Canning Chicken

Chicken is one of those things that scare even the most experienced jelly maker. It is a low-acid food, which means it needs to be processed in a pressure cooker. But with enough knowledge and a lack of freezer space, many are willing to give it a try.

Step One: Dispelling the myths of pressure cooking.

Like many of you reading, I had images in my mind of a pressurized pot blowing it's lid. This was something that happened in early models if they were not properly maintained, and where there was only one way for the steam to escape. There was also the fear of removing the lid too soon, allowing for the explosive escape of steam - and often food!

The first few times I used mine, I was paranoid - and watched it like a hawk, not even allowing the kids in the kitchen!

In newer models though, both are rare. There is a secondary steam release if pressure inside the cooker exceeds the designed amount, and there are safety features that lock the lid in place so it cannot be removed until the pressure inside is the same as outside the pot.

As with any kitchen appliance or tool, you should follow manufacturers instructions for maintenance though. I am not responsible for your lack of attention!

Step Two: Preparing the Canner

Whichever canner you have, be sure that you read through the instructions thoroughly, and make sure it is tall enough to hold a quart jar.

Get the canner on the stove with about three inches of water at a simmer. You'll need a case of quart jars, wash the jars - even if they are new, you want to wash them. Place each of the jars in the canner to heat, you want a hot hot jar to put the chicken in. My canner holds seven quart jars, but you'll probably only need five or six for the chickens.

Place the lids in hot but not boiling water to heat for about 30 seconds before using them to close the jars.

Set aside the rest of the jars for the broth and stock.

Step Three: Buying and Preparing the Chicken.

We can our chicken because we lack the freezer space to freeze it. That, and extra freezer space costs money that we are not willing to spend. When whole chickens are on sale, usually under $1 per pound, we buy a few. It's cheaper and tastes better to spend $20 on a case of jars and three sale-priced chickens than it is to buy the same amount of chicken, stock, and freezer space. Plus, you get to control what goes into it.

Yes, I said stock.

In preparing the chickens for canning, you'll need to separate out the legs, thighs, breasts, wings and backs. The backs and gizards go into the stock pot along with water, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Cook that down for a couple of hours. This can make about 3 quarts of stock, then you can take the same parts, pour a little more water over them and cook them for a while, and get a nice chicken broth, about 3 quarts of that.

Back to preparing the chickens though. Separate the legs and thighs from the body, then the wings and little drumsticks attached. The wings and little drumsticks can go into a zipper bag with some buffalo wing sauce to marinate until the next day for some yummy buffalo wings.

Place the legs, thighs and breasts into jars, leaving 1 inch between the top of the chicken and the top of the jar. Pour hot water over each of the jars, the water will filter down and fill spaces, you still need to leave an inch of head space. Using a thin, non-metallic item, slide it down between the jar and the chicken to remove any air bubbles, and pour more water in if needed to keep the one inch of space at the top of the jar.

Wipe the top and threads of each jar, place the lids and screw down the rings to finger-tight. This is kind of a balancing act, because too tight and the air cannot escape, too loose and you'll lose half the moisture out of the chicken.

Bring the canner to a boil, and check to see that there is still enough water in it. You'll need two to three inches. Place the filled jars in the canner, if there is an empty one, there's no reason to leave it in there. Place the lid on the canner, and lock it in place. Follow your canner's instructions to pressurize.

Process the chickens for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure at sea level. You canner will have instructions for processing at altitude, so read it! After the processing time is done, turn off the heat but do not attempt to open the canner, or even remove the weight until it has cooled. If you remove the weight too early, the pressure escapes from the canner, and most likely you'll unseal every jar in there if they don't crack first.

Step Four: Preparing the Chicken Stock.

While the chicken jars are processing, your stock is boiling away - taste it as it goes, but do not over salt it - the stock will condense a little as it cooks, concentrating the flavors. We also add poultry seasoning to the mix because it tastes good! The great part about this is that you are getting the absolute most out of your food dollar, and you know exactly what is in your food.

By the time the chicken is done processing and the canner can be safely opened, your stock is probably ready. Strain out the parts, you don't have to be super duper OCD about this, it doesn't have to be sparkling clear. At this point you have a choice: you can cool the broth enough to skim off the fat, or you can can it with the fat. I leave it in there, because well, fat is flavor - but you can skim it off if you want.

Clean out the canner and put fresh water in there to simmer with clean jars. 

If you want to stretch the chickens a little further, put the parts back in the stock pot and pour more water over them. Season it up a little more, and boil for about an hour. You'll get a nice chicken broth out of this that isn't as condensed a flavor as the stock is.  Strain this off and put in the jars while it's boiling hot. Again, heat the lids and wipe off the rim and threads of the jars, screw down the rings finger-tight.

Heat the stock back to boiling, and pour it into jars. Lid those and place everything in the canner. You should have about five-six quarts between the broth and the stock.

Follow your canner's instructions for pressurizing and process these for 25 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.

Check all of your jars for a good seal after they have cooled, if something didn't seal, just put it in the fridge and use it first!

All of the instructions for canning times and pressure come from the Ball Blue Book of canning, I have just added a couple choices for stretching your food dollar. The more you can get from each item, the less you spend in the long run.