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An easy step-by-step tutorial on Canning Peaches. This recipe for how to preserve peaches is perfect for beginners and experienced canners alike. Instructions include low-sugar and no-sugar options. 

3 jars of canned peaches with mint and a bowl of peaches
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Peaches are one of the easiest fruits to can. Sure, you have to peel them, but that can be accomplished fairly easily.

Even better, I’m going to teach you how to make canned peaches in light syrup, so you can actually taste the fruit and not just sugar. Need no-added-sugar options? We’ve got those too!

And if you decided that peach preservation is just not for you, check out our Peach Freezer Jam, Peach Preserves, Homemade Peach Ice Cream, Peach Syrup, Drying Peaches, Peach Compote, tutorial on How to Freeze Peaches, and our Ginger Beer Mocktail. All use delicious fresh peaches without canning.

Canning Equipment List

Check out this in-depth post for a complete list of canning supplies.

  • Peaches! You’ll need about 17 lbs per 7 quarts. You can always can fewer jars if you only have a handful of peaches.
  • At least two large bowls. You can never have enough bowls when canning.
  • A large pot of water for blanching the fruit and a medium pot for syrup
  • Canner: water bath canner, a pressure canner (which can double as a water bath canner), or even a huge stockpot with a rack in the bottom.
  • Canning tongs/jar lifter
  • Jars – quarts or pints.
  • New, clean canning lids
  • Canning rings
  • Wide mouth funnel
  • Ice
  • Sugar, honey, or juice
  • lemon juice or citric acid
  • Paring knife
  • Cutting board
  • Slotted spoon
  • Ladle
  • Butter knife or plastic chopstick
  • Comfortable shoes. Don’t do this barefoot. Your back will hate you.
  • Clean washcloths and at least one thick clean towel.

How to Can Peaches 

*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.

CANNING PREP

Prepare your water bath canner by filling it with water. You need to have enough water to cover the jars by 1 inch once the water is boiling.

Set the canner on the stove. Turn the burner to high. Once it reaches a boil, reduce it to a simmer. You want to keep the water hot so that everything is ready when the fruit is.

Wash and clean your jars. You’ll want to keep them warm to avoid having them crack when placed in the canner. You can fill them with hot water, or place them on a tray in the oven at 170˚F.

Wash your lids and set them aside in a clean place. You no longer need to simmer lids in water to keep them sterile. Woot!

Wash your fruit. I just run them under water and rub my hands on them to give the outside a scrub. Use a paring knife and cut the peach around the middle to separate it.

a peach split in half on a cutting board with a paring knife

Remove the pit

a peach split in half on a cutting board with the pit removed

Put the halves in a large bowl of water treated with lemon juice or citric acid

Blanching Peaches

Add one layer of peaches at a time to a pot of boiling water for about 60 seconds. Once you can see the skin starting to come away from the flesh, it’s time to take them out.

Remove using a slotted spoon and place in an ice bath for 1 minute.

peaches in an ice bath.

Use the slotted spoon to remove the peaches from the ice bath. Grab one and gently peel the skin back.

a bowl of peaches with the skins peeling off

Syrups for Canning Peaches

If you prefer a no-sugar option, peaches can be canned using only water. But if you plan to can your peaches with sweetener, you can use sugar, honey, or fruit juice (apple or white grape). You’ll also want to decide how sweet you want the syrup to be.

In a medium-sized pot, combine your sugar/honey/or juice, and water to create the syrup. See the cheatsheet below as a guideline for making syrup:

Syrups for Canning

Syrups for Canning
Type of Syrup Sweetener Amount of Sweetener Water Yield
Very light Sugar 1 cup 6 cups 5 3/4 cups
Light Sugar 2 1/4 cups 5 1/4 cups 6 1/2 cups
Medium Sugar 3 1/4 cups 5 cups 7 cups
Heavy Sugar 4 cups 5 cups 7 cups
Honey Honey 1 cup 4 cups 4 1/4 cups
Juice Apple or white juice concentrate 1 1/2 cups 4 1/2 cups 6 cups
*Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation

Pro tip: if you plan to process multiple batches of peaches in a day, make the syrup and transfer it to a slower cooker set to “high”. This will keep the syrup hot while freeing up space on your stove.

Raw Pack For Canning Peaches

Raw packing simply means placing the peeled peaches in the jars without pre-cooking them, filling the jars with hot syrup, and processing them in the canner.

If you are canning your peaches without additional added sugar (sugar, honey, fruit juice), you must hot pack the fruit.

Raw packing is much faster than then a hot packing process, but there are some drawbacks. No matter how well you pack the jars, the density of the fruit will change during their time in the canner.

This often leads to something called “fruit float” in which the peaches will float to the top of the jar, leaving all syrup on the bottom. There is nothing wrong with fruit float as long as your jars are still sealed.

You’ll find this when you’re canning pearscanning apricots, and canning whole tomatoes as well.

To raw pack the peaches, add the fruit cavity-side down (where the pit was) to your sanitized and warm canning jars. This is easiest done with a fork. Repeat with other peach halves until you have filled the jar. Then, ladle hot syrup over the top of the peaches. Pro tip: depending on the size of the fruit, each quart will fit about 3-3.5 peaches.

Hot Pack For Canning Peaches

Hot packing involves cooking the peaches briefly in hot syrup before packing the peaches into jars for canning.

You’ll want to boil the peach halves in the canning syrup for about 2 minutes and then add them to your jars, ladling more hot syrup over the top.

The benefits of hot packing are that you typically can fit more fruit per jar, and the near elimination of fruit float.

Canning The Peaches

At this point, return your water in the canner back to a rolling boil.

Using a canning funnel, ladle hot syrup into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Headspace is the distance between the top of the food and the top of the jar. You may need to use a spoon to gently smoosh down the fruit a bit.

Using a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), remove all the air bubbles from the jar. Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag. Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.

two photos showing jars being processed for canning peaches

Using canning tongs, carefully place your jars in the canner. Put the lid on. Processing times will vary based on altitude. See the chart below.

a jar lifter putting a canning jar full of peaches into a canner

PROCESSING TIME FOR Canning Peaches

Pro tip: the water must return to a boil in the canner before you can start the timer.

Processing Time for Peaches

Processing Time for Peaches
Process Times at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack Jar Size 0-1,000 ft 1,001-3,000 ft 3,001-6,000 ft Aove 6,000 ft
Hot Pints 20 min 25 min 30 min 35 min
Quarts 25 min 30 min 35 min 40 min
Raw Pints 25 min 30 min 35 min 40 min
Quarts 30 min 35 min 40 min 45 min
*Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation

Once the jars have been processed for the appropriate amount of time, remove the canner from the burner, wearing oven mitts carefully take off the lid of the canner, and allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Pro tip: I tend to just slide the canner into the middle of my stove, as it weighs a ton.

Carefully remove the jars with canning tongs, and place them on a thick towel in a place where they can be undisturbed for 12 hours.

The lids will likely start to pop within 20-30 minutes of being removed from the water. That popping sound is music to your ears, as it tells you that everything has been sealed. It’s a reward for all your work!

After the jars have rested for about 12 hours, press down in the middle of each lid. If it “gives” at all, the jar didn’t seal. Either enjoy it that day, put it in the fridge, or reprocess it.

Pressure Canning Peaches

If you prefer to pressure can your peaches, follow the prep and packing process above and the canning process below.

Add 3 quarts of water to your pressure canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner.

Using canning tongs, gently place the jars in the canner. Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe (I call it the steam chimney).

Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator (I call it the chimney cap) on top. (see the 4 photo grid below for a visual of this process step by step)

4 steps in pressure canning

Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. That is a sign that you’re starting to build pressure inside the canner (get excited. This is happening!). Processing times will vary based on altitude. See the charts below.

Pressure Canning Peaches in a Dial-Gauge Pressure Canner

Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of Pack Jar Size Processing Time 0-2,000 ft 2,001-4,000 ft 4,001-6,000 ft 6,001-8,000 ft
Hot or Raw Pints or Quarts 10 min 6 lbs 7 lbs 8 lbs 9 lbs
*Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation

Processing Time for Peaches in a Weighted-Gauge Pressure Canner

Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack Jar Size Processing Time 0-1,000 ft Above 1,001 ft
Hot or Raw Pints or Quarts 10 min 5 lb 10 lb
*Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation

When the dial gauge reaches the appropriate PSI, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at the PSA or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time.  You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.

When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid of the canner (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).

Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner with the canner lid off and then lift them out with canning tongsPro tip: allowing the jars to sit in the canner with the canner lid off can help reduce the siphoning of liquid in your jars.

Place hot jars on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.

STORAGE FOR HOME CANNED Peaches

Once the jars have sealed, remove the rings. Label and store sealed jars in a cool (best results are 50-70˚F) dark place for up to 12-18 months.

If you have the space available, do not stack the jars on top of each other more than two jars high.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which peaches are best for canning?

Most varieties will work for canning. You’ll find peaches come in two main types:

Freestone – when cut in half, the peach will separate easily from the pit. These make canning so much easier!

Cling – the peach flesh will “cling” to the pit, making it very challenging to cut them in half. If you use cling peaches for canning, you will likely be canning peach slices instead of peach halves. For help with tackling the task of working with the cling variety, check out this post on How to Cut a Peach.

Can you use white peaches in canning?

At this time, the National Center for Home Food Preservation does not recommend you can white peaches. The ph levels vary too much, making them generally unsafe to can. It is recommended you freeze white peaches instead of canning them.

Can you can peaches without sugar?

Yes. That being said, sugar is used in canning for flavor, preservation, and color. Sweet food generally tastes better, keeps longer, and the color of the food stays bright and fresh.

Peaches have enough natural sugar and don’t need any sweetener added while canning to be considered safe. But your final product may look a bit different and have a shorter shelf life.

Personally, I walk the line between no sugar and low sugar for canning peaches and canning pears

Can You Can Peaches With Honey?

Yes, you are able to can peaches with honey.

Please note, if you’re using raw honey, any of the beneficial properties will be killed during the heating process. It’s more affordable to use regular honey for canning.

Can You Can Peaches With Fruit Juice?

Yes, you are able to can peaches with fruit juice.

You’ll need 48 oz of juice per 4 pounds of peaches using a hot pack process. Using frozen concentrated apple or white grape juice is a great and easy substitution for refined sugar syrup.

Use one can of thawed concentrate mixed with three cans of water.

How long after preserving peaches can you eat them?

They are safe to eat as soon as the jars have cooled!

Unlike a project like Refrigerator Dilly Beans, home-canned peaches don’t need to rest before they’re ready to enjoy. Dig in!

Help! Why Are My Jars Leaking Juice?

If you find that juice has leaked out after they have sealed, you have experienced a common canning issue called siphoning. It happens to the best of us!

Siphoning is typically caused by not allowing the jars to rest in the canner after they have finished processing. In the directions above, you’ll see that I recommend you remove the canner from the burner, remove the lid, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

This is important as it allows the jars time to rest before being allowed to cool on the counter. Doing this process will significantly cut down on siphoning.

If you have siphoning in your jars, follow these steps:

  • Check – are the lids still sealed?
  • Look – have you lost less than half of the amount of liquid in the jar?
  • Examine – does the fruit look fresh with bright colors?

If the answer to the above three steps is “yes!”, then they are safe to eat. If you lost quite a bit of syrup, the uncovered fruit will turn color more quickly. Plan to eat those jars first.

What if my jars don’t seal?

If you’ve correctly processed your fruit, and the lids still didn’t seal, you can reprocess them.

Double-check to make sure there are no:

  • Chips in the rim of the jar
  • Dried syrup or bits of peach on the rim (anything between the rim and the lid may prevent a seal.

Best practices would involve using brand-new lids for reprocessing. Set aside the old lids to use for dry storage (related: Pantry Essentials for the Home Cook).

If the jars don’t seal on the second attempt, you likely have a bad batch of lids, or your canning process has a step missing. Email me and we’ll try to troubleshoot what is going on.

For unsealed jars, you can place them in the fridge. Eat the fruit within three weeks.

a jar of canned peaches with fresh peaches and mint

Can I make canned peach slices?

Yes! If you’d prefer to cut your fruit into slices, that is absolutely fine. Think about how you plan to use them after canning. Do you want to eat them as is? If so, halved peaches will be the easiest and fastest way to can them.

If you use them in crisps/crumbles, other desserts, or yogurt (related: Easy Instant Pot Yogurt) slices make a lot of sense!

Pro tip: with canning peach slices, you’ll need to put a bit more effort into removing bubbles from the jars. There will be more opportunities for “pockets” to occur in the jars, and those bubbles need to be removed for safety.

4.98 from 94 ratings

Canning Peaches {How to Can Peaches}

Servings: 7 quarts
Prep: 1 hour 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 1 hour 30 minutes
Jars of canned peaches on a wooden board
An easy step-by-step tutorial on canning peaches. This recipe for how to preserve peaches is perfect for beginners and experienced canners alike. Instructions include low-sugar and no-sugar options. 

Ingredients 

  • 17 lbs peaches
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 6 cups water {+more for the canner}
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • ice

Instructions 

Canning Prep

  • Prepare your water bath canner by filling it with water. You just need to have enough water to cover the jars by 1 inch once the water is boiling.
  • Set the canner on the stove. Turn the burner to high. Once it reaches a boil, reduce it to simmer. You want to keep the water hot so that everything is ready when the peaches are.
  • Wash and sanitize your jars. You’ll want to keep them warm to avoid having them crack when placed in the canner. You can fill them with hot water, or place them on a tray in the oven at 170F.
  • Wash your lids and set aside in clean place.
  • Use a paring knife and cut the peach around the middle to separate. Remove the pit. Put the halves in a large bowl of water treated with lemon juice (~1/4 cup) or citric acid (1 tbsp). 
    17 lbs peaches, 1/4 cup lemon juice

Blanching Peaches

  • Fill a large mixing bowl with ice water. Set aside.
    ice
  • Add one layer of peaches at a time to a pot of boiling water for about 60 seconds.
  • Remove using a slotted spoon and place in the ice water for 1 minute.
  • Use the slotted spoon to remove the peach halves from the ice bath. Grab one of the peaches and gently peel the skin back.

Canning Peaches

  • Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil and fully dissolve the sugar. See the chart in the post above for different levels of syrup.
    6 cups water, 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • (Hot Pack Method) Once the syrup is boiling, add the peach halves one layer at a time (a canning term that means don’t totally fill the pot) and heat for 2 minutes.
  • (Hot pack option) Using a fork and canning funnel, grab the now softened peaches, add the peach halves, one at a time, and put them cavity-side (where the pit was) down in the canning jar.
  • (Hot pack option) Repeat with other peach halves until you have filled the jar. Pro tip: depending on the size of the peaches, each quart will fit about 3-3.5 peaches.
  • (Hot pack option) Using a canning funnel, carefully ladle hot syrup into the jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace.
  • (Raw pack option) Using a fork and canning funnel, place peaches cavity-side down in the canning jar.
  • (Raw Pack Option) Using a canning funnel and a ladle, fill each jar with hot syrup or water, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Headspace is the distance between the top of the food and the top of the jar.
  • At this point, return your water in the canner back to a rolling boil.
  • Using a long utensil (I prefer a plastic chopstick), remove all the air bubbles from the jar.
  • Clean the rim of the jar very well with a hot damp rag.
  • Place a clean lid on the jar. Add a ring, and tighten to fingertip tight.
  • Using canning tongs, gently place your jars in the canner. Put the lid on, and set your timer. Pro tip: the water must return to a boil in the canner before you can start the timer.
  • Process HOT PACK pints and quarts based on the elevation guide below:
    *0-1,000 ft – Pints =20 min Quarts =25 min
    *1,001-3,000 ft – Pints =25 min Quarts =30 min
    *3,001-6,000 ft – Pints =30 min Quarts =35 min
    *6,000 ft+ – Pints =35 min Quarts =40 min
  • Process RAW PACK pints and quarts based on the elevation guide below:
    *0-1,000 ft – Pints =25 min Quarts =30 min
    *1,001-3,000 ft – Pints =30 min Quarts =35 min
    *3,001-6,000 ft – Pints =35 min Quarts =40 min
    6,000 ft+ – Pints =40 min Quarts =45 min
  • Once the peaches have processed for the appropriate amount of time, remove the canner from the burner, and carefully remove the lid of the canner (Pro tip: use oven mitts to take the lid off because the steam is super hot).
  • Using canning tongs, carefully remove the jars, and place them on a thick towel in a place where they can be undisturbed for 12 hours.
  • After the jars have rested for about 12 hours, press down in the middle of each lid. If it "gives" at all, the jar didn't seal. Either enjoy it that day, put it in the fridge, or reprocess it.

Notes

  • If you’re planning to can multiple batches of peaches all at once, I use my crockpot to create and keep the syrup hot. It frees up space on the stove.
  • Once the jars have sealed, remove the rings. Label and store sealed jars in a cool (best results are 50-70˚F) dark place for up to 12-18 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 2peach halvesCalories: 129kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Canning
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @sustainablecooks or tag #sustainablecooks!

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Helping you serve up budget-friendly sustainable recipes with a side of balanced living.
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158 Comments

  1. Thank you for all the great, easy canning recipes. I am canning for the first time this summer, and your site has made canning less intimidating. We will be enjoying peaches all winter.5 stars

  2. I ot packed my peaches, but I still have significant fruit float. Can you tell me why? Can you also tell me how to resolve it?

    1. Hi Kendra, there could be a few reasons and without being in your kitchen, it’s hard to know for sure. 1) the peaches could have been incredibly dense/ripe 2) if you’re new to canning, you may have underpacked the jars, giving the peaches too much room to stay in place, 3) the syrup you were using to hot pack may just not have been hot enough.

      If any of those above happened, fixing those things would improve fruit float next time. That being said, even after years of canning, I still get some fruit float with peaches and pears. It’s not bad or dangerous from a food safety standpoint.