Canning Spaghetti Sauce with Meat (NCHFP Recipe)

Canning your own pasta sauce with meat is a wonderful way to preserve the flavor of fresh tomatoes and enjoy a hearty meal at any time of the year. 

Homemade pasta sauce is one of the best ways to put up fresh tomatoes in season, and this recipe does double duty as a meal starter with the meat already included in the sauce.  You get a bit more protein in your meal, and you’re ready to serve up a heat and eat meal in a hurry.

Just boil a bit of water for pasta on the side, and top with a jar of fresh meat sauce right from your own pantry shelf.

This particular recipe is a tested pressure canning recipe developed by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They also have a tested recipe for basic pasta sauce without meat, and both are pressure-canning recipes since they include plenty of low-acid ingredients.  

If you’re specifically looking for a water bath canning recipe, take a look at my full list of tested pasta sauce canning recipes. Of course, those won’t contain meat, as meat sauce must be pressure canned.

Ingredients for Canning Spaghetti Sauce with Meat

This is a tested recipe for canning pasta sauce with meat from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  To make a 9 pint canner batch, you’ll need the following:

• 30 lbs tomatoes
• 2-1/2 lbs ground meat (beef, sausage, venison, or turkey)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery or green peppers
• 1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced 
• 4-1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 4 tbsp minced parsley
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

There are quite a few changes you can make to this recipe to suit your tastes.  The only thing you can’t do is decrease the amount of tomatoes, or increase the amount of meat or other veggies.

If you don’t like a particular vegetable in here (other than tomatoes), then simply leave it out or decrease the amount.

The same goes for the seasonings, salt, and sugar.

Personally, I don’t like sugar in my pasta sauce, so I leave that out.  I do, however, love adding balsamic vinegar because it adds depth of flavor in my opinion, and that’s perfectly fine for canning.

The recipe specifically states celery or green peppers, and you can use either or both, so long as the total amount doesn’t exceed 1 cup.  (You can also substitute any type of pepper, hot or sweet.)

Making Pasta Sauce with Meat

Start by washing the tomatoes thoroughly. To easily remove the skins, dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds until the skins split, then transfer them to a bowl of cold water. 

Once cool, slip off the skins, remove the cores, and quarter the tomatoes. In a large saucepan, boil the quartered tomatoes uncovered for about 20 minutes, then pass them through a food mill or sieve to create a smooth pulp. 

Meanwhile, brown your choice of ground meat in a separate skillet. After the meat is cooked, add the minced garlic, chopped onions, celery or green peppers, and mushrooms. Sauté the mixture until the vegetables are tender and fragrant. 

Combine the sautéed meat and vegetables with the tomato pulp in the large saucepan, adding the salt, oregano, parsley, black pepper, and brown sugar. 

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer uncovered, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens and reduces in volume by nearly half.

Canning Meat Sauce

Once your sauce has reached the desired thickness, prepare a pressure canner, jars, lids, and rings.

The pressure canner should have a few inches of simmering water at the bottom, as this is a hot pack recipe.

Once the canner is hot, it’s time to fill the jars. Be sure to leave a 1-inch headspace at the top of each jar. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth to ensure a proper seal, then adjust the lids. 

Load the jars into the canner, seal the lid, and allow the steam to vent for 10 minutes.

Bring the canner up to pressure and process pint jars for 60 minutes and quart jars for 70 minutes.  Pressure is adjusted to altitude, but the process times are always the same.  See altitude adjustments for pressure below.

After processing, carefully remove the jars and let them cool on a clean kitchen towel or rack. Check that each lid has sealed properly by pressing down in the center—if it doesn’t pop back, the seal is good. Store the sealed jars in a cool, dark pantry.

Unsealed jars can be reprocessed or stored in the refrigerator for immediate use.

Refrigerate after opening.

Pressure Canning Altitude Adjustments

With pressure canning, the processing times stay the same at higher altitudes, but the pressures change.  Here are the altitude adjustments for pressure canning:

For dial gauge pressure canners:

• 0 to 2,000 feet in elevation – 11 lbs pressure
• 2,001 to 4,000 feet in elevation – 12 lbs pressure
• 4,001 to 6,000 feet in elevation – 13 lbs pressure
• 6,001 to 8,000 feet in elevation – 14 lbs pressure

For weighted gauge pressure canners:

• 0 to 1,000 feet in elevation – 10 lbs pressure
• Above 1,000 feet – 15 lbs pressure