Mason Jars for Canning: Which Size and Mouth to Buy
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Mason jars are the one part of canning you buy once and keep. The glass and the screw bands get reused season after season, and only the flat lid is single-use. So it's worth getting the sizes right from the start.
Sizes: what goes in what
- Half-pint (8 oz): jams, jellies and small gift jars.
- Pint (16 oz): the workhorse. Green beans, salsa, pickles, sauces, and many tested recipes give pint times.
- Quart (32 oz): tomatoes, peaches, pickles in bulk, and stock.
One rule to remember: only use a jar size the recipe gives a processing time for. Tested recipes list times by jar size, and you can't scale them up yourself.
Regular mouth vs wide mouth
NCHFP puts the standard mouth opening at about 2-3/8 inches and wide mouth at about 3 inches, and notes wide-mouth jars are more easily filled and emptied, which helps with whole tomatoes or pickle spears. Regular mouth is fine for anything pourable. If you're only buying one kind, wide mouth is the more forgiving to work with.
Jars to skip
NCHFP says most commercial mayonnaise-type jars can be used with new two-piece lids for acid foods, but to expect more seal failures and breakage. They aren't recommended for pressure canning, and jars that won't take a standard two-piece lid aren't recommended for any home canning. Ball adds that jars with nicks, cracks, uneven rims or sharp edges may not seal or may break, so check them before each use.
Good jars to start with
Ball 12-packs are the simplest way to stock up. These all include lids, per their listings, and most also list bands.
Ball Regular Mouth Pint (16 oz) Mason Jars, 12-Pack
- Twelve 16-ounce regular mouth jars
- Lids and bands included, per the listing
Ball Wide Mouth Pint (16 oz) Canning Jars, 12-Pack
- Twelve 16-ounce wide mouth jars
- Lids and bands included, per the listing
Ball Regular Mouth Quart (32 oz) Mason Jars, 12-Pack
- Twelve 32-ounce regular mouth jars
- Lids and bands included, per the listing
Ball Wide Mouth Quart (32 oz) Mason Jars, 12-Pack
- Twelve 32-ounce wide mouth jars with lids
- Step-by-step canning instructions on the bottom of the package, per the listing
Ball Half-Pint (8 oz) Regular Mouth Mason Jars, 12-Pack
- Twelve 8-ounce regular mouth jars with lids
- Listing guidance: refrigerate up to 3 weeks, freeze up to 1 year, preserve and store up to 1 year
Smaller and bigger jars
Quarter-pint (4 oz) jelly jars are sold for small-batch jams and jellies, per the listing. Half-gallon jars exist too, but NCHFP says the only tested half-gallon processes are for apple juice and grape juice. Otherwise, treat them as storage jars.
Ball 4 oz Quilted Crystal Jelly Jars, 6-Pack
- Six 4-ounce regular mouth jars with lids and bands, per the listing
- Quarter-pint size for small-batch jams and jellies
Ball 4 oz Quilted Jelly Jars, Set of 2
- Two 4-ounce jars with lids and bands, per the listing
- Listing guidance: refrigerate up to 3 weeks, freeze up to 1 year, preserve and store up to 1 year
Ball Wide Mouth Half-Gallon (64 oz) Jar
- One 64-ounce jar with metal lid and band, per the listing
- 9 inches tall; 3-inch opening
Ball's half-pint and 4 oz listings also give storage guidance: refrigerate up to 3 weeks, freeze up to 1 year, or preserve and store up to 1 year. NCHFP's best-quality guidance for home-canned food is the same 1-year mark; see how long canned goods last.
Prepping jars
- Wash jars in hot, soapy water and rinse well.
- Sterilizing is only needed for foods processed less than 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner: boil the empty jars 10 minutes, plus 1 minute for each 1,000 feet above 1,000 feet, per NCHFP. Jars for pressure canning don't need to be sterilized first, per NCHFP.
- Leave the headspace your recipe calls for, remove air bubbles with a plastic spatula (not metal), and wipe the rim before the lid goes on.
FAQ
Can I reuse mason jars?
Yes, many times, per NCHFP. Just use a new flat lid each time. More on that in our canning lids guide.
Can I can in old pasta sauce or mayo jars?
NCHFP says most commercial mayo-type jars can be used with new two-piece lids for acid foods, with more seal failures and breakage expected. Not for pressure canning, and jars that can't take two-piece lids aren't recommended at all.
Do I need to sterilize jars?
Only for foods processed less than 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.