How To Use Ball’s Home Canned Beef Stroganoff

If you’re a canner and enjoy a great “meal in a jar” then you’ll love this post where I share one of my favorite pressured canne meal bases, Ball’s Beef Stroganoff. I’m including not one but three ways to use this one meal in a jar!

Is it Safe To Can Beef Stroganoff?

If you are new to food preservation through the means of pressure canning you may not know that it is possible, and quite handy, to have the ability to home canned meal starters in jars.

These meal starters, or what we experienced canners call “meals in jars”, are the base of many meals compiled of serval ingredients that are all jarred up and then pressured canned for safety.

Meals in jars, like this Beef Stroganoff from the All New Ball Canning Book, are super handy and quick on those nights when you are on a tight schedule from church or family activities, or something as simple as you don’t feel like cooking.

When I have had a rough day, or a long day writing a recipe post or shooting photos, I sure don’t feel like having to stand in the kitchen and waste time with long meal prep.

So if you ever experience any of those things, let me introduce you to this wonderful meal in a jar, and hopefully it will save you and your budget from the drive-thru!

How To Can Ball’s Beef Stroganoff Meal in a Jar

This recipe from Ball is one of the tastiest meals-in-a-jar recipes that I’ve made in a long time. Not only does it make a dish like Beef Stroganoff so much quicker than making it from scratch but it is so flavorful.

Plus you can use this base of beef chunks, mushrooms, onions, and beef broth to create so many things besides just the stroganoff it is meat for.

For the Full Recipe and Canning this Beef Stroganoff Meal in a Jar you can find it in the All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving in the section on Meals in Jars.

If you don’t have this book and you are a home canning, you need to invest in it. You will not regret it! But until you can get it you can check out my YouTube video on how I pressure can it below.

This beef stroganoff is such an easy recipe to follow even for new canners. So I hope you try it soon. But now let’s get on to what you can do with this meal starter once you have it on your pantry shelves.

Turning This Meal in A Jar into Beef Stroganoff

To turn beef stroganoff base into that warm comforting meal many of us know and love is super simple and it can be ready to serve in about 20 minutes.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Beef Stroganoff Meal In A Jar (1 to 2 quarts as needed)
• 2 to 4 tablespoons of flour depending on how many quarts you are making
• extra beef broth, optional for additional gravy if desired
• sour cream to finish
• noodles or mashed potatoes to serve with the beef stroganoff

Start by popping the sealed lid off your mason jar remove any of the excess fat from the broth if desired and add it to a skillet. Turn the burner on medium and let it gently come up to a simmer.

While the beef mixture is warming up start your pasta that you plan on serving it on. This way your noodles beef and gravy will be ready at the same time.

Once the beef stroganoff comes up to a simmer mix in 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour or cornstarch in some water or beef broth then add it to the skillet.

The Ball Recipes recommends you start with 2 tablespoons of flour per quart jar to thicken. But if you are doubling your batch or adding additional broth for more gravy you may need to use 4 or 5 to get it as thick as you like.

Taste and add seasoning as you do. Once it is thick enough for you and your family stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of full-fat sour cream.

Again, depending on how creamy you want it you can use more or less sour cream.

If you would like to keep this beef stroganoff lower in carbs you can use your favorite Keto or gluten-free thickeners. Three of my favorites are Xanthum Gum, Glucomanon, and Arrow Root

When we want to eat on the lower carb side of this meal, we like to serve this over mashed cauliflower or our favorite low-carb noodles, Palmini.

How To Turn Beef Stroganoff Starter Into Beef Pot Pie

This is where you’ll find out that this beef stroganoff meal start is not just a one-dimensional meal starter.

Because with only a few basic ingredients and some extra baking time, you’ll have a completely new recipe and quick dinner idea.

Here’s What You’ll Need For a Pot Pie:

• 1 thickened skillet of Beef Stroganoff
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of diced cooked carrots
• 1 to 2 cups of cooked potatoes
• 1 cup of frozen green peas
• 1 to 2 pie crusts depending on your preferences

We’ll start this recipe off where we left off the completed Beef Stroganoff because all the steps to preparing your meal in the jar are the same for both of these recipes up until the addition of the sour cream.

You can leave the sour cream out if you don’t want your pot pie to have a creamy base, but we enjoy it with the sour cream and I like to meal prep these two on the same day to eat through the week.

So adding it to the base keeps it simple for me. You do you, my friends, you’ll love it either way!

When your base is thickened add in the veggies and let them warm through and you are ready to make the pot pie.

If you want you can use a top and bottom crust for your pot pie. If you use one jar of this beef stroganoff meal starter and you want to do your pot pie in a deep dish pie plate with a top and bottom crust you may need to reduce your veggies a bit so it will fit into your pie plate.

I like to make mine in a 9×13 glass baking dish with just a top crust because that is the way my sweet Momma made it when I was growing up.

Once you have your beef pot pie filling in your pie crust or your 9×13 baking dish you’ll simply place the top crust onto the pie and bake it in a preheated 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.

Because everything inside the beef pot pie is already cooked we are just warming it through and letting that crust cook until it is done and a nice golden brown.

Keeping the Pot Pie Low-Carb

You can enjoy this Beef pie if you and your family are eating low-carb. What I would suggest is that you swap out the potatoes for some peeled and cooked radishes (don’t worry their sharp bite goes away when they are boiled until tender),

Leave the carrots out if you wish and swap the green peas out for green beans and your filling is now low carb and still mighty tasty!

Don’t fret, you can still enjoy the golden brown crust on top as well. Just hop over to this blog post on my blog here and use my pie crust on use on the Keto Beef Potpie.

It’s delicious and you’ll have an amazing comfort meal and still not feel quiet about eating off your meal plan.

I hope this blog post is helpful and that it will encourage you to try your hand at canning this easy Beef Stroganoff in a Jar from the Ball Canning Book.

Because it is a wonderful meal prep that is shelf stable and so much healthier for us than take out on those hectic nights where a quick meal comes in handy!

Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!