Is the Presto 12 Quart Electric Pressure Canner worth it?

When I put “pressure canning” on my yearly homesteading to-try board, I didn’t realize it would be ELECTRIC (or digital) pressure canning but here we are. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier with the decision! Here is my honest review of the Presto 12 Quart Electric Pressure Canner.

DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated or paid by Presto to write this review. I researched other reviews to help make my decision and purchased this pressure canner with own money. With that said, Johnson Home NC is an Amazon affiliate. Links provided in this post, if used by you, will earn me a commission at no additional cost to you. I will always encourage first shopping direct, small, and local!

My first pressure canning experience

I’m very new to pressure canning and to be honest, scared to use a traditional pressure canner.

I grew up around a traditional pressure canner and my mom still uses one today but she never showed me then how to use one.

She’s promised to show me now and even purchased me a pressure canner years ago but I’ve only used it for water bathing larger batches. I’m still holding out hope she’ll teach me her ways and give me the courage and new skills should I need them.

Traditional pressure canner users claim they are easy and safe to use and I believe them and their experience but for me, for now:

ELECTRIC/DIGITAL PRESSURE CANNER is the TICKET!

Is a pressure canner like an Instant Pot?

I love my Instant Pot pressure cooker.

But NO, pressure cookers and pressure canners are not the same and cannot be used the same way!

What I mean is that the Instant Pot is a pressure cooker and I am not afraid of it. I use it multiple times a week to cook a whole chicken and make homemade raw milk yogurt. 

The Instant Pot is NOT made for pressure canning to preserve foods. Please do not attempt!

Reading up on the Presto Electric Pressure Canner, I considered how similar in design and use it is to the Instant Pot.

That helped me make the decision to purchase the Presto Electric Canner for preserving the garden harvest.

Also for making shelf stable all the frozen left over chicken bones from raising our own meat birds into chicken bone broth.

Pros and Cons of the Presto Electric Pressure Canner

As a novice pressure canner, having only ever pressure canned with this Presto Electric Pressure Canner, I have not much to compare.

Here is my list of pros and cons just the same. I will explain what I mean about each:

Pros: safe, easy to use, walks you through all the steps, frees stove space

Cons: the knob is too sensitive (possibly user error), small batches only, needs power, storage space

Pros Breakdown

Safety

Sure, many expert pressure canner users will say the manual pressure canner is safe to use too. Perhaps they are correct. For me, this electric canner is safe because of the features that won’t allow the lid to be removed when it’s not ready and the pressure amounts are preset. There is also no need to adjust for altitudes using this electric pressure canner.

Easy to use/walks you through the steps

The beeping could possibly be annoying for some as the pressure canner indicates it needs your attention or that it is proceeding to the next step in preserving your food.

For me, the beeping is welcomed! I’m slightly ADHD in the kitchen and generally have at least 3 things going at once. Efficiency, am I right? (At least in my brain…) I need the reminders to put my attention back on the canner when it is needed.

The Presto Electric Pressure Canner comes with a user manual as well as a one sheet, quick reference guide.

It is advised to read through the manual your first and second time using the pressure canner to make sure you’re doing it right.

Also to have access to tried and approved recipes for both pressure and boiling water canning.

Once you get comfortable with this pressure canner, you can simply use the one sheet as a quick guide as you pressure can your foods.

Frees up stove space

I do a lot of water bath canning so I understand the need for all 4 eyes of the stove to be usable while canning.

This electric pressure canner is fine to sit on the counter top while processing. Be sure to read the user manual on suggestions for counter tops.

Make sure there is something under it like a large cutting board to protect your counter top from the heat and/or steam. Also, the canner, when full, gets pretty heavy. Be sure the surface it is sitting on can handle the weight.

Cons Breakdown

Presto Electric Pressure Canner’s knob is too sensitive

This could be a user error but the knob you turn to switch from pressure canning or boiling water is very sensitive.

Recently, I thought I had selected boiling water but apparently I was too heavy handed and didn’t pay close enough attention to the screen. I was actually pressure canning. Per instructions, I had too much water in the canner for pressure canning. It was requesting the regulator be put on which I specifically remembered boiling water bath said NO to that. Then I realized it was on the WRONG SETTING.

Again, likely user error but I had to cancel the whole process, wait for the canner to cool enough to allow opening, then start all over. What should have taken a certain amount of time now took over double to complete.

Small batch canning

I generally preserve in small batches as I have a smaller garden. It produces well but in small bunches at a time, not a whole mess ton at one time.

This makes small batches fine by me.

Five quarts in the canner at one time is usually plenty for what I’m preserving from my garden that day.

If you preserve in much larger quantities at one time, the Presto 12 Quart Electric Pressure Canner may not be right for you.

Needs power

This pressure canner is electric meaning it needs power to work.

For some, that is a turn off especially if trying to learn off-grid skills or to be come less reliant on the power grid.

I do my canning in the house mostly. I also have a glass top electric stove in my husband’s work shop for canning too. Both are glass tops and generally not recommended for use of a manual pressure canner due to the weight. It is recommended I call my stove manufacture to make sure the top can withstand that much weight put on top.

In addition to this, my glass top stove is also electric. For me, I would still need power to use a manual pressure canner.

Storage space

Just like a traditional pressure canner, the electric one is also a big girl.

They both take up a lot of space. Space I don’t really have at the moment until I can declutter the pantry floor.

For now, the electric pressure canner sits on the floor near the kitchen since I am using it about once a week currently.

It is August in North Carolina as I type this and that means the garden is in prime producing mode. Slowing down a bit, sure, but still GIVING.

This canner is getting used enough that I need not put it in a place inconveniently located to drag out once a week.

Is the Presto 12 Quart Electric Pressure Canner worth it?

In a word, yes.

So far I have pressure canned by the instructions and recipes within the user manual, chicken broth and green beans. I have boiling water bathed a salsa recipe too. 

Though I have not eaten any of these preservations yet, I am confident the pressure canner did its job as long as I did mine. My job being to follow the instructions and watch for sealing issues while in storage.

The ease of use and safety I feel while using this electric pressure canner have been the biggest selling features for me.

The price for this canner is higher, I admit it. This was something I’ve been considering for months and decided to save towards it. It was not an impulse buy and not with borrowed money (credit).

She has definitely been worth the investment thus far. I look forward to stocking my pantry shelves with many more pressure canned products like meat and potatoes and other low acid foods. 

Update: December 2024

I have since used multiple jars of chicken broth for soups and they have all been just fine, 4 months later!

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Again, I am unaffiliated with Presto. I have not been paid or incentivized to write this review; however, as an Amazon affiliate, using any of these links earns me commission, at no cost to you. As a young blog, you using these links means a LOT to me! Thank you in advance.

Traditional/Manual Presto Pressure Canner 16 Quart

Electric Presto Pressure Canner 12 Quart

Instant Pot Pressure COOKER 6 Quart

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Have you used this same electric pressure canner or want one for yourself? Leave a comment below. I hope this review was helpful in your decision making.

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