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Skinless Boneless Chicken
Lots of folks were hit by the power outage this summer across the North-Eastern part of the US. Not only were thousands of freezers full of meat ($$$$$) lost when the contents thawed out and people had no way to cook them, but residents realized that they needed foods that did not have to be cooked from scratch for future emergency situations. Many people realized just how fragile the power grid really is.
Instead of buying the little tin cans full of various chopped up chicken parts at the grocery store, consider canning your own chicken. You won’t believe how easy it is! Furthermore, if you are like me and source your meats carefully, you will be assured that you have put aside chicken that is hormone free, organically fed and humanely raised. This is also a great way to make the most of chicken that you picked up on sale at the grocery store!
Raw-packing skinless boneless chicken results in a delicious tender poached chicken that is delicious cut up into chicken salads or shredded and seasoned to be used in enchiladas or other chicken-containing recipes.
For the sake of versatility, this recipe contains only very mild seasoning.
Each 1 quart jar will hold approximately 3 average sized chicken breasts or 6 chicken thighs. The following recipe is per jar– multiply the ingredients as needed.
Ingredients
· 3 skinless boneless chicken breasts or 6 skinless boneless thighs
· 1 clove of crushed garlic
· 1/2 tsp of sea salt
· 1/2 tsp of black pepper
· Water as needed
Directions
1. Place one clove of garlic in the bottom of each sanitized quart jar.
2. Add raw chicken pieces to the jar, pushing them down to pack tightly.
3. Add salt and pepper, and then top up the jar with water, allowing 1 inch of headspace.
4. IMPORTANT: Skipping this step may cause your jars not to seal. Carefully slide a table knife or other narrow utensil down the interior sides of the jars, removing air pockets.
5. Wipe the lip of the jars with a cloth or paper towel that has been dipped in white vinegar. This gets rid of any fat that may be lingering on the lip of the jar – skipping this step can cause your jars not to seal.
Lid the jars and process in a pressure canner for an hour and a half at 10 pounds of pressure, adjusting for altitude.
You can see in the picture above that the chicken is still boiling. I’ve noticed that the jars tend to continue boiling on the counter for about an hour if they are going to seal. If they stop boiling right away, 9 times out of 10, the seal is faulty. That is because the lack of seal causes the ingredients too cool faster.
Your end result is tender poached chicken and a light broth that is great for cooking rice or quinoa in!
Thanks so much for this simple recipe! I only started canning last year, and have been wanting to can chicken for awhile now, and just so happen to have three boneless breasts in the fridge right now, and a pressure canner I’m getting ready to fire up.
YAY for pressure canning and the whole new world it opens up for preservation! I canned bone-in duck meat (legs and breast) last summer from our older layers, but haven’t tried it yet. I love the idea that the pressure cooking should tenderize tougher meats, and I love non-grid-tied storage.I’d love to see a “Coq o Vin” pressure canning recipe!
i am new to all this (i have been a avid dehydrator for years but not canning)
what about canning cooked chicken?
as an example i usually have frozen (inexpensive) whole chicken that i cook down into a (boneless) chicken stew with rice and /or potatoes
would this can?
Kirsten ~ You can absolutely can pre-cooked chicken. I often can leftover turkey or chicken in broth because it’s a great way to save the leftovers. You can add some firmer veggies, like carrots or potatoes, with good results, but don’t add the flour to thicken it until time to serve – it really doesn’t can well. Also, please note that rice and pasta tend to turn into mush when canned, and they soak up a good deal of the broth sitting there in their mushy glory. I add those at serving time as well.
Here’s a link to Chicken Needs Noodles soup – you can easily substitute turkey for chicken if that’s what you have on hand.
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/chicken-needs-noodles-soup-01182013
Please feel free to ask if you have any other questions. I’m delighted to help. 🙂
Happy Canning!
~ Daisy
I am just getting into canning and after reading definitely want to include meats with the process.
What is the shelf life of canned chicken (or any canned meats)? Are we looking at months or years?
Steve – The shelf-life for any home-canned item is approximately 1 year. The higher the level of fat in the item, the shorter the shelf life is. 🙂
Daisy