Mirro 22-Quart Pressure Canner Reviews: Our Take

The short version

Here's the verdict before the detail. The Mirro is a capable, genuinely cheap weighted-gauge canner with one recurring frustration that turns up in nearly every thread written about it.

What's good:

• Three regulator weights at 5, 10, and 15 PSI ship in the box, so there is no dial gauge to have checked for accuracy every year.
• Two cooking racks are included, so a second layer of pints costs you nothing extra.
• Aluminum keeps the empty pot light, which matters every time it comes out of a cabinet.
• A weighted canner is audible. You can track pressure from another room instead of standing over a needle.
• It is one of the least expensive ways into low-acid canning from a name that has been in home kitchens for generations.

What's not:

• The weight is the problem child. Owners report theirs spinning, rocking, rattling, or doing nothing at all, and the manual does not settle which is correct.
• Gaskets and regulator weights are consumables, and sourcing genuine Mirro parts has been unreliable for years.
• Plain aluminum will not heat on an induction cooktop at all.
• There is no dial to glance at, so when a run stalls you have less to diagnose with.
• The aluminum stains and can pit with age, and the vent hardware corrodes if it is not cleaned after every run.

Who it's for

This canner suits one kind of buyer very well and quietly punishes another. Sort yourself first.

Buy it for:

• A first pressure canner on a gas or coil stove, bought for the least money that still gets you a real weighted regulator.
• Vegetables, beans, broth, and meat from a garden or a freezer clear-out, in household batches a few times a season.
• Canning by ear, so you can start a load and stay useful somewhere else in the house.
• Anyone with no extension office within reach, since a weighted gauge takes the annual accuracy check off your calendar entirely.

Skip it if:

• You cook on induction. Aluminum will not heat there, and no amount of patience changes that.
• You want the deepest parts and support bench in the category, because that is the canner every hardware store and every forum already knows.
• You want to buy once and hand it down, with no gasket to replace ever.
• You are nervous starting out and want a needle to look at while you learn the process.

If your stove is induction or radiant glass, start with our guide to the best pressure canner for glass-top and induction. If parts and support matter more to you than price, the Presto 23-quart review is the one to read next. And if this is a buy-it-for-life purchase, the All American 921 review covers the other end of the market.

The specs that matter

Three numbers on this box actually change how you'll can. Here's what each one buys you.

22 quarts of plain aluminum: that is the pot's liquid volume, not a jar count, and it is the figure that decides whether it fits your stove and your cabinet. Aluminum heats quickly and weighs little, so an empty Mirro is easy to lift and store. It is also exactly why it will not work on induction, and why the surface discolors where stainless would stay bright.

Three regulators at 5, 10, and 15 PSI: the weight is the pressure control, not a readout. It sits on the vent and holds the canner at its rated pressure by lifting to let the excess escape, which means it cannot drift out of calibration the way a dial can. The tradeoff is that you get three fixed steps and nothing in between them.

Two cooking racks in the box: the listing specifies two, where plenty of canners at this price ship with one and sell the second separately. A second rack is what makes double-stacking pints possible in canners that support it, so check your model's manual for whether it is approved here before you plan a double layer.

How well it preserves

Start with why a pressure canner exists at all. The National Center for Home Food Preservation puts red meats, seafood, poultry, and all fresh vegetables except most tomatoes on the low-acid list, foods with a pH above 4.6, and states that all low-acid foods should be sterilized at temperatures of 240 to 250 degrees F, attainable with pressure canners operated at 10 to 15 PSIG. A boiling water bath tops out at 212 degrees at sea level and never gets there. So the only performance question for this pot is whether it reaches its rated pressure and holds it.

On the hardware, a weighted regulator is the more trustworthy of the two ways to answer that. The NCHFP's instruction for dial gauges is blunt: they should be checked for accuracy each year before use. It asks nothing of the sort of a weight, because a weight is a machined lump of metal whose mass does not drift. Canners who have used both put it more plainly than we would, and this one is talking about weighted canners in general rather than about Mirro specifically:

Gauges are a pain anyway, they need maintenance and calibration and are frequently wrong. A 2lb chunk of metal always weighs 2 lbs.

Owners who have actually lived with this pot describe the same thing. One has been canning on a 22-quart Mirro since 1980 and still prefers it to the two more expensive canners that later joined the same kitchen:

I've been pressure canning since 1980. I've got a 22 Qt Mirro ( I've used a Mirro canner since 1980). I've recently added a 23 qt Presto, and I got the 921 All American late last year. I prefer the Mirro, for it's simplicity. There are no gauges on the Mirro canner. Pressure is controlled by listening for the spurts of steam emitted through the petcock. The canner comes with weights of 5, 10, 15lbs. With this canner, you don't have to sit and watch the pressure gauge. Mirro uses a rubber gasket that needs replacement occasionally. My Mom pressure canned with the Presto canner. It's the brand is used, when I learned how to pressure can... It's very similar to the Mirro, but you have to watch the pressure gauge (dial) to make sure pressure is maintained at the desired level. Presto uses a gasket to maintain it's seal. It occasionally has to be replaced. The Presto must have it's pressure gauge checked for accuracy yearly.. The problem I have, is that during this pandemic I'm having a very difficult time sourcing gaskets for the Mirro and Presto canners. Once they need replacement you MUST change it right away, or the canner won't pressurize. For this reason, I ordered the All American, which will never need a gasket.

Where a weighted gauge does cost you something is altitude. The NCHFP's weighted-gauge tables carry exactly two elevation bands, 0 to 1,000 feet and above 1,000 feet, while the dial tables step up a pound at a time across four bands. In practice that means anyone above 1,000 feet runs the 15 pound weight, with nothing finer available. Check your elevation once with the canning altitude calculator and you'll know which weight is yours for good.

The honest problem with this canner is not whether the weight holds pressure. It is whether you can tell that it has. The NCHFP says weighted gauges are usually designed to jiggle several times a minute or to keep rocking gently when they are maintaining the correct pressure, and it tells you to read your manufacturer's directions to know how your particular gauge should behave. Mirro's directions are exactly where the trouble starts. An owner of this canner explains why it doesn't act like the Presto most people learned on:

I have one of these. As long as the gasket seals and you have the weights it's fine. If it is the new one with acorn shaped weights they spin. They don't rock like a Presto. I'll have to dig for a link to the instructions. Their book really sucks but an extension program wrote a better set for it. The older Mirromatic with the disc weight was better IMO.

That mismatch turns into real anxiety quickly. Two owners of this same weighted Mirro describe reaching what should be pressure and getting no confirmation at all:

Hey OP (or fellow Redditors) What did you gather? Did you ever get your weight to rock? I’m trying to figure out this same unit right now. No rocking. No spinning. Just hissing! I’ve pushed on the weights. I’m so sure they can’t sit any further on the vent. What do I do? Is the hissing an indicator I am up to pressure? I’m using the 15psi weight (as per my altitude) My pressure indicator pops up. But I don’t get anything like a rocking or spinning. Is it possible my stove just isn’t getting hot enough?

Hey everyone! I was gifted a Mirro pressure canner, and I’m going through the initial setup instructions and I can’t seem to get the canner to pressurize. The instructions clearly state the amount of liquid to use, to add the 15lb weight, and heat on high until the weight starts to rock. I tried leaving it on high heat for over 1.5hrs and still the weight would not rock. I do get a gentle intermittent steam sound from the weight (but zero actual movement of it), and it doesn’t seem like steam is escaping anywhere else. I know my stove isn’t the problem because it is an electric coil which the instructions say is compatible, and it can easily bring water to a rolling boil in any other circumstance. Am I missing something here? I don’t want to start canning with it until I’m sure it’s pressurizing properly obviously.

Look at what those two have in common. The pot is sealing, steam is moving through the vent, and in one case the pressure indicator has popped up. Nothing in either account suggests the canner failed to reach pressure. What failed was the signal. With low-acid food, a signal you can't read is worth the same as no signal, which is why this sits on the performance score even though the metal is very likely doing its job. Plenty of owners never run into it:

I also have the Mirror and have been using it for 5 years now and no issues whatsoever.

Built to last

The pot itself is the easy part of this story. Cast aluminum has no motor, no electronics, and nothing to burn out, and Mirro canners routinely outlive the people who bought them. One owner is still buying wear parts for a Mirro from the mid-1970s:

This site is where I get the new parts like gasket and safety fuse for my 50 year old 16qt Mirro pressure canner. They should both be replaced as needed or every 5 years. I replaced both (again) this past winter. The model number of yours should be stamped into the center of the bottom of the canner , along with a hand stamped month & year of manufacture. Mine will be fifty years old in 15 days.

That particular canner is the 16-quart sibling rather than this 22-quart, but the construction and the maintenance schedule are the same story: the aluminum lasts, and you keep the soft parts fresh.

Those soft parts are the whole risk. The lid seals on a rubber gasket, and a gasket ages on a shelf as surely as it ages in use. Experienced canners tell newcomers to replace it before the first run on any canner that has been sitting, even one still in its box:

Even brand new, you don’t know how old that seal is and they’re supposed to be replaced every so often. I would grab a new seal for sure.

That is where the Mirro's real weakness lives, and it isn't the metal. Genuine parts have been scarce for years. The 1980-vintage owner quoted earlier wrote that he could not source gaskets for either his Mirro or his Presto during the pandemic, that a canner with a dead gasket simply will not pressurize, and that he bought an All American to be finished with the problem. Weights are the other orphan part. One buyer inherited this exact model without its regulator and walked straight into a discontinued-parts wall:

New canner here! I would like to get into pressure canning. I was lifted this Mirro 22 qt. Pressure canner but it did not have the weight with it. I looked on Morro's website and it looks like the weight for this specific canner is discontinued. Am I able to use another weight? Thanks in advance for any help!

Third-party gaskets cut to the S-9882 pattern are easy enough to find now, and one is in the picks below, so the gasket half of that problem is solvable for a few dollars. A missing weight is much harder, and it's the single best reason to be careful buying one of these secondhand.

Two aging issues round out the picture, and both show up in owner photos. Aluminum stains and can pit, and the vent hardware corrodes if it is left dirty:

Check the stains inside there for any actual corrosion or pitting. You would not want any chance of the bottom bursting out under pressure.

Hello canning pros, I was given a Mirro pressure canner, unused, in the box, though the box had gotten wet at some point. I've used it twice and had great success with the things I've canned, but I have concerns about the canner itself. First, the steam that comes through the weight drips a brown-orange sludge that winds up in the weight, on the lid, and inside the canner. This only happens when the weight is on, not when steam is blowing before I put the weight on. Second, even before this, the weight never really jiggled or spun a whole lot; it mostly just rattled, so I used the rattling speed as the indicator rather than the spinning I've seen in videos.

Take the pitting warning seriously on any older aluminum canner, because the bottom of the pot is a pressure vessel. Clean the vent and the weight after every run, keep a fresh gasket in it, and this is a canner that will outlast several dial gauges. Just don't assume the parts bin will still be stocked in ten years. Owners tie the change to the brand switching hands:

This is because mirro got bought out by t-fal. the old mirros are not the same at all.

Whether or not that is the whole story, the practical advice it leads to is the same: buy your spare gasket when you see one, not when you need one.

Living with it

Day to day this is a plain pot, and the plainness is most of the appeal. Nothing to plug in, nothing to calibrate, one moving part. The best thing about a jiggler is that it turns pressure into a sound, which means you don't have to stand there watching it:

I have a mirro. It is as basic as they come because I didn't have a lot of money when I started canning and it was the cheapest I could find. It has worked wonderfully. It has a jigger not a gauge which takes some getting used to as I was used to the gauge growing up. I actually prefer it now though because I can keep check on the pressure from the other room because I can hear it. Which is handy with two small curious children. My parents had an All-American. It was nice, but tightening it all around was kind of a pain. I don't think you can really go wrong with either brand though.

The flip side is a learning curve that is steeper than it needs to be. The manual is thin and, by repeated owner accounts, unclear about the one thing a new canner most needs to know: what the weight is supposed to do. That gap is why so many first runs feel like a test you might be failing. An owner with a brand-new-in-box unit spent days chasing it:

It is brand new in box never used, the seal and the pressure valve is good. On the handle the valve popped up like it should and I had no leaks from anywhere besides the spigot for the steam. I had read that these wont rattle but spin, unfortunately the weight wasn't even sitting flat on the spigot. The spigot was my first suspect but after thorough checking it seems like the weight. I found some forums mentioning mirro cs said it may or may not spin despite the instructions stating so. They didnt really have any good info on how to guarantee pressure if it wasn't spinning so I am wary. Can I just throw water in the canner while I continue to troubleshoot or should I fill jars with water as well?

Two practical notes come out of those threads. First, at least one owner reports finding that Mirro support has told people the weight may or may not spin, which is not much of an answer when you're trying to confirm pressure on low-acid food. Second, do your first run with water only and no food at stake, and give yourself an afternoon to learn what your particular canner does at pressure.

Cleanup is easy and unglamorous. Aluminum discolors with hard water and mineral scale, which is cosmetic rather than structural, and the parts that matter are the vent passage and the weight itself. And for all the fussing, these threads usually bend the right way in the end. This is what the far side of the learning curve sounds like:

I am officially a canner!! Everyone here has been so helpful and knowledgeable, taking time out of their days to answer my questions without getting annoyed. I appreciate it so much!!! The canner was terrifying for me and I was sure I'd fail. It took a long time to get up to pressure and make the weight rock. I had no idea what I was doing. I'll do a few more runs with potatoes before I take on more advantageous recipes... 2025 it is my goal to learn food preservation and become more self sustainable. I am so excited and SO proud. I DID IT!

I have the mirro and it works lovely. Bonus points as I didn’t have to order it online and got it at my local crappy tire

How it compares

Three canners come up whenever someone is deciding whether to save money here. Here is how each one actually stacks up.

Versus the Presto 01781 23-quart: the Presto is the default in this category, and the reason is the ecosystem around it. Gaskets, sealing rings, overpressure plugs, and replacement weights are stocked nearly everywhere, and there is a support line that answers. It ships as a dial-gauge canner, so plan on the annual accuracy check unless you add a three-piece weight to it. Pay the difference if parts and support are what would keep you up at night.

Versus the T-fal 22-quart: the nearest thing this pot has to a twin. Same aluminum construction, same capacity class, three pressure settings, racks and a canning guide in the box. It's close to a coin flip on paper, and the sensible tiebreaker is whichever one you can still buy gaskets for in your area.

Versus the All American 921: the opposite end of the market. It seals metal to metal with no gasket anywhere in the pressure path, which deletes the Mirro's biggest ownership headache outright, and owners hand them down. It costs several times as much, weighs far more, and still will not work on induction. If you're weighing that jump, our Presto vs All American guide lays out the money side.

Using it well

A few habits make this canner behave. Replace the gasket before the first run on any Mirro that has been sitting, new-in-box included, and buy a spare while you can find one. Check the bottom of the pot: it should sit flat, and pitting in the aluminum is a reason to retire a unit rather than pressurize it. Let a steady stream of steam vent before the weight goes on, following the directions that came with your canner for how long. Then watch what the weight actually does on your unit the first few times, because on this model that may be a spin, a rock, or a rattle. If you get nothing at all, that's a troubleshooting problem and not something to guess your way past; don't process food until you can read the signal.

Wash the weight and the vent after every run so scale never builds up in the one passage that regulates pressure. Keep the pressure rule straight: 10 pounds up to 1,000 feet and 15 pounds above it, per the NCHFP weighted-gauge tables. Processing times and recipes come from the NCHFP, not from any blog including this one. If meat is what you bought a canner for, our guide to the best pressure canner for canning meat covers what the long low-acid schedules ask of your hardware.

The bottom line

The Mirro 22-quart earns its place as the budget weighted-gauge canner. It's light, it's simple, there's no dial to have tested, and owners who have run one for decades still prefer it to canners costing three times as much. If your stove is gas or coil and the goal is to start putting up low-acid food this season without spending more than you have to, this pot will get you there, and it will do it with three real regulator weights and two racks in the box.

What holds it back is everything around the pot. On a weighted canner the weight is the entire instrument, and too many owners can't tell what theirs is telling them, with a manual that doesn't help. Parts have been an ongoing scramble for years. Buy a spare gasket in the same order, budget an afternoon for a water-only shakedown before you can anything real, and go in expecting to learn this canner's habits rather than be taught them. Do that homework and it's a lot of canner for the money. Skip it and this is the pot that will make you doubt yourself at the worst possible moment.