This homemade canned chicken soup is a soul-warming remedy and I love making it every time. Whether it is a lazy dinner, a sick day, or as an appetizer, chicken soup truly does save my life every time.
If You Need Some Happiness Today, Try This Homemade Canned Chicken Soup
Why make your own canned soup?
I don’t trust most commercial soups out there, especially when they are canned. Often, I find that they are high in sodium, calories, and fat, while the flavor is mediocre.
That is why when I saw I had tons of chicken to use, I decided to turn this into a soup, combining it with other vegetables. I like to use celery, carrots, onions, and chicken stock.
However, you can use other vegetables, such as fennel bulb, green beans, potatoes, turnips, and asparagus. Many like a traditional chicken soup with the usual vegetables, you can add anything to get whatever flavors you like.
You can make your chicken stock first and then use the chicken and vegetables to make the soup, or you can use premade stock, bouillon cubes, or any other broth you like.
Because this recipe contains chicken, I use a pressure canner, and you need to do this to keep the food safe from foodborne illnesses. Start your pressure canner while you cook the soup so that the process goes more smoothly.
After I simmered my soup for about 30 minutes, I was ready to ladle it into my jars. I usually process the soup for about one hour and a half. But the time varies, especially if you are at a higher altitude.
Always allow your soup to cool down for about a day. Then you can store it in a cool, dry place or the fridge. I love heating this any day and enjoying it with some crackers or a good baguette!
Homemade Canned Chicken Soup
Ingredients
16 cups (3.8 L) chicken stock
3 lb (1.3 kg) chicken, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
- Optional:
Salt
Pepper
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Directions
- Simmer jars until ready for use.
- Wash lids and rings with warm soapy water then set aside.
- Mix chicken stock, chicken, carrots, celery, and onion in a large saucepot then bring to boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add seasoning and bouillon cubes if desired.
- Gently ladle chicken soup into hot jars, ensure 1-inch of headspace.
- Remove trapped air bubbles by running a spatula around the inside of the jar.
- Wipe jar rim with a clean damp cloth.
- Apply lid and ring, adjust to fingertip-tightness.
- Process in a pressure canner at 10 lb pressure for 1 hour and 15 minutes for pint (473 ml) jars, add 15 minutes for quart (approx. 1L) jars (adjust for altitude).
- Turn heat off, cool canner to zero pressure. Wait 5 minutes before opening canner lid.
- Let jars cool in canner for 10 minutes.
- Remove jars and cool for 24 hours. Do not place on a cold surface or where there’s cool draft as jar may crack.
- After 24 hours, test the seal on lids by pressing down the center, it shouldn’t wiggle and must feel nice and solid.