Home Canned Rosemary Chicken is a great gourmet addition to any food storage. Save time and money with this delicious chicken recipe. No thawing required.

I love canning! Even more than canning, I love to reap the reward of home canned food.  When I say “reward” I mean having delicious, nutrient-rich, clean food to enjoy when I’m in a pinch (or in the expensive offseason) and can’t go with fresh.  There’s an added freshness and appreciation that comes from home-canned food, whether it’s rosemary chicken like this, garden fresh canned green beans, or other fresh fruits and vegetables.  It really does make life easier when I can grab a jar of precooked chicken and add it to a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup or shred it for sandwiches. Save time with this canned chicken because there’s no need to run to the store or thaw frozen chicken when I have a jar of this rosemary chicken around.

A few awesome things about home canning:

• The foods you put up usually have fewer preservatives than store bought
• You know exactly what in it (no weird ingredients here especially the ones I can’t pronounce!)
• You typically use glass jars that are washed and reused for next time (Yay! Saving earth one reusable jar at a time.)

To me, this means I can feed my family more clean foods, save the planet one jar at a time, AND save some moolah.  All three of those things are awesome in my book!  😉 My favorite things to can are the items I can find for cheap or free.  This last year, I was able to can fresh green beans, pickled beets, amazing bread & butter pickles, tomato spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, 5-minute blender basil pesto, strawberry jam, and salsa all out of produce from my garden.  I was able to get my hands on peaches and pears for free from my grandpa too. YUM! Yes, canning is a bit time consuming on the day you do it but the time and money you can save by preparing ahead makes it worth it. For us, meats and proteins are usually one of the bigger expenses when it comes to grocery shopping. When I find chicken breast for a really good deal ($1.69 per pound or less), I like to purchase a large amount then freeze or can it. This helps me stretch my grocery budget and save money throughout the year.  Always a good thing, right? I love freezing whole chicken breasts in freezer bags and pulling one out as needed, but I still have to thaw it.  That’s one more reason why canned chicken is so awesome–no thawing required. This last year, when I was on a pressure canning high, pressure canning everything in sight 😉 , I decided to try my hand at canning chicken.  When I found boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.59 a pound, it was time.  I picked up about 20 pounds and canned it.  I was so pleased with my first batch of plain chicken, I decided to try a variation, Rosemary Chicken.  It turned out fabulous.  So here I am sharing my success with you. This rosemary chicken has a hint of rosemary which is perfect in soups, chicken salad, and chicken sandwiches.  I’m sure there are so many other ways to use this chicken but these are a few recipes we’ve tried it in: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi Soup, and this creamy Crockpot Ranch Chicken and Veggies. Canning this chicken was actually very simple.  I only used 3 ingredients… chicken breast, fresh rosemary sprigs, and salt.  That’s it!  Don’t you love how clean that is?!

Where to Start…

I used pint size jars for my chicken.  A pint-size jar holds about a pound of chicken.  Before filling the jars, make sure to sterilize them via a dishwasher or hot, hot water. To fill the jars, I cut a 2 to 3-inch long piece of rosemary and stuck it in the bottom of each jar.  Then I cut the chicken into about 2-inch thick pieces.  You can go as big as you want.  I chose this size so I could remove the chicken while still keeping it whole.  I filled them to about 1 1/2-inches from the top then added the salt and another small sprig of rosemary. There’s no need to add any liquid to the jars.  Actually, DON’T add any liquid.  As the chicken cooks the natural juices will release, and the chicken will make its own broth.  How cool is that?!  Run your finger around the rim of the jar to ensure there are no chips or cracks.  Make sure to wipe each rim with a wet washcloth to ensure a strong, clean seal. Next, add a sealing lid and ring to each jar.  Now, the jars are ready for the pressure canner. Eek!  I always get a little nervous and excited when I use my pressure canner.  It’s still a little new to me, but I love knowing that I am building my food storage. Now it’s time to pressure can these babies.  I won’t lie… up until a couple years ago, pressure canning freaked me out.  The thought of a metal pot full of hot water and jars under pressure… yikes, BUT I’m here to say, my pressure canner has become one of my favorite summer/fall kitchen tools.  It’s saved me so much money because I can preserve my home-grown fruits and veggies or meats I get for a low price.  With that said, make sure you read the instructions to your pressure canner before using.  It’s always better to be safe. 🙂 The amount of pressure needed to cook the chicken will vary depending on where you’re located.  I live in Utah at about 5500 feet above sea level so I needed to keep my pressure canner at or above 13 lbs.  Also, the process time varies depending on the size of jar you’re using (typically pint or quart).  I made my rosemary chicken in pint size jars so the process time was 75 minutes.  If I had canned the chicken in quart size jars, I would need to process for 90 minutes. Remember the processing time doesn’t start until the pressure cooker reads the right poundage (for me, that was 13 lbs). Once they were done processing, I let the pressure canner cool completely.  Make sure you allow yours to cool properly.  The last thing you want is a pressure canning disaster that leaves you or someone else injured or burned. You’ve got this! You’re going to be a pressure-canning pro before you know it! 😉 Once cooled, I opened the pressure canner.  I used canning tongs to lift and remove the hot jars, then set them on a cooling rack.  You could also use a towel.  As they cooled, I could hear the lids make clicking pops as they sealed.  It’s the best sound ever when it comes to canning.  I like to call it the sweet sound of success.  To confirm the lids were sealed, I examined each lid after 12 hours.  When the lids seal, they become concave.  All of my jars sealed within the first couple hours of cooling.  If you have a jar or two that don’t seal, store them in the fridge and enjoy within a week or so. As hard as that may have seemed, it’s NOT!  It is so worth the time now for the convenience later.  Trust me!  As for the added rosemary in this chicken… it’s the BOMB!  It makes this chicken taste “gourmet,” if you could call canned chicken such a thing. I found in my research, some say home canned chicken will store for 3+ years as long as the lids have sealed correctly.  After that, it may begin to lose flavor and nutritional value.

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What else have you canned?

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