water.

To Blanch or Not to Blanch Potatoes when Canning

While I soaked the potatoes, I chose not to blanch them. Please note that according to the Ball Canning guidelines, you’re supposed to blanch the potatoes. If you want to follow the Ball guidelines for canning potatoes, please check out my video How to Pressure Can Potatoes for Long-Term Food Storage. In that video, I show you the process of blanching potatoes before canning.

In this particular canning project, I chose not to blanch the potatoes because I feel that texture of the potatoes will be better without blanching.

Prepare Your Jars and Lids for Canning

According to the guidelines on the newer Ball and Kerr canning lids, you no longer have to simmer your lids before using. However, I’m using Harvest Guard reusable lids and they do require simmering in hot water before use. So, I simmered the lids.

I also heated the canning jars, because I wanted to fill my jars with hot water and also wanted to use hot water in the canner. When canning potatoes, both hot or cold water work, but you don’t want to use a combination of hot and cold water in a particular project.

Since I decided to use hot water, I heated my jars to reduce the chance of thermal shock, which could cause the jars to crack.

Fill the Jars with Potatoes and Onion Soup Mix

Filling the jars is a pretty straight-forward process.

I started off by putting a small amount of water in the bottom of each jar.

I then added a heaping tablespoon of onion soup mix to each jar. It’s not 100% necessary to put some water in the jar first, but I did this because that makes it easier to mix in the onion soup mix.

I used a slotted spoon to put the potatoes into the jar. Draining the potatoes at this point (since they were soaking in fresh water) wasn’t really necessary. However, since I wanted to get as much starch out of the potatoes as possible, I didn’t want to put much of the soaking water into the jars. I also didn’t want to add a lot of cold water into the jars, since I used a hot pack method.

I added potatoes to the bottom thread of the jar.

Filling the Jars with Water and Adjusting for 1″ Headspace

Once my jars were full of potatoes, I filled the jars with hot water, leaving 1″ of headspace.

I debubbled the jars. After debubbling, I adjusted the water and potatoes, to make sure everything was at the 1″ headspace.

Put the Lids and Rings On

I wiped the rims of the jars with vinegar. I then put the lids and rings on. Since I used Harvest Guard lids, I put them on looser than I would if I had used regular lids (such as Ball, Kerr, or Mainstay). Check out this tutorial on using Harvest Guard lids.

Pro tip: Check out my article, Can Canning Lids be Reused? for tips on reusing canning lids.

Canning Roasted Potatoes in the Nesco Smart Canner

I placed the jars into the canner. Note that the Nesco canner can accommodate 4 wide-mouth quart jars.

Next, I poured in 8 cups of hot water, and the leftover vinegar that I used to wipe the rims.

Finally, I closed the lid, and made sure the valve was set to the exhaust position.

Pressure Canning Time for Canning Potatoes

Since potatoes need to be pressure canned, I used the “high” setting on the canner, and then put in 40 minutes. Quarts of potatoes need to process for 40 minutes, pints for 35 minutes. I then pressed “start.”

It takes up to 30 minutes before you’ll see a steady stream of steam coming out of the valve. Once the steady stream of steam starts, press the start button.

The display will then show E 10, which indicates the canner will exhaust (or vent) for 10 minutes.

Once the timer counts down to E 0, switch the valve to airtight. The display will show E 0, and then you’ll see what is called the “digital chase.”

The digital chase will continue until the right amount of pressure builds. Once the pressure builds, you’ll see 40 minutes on the display. The display will count down from 40 minutes to 0. After counting down to 0, the canner will turn off; the display will show “off.”

Let the Canner Come Down Off Pressure Naturally

At this point I unplug the canner, and allow the pressure to come down naturally.

Whatever you do, do NOT do anything to hurry up this process. Keep the valve in the airtight position.  According to the Nesco canner you need to let it sit for a minimum of 1 hour. I find it usually takes closer to 90 minutes to come down off pressure naturally.

Remove the Jars from the Canner

Once the pressure drops completely, open the lid and remove the jars. Put the jars onto a towel, rather than directly on a counter. Your jars will be very hot, and the counter may be cold. The sudden temperature change could cause the jars to break, and thus the use of the towel.

If you’re using Harvest Guard or Tattler lids, after the jars have been sitting on the towel for about 5 minutes, using a potholder tighten the rings.

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