Pressure Canning Pickles: Can You Do It? Safe Times and Tested Method

Updated 4 November 2026Based on USDA and NCHFP tested recipesFood safety reviewed

Searches for “pressure canning pickles” usually come from people who own a pressure canner and want to use it for everything. It is a fair question, because pressure canners reach higher temperatures than boiling water.

But hotter is not better for pickles. This guide explains why pickles are boiling-water canned, how to use the pressure canner you already have, and a tested dill pickle recipe with exact times.

Can you pressure can pickles?

You should not. Safe home canning depends on processes tested in a lab for a specific food, jar size and method. For cucumber pickles, those tests were done for boiling-water canning and low-temperature pasteurization only.

We checked all 65 recipes in the NCHFP pickling collection, including dill pickles, bread-and-butter pickles, pickled beets, dilled beans, relishes and chutneys. Every one gives a boiling-water process. None gives a pressure canner time or pressure.

So if you see a “pressure canning pickles recipe” online, it was not developed with USDA testing. There is no reliable way to know whether its time and pressure are safe, or what they will do to texture.

Why pickles do not need a pressure canner

Pressure canners exist for low-acid foods such as plain vegetables, meat and beans. Those foods can carry botulism spores that survive boiling, so they must reach about 240°F, which only happens under pressure.

Pickles are different. The vinegar in a tested recipe makes them acidic enough that botulism cannot grow. The boiling-water process then destroys the yeasts, molds and enzymes that would otherwise spoil the jars.

That is why the NCHFP warns that acidity is as important to safety as it is to flavor. The acid does the safety work. The heat process seals the jar and stops spoilage.

Why pressure canning ruins pickles

The NCHFP notes that even water above 185°F can cause “unnecessary softening of pickles” during low-temperature pasteurization. A pressure canner runs far hotter than that, and for far longer.

A loaded pressure canner also takes 55 to 100 minutes from start to finish, against 25 to 60 minutes for most acid foods in boiling water. More time at high heat means softer, darker, shriveled pickles.

How long to process pickles

These are the tested times for the two most popular cucumber pickles. Start timing once the water returns to a full, rolling boil with the jars inside.

Both recipes leave ½ inch of headspace. If you do not know your altitude, look it up before you start. Using the low-altitude time at a high elevation can leave jars underprocessed.

Low-temperature pasteurization for crisper pickles

Quick dills and bread-and-butter pickles can instead be held at 180 to 185°F for 30 minutes. Place jars in a canner half filled with 120 to 140°F water, then add hot water to 1 inch above the jars.

Keep a candy or jelly thermometer in the water the whole time. Below 180°F the pickles may spoil. Above 185°F they soften. Only use this method when the recipe lists it.

How to use a pressure canner as a boiling-water canner

A deep pressure canner makes a good water-bath canner. The NCHFP says pressure canners can process acid foods, though a boiling-water canner is faster. The key is to stop the canner from building any pressure.

These steps follow Presto’s instructions for its pressure canners, published through Washington State University Extension. Check your own canner’s manual, because not every model is deep enough for quart jars.

1. Set up the canner. Put the rack in the bottom and fill the canner halfway with water. Preheat it to about 140°F for raw-packed pickles or 180°F for hot-packed ones.
2. Remove the pressure parts. Take off the pressure regulator (weight) and the overpressure plug. Check that the vent pipe is clear and open.
3. Load the jars. Lower the filled jars onto the rack. Add boiling water until it is at least 1 inch above the jar tops.
4. Close and boil. Fit the cover as the manual directs, then heat on high until the water boils hard. Steam should escape freely through the open vent.
5. Time it. Start the timer for your recipe and altitude. Lower the heat enough to keep a steady, gentle boil, and top up with boiling water if needed.
6. Cool and remove. Turn off the heat, lift the cover away from you, and wait 5 minutes. Lift jars straight up and set them 1 inch apart on a towel.

Leave the jars alone for 12 to 24 hours before checking the seals. Do not tighten the bands while they cool.

Tested recipe: quick fresh-pack dill pickles

This is the NCHFP recipe most people mean when they search for a pressure canning pickle recipe. It makes 7 to 9 pints and needs a 12-hour brine, so start the day before.

Ingredients

• 8 lb pickling cucumbers, 3 to 5 inches long
• 2 gallons water, for the brine
• 1¼ cups canning or pickling salt (¾ cup for the brine, ½ cup for the pickling liquid)
• 1½ quarts vinegar, 5% acidity
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 quarts water, for the pickling liquid
• 2 tbsp whole mixed pickling spice
• About 3 tbsp whole mustard seed (1 tsp per pint jar)
• About 14 heads fresh dill (1½ heads per pint), or 4½ tbsp dill seed (1½ tsp per pint)

Method

1. Trim. Wash the cucumbers. Cut a 1/16-inch slice off the blossom end and discard it, but leave ¼ inch of stem attached.
2. Brine. Dissolve ¾ cup salt in 2 gallons of water. Pour it over the cucumbers and let them stand for 12 hours, then drain.
3. Make the pickling liquid. Combine the vinegar, ½ cup salt, sugar and 2 quarts water. Tie the pickling spice in a clean white cloth, add it, and bring to a boil.
4. Pack. Fill the jars with cucumbers. Add 1 tsp mustard seed and 1½ heads of dill to each pint.
5. Fill. Cover the cucumbers with the boiling liquid, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Wipe the rims and fit the lids.
6. Process. Use the boiling-water times in the table above, or the low-temperature pasteurization method.

Choosing cucumbers for canning

Use pickling varieties, not long salad cucumbers. They have thinner skins and denser flesh, so they stay firmer in the jar. Choose firm cucumbers with no soft spots, and can them as soon after picking as you can.

The NCHFP suggests cucumbers about 4 inches long for dills and about 1½ inches for gherkins. Save the odd-shaped and more mature ones for relish or bread-and-butter slices.

How to keep canned pickles crisp

Crispness is the reason many people consider pressure canning in the first place. The good news is that the tested methods already give you several ways to firm up your pickles.

• Remove the blossom end. Blossoms can hold an enzyme that softens pickles. Always cut off at least 1/16 inch.
• Chill before packing. The bread-and-butter recipe layers slices with ice for 3 to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
• Use low-temperature pasteurization when the recipe offers it. It gives a noticeably firmer texture.
• Do not overprocess. Stick to the exact time for your altitude. Extra minutes only soften them.
• Food-grade lime firms pickles, but excess lime must be removed with three rinse-and-soak cycles. Alum does not firm quick pickles.

Ingredients that affect safety

Pickling is forgiving about flavor and strict about proportions. The NCHFP is clear that you should not alter the vinegar, food or water amounts in a recipe, or use vinegar of unknown acidity.

Common pickle problems and fixes

If brass, copper or zinc utensils touched the brine, the NCHFP advises not using the pickles at all.

After processing: seals, storage and waiting

Once the jars have cooled for 12 to 24 hours, press the center of each lid. A sealed lid is curved down and does not flex. Refrigerate any jar that did not seal and use it first.

Remove the bands, wipe the jars, label them with the date, and store them somewhere cool, dark and dry. The NCHFP suggests waiting 4 to 5 weeks before opening bread-and-butter pickles so the flavor can develop.

What about canning pickles in an electric pressure cooker?

This is the most common version of the question, and the answer is a firm no. The NCHFP does not support USDA canning processes in electric multi-cookers, including models sold with a canning setting.

Those appliances were not tested for the temperatures and timing canning depends on. For pickles, they also offer no advantage. A large stockpot with a rack, deep enough for 1 inch of boiling water over the jars, does the job.

Our guide to using a pressure cooker as a pressure canner explains the difference between the two appliances in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

Pickles should not be pressure canned. Vinegar makes them safe, and a short boiling-water process seals and preserves them. Pressure only adds heat that softens them.

If a pressure canner is the only canner you own, use it as a water-bath canner. Follow a tested recipe, keep the vinegar strength, and adjust the time for your altitude.