Canning pineapple at home is a great way to enjoy this tropical fruit year-round. Whether you use it for pizzas, desserts, sauces or just eat it straight from the jar, home-canned pineapple is a must-have addition to your pantry. Plus, you can control the ingredients, ensuring the best quality without any unnecessary preservatives.
If this is your first time canning, don’t worry—this guide will walk you through the process step by step. I started canning pineapple early on in my beginner canning days, shortly after I mastered applesauce and strawberry jam. It’s a really easy canning recipe for beginners. The hardest part is cutting the pineapple! (Which really isn’t all that hard;).
I still load up on fresh pineapple every year around March or April when they’re in season and tend to be on sale at the grocery store. While I tend to mostly can fruits and vegetables that we either grow ourselves or that I source from local farms, pineapples definitely don’t grow where we live here on Vancouver Island, so I do like to purchase them from the store.
Why Can Pineapple at Home?
While I could just as well buy canned pineapple from the grocery store, I still prefer to can my own for a few reasons, including:
Better Ingredients – No high-fructose corn syrup or artificial preservatives.
Cost Savings – Buying fresh pineapples in bulk from the grocery store when prices are low helps you save money.
Less Waste – You can use the pineapple cores and skins for compost or juice, reducing kitchen waste.
Sustainability – Reusing canning jars is more eco-friendly than buying canned goods with disposable packaging.
When to Buy Pineapple for Canning
The best time to buy fresh pineapple is during peak season (March to July), when the fruit is most abundant and affordable. Look for ripe pineapples that have a sweet aroma, slightly soft skin, and golden colour. Avoid pineapples that are overly green or have soft brown spots. One way to tell if a pineapple is ripe is by gently tugging on the leaves; if it comes off easily with little effort, the pineapple is ripe, but if the leaf resists pulling, it’s not quite ready yet.
How to Can Pineapple (Step-by-Step Instructions)
1. Prepare Your Pineapple
- Use a sharp knife to cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple.
- Remove the skin and any tough, knobby bits.
- Cut out the pineapple cores and slice the fruit into pineapple chunks or rings, depending on your preference.
2. Prepare Your Canning Equipment
- Inspect canning jars for cracks and wash them with hot, soapy water.
- Sterilize jars by placing them in a simmering water bath for 10 minutes.
- Keep the hot jars warm until ready to fill.
- Prepare new lids and screw bands for sealing.
3. Make the Canning Syrup
- Light Syrup: Combine 1 cup organic cane sugar with 5 cups of water in a large pot.
- No-Sugar Option: You can also can pineapple in its own juice, in water, or in a light honey syrup.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Add pineapple chunks to the hot syrup and let them heat thoroughly.
4. Fill and Process the Jars
- Use a slotted spoon to pack the hot pineapple into sterilized canning jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.
- Ladle the hot syrup or cooking liquid over the pineapple chunks, still maintaining the ½ inch headspace.
- Remove air bubbles by running a knife or canning tool along the jar’s edge.
- Wipe jar rims with a clean, damp cloth, then place lids on and screw on the bands until fingertip-tight.
- Process jars in a boiling water canner:
- Pint jars: 15 minutes
- Quart jars: 20 minutes
- Adjust processing times for high altitudes if necessary.
5. Cool and Store
- Turn off the heat and let jars sit for 5 minutes before carefully removing them from the canner.
- Place jars on a towel-lined counter and allow them to cool at room temperature for 12-24 hours.
- Remove the bands for storage—if the lids are sealed, you don’t need the bands anyway, and can reuse them for other caning projects!
- Check that the lids have sealed by gently lifting up a jar by the lid. If it’s sealed, it will hold. If not, the lid will come off.
- Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year.
- If any jars did not seal, you can reheat the pineapple chunks in the syrup and re-can them, or refrigerate and use within a few days.
Bonus: What to Do with Pineapple Scraps
Instead of discarding your pineapple cores and peels, consider these eco-friendly uses:
- Juice the Rinds: Blend or simmer them with cups of water to make a refreshing drink.
- Make Pineapple Vinegar: Ferment the scraps with sugar and water for a homemade vinegar.
- Compost: Add scraps to your compost bin to enrich your garden soil.
Final Thoughts
Canning pineapple at home is a fun and rewarding process that guarantees fresh, high-quality fruit without additives. The hot pack method ensures the best flavor and texture, and using a boiling water canner makes it safe and easy. Whether you’re stocking your pantry or reducing food waste, home-canned pineapple is a great addition to any homesteader’s kitchen.
By following these simple canning recipes and techniques, you’ll be able to enjoy sweet, tropical pineapple all year long. Try it out and discover just how delicious home-canned pineapple can be!
Now that you know how to can pineapple, what will you use it for first? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts You Might Like:
Canning Tools I Use and Recommend:
- Canning Funnel
- Canning Scoop
- Jar Lifter
- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (this recipe is adapted from this book)
Check out my full list of canning tools and resources here.
How to Can Pineapple At Home
Learn how to can pineapple at home with this easy, low-sugar recipe. Preserve fresh pineapple for year-round use while controlling ingredients and avoiding additives. Get step-by-step instructions for safe, delicious home-canned pineapple!
Ingredients
- 12 lbs pineapple (approx. 6 large pineapples peeled, cored & cut into chunks)
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 cups water
Instructions
- Prepare water bath canner, jars and lids. Wash jars and bands with hot, soapy water, then place in water bath canner and bring water to a simmer to sterilize jars. Leave jars in canner until ready to fill. Always use new lids when canning (bands can be reused).
- In a large stainless steel pot, combine 1 cup of sugar with 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until dissolved. Reduce heat to medium low.
- Add pineapple chunks to syrup. Heat thoroughly (about 30 seconds per pound).
- Use a slotted spoon to pack hot pineapple chunks into jars, leaving a generous ½ inch headspace. Then ladle hot syrup into jars, covering pineapple chunks, leaving ½-inch headspace.
- Remove any air bubbles by running a butter knife along the inside of the jar. Adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rim, place lids on top, screw bands on and place in the canner, ensuring that jars are completely submerged in water.
- Bring water to a boil and process pint jars for 15 minutes or quart jars for 20 minutes. Once time is up, turn heat off, remove canner lid, let sit for 5 minutes, and then remove and let cool completely before storing in a cool, dark place.
Wanna learn how to can your own food?
Whether you’ve never canned anything before or you’ve done a little home canning and you’re ready to take the next step, my Yes, You CAN! complete home canning course will walk you through everything you need to know to get started canning food SAFELY at home.
Over the course of 12 easy-to-follow lessons, we cover both water bath canning and pressure canning, and I show you step-by-step how to can your own jams, jellies, pickles, pie fillings, fruits, vegetables, tomato sauce and chicken stock at home. And of course we’ll go over safe canning practices, equipment and over all best practices in more depth so that you always feel confident both during the canning process and while enjoying your home-canned food afterwards.
You’ll also get a collection of bonuses including:
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- A copy of my Home Canning Handbook, complete with 30 of my favourite home canning recipes for canning everything from fruits and vegetables to jams and jellies to sauces and salsa to stocks, soups, meats, combination meals and more!
If you’re ready to get started home canning (or canning more food than ever before this year!) enroll now and get started stocking your pantry!
How do zi make the juice from the core and skins
Hi Lynn – neither of those parts of the pineapple will hold a ton of juice, as most of it is concentrated within the actual flesh of the fruit. You could probably get some juice out of the core with a juice press or electric juicer, though. I can’t say I’ve ever tried that myself! -Ashley (assistant)
My wife and I take the skins and cores and add water and boil add a small amount of sugar. Let it cool and strain out the juice. Tastes great.
Oh, that’s so smart! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Anna!
Your recipe is so simple and perfect! I do a lot of canning myself, for the same reasons you do.
Because I’ve never canned pineapple before, I have a question. Is the step on heating the pineapple pieces in the pot of hot syrup particular to pineapple? I always put my fruit directly in the jars and then pour the syrup on top. Being a citrus fruit, maybe the canning process is different, so I thought I’d ask.
Thanks very much!
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Pineapple can be either hot packed or raw packed – both are fine 🙂 this is just Anna’s preferred method.
-Ashley (Assistant)
Good morning from Canada! Before I begin please know that I am very new to canning meaning I ordered my all american pressure canner three days ago. So my questions might cause some people’s eyes to roll but please be patient with me. I love pineapple and never would have thought to can it. I am writing out the recipe and have questions. I got the part of peeling and cutting of pineapples. Parts I am not sure about:
when putting empty jars in cooker, do you completely cover them with water
do you put lid on and lock it up?
can you put them in oven instead? (have read some people do that) Thank you for your patience and understanding
Hi Karla – no worries, we were all beginners once!
You want to follow the instructions for your specific canner, the instructions that it came with. This particular recipe is for a boiling water bath canner.
The point of putting the empty jars in the canner is to bring them up to a hot temperature so that they aren’t heat-shocked, which can cause them to break. You don’t need to cover them completely at this point, but you do want to cover them completely when processing.
While some people do can in a hot oven, this isn’t an approved safe method, and is not recommended.
For all the information you could ever need about canning, canning safety, pressure canning and more – I highly recommend the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s website.
Best of luck on your canning journey!
Mine fermented, what went wrong?
Hi Steve,
If it fermented, it wasn’t properly canned or the lid did’t seal. I’ve had mine ferment in the fridge after opening if I’ve left it long enough, but if canned properly it should preserve it as-is and it shouldn’t ferment. Be sure to remove the bands from your lids next time after the jars have completely cooled and check that the lids have sealed. You should be able to lift the jars up from the lids without the bands on and the lids should stay sealed. Also, be sure to adjust the headspace and wipe rims before processing, and always use new lids to help ensure a good seal.
Any canning recipe needs altitude adjustments for altitudes. Those of us that have been canning for awhile know this and look up altitude charts. It is important, possibly even dangerous to not can safely. Here is a link for hot water canning.
https://plumcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/New-Altitude-Chart-For-Water-Bath-Canning.jpg
Pineapples went down to under $2.00 in my area this week and with the rising cost of food, I’m back in the kitchen canning. I’ve never canned pineapple before and your recipe looks very easy to follow. This fall, I will have 4 kids living at home. You gotta feed them. Thanks for this recipe
Can you can pineapple juice???
Is so how long on water bath???
Hi Cathy,
Yes, I actually can the excess syrup when I have extra. I use it to add to soda water or smoothies. I follow the same canning time and instructions as I do when canning pineapple chunks. You can also can pineapple juice using the same instructions as the recipe above.
Can you safely adjust the sugar amount in the recipe? Your post says there is enough acid in pineapple- just making sure I can decrease the sugar.
Hi Kelsey – yes you can, however it may impact the taste of the finished product.
Here is more info on pineapple canning safety and guidelines for adjusting sugar: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/pineapple.html
Is the 5 cups water and sugar for 1 pound of pineapple?
Hi Julianna,
The recipe calls for 12 pounds of pineapple (not one) combined with the 5 cups water and one cup sugar. This should yield you about 8 pints of canned pineapple.
I also felt Miss Addel was rude. Maybe just having a bad day and felt the need Ruin someone else’s dau.
I was just wondering how long they are shelf stable for after. Thanks for any advice.
The general rule is that home-canned foods have a “best used by” shelf life of one year, and should be used before two years.
Hi. I am wondering as I could not find any reference to this in your blog, though I hate reading blogs and just skimmed most of it until I got to the recipe, but pretty sure this isn’t in there. I want to know how many jars (either quarts or pints though I am using pints as I am just a single woman and cook only for my brother and I…we are older and have no family left but the two of us. But I am used to being given an estimate of how many jars I will need to put in the canner to make sure I have enough. I think it would be nice if you would supply this information in the article right in the actually recipe. Something like Yields 12 pints or whatever…I am probably going to go use a different recipe that does supply this information but would consider using yours in the future if you supply it. Thank you.
Hi there,
Sorry about that! There is nowhere for me to put the yield in this recipe for some reason, only how many people it serves, so it read “Persons: 8” which doesn’t make much sense! I’ve updated the recipe to say that this yields approximately 8 pints or 4 quarts:)
Miss Adelle, I think you’re a very rude person and your whole entire comment was unnecessary! Whether or not the “yield” information was added after your comment or not is irregardless. And stating the fact that you don’t like blogs, then why would you sit and troll through a blog post only to leave your comment and embarrassing yourself the way you did? You should be re-writing a comment with your apology. Nothing more.
As for this wonderful blog and fabulous recipe, I cannot wait to not only use your recipe tomorrow but also for my first time, making pineapple juice from my rinds.
I live in Florida and we have about 25 pineapple plants. For those who don’t know, pineapples produce every other year, so we’ve planted to yield crops every year. Up until this point, we dehydrated rings and shared pineapples with family and friends. I cannot wait to add your recipe to my collection and taste the juice!
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into your life and beautiful story. There’s much heritage there. And thank you for not only taking so much of your time writing your wonderful blog but also sharing your recipe
Awe, thank you for the very kind comment, and for coming to my defence there;) To be fair, I’ve had much nastier comments from people than that. But it does hurt when people slam your work, which does take a lot of time and energy to put out there for the public for free. Even though I do make an income off ads now, for about 3 years (during the time that I wrote this blog post) I pretty much earned nothing. So it does take a lot of time and effort to see the fruits of your labour. It’s always so nice when someone else sees that and can appreciate it:)
All that aside, I still use this pineapple canning recipe every year and this year I had enough of the syrup left over to can it up and make juice. The rinds are great to make juice out of, but I also like using the syrup as a flavouring to add to soda water. It’s a little like making your own homemade pineapple soda. Super refreshing!
I hope you enjoy and thanks again for the support!
Hi I read your canning pineapple recipe! It
Gives me hope that “ I can do
It” . I’m new to this canning business and very interested in learning. Thanks for sharing?
How long can I store the pineapple?
Hi Kiruba,
The pineapple should store for at least a year or two in the pantry. However I’ve had home-canned pineapple that was closer to three years old and it was still fine.
can you omit the sugar when canning pineapples?
Trying to watch my sugar intake.
Hi Teresa,
Yes! You can lessen the amount of sugar or omit it altogether and it won’t affect the safety of the product. However it can affect flavour, so just be aware of that:)