Canning Chicken Broth – Sustainable Cooks

 Canning Chicken Broth is an amazing way to preserve this delicious staple of so many homemade recipes. “Putting up” homemade broth is a very simple, sustainable, and affordable process!

So many cozy and delicious recipes start with chicken broth. A flavorful broth makes every soup, stew, or casserole taste even better.

I love to have a mix of both frozen and shelf-stable broth on hand. Read on to learn how to safely can or freeze your delicious homemade stock.

Even better, homemade chicken broth is easy to make and is essentially made with “scraps” like leftover roasted chicken and veggie peels.

Can You Freeze Chicken Broth?

Yes, you sure can! If you want to freeze in canning jars, you’ll need to use wide-mouth (not regular mouth) jars. Leave 1 inch of space between the top of the broth and the top of the jar so that it can expand while it freezes. Do not place the jars in the freezer until the broth/stock has completely cooled.

I also love these Souper Cubes for freezing liquids. You can freeze in batches and then remove the cubes and store them in freezer-safe bags. The frozen chicken broth will last for 6-12 months in the freezer if stored properly.

If you freeze in canning jars, allow the jar to defrost overnight in the fridge or for a few hours at room temperature. Do not attempt to thaw the frozen jars in the microwave or in hot water as it could cause the glass to crack.

Chicken Broth CANNING SUPPLIES

Check out this in-depth post for a complete list of canning supplies.

You’ll need:

• Hot chicken broth, fat skimmed
• Pressure Canner
• Canning funnel
• Pint or quart canning jars (thrift stores are my favorite sources for these!)
• New lids and clean rings
• Jar lifter
• Plastic chopstick or another long plastic utensil
• A clean thick towel to place the hot jars on

How to Make Chicken Stock

I’ll walk you through it really quickly here, but if you want in-depth instructions with lots of photos on how to make it in an Instant Pot or a slow cooker, check out this post on How to Make Chicken Bone Broth.

Place the chicken, veggie scraps, apple cider vinegar, and herbs in a large stockpot. Cover with water and place a lid on the stockpot. Cook on low for 6-12 hours. Your house is going to smell amazing while this simmers!

Place a strainer/colander in your largest mixing bowl. Carefully pour the stock into the strainer (you may need to do half at a time depending on the size of your bowl and strainer) and allow the stock to drain into the bowl.

Optional: Once the stock has finished draining, place a fine-mesh strainer over another bowl and pour the stock through the sieve. This helps remove all the herbs and greatly reduces the fat you’ll need to skim. 

From here, you can skim the fat from the hot broth using a spoon or a fat separator. I find both of those tactics to be a bit labor-intensive. Instead, I prefer to refrigerate the stock overnight and skim the solid fat in the morning. If you use this method, you must reheat the stock before canning it.

How to Can Chicken Broth

I’ll walk you through the process here with photos, and you’ll also find a printable version with detailed times/PSI in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Wash and clean your jars. For canning broth, I recommend quart-sized regular-mouth jars. It is no longer necessary to sterilize jars before canning (hurray!) but you should make sure they are preheated enough not to crack when placed in hot water.

You can put them in a clean dishwasher and run them through a quick wash cycle, or place them in a large pan with some water in a low-heat oven (my lowest temp is 170˚F degrees) until you need them. I’ve even just put hot tap water in them before and left them on the counter.

Wash your lids with hot soapy water and place them in a clean bowl for now.

Add 3 quarts of water to your canner and put it on a burner set to high. Make sure there is a canning rack in the bottom of the canner. 

Place a funnel on a canning jar, and ladle in the hot broth, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Headspace is defined as the space between the top of the food and the top of the jar.

Remove any bubbles from the jar (I use a plastic chopstick). Use a wet clean rag and wipe the rim of the jars to make sure they are free of any food.

Place a clean lid and then a ring on the jar and tighten the ring to fingertip tight (tight enough that it won’t come off in the canner, but not so tight that Thor couldn’t budge it).

Using canning tongs, carefully lower the jars into the canner. Lock the lid. Soon, steam will start coming through the vent pipe (I call it the steam chimney). Allow the steam to pass through for about 10 minutes. Then put the pressure regulator (I call it the chimney cap) on top.

Pretty soon, the air vent will pop up. That is a sign that you’re starting to build pressure inside the canner (get excited. This is happening!).

Processing times will vary based on altitude. See the chart below.

When the dial gauge reaches the appropriate PSI, reduce the burner temp to medium, and start your timer. The pressure must stay at the PSI or (a little bit) above for the duration of the cooking time. You’ll likely need to adjust the temp on the burner a few times depending on your stove.

When the time is up, remove the canner from the burner and allow it to sit until you hear a distinctive “click” of the air vent dropping. Remove the pressure regulator and carefully remove the lid of the canner. (Pro tip: I always use oven mitts when I take the lid off because the steam is super hot).

Let the jars sit for 5 minutes in the canner and then carefully lift them out with canning tongs. Pro tip: allowing the jars to sit in the canner with the lid off can help reduce the siphoning of liquid in your jars. Siphoning is when liquid seeps out from under the lids and reduces the overall amount of liquid in the jar.

Place hot jars on a towel where they can sit undisturbed for 12 hours.

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed.