Bottled Chicken

1. Fill pint jars with chicken. If you are using *raw chicken, cut it into sizes that are easy to fill bottles. If you are using **cooked chicken, cut it into easy to manage pieces.

2. Fill the jars with a ½ inch space at the top.

3. Put ½ teaspoon of salt, and a ¼ teaspoon of granulated garlic (for quarts – 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon garlic) on the top of the chicken in each pint. (I prefer to use pints when bottling meats)

4. If necessary, fill with a little hot water or broth and use a wooden utensil to make sure that all the trapped air pockets are filled.

5. Wipe the bottle rims and put on ***lids and rings. Hand tighten the rings, but don’t over tighten.

6. Place jars on the canning rack in the ****pressure canner with the water going about halfway up on the bottle.

7. Close the canner and turn the heat on high and listen for the air to escape out of the vent.

8. Once the air starts to come out, time it for 10 minutes and then put the weight over the vent to help continue to build pressure.    

9. Depending on your elevation, you will either let the dial go to 11 pounds (altitudes 0-2000 ft), or 12 pounds (altitudes of 2,001 to 4,000 ft.).

10. Once it has reached the correct pressure, process pints for 75 minutes (quarts for 90 minutes).

11. Turn the heat off and let the pressure release slowly by itself.

12. Once the gauge registers 0, release the lid being careful not to burn yourself with the steam or the water dripping off of the lid.

13. Using a bottle lifter, carefully remove bottles from the canner and place on a towel on the counter to cool down. Don’t touch them until the next day.

14. After they have rested overnight, wash them with soap and water to remove residual broth and remove the ring.

15. Label item and date on the lid (don’t put cute tags on the glass because they are too hard to remove) and store in your pantry.

*If  you are bottling chicken breasts, it isn’t necessary to cut it up. Just place raw meat directly into the jar until full. The only time I pre-cook the chick is when it is on the bone (e.g., legs, thighs, and stripped bones where the breast has been removed) because it makes it easier to remove the meat with less waste. Some people bottle the legs and thighs with the bone, but I don’t like the bones taking up space.

**If you cook the meat beforehand, don’t throw away the broth. Bottle it separately for soups.

***Follow the directions on the lid boxes

****Anytime you are canning anything with meat, it needs to be pressure canned.