How to Can Chicken

Canning chicken is what got me interested in canning initially. It's really quite easy. Watch my video below to see just how simple it is.

I bought 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon Foods for $1.61/lb. and spent the following two days canning all of it. My canner can process about 9 pint jars for each batch, which is roughly 9 pounds of chicken. For each batch it took about 20 minutes to cut the fat off the chicken and cut it into cubes. Then it probably took another 20 minutes to get it into the jars, put the lids on, and load the jars into the canner. By the time the canner was hot enough to start the processing time I had put in about an hour of work. I processed 4 batches (the last batch was quart jars), so it took about 4 hours of work to get it all done. Not too shabby! Now I don't have to handle raw chicken, thaw frozen chicken, cook chicken, or cut chicken for the next several months! I would say that was 4 hours well spent. Once the chicken is processed it lasts on the shelf for over a year so it's a great idea for your food storage!

Sometimes I get asked what you can use canned chicken for. My response is that you can use it for anything to which you add chicken! It's great on salads, in casseroles, in soups, in anything you cook in the crockpot, and in any other recipe that calls for chicken. I do keep a few pounds of frozen chicken in my freezer for the occasional marinated chicken breast or grilled chicken breast on the BBQ, but for the most part, we use canned chicken for our meals. We love how quick and easy it is to just open a can and have ready-to-eat meat! No more trimming, freezing, thawing, cooking, or cutting! All the work has already been done.

For information about canning ground meat read my post here. For more information about the gear you need to get started canning see my post here.  Let me know if you have any questions!