Canned chicken broth is a healthy middle between bone broth and chicken stock, loaded with chicken bones, vegetables, and enough water to make a nutritious broth; this liquid gold is a staple at our house! It’s safe and almost entirely hands-off! Chicken broth canned is the way to go when making it from scratch; cook a big batch, store it on the shelf, and pull out as many jars as you need to make soup, rice, or a delicious gravy!
Canning homemade chicken broth is so easy! It takes a few extra steps, but it will be so rewarding later! If you enjoy canning, you will love this pantry staple. Learn how to make and can chicken broth from scratch with my easy guide and step-by-step tutorial. I’ve been canning chicken bone broth since we started processing our meat, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in gut health!
Chicken Broth vs Chicken Stock
The broth is a savory liquid made from meat and vegetables that is restorative and known to be very healing. You can eat it plain or make many different soups by adding other ingredients. That being said, broth and stock are used interchangeably among cooks, in my opinion they’re basically the same thing and can differ by how long you cook it. They say the stock is cooked longer along with bone broth, but it’s really up to you how long you want to let the broth simmer and how many bones you want to add, you’re the cook!
Watch How To Make Canned Chicken Broth:
Homemade Broth for Canning:
Homemade chicken broth is rich in nutrients, gives soup lots of good flavor, and leaves your belly feeling good! The hard outside of the bones contains minerals that help your body build strong bones and teeth. Inside the bones is a soft fat called marrow. Marrow is so good for your brain and organs, and the rubber joints on bones are made of Gelatine, which helps your body digest and absorb more nutrients from your food.
Canning chicken bone broth is the best way to stretch this nutrient-dense food, so throw some bones in a pot with water and make bone broth. The canning part is mostly hand-off, and you’ll see why (thanks to this electric pressure canner)! So keep the skins on, and reserve any part of the chicken, including the feet, for a good-quality broth.
My daughter loves to drink chicken broth when feeling down with something; it’s easy to drink and very soothing. There is a reason it is said “chicken soup is like Jewish penicillin”, and it’s true the restoring qualities in chicken soup can be very comforting. So, if I have a chance, I’ll use it as a base for my Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Borscht with Canned Meat, and any recipes calling for broth. Canning chicken broth is a convenient food; you can always flavor it with chicken base powder (bouillon) or spices. Use the liquid in just about any cooking, and knowing it is good for you is very satisfying!
Where Can I Buy Bones for Broth?
Any chicken bones or bone-in cuts of chicken will work. My friend likes to use a pack of chicken drumsticks. However, we use the carcass of chickens that we process ourselves. A Carcass is the bones left of a chicken after deboning the primary cuts. Using homegrown chicken or chicken bones from pasture-raised chickens for nutrient-dense broth is best. You can buy chicken frames for bone broth at Azure Standard, and if you’re particular about how the chickens are raised, you can opt for these chicken bones, pasture-raised and fed with NO corn or soy.
Main Ingredients:
- Bones and scraps from chicken- I used about 15 pounds of chicken bones for this recipe. If you want to scale this recipe down to one portion start with 3-4 pounds of chicken bones.
- Filtered Water
- White Distilled Vinegar- to help the bones dissolve better.
- Vegetables- like onion, carrots, and celery are the most basic stock ingredients.
- Herbs and Spices- like fresh parsley, salt, and bay leaves. You can add peppercorns if you wish but I dislike picking them out from the meat so, I prefer to add freshly ground pepper to recipes instead.
Storing Chicken Broth:
Canned chicken broth will last good over a year and more. If it properly sealed after pressure canning it will be shelf stable for a long time. Once opening, use the chicken broth within 5-7 days and keep it stored in the refrigerator.
What to Do with The Meat Off the Bones?
Don’t throw away any flesh or bits of meat off the bones! I was able to pressure can 4 quarts packed with meat after making this roaster amount of broth. My Ball blue book says to to pack off-the-bone poultry into hot ball jars, leaving a 1-inch headspace. Reheat any broth to boiling (you can use boiling water) and pour over chicken leaving 1-inch head space. Adjust caps and process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at 10 pounds pressure.
Handy Tips for Making Chicken Bone Broth:
- A little vinegar is added to the water to help the bones dissolve better.
- Did you know you can make broth from leftover baked chicken bones? Yep, don’t throw that carcass away when you’re done eating rotisserie chicken you can throw it in a pot with water and make broth! If the bones were first baked in an oven it will make a darker coloured broth.
- Its key to simmer this low and slow, the longer you cook broth the more nutrient dense and flavourful it will be! Remember it’s the bones that will give you the best flavor, so use more bones than meat.
- You’ll know broth cooked long enough when it thickens after refrigeration or until the bones can easily break after cooking.
- Skim off any foam or impurities that rise to the top and discard. This makes a clearer broth.
- Add the vegetables after the bones come to a boil. I noticed a clear and much more vibrant color broth when doing that first.
- A slow cooked method like using a roaster or slow cooker creates consistent results, as the broth is richer in color when it’s not stirred or vigorously boiled.
- Scale down the recipe to fit into an instant pot, regular pot over the stove-top, or slow cooker. Smaller batches don’t require canning as you can store it in the fridge or freezer and use throughout the week.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve to extract as much liquid as possible from the cooked vegetables.
- Discard the solids (compost for our chickens) and de-bone any meat pieces for later use in recipes.
Q&A
Need to Adjust for High Altitude Canning?
For pressure canning chicken broth, please check out this High-Altitude Pressure Canning Guide to adjust pressure pounds as indicated.
Can I Use Chicken Broth instead of Beef Broth?
Yes, you can, however, you’ll need to flavor the broth with beef bouillon cubes to achieve that beefy flavor.
Can You Freeze Chicken Broth?
Yes, if canning chicken broth doesn’t work for you, you can freeze them in canning jars (if you leave a good 2-inch headspace), into leftover yogurt containers or freezer bags. Always cool broth before freezing and never add hot water to frozen jars, your jars can burst!
How Long To Pressure Can Chicken Broth?
I have been pressure canning chicken broth for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure since I began canning broth. It’s works every time and I rarely get jars that don’t seal. My Mennonite friend has been my guide to canning homemade chicken broth, she has a lot of knowledge on canning.
Can I Use an Instant Pot for Pressure Canning?
I love to use my 6-quart Instant pot for pressure canning especially pint jars (since more fit). Incase you’re wondering about the logistics here, I’ll explain. So, a regular Presto pressure canner reaches 240°F at 10 pounds pressure, whereas the Instant pot pressure canner reaches 243°F at 11.5 psi (Instant Pot’s high pressure setting). If you are uncertain you can buy an electric pressure canner that does the same job. One that I like to use is the Nesco 9.5 quart canner which fits 4 quarts at a time. Electric pressure canners are awesome that you don’t have to baby sit or control the temperature!
How Do I Scale Down the Recipe to Get One Portion?
A good rule of thumb for making one batch of bone broth is to use the scraps from one whole chicken, about 3 litres water, 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar, 1/2 onion, 1-2 stalks of celery, 2 small carrots, several sprigs of fresh parsley, 6-8 cloves of garlic, 1 Tbsp of salt, and 1 bay leaf. I scaled this amount up to 4 times to fit into a big 22 quart roaster.
How To Can Chicken Broth:
Using a big roaster makes cooking broth so easy and its pretty much hands-off but consistent cooking the entire time! I’ll prep all the ingredients in the evening and set this on low all night to wake up to perfectly done broth!
Then I’ll can all the liquid the next morning and pack any jars with leftover meat pieces, to have on hand for Chicken Pot Pie Casserole, pulled BBQ sandwiches, gravies, and soups! Did I tell you about my electric pressure canner? Total game-changer, no more babysitting the stove! Now you don’t really have an excuse to not make chicken broth!
- Put the chicken bones in a pot.
- Add water and vinegar, the water should cover the bones.
- Heat the water to a simmer over 400°F in your roaster oven.
- Once the water starts to simmer, skim off any foam and impurities off the top using a skimmer.
- Add all the vegetables and spices (bayleaves, carrots, celery, onion, parsley, and garlic).
- Cover the roaster with a lid and bring back to a simmer. Once the broth starts simmering again turn down the heat to 300°F and leave it to simmer for 12 hours or overnight, covered.
- Remove all the bones and solids using a slotted spoon or fine-mesh sieve into a separate bowl.
- Pour the broth through a strainer and ladle the bone broth into sterilized jars. Twist shut the lids and pressure can at 10 pounds pressure for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
More Canning Recipes:
Canning is easier than you think! Check out our other favourite pantry staples!
Canning Chicken Broth
Equipment
- 1 electric pressure canner (Nesco brand is what I used)
- 1 funnel and jar lifter
Ingredients
Ingredients for Bone Broth:
- 3 gallons filtered water
- 12 Tbsp white distilled vinegar
- 7 carrots (peeled)
- 5 stalks celery (cut into thirds)
- 8 bay leaves
- 3 heads garlic (with or without skins)
- 3 whole onions (peeled)
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
Instructions
Directions:
Put the chicken bones in a 22-quart roaster. Set the roaster to 400°F and add the water and vinegar. Heat until water comes to a gentle boil (about 1 hour). Skim off any foam from the top.- Add the remaining ingredients (carrots, celery, bay leaves, garlic, onions, salt, and parsley). Cover the roaster with a lid and bring back to a simmer. Once simmering, set the roaster to 300°F and let it simmer for 12 hours or overnight.
- After 12 hours, strain off the liquid and put the bones and solids into a separate pan or bowl.
- Ladle the hot broth into sterilized* jars leaving a 1-inch headspace.
- Adjust the caps by screwing bands finger tight.
- Place jars into your pressure canner and pressure can quart jars for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure, per manual instructions.
- Remove jars and cool for 24 hours before checking lids.
Notes
- Sterilized jars are when you submerge glass jars into boiling water, you can run canning jars through a heavy duty wash in your dish washer or use very hot tap water to thoroughly wash each jar (my method).
- My Nesco electric canner requires 2 quarts of hot water before placing the jars in.
- After processing each batch of chicken broth remove jars and add 1/2 cup of cold water to the insert of the canner, before adding the next batch of jars, this prevents shocking the jars and from cracking.
Nutrition per serving
