Canning Chicken

Canning Chicken can seem daunting, but I promise it is not. You can do both bone in and boneless. I personally prefer boneless. I also like to do whole breasts, cubed, and shredded to have a variety in my pantry.

*this also works for duck, goose, turkey, and other game birds*

There are 2 process that you can do, raw pack or hot pack. To do both you will need a pressure canner, jars and their lids. As a general rule you can fit approximately 1 pound of chicken per a pint jar. To prepare the jars and canner, wash both out thoroughly. To keep the jars hot they can be put in the oven on a cookie sheet to stay warm. Put the lids in hot water to keep them warm as well. To prepare the canner, wash it and add 2 qts of water and a tablespoon of vinegar. Heat the water if doing the hot pack method.

Raw Pack:
Pack the meat into hot jars. Ladle hot water or broth over the meat. Leave a 1-inch head space. Remove any air bubbles, clean the top, and adjust the lids. Place the jars in the canner, use a rack if necessary. Put the lid on and start building the pressure. The pressure gage will have a consistent giggle when it is up to full pressure. Once this is reached, let it stand for 10 minutes. Lower the heat a little as to not put to much pressure and then let it process. They will need to process for 75 minutes. at 10 lbs of pressure for pint size jars. For quart size jars they need to process for 90 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure. Let it cool for at least 45 minutes before removing the lid of the canner. Place the jars on a towel to finish cooling. If the lids do not seal you have 24 hours to repeat the process to see if they will seal that time.

Hot Pack:
Prepare your chicken by, boiling, steaming, baking, or shredding it. The chicken should be about to 2/3 done. Pack meat into hot jars, ladle in hot water or broth leaving an inch of head space. Remove the air bubbles, clean the tops, and adjusts the lids. Place the jars in the canner, use a rack if necessary. Put the lid on and start building the pressure. The pressure gage will have a consistent giggle when it is up to full pressure. Once this is reached, let it stand for 10 minutes. Lower the heat a little as to not put to much pressure and then let it process. They will need to process for 75 minutes. at 10 lbs of pressure for pint size jars. For quart size jars they need to process for 90 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure. Let it cool for at least 45 minutes before removing the lid of the canner. Place the jars on a towel to finish cooling. If the lids do not seal you have 24 hours to repeat the process to see if they will seal that time.