The Best Canning Tools: 2023

CANNING

Must-have canning essentials for preserving the season's bounty. From jars to tools, equip yourself for successful home canned goods.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

A canning pot is specially designed for water bath canning jars. It features a removable rack that keeps the jars off the bottom of the pot so the jars don’t crack. I don’t know how many jars I’ve broken before finally investing in a real canning pot.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

You have two options for canning jars, either re-use your old jars or buy new jars. Either kind works fine if you wash and sterilize them before adding your canned product. Check all jars to ensure they don’t have any chips in the mouth of the jar, and discard any chipped or broken jars.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Use new, never used flat lids on your jars for the best results. I know many people like to reuse lids, but it’s not safe to use them again because, once opened, they may not seal well enough for pantry storage.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Canning rings cover the flat lid and screw onto the jar. Rings can be reused but should be rust-free. Replace them if they are rusty.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

This specialized canning funnel fits regular and wide-mouth jars. Regular funnels will not work because they’re too small to let your canned goods pass through. The canning funnel allows you to pour ladles of hot food into jars without it getting all over the outside. This is the one tool I especially appreciate; it keeps the jars so clean.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Use this specialized bubble popper tool to reach the bottom of jars to release trapped bubbles. Some of them even come with lines to measure headspace.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

These are a specialized wide set of tongs made just for moving hot jars of canned goods. Lifting boiling hot jars out of a canner is easy with these tongs.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Hot flat lids are hard to pick up, but a magnet wand makes it easy. This seems like a silly tool, but once I bought one and quit using a fork to lift hot lids out of hot water, making jams, pickles and more got so much easier.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Use a stand-alone egg timer and take it with you if you need to leave the kitchen for a minute.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

Fresh-washed kitchen towels are perfect for making home-canned goods. You will need them for drying canning jars, drying your hands and various steps along the way.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

A couple of hot pads make the job easier because pot handles have a tendency to get hot during canning.  I like to keep them on the counter so they’re within reaching distance whenever I need them.

Water Bath Canning Essentials

I use these to wipe the mouth of the jar to remove any product or liquid where the lid will sit. You can also use a clean dishcloth, but I like to use select-a-size paper towels because I can use a clean one each time.

Swipe Up For Full Article

Find More Tasty Recipes

Canning 101

Pickling 101