Summer Canning Recipes for BBQs and Picnics
27. June 2021Summer is here. And that means it’s time for barbecues and picnics. BBQ, brats, burgers, and more! Oh yeah. But what takes any old BBQ up a notch? Home canned goodies instead of standard store bought fare! Replace your grocery store mustard and ketchup with homemade dijon or tomato jam. Top your burgers with tasty caramelized onion jam or pickled peppers. And ditch those sugar and preservative laden metal canned beans with home preserved baked beans in a jar.
Our BBQ Sauce Labels are also available for dry BBQ Rubs.
BBQ Sauces
BBQ Sauce can be zesty, spicy, or even fruity. What it doesn’t need to be is boring or laced with high fructose corn syrup. Make your own barbecue sauce using a traditional tomato base or get more creative with fruit. Most of these recipes are shelf-stable water bath methods while a few are refrigerator recipes.
- Homemade Barbecue Sauce + Canning in Sauce Bottles with Lug Lids (Water Bath Method)
- Sweet Smoky Cherry Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Spicy Smoky Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Bernardin Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Apple BBQ Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- “Rhubarbecue” Homemade Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Sweet Cherry Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Zesty Peach Barbecue Sauce (Water Bath Method)
- Peach Bourbon BBQ Sauce (refrigerator only)
- Alabama White BBQ Sauce (refrigerator only)
- South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce (refrigerator only)
- Hot Dogs with Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce (refrigerator only)
Peach BBQ Sauce Canning Recipe
Peach BBQ Sauce is fantastic brushed on chicken, pork, or grilled vegetables at your next barbecue. You can also add it to cold pasta dishes or serve with cheese platters or sandwiches. Peaches make an ideal base for this sweet and zesty homemade condiment. Get the Peach BBQ Sauce recipe on our blog
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BBQ Spice Rub Mix
This BBQ Spice Rub is great for meat or grilled vegetables. Mix up a batch for your next grilling sesh or to give as Father's Day gifts. Get the recipe card and also some printable labels on our blog post.
Meats
While you may prefer to grill fresh meat for your barbecue, these canned meat recipes are handy for impromptu meals. Just grab a jar from your pantry, heat, and eat! Of course you can always freeze meat, but canned meat is ready to go. So you won’t have to worry about thawing your food in advance. Plus frozen meat can get buried in the freezer or freezer burnt. Canned pulled pork will be a quick and easy addition to your barbecue or picnic. Safety warning: You MUST use a pressure canner for all meat canning recipes. Don’t ever use a water bath canner using an old-fashioned recipe, unless you want to risk death by food poisoning, k?
- BBQ Pulled Pork (Pressure Canning Method)
- Canning Pulled Pork (Pressure Canning Method)
- Canning Chicken (Pressure Canning Method)
- Canning Meat and how to use it in recipes (Pressure Canning Method)
- Canning Sausage (Pressure Canning Method)
- Hamburger Patties (Pressure Canning Method)
Homesteader and prepper extraordinaire Jackie Clay explains how you can preserve all meats in jars including hamburger patties. The texture is different than grilled burgers and more akin to meatloaf. You can crack open a jar and toast the burgers with some sauce, diced onions or peppers, and slip onto a bun and eat like mini meatloaves.
Baked Beans
No summer barbecue is complete without baked beans. You might ask why bother canning beans. Well, it’s more cost-efficient to buy dried beans than store-bought cans. And there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting beans for a quick meal, but you didn’t soak them the night before. Having home canned beans on hand is a real convenience. You can preserve baked beans with BBQ sauce and pork or can beans plain and add to them after opening.
- Boston Baked Beans with salt for or bacon (Pressure Canning Method)
- Basic Boston Baked Beans (Pressure Canning Method)
- Home Canned Baked Beans (Pressure Canning Method)
- Canning Dried Beans for a recipe starter (Pressure Canning Method)
Fermented and Pickled Side Dishes
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Watermelon and Habanero Pickles
These Watermelon Pickles are wonderful served with a fruit and cheese platter or charcuterie board. They also pair well with grilled meats and roasts or straight from the jar. They are quite addictive! Added bonus: You use part of a food that normally goes to waste! Get the recipe on our blog.
Pickled Carrots and Veggies
Mix it up with your pickled carrots. You can try a variety of pickling spices or add sliced garlic too. Orange and rainbow carrots are great, but purple and black carrots are stunning in jars. Sometimes I’ll add one purple carrot to a jar of orange carrots to make a pinkish brine.
- Pickled Carrots and Daikon Radish (refrigerator only)
- Pickled Carrots (Water Bath Method)
- Pickled Eggs (refrigerator only)
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Pickled Coleslaw (Water Bath or Steam Canner Method)
- Pickled Avocado (refrigerator only)
- Pickled Okra (Water Bath or Steam Canner Method)
- Sweet and Sour Pickled Red Onions (Water Bath Method)
Sauerkraut!
Who doesn’t love sauerkraut? My husband, that’s who! But he’s slowly coming around. Traditional fermented kraut is a bit too pungent for my hubby, but he’s pretty smitten with fruity kraut. You can experiment with green and purple cabbage and add different vegetables and fruit to the mix. Splurge and use Himalayan Pink sea salt for some of the best tasting kraut. You’re welcome! And your tummy will thank you too because fermented veggies are your gut’s best friend. Read more about getting started with Facto-Fermentation on Practical Self Reliance. And once you’ve mastered basic kraut, try your hand at fermented carrots.
- Fermented Red Cabbage, Blueberry, Apple Sauerkraut
- Fermented Apple Carrot Kraut
- Traditional Sauerkraut
- Fermented Sauerkraut With Apple
- Fermented Pickles
- Fermented Ginger Carrots
From left to right, traditional, Apple Carrot, & Red Cabbage Blueberry Apple Sauerkrauts. All recipes are from RawRutes.
Pickled Green Tomatoes
There are many recipes for pickled green tomatoes. You can switch up the type of vinegar you use and adjust spices to make them spicy, tangy, or traditional dilly. Mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, dill, and garlic are one of my favorite ways to pickle green tomatoes. I also enjoy pickling some with sugar, turmeric, mustard and celery seeds that are sweet instead of tart. Whichever way you choose to pickle them, they make an excellent side dish for summer picnics and barbecues. Substitute dill pickles on your burgers with pickled green tomatoes for an upgrade.
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Crispy Dill Pickles
Learn how to can crispier dill pickles! This summer canning recipe uses a pickling process that uses “low-temperature pasteurization” which helps produce a crisper pickle. There’s nothin’ fun about soggy pickles, after all. Get the recipe on our blog.
- Bread and Butter Pickles (Water Bath Method)
- Sweet Pickled Radishes (refrigerator only)
- Kosher Dill Pickle Spears (Water Bath Method)
- Pickled Pepper Rings (Water Bath Method)
- Pickled Peppers (Water Bath Method)
- Pickled Roasted Peppers (Water Bath Method)
Pickled Green Beans "Dilly Beans"
Pickled green beans, aka “Dilly Beans” make for one snappy “pickle.” They’re great as a side or cut up into potato or egg salad. You can make them spicy or use a traditional dill recipe.
- Spicy Mixed Dilly Beans (Water Bath Method)
- Pickled Dilly Beans (Water Bath Method)
- Fermented Dilly Beans
Dandelion Capers
Dandelion Bud Pickles (sometimes referred to as Capers) are a bit of work for a small yield, but worth trying. You need to pick the small round and firm buds, avoid the larger oblong ones that are about to bloom. Then you need to remove the green sepals from the base because those are bitter. You can pickle the buds with your favorite brine and seasonings. I like to use white vinegar, turmeric, sugar, mustard and celery seed. Dandelion Capers taste about like anything else I pickle with this brine. They are sweet, but obviously have a different texture than veggie pickles. There is only a slight twinge of bitterness to some of the larger buds. Next time you harvest your early spring greens, pinch out all the small buds to make these capers. It takes a bit of work to accumulate just a cup of these.
Another good way to know if the dandelion flower bud is past it's prime to pickle is by feeling it. The small hard ones are best to pickle. If the bud feels a little smooshy and looks like it will soon split open and bloom, it's too large to pickle. Of course you can try to pickle the larger buds if you wish, just know that they will be a bit bitter.
Condiments, Relish, Chutney, and Salsa
Upgrade your burger experience with homemade mustard, ketchup, and relish. Sure, plastic bottles from the store are very convenient, but they’re also plastic bottles filled with sometimes questionable ingredients. Homemade ketchup is a bit of endeavor since it takes so many tomatoes to make a small amount. But if you have a bumper crop of tomatoes from your garden, why not give it a shot at least once?
- Green Tomato Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Green Tomato Chutney (Water Bath Method)
- Caramelized Onion Chutney (refrigerator only)
- Spicy Mustard Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Octoberfest Beer Mustard (Water Bath Method)
- Dijon Mustard Water Bath Method)
- Homemade Canned Ketchup (Water Bath Method)
- Old Fashioned Ketchup (Crockpot and Water Bath Method)
- Easy Crockpot Ketchup (Crockpot & Water Bath Method)
- Homemade Fermented Ketchup (Fermentation Method)
- Sweet Pickle Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Antipasto Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Red Hamburger Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Hot Pepper Hoagie Relish (Water Bath Method)
- Corn Relish with Turmeric (Water Bath Method)
- Corn and Cherry Tomato Salsa (Water Bath Method)
- Pineapple Papaya Chili Salsa (Water Bath Method)
- Black Beans and Corn Salsa (Pressure Canning Method)
- Marinated Mushrooms (refrigerator only)
Balsamic Sweet Onion Jam
If you want a really fantastic burger condiment, add some jam to it! JAM on a bun, what??? Not just any jam, Balsamic Sweet Onion Jam. I know what you’re thinking… that sounds weird and maybe a little gross. And what they heck would I even put onion jam on? That’s what I thought when I first heard of it. But it turns out it’s fantastic on burgers, grilled pork chops, or even used as a marinade for chicken or veggies. Give it a try and see if you like it.
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Sloppy Joe Sauces
My husband cannot eat anything with corn or corn byproducts in it (along with a dozen other foods). That’s not an easy feat, so most convenience foods are on our NO NO list. Sloppy Joe’s are one of our favorite foods, but most store sauces have high fructose corn syrup in them. I found that it’s really quite easy to make your own sauce. I can the sauce in smaller jars so we can have individual servings for fast meals.
- Sloppy Joe Starter (Water Bath Method)
- Sloppy Joe with Meat Sauce (Pressure Canning Method)
Tomato Jam
Tomato Jam is one of those condiments that you either love, hate, or are completely unsure about. You can add me to the latter category. I have tried both sweet and savory tomato jam recipes. I would not declare myself a devoted lover of this condiment, I’m just confused by it! I have heard canners describe it as “adult ketchup” which seems fitting because it always seems like a froofy recipe addition to me. You can add it to fancy cheese platters, grilled cheese sandwiches, or gourmet burgers. If you are expecting this to taste like ketchup, it does not. At least the 50 different tomato jam recipes I’ve tried do not taste like ketchup. Here are a few worth trying.
- Sungold Tomato and Maple Jam (Water Bath Method)
- Honey Tomato Jam (Water Bath Method)
- Tomato Bacon Jam (Refrigerator Only)
- Sweet and Tangy Tomato Jam (Water Bath Method)
- Tomato Preserves (Water Bath Method)
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Jam, Jelly, and Pie Filling
Fruit cobblers and red, white, and blue pies are fan favorite picnic desserts. But why not preserve something a little more unique, like watermelon or dandelion jelly? Or can up a classic beverage into jelly. Root Beer Jelly, anyone?
- Pineapple Jam (with or without pectin) (Water Bath Method)
- Low Sugar Fruit Cobbler Jam using Pomona’s Pectin (Water Bath Method)
- Low Sugar Green Tomato Jam using Pomona’s Pectin (Water Bath Method)
- Old Glory Pie Filling (Water Bath Method)
- Melon Jam (Water Bath Method)
- Watermelon Jelly Recipe (Water Bath Method)
- Low Sugar Watermelon Jelly using Pomona’s Pectin (Water Bath Method)
- Zesty Watermelon Jelly (Water Bath Method)
- Dandelion Jelly (Water Bath Method)
- Root Beer Jelly (Water Bath Method)
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Strawberry Jam using Natural Pectin
This Strawberry Jam recipe uses slightly less sugar than standard recipes. Plus it uses tart apples and lemon for the pectin instead of using regular store bought pectin. It’s a little more involved than regular jam recipes, but the results are amazing. You may never want to go back to regular pectin again. Add this jam to whipped desserts, cheesecake, or thumbprint cookies for a sweet summer picnic dessert. Get the recipe on our blog.
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