Canning Chicken Cacciatore

Tonight, after doing a test recipe yesterday for flavor, I put up 5 pints of Chicken Cacciatore so that my hubby and I could have a quick meal whenever we didn't feel like cooking. The original recipe that I searched for on the web didn't call for mushrooms but I remember my mom cooking this for the family and I always loved having the mushrooms.

The chicken in this recipe are thighs, skinless, boneless, and pre-seared. I purchased the bone-in thighs and skinned and de-boned them myself. They were on sale and it only took about 20 minutes to cut out the bone for the 9 thighs. I also cut the bigger thighs in half lengthwise and put three good pieces in each of the pints. 

For this recipe you will use 2 pint jars of your already canned tomato sauce, dice tomatoes or for the batch I did last night I used Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce that was a little thinner than I like and was perfect to add to this recipe. 

The Chicken Cacciatore can be served over rice or pasta! Last night my test recipe we served over spaghetti. It's really great tasting and todays bath of 5 pints will not last long!

Chicken Cacciatore                                                             

9 Chicken thighs, skinned and deboned (larger ones cut in half lengthwise)
2 pints tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, or Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce
3 cloves of garlic (omit if you use the pasta sauce), minced
3/4 lbs mushrooms, sliced
1 small to medium onion, cut in half and sliced 
1/4 cup dried oregano/basil1/2 cup heated chicken stock or water (for filling to 1" headspace)

Preparation : Prepare  5 pints, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Make sure to fill your pressure canner with the recommended amount of water and bring it to a simmer. Prep chicken and vegetables as instructed. 

Cooking: In a fry pan add a few tablespoons olive oil and brown the chicken on both sides. You do not have to cook the chicken all the way through. It will finish cooking in the pressure canner inside the jar. In a stainless steel pot heat the 2 pints of tomatoes, mushroom, onions, garlic and herbs for 15 minutes till the sauce comes to a simmer.  Remove from heat. 

Filling the jars:  On a dishtowel place your hot jars and using your funnel in each jar fill with 2 to 3 pieces of the thigh meat. Then go back to each of the jars and fill with the tomato sauce mixture filling to 1" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace if necessary. Taking a clean papertowel wet it with vinegar and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight". 

Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the pressure canner.  Lock the lid and turn up the heat bring the canner to a boil. Vent steam for 10 minutes, then close the vent by adding the weighted gauge or pressure regulator (for dial gauge canner).  Process pints for 75 minutes at 10 lbs of pressure (11 lbs for dial gauge canner). You can double and triple this recipe if you want to do it in quarts. For quarts you will pressure can for 90 minutes. (Adjust pressure for altitude)  When complete turn off the heat and let pressure return to zero naturally. Wait two minutes longer and open vent. Remove canner lid. Wait 10 minutes then remove jars and place on dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Some time in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal. Remove rings for storage.