Presto 23-Quart Pressure Canner Reviews: Our Honest Verdict

The short version

If you want the verdict before the detail, here's where the Presto 23-quart lands after reading a few hundred owner comments. It's the sensible, affordable way into pressure canning, with one axis you should go in clear-eyed about.

What's good:

• Cheap for what it does, and it does everything a home canner needs: low-acid vegetables, meat, beans, broth, plus water bathing and pressure cooking.
• Big capacity in a light package. Seven quarts in a layer, double-decked pints, yet it only needs about three quarts of water so it never gets as heavy as it looks.
• The single most-owned canner in the hobby, so every recipe, question, and troubleshooting thread already assumes you have one.
• Approachable to learn on, and simple to keep going with cheap replacement parts you can order yourself.

What's not:

• It's thin aluminum, so too much heat or a fast temperature swing can warp the base, and a warped base is a real problem on a canner.
• The rubber sealing ring and overpressure plug are wear parts that harden and need replacing, and the dial gauge should be tested for accuracy every year.
• The all-aluminum 01781 will not work on an induction cooktop at all; that's a different model.
• The 15-inch-wide footprint is too big for some small stoves and tight kitchens, and it needs a burner that can actually push it to pressure.

Who it's for

The Presto 23-quart fits a specific buyer almost perfectly and frustrates a different one. Sort yourself before you buy.

Buy it for:

• A first pressure canner, where a huge community and a low price matter more than a lifetime guarantee. This is the one everyone learns on.
• Quart-jar batches of soup, stock, beans, and meat, or double-decked pints when you want the most jars per run.
• A gas or standard electric coil stove with a burner big enough to bring a loaded canner up to pressure.

Skip it if:

• You cook on induction. The aluminum 01781 won't heat on it at all; get the stainless-clad Presto 01784 induction model instead.
• You want a buy-it-for-life canner with no gasket to replace. An All American seals metal-to-metal and outlasts everything, for a lot more money and weight.
• Your stove is small or your kitchen is tight. The 16-quart Presto still holds seven quarts in a layer and fits burners the 23-quart overwhelms.

The specs that matter

Numbers only help if you know what they buy you. Here's what the Presto 23-quart's spec sheet actually means at the counter:

23-quart capacity, about 15 inches wide: seven quart jars in a single layer in either the 16 or the 23, but only the taller 23 lets you double-deck a second row of pints with an extra rack. That is the whole reason to size up, and it is the difference owners point to again and again.

Aluminum body, roughly three quarts of water per canning load: the thin aluminum is why it heats fast, stays light, and costs little, and also why it can warp if you overheat it. Because pressure canning only asks for a few inches of water, a full run never weighs as much as the size suggests.

Dial gauge, weighted regulator, and a rubber sealing ring: the gauge tells you the exact pressure and should be accuracy-tested every year, the weighted regulator rocks or jiggles to vent, and the sealing ring plus overpressure plug are cheap rubber wear parts you replace when they harden. None of that is a flaw, but it is maintenance you own.

How well it preserves

As a preserving tool, the Presto 23-quart does the core job without drama, which is exactly why it became the default. It reaches and holds canning pressure on any adequate burner, water baths high-acid foods with the vent left open and the weighted regulator off so no pressure builds, and pressure cooks the rest of the year. Owners who came to it from a canner that was too big for their stove describe it as the machine that finally made canning practical at home.

I don't know what to tell you other than if a smaller canner will fit on you stove that is what I would do. You mentioned you have an 1800 Watt vs my 1300 Watt, so that will speed things up a bit. I bought the 23 quart Presto after being given an All American 941 because that one was just too big for my stove and using it took way too long and became frustrating.

Capacity is where it genuinely shines against the smaller 16-quart. Both hold seven quarts in the bottom layer, but the taller 23 lets you stack a second row of pints, so a single run finishes far more jars. Two owners who have both sizes land in the same place on which to reach for:

I have both. Some days I have huge batches and take a whole day, so having the larger one (or 2) is easier. Other days I only have enough to do a few pints, so I use the 16. To me, if I only had one. I would choose the large for more options and less canning times.

I like the 23 qt one. I do a lot of pints and can fit 20 regular mouth in there at once! You’ll get 7 quarts out of either.

The detailed breakdown of what actually fits is the kind of thing you only get from owners, and it maps the real jar counts better than any spec sheet:

I have them both. I call them Mario and Luigi. One is shorter. The other is taller. They’re the same width around. Here’s some notes: If you are water bath canning, you cannot double stack jars. If you are pressure canning, you can double stack jars if you have a second rack. They both hold 7qt or 10pt in the bottom row. If he is holding pints on the bottom, Luigi can hold a second row of pints. ONLY if pressure canning! Neither one is tall enough to hold two rows of quarts. That’s it. That’s the difference.

Even for a one-person kitchen, experienced canners tend to nudge beginners toward the 23 over the 16 for the flexibility of that second pint row, since the footprint and price barely change:

I’d recommend getting the 23 qt. Same diameter, just taller, but you half the option to stack pint size jars. Even if your aren’t doing a full canner, it’s nice if you have one extra jar that won’t fit on the bottom

The honest limit here is heat, not the canner. A too-small or too-weak burner can struggle to bring a loaded 23-quart up to pressure and hold it, which is a stove problem the Presto inherits rather than causes. On the flip side, you do not need a perfectly even burner the way you would for a saute pan, because the steam does the work:

Yes. The steam will allow heat transfer correctly. This isn’t like a sauté pan where you need the bottom to heat exactly even.

Built to last

This is the axis to go in with eyes open, and it's why the durability number below sits lower than the others. When a Presto lives a careful life, it lives a long one: owners routinely report units still sealing and holding pressure after four, five, or many more years, with tight handles and a flat base.

I have had 3 Presto canners, 2 reg & 1 induction, and none had either issue. The handles on mine are perfectly tight and I've had it for 4 or 5 years now. Mine is perfectly flat on the bottom.

The catch is the material. It's thin aluminum, and thin aluminum warps under too much heat or a fast temperature swing, which turns a cheap pot into a canner that no longer seats flat. The people who warn about it most are the ones who have done it:

I believe the pictured canner is a Model 01781, all aluminum. The one I linked to has a stainless steel base. I would guess the stainless steel base won't warp if it gets too hot. The all aluminum will warp. I know that from experience.

That failure mode is almost always about heat source, not luck. An oversized propane or turkey-fryer burner is the classic way to cook a base out of shape, and experienced outdoor canners route new buyers away from it deliberately:

I can in my garage, and I use a propane burner like used in camping, just get one that’s within the range of the canner, some of the portable turkey fryer burners put out too much heat and could warp the canner.

The other durability truth is that this is a canner with consumable parts. The rubber sealing ring and the overpressure plug harden with age and heat and are meant to be replaced, and the dial gauge should be tested for accuracy every year at a county extension office so you know the number you're reading is real. None of that is a defect, but it is upkeep an All American with its metal-to-metal seal doesn't ask for. Treat the gasket and gauge as maintenance items, keep the heat reasonable, and one of these will run for a very long time. Push it too hard on the wrong burner and it will not.

Living with it

Day to day, the Presto 23-quart is easy to live with, and this is where its high ease-of-use score comes from. It's light for its size because pressure canning only needs a few inches of water, so a full load never weighs what the dimensions imply. It heats quickly, the controls are just a burner and a regulator, and cleanup is a plain aluminum pot. For most people it works fine on a standard stove with no special setup at all:

I have the regular 23 qt presto canner/"cooker and it works just fine on a stove top. What's the draw of an induction canner?

It also plays nicer with glass-top stoves than its size suggests, because the part that actually touches the burner is far smaller than the widest point of the pot. Glass-top owners run it regularly, with one sensible habit:

I have 9" burners on my glass top stove and I use my Presto 23 qt canner on it. While the diameter of the canner is 15", the part that comes in contact with the stove top is smaller. There is like a "foot" for want of a better word on the bottom of the canner.

That habit is worth spelling out, since it's the one real risk of a heavy canner on glass: never drag it. Lift it clear when you move it so you don't scratch or crack the surface:

We used to can on our glass cooktop, similar sizes. Worked fine. Just don't slide your full canner across your cooktop, pick it up slightly if you have to move it.

The gripes here are about fit, not fuss. The 15-inch footprint is genuinely too big for some compact stoves, and a burner that can't push it to pressure makes for a slow, frustrating run. Buyers with small stoves regularly do the math and step down to the 16-quart, which still handles seven quarts in a layer:

I decided on the 16 quart presto….it is not inductive, but will fit my stove. Thank you so very much!

How it compares

The Presto 23-quart doesn't exist in a vacuum, and three units come up most when people cross-shop it. Here's how it stacks up against each.

Versus the Presto Precise 23-Quart Digital: the Precise is the hands-off, automated version of the same idea. It regulates pressure and processing electronically and walks you through a run, which takes the guesswork out for nervous beginners. You pay a lot more for that automation, and it plugs in rather than sitting on your existing burner, but it removes the venting-and-gauge learning curve.

Versus the Presto 01784 Induction-Compatible 23-Quart: this is the near-twin to buy if you cook on induction. It's the same capacity and layout with a stainless-clad magnetic base, so it heats on an induction cooktop where the all-aluminum 01781 simply won't. On a gas or coil stove there's little reason to pay the small premium; on induction it's the only one of the two that works.

Versus the T-fal 22-Quart: the T-fal is the cheaper aluminum alternative, similar in size and spirit, with multiple pressure settings and its own included racks and guide. It's the budget cross-shop when the Presto is out of stock or over budget, though the Presto's giant community and parts availability are a real edge when you have a question at 10pm mid-batch.

Using it well

Get the most out of a Presto 23-quart with a few habits. Bring it up to pressure slowly on a burner sized close to the base, not a roaring oversized one, since fast, extreme heat is what warps aluminum. Let it vent steam in a steady column for the full ten minutes before the weighted regulator goes on, so trapped air doesn't throw off your pressure. Have the dial gauge accuracy-tested at a county extension office once a year, keep a spare sealing ring and overpressure plug on hand, and never slide the loaded pot across a glass cooktop. Always follow a tested recipe from a source like the National Center for Home Food Preservation for processing times and pressures; the canner is only as safe as the recipe you run in it.

If you're deciding between stove types before you buy, it's worth reading how burner and cooktop choices play out first. Our guide to the best pressure canner for a glass-top or induction stove walks through why glass-top and induction are two different problems, and where the aluminum Presto fits and where it doesn't.

The bottom line

The Presto 01781 23-quart is an easy recommendation for what most people actually want from a first canner: an affordable, light, capable pot that cans low-acid vegetables, meat, beans, and broth, water baths when you need it, and comes wrapped in the biggest support community in the hobby. Ease of use and value are its real strengths, and the low price of entry buys a genuinely versatile canner that gets people preserving instead of shopping.

The one thing keeping this from a straight rave is durability, and it's a real thing, not a nitpick. It's thin aluminum with a rubber gasket and a dial gauge, so it rewards a gentle burner and a little upkeep and punishes overheating. Do the small maintenance, match it to an adequate stove, and skip it entirely if you cook on induction, and the Presto 23-quart earns its place as the canner most people should start with, and many will never need to replace.