Chicken broth is a low-acid food. The only tested, safe way to make it shelf-stable at home is pressure canning: hot-pack strained broth with 1 inch of headspace, then process 20 minutes for pints or 25 minutes for quarts at the pressure that matches your canner type and altitude.
A water-bath canner never gets hot enough to destroy Clostridium botulinum spores in broth. An Instant Pot or electric multi-cooker is not a substitute for a stove-top pressure canner. If you do not have a pressure canner, freeze the broth instead.
The rest of this article covers how to make a strainable broth, why fat has to come off before the jars go in, the exact process from venting to storage, and the problems that trip up first-time canners.
Why Chicken Broth Cannot Go in a Water-Bath Canner
Broth sits well above pH 4.6. In a sealed jar, that environment can allow botulism spores to germinate. Boiling water reaches 212°F (100°C) at sea level. A pressure canner is what raises the temperature high enough—about 240°F (116°C) at the usual home-canning pressures—to kill those spores.
That is a food-safety rule, not a preference. Vinegar, lemon juice, or “a longer boil” does not convert broth into a water-bath product.
What You Need Before You Start
Required
- A stove-top pressure canner (weighted-gauge or dial-gauge), not a pressure cooker marketed only for meals
- Pint or quart Mason jars rated for canning (half-gallon jars are not approved for broth)
- Two-piece lids and bands
- Jar lifter, funnel, headspace/bubble tool
- Fine-mesh strainer, and cheesecloth or a nut-milk bag if you want a clearer broth
Useful
- Large stockpot
- Fat separator, or refrigerator space so the broth can chill overnight
- White vinegar for wiping rims
Have the canner manual nearby. Water depth in the canner, gasket care, and how the weight should jiggle are model-specific.
How to Make Broth That Is Safe to Can
The official National Center for Home Food Preservation method for chicken or turkey stock is simple: cover large carcass bones (meat already removed) with water, simmer 30 to 45 minutes until leftover bits fall off, remove the bones, cool the broth, discard excess fat, reheat to boiling, and fill jars.
That short simmer is the tested stock procedure. A longer simmer for flavor is common in home kitchens. What matters for canning is the finished product in the jar: strained liquid, excess fat removed, no chunks of meat, vegetables, noodles, or rice.
A practical batch that strains cleanly
Use what you have:
- One or more roasted or raw chicken carcasses, plus extra wings, backs, or necks if you want more body
- Cold water to cover
- Optional aromatics for flavor only: onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf, a few peppercorns, parsley stems
- Optional: a splash of vinegar while the bones soak (flavor and mineral extraction, not a safety step)
- Optional salt later, in the jar
Simmer gently. A rolling boil makes cloudy broth and drives fine particles into the liquid. Strain through a fine mesh, then again through cheesecloth if you want less sediment.
Do not can the solids. Once vegetables or meat stay in the jar, you are no longer following the stock schedule. That product is soup, and soup needs a much longer process.
Broth, stock, and “bone broth”
For canning, these names do not change the process. What changes the process is what is in the jar. Strained poultry liquid uses the 20/25-minute stock times. Jars packed with meat or vegetables do not.
Skim the Fat Before You Fill Jars
NCHFP directions say to cool the broth and discard excess fat. That step is not cosmetic.
Fat causes three problems:
- It smears onto the jar rim and blocks a seal.
- During processing it can ride up with siphoned liquid and leave a greasy film under the lid.
- Over months of pantry storage, leftover fat can turn rancid even when the jar is sealed.
The reliable method is to refrigerate the strained broth overnight. The fat sets into a cap you can lift off. Then reheat the broth to a full boil before filling jars. Hot pack is required.
If you are short on time, skim what you can from the hot pot and use a fat separator. Overnight chilling still removes more.
Save the skimmed fat (schmaltz) in the freezer for cooking. Do not put it back in the canning jars.
Step-by-Step: Pressure Canning Chicken Broth
Work with hot jars and boiling broth. Cold jars plus boiling liquid crack glass.
- Wash jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water. Keep jars hot (simmering water, or a hot dishwasher cycle). You do not need to sterilize jars when processing time is 10 minutes or more, but they must be clean and hot.
- Prepare the canner: rack in place, the amount of water your manual specifies (often 2–3 inches), water already hot.
- Reheat skimmed broth to a boil.
- Ladle hot broth into hot jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace.
- Optional: ½ teaspoon canning salt per pint, 1 teaspoon per quart. Salt is for flavor only.
- Slide a plastic bubble tool around the inside of the jar. Recheck headspace.
- Wipe rims with a cloth dampened with vinegar, then a clean damp cloth. Fat on the rim is a common reason lids fail.
- Apply lids and screw bands fingertip tight—snug, not cranked down. Over-tightening can cause buckled lids and siphoning.
- Load jars onto the rack. Lock the lid.
- Vent a strong stream of steam for 10 minutes before adding the weight or closing the petcock. Skipping the vent leaves air in the canner and undercuts the temperature you think you are reaching.
- Bring the canner to the correct pressure for your altitude (tables below). Start the timer only after that pressure is reached.
- Hold pressure steady for the full time. If pressure drops below the target, bring it back up and restart the timer.
- When time is up, turn off the heat. Let the canner return to zero pressure on its own. Do not run cold water over it or jiggle the weight off early.
- Wait a few minutes after zero, remove the weight, wait another few minutes, then open the lid away from your face. Many canners rest the jars in the open canner for about 10 minutes to cut down on siphoning.
- Move jars to a towel with space between them. Leave them undisturbed for 12–24 hours.
Do not retighten bands while jars are cooling.
Processing Time and Pressure for Chicken Broth
Times stay the same at every altitude. Pressure increases with altitude. Use the table that matches your canner.
Dial-gauge pressure canner
| Jar size | Time | 0–2,000 ft | 2,001–4,000 ft | 4,001–6,000 ft | 6,001–8,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 20 min | 11 lb | 12 lb | 13 lb | 14 lb |
| Quarts | 25 min | 11 lb | 12 lb | 13 lb | 14 lb |
Weighted-gauge pressure canner
| Jar size | Time | 0–1,000 ft | Above 1,000 ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pints | 20 min | 10 lb | 15 lb |
| Quarts | 25 min | 10 lb | 15 lb |
Have a dial gauge checked once a year. A gauge that reads low will under-process the food.
Broth vs. Soup vs. Canned Chicken
Mixing these schedules is one of the most common safety mistakes.
| What is in the jar | Process (pints / quarts) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Strained chicken or turkey stock/broth | 20 min / 25 min | Liquid only, fat skimmed, 1-inch headspace |
| Soup with meat and/or vegetables | 60 min / 75 min | Jars no more than half full of solids; no dairy, flour, rice, or pasta in the jar |
| Chicken pieces (boneless) | 75 min / 90 min | Different product; 1¼-inch headspace |
| Chicken pieces (with bones) | 65 min / 75 min | Different product; 1¼-inch headspace |
Soup times assume you follow the tested soup method: boil the mixture 5 minutes, fill jars halfway with solids, top with liquid, 1-inch headspace. Do not thicken. Add noodles, rice, cream, or a roux when you open the jar to serve.
If you load a canner with both soup and broth, the whole load must run the longer time. Broth can take the extra heat. Flavor may flatten a little, and siphoning becomes more likely.
After the Canner: Seals, Storage, and How Long It Keeps
The next day:
- Remove bands.
- Check each lid. It should be concave and should not flex when pressed.
- Look at the rim. A failed seal, chips, or food under the lid means refrigerate and use soon, or freeze, or reprocess within 24 hours with a new lid if the food still looks sound.
- Wash the jars, label with the date, and store without bands in a cool, dark place.
Quality is best within 12 to 18 months. A sealed jar past that is not automatically unsafe, but flavor and color fade. Never taste from a jar that is bulging, leaking, spurting, moldy, or foul-smelling. When in doubt, throw it out without tasting. Botulism toxin does not always announce itself with an off smell.
Before using a jar, you can bring the broth to a boil for 10 minutes as an extra precaution many Extension sources still recommend for home-canned low-acid foods.
Problems You Will See (and What They Mean)
Siphoning (liquid loss) Common with broth. Causes include too little headspace, bands screwed too tight, pressure that swung up and down, or opening the canner before it fully depressurized. If the lid is sealed, food still covers the contents reasonably well, and nothing looks spoiled, the jar is generally considered safe. Store it upright and use it first. Next batch: full 1 inch of headspace, steady pressure, natural cool-down.
Cloudy broth or sediment Usually from a hard boil while making stock, minerals in hard water, or fine bone/meat particles that slipped through the strainer. Sediment at the bottom of a sealed jar is normal. Cloudiness plus a bad smell, slime, or a failed seal is not.
A thin fat ring under the lid The skim was incomplete. If the jar sealed, use it sooner rather than later. Skim more aggressively next time.
Jars that never sealed Dirty or chipped rim, old lid, fat on the sealing surface, or under-tightened / over-tightened bands. Refrigerate or freeze that jar. Do not leave an unsealed jar on the pantry shelf.
Gel when chilled A good sign that you extracted collagen. It will liquefy when heated. Gelatin does not change the canning time.
Decisions That Are Not Worth the Risk
- Water-bath canning broth “because Grandma did”
- Canning in an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or other electric cooker unless the manufacturer has a USDA-style tested canning program and you are using a tested process—the standard advice is still: use a dedicated stove-top pressure canner
- Half-gallon jars of broth (not a tested jar size for this food)
- Adding raw garlic, extra vegetables, or meat “just a little” and keeping the 20/25-minute time
- Canning cream-based soup, flour-thickened gravy, or broth with rice or noodles already in it
- Guessing altitude instead of looking it up
- Cooling the canner under the tap to “save time”
If any of those tempt you, freeze the batch. Frozen broth is excellent and avoids the safety questions.
Freeze or Can?
Can when freezer space is tight, you want jars ready for weeknight soup, or you process large batches after roasting several chickens.
Freeze when you do not own a pressure canner, the batch is small, or you care more about a just-made flavor than pantry convenience. Frozen broth keeps well about 4–6 months in well-filled containers with headspace for expansion.
Many households do both: freeze a few quarts for the next two weeks, can the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a store-bought carton of broth? Yes, if you are simply hot-packing that liquid and processing it as meat stock. You are not making the broth safer by canning a commercial product that is already shelf-stable; you are only moving it into jars. Follow the same headspace, time, and pressure. Do not assume a commercial soup (with pasta, cream, or thickeners) can be recanned on the broth schedule.
Do I have to add salt? No. Salt does not make low-acid food safe.
Can I can broth in pint-and-a-half or 24-ounce jars? Only if a tested process exists for that jar size. For stock, stick to pints and quarts.
Is it safe if I simmered the bones 12 hours? Long simmering is a cooking choice. Cool, skim fat, strain, reheat, and use the stock process as long as the jar contains only liquid.
Can I leave a little meat in for “meaty broth”? That changes heat penetration. Use the soup method (jars half solids, longer time) or can the meat separately on the poultry schedule.
Why did one blog say 90 minutes? That is the time for canned chicken meat, not strained stock. Another common mix-up is soup times (60/75). Use the table that matches what is actually in the jar.
Do I need to reprocess if a little liquid is missing? Not if the seal is strong and the jar was processed correctly. Use those jars first.
Canning chicken broth is one of the shorter pressure-canning projects once the stock is made. The work that actually protects you is unglamorous: skim the fat, leave the headspace, vent the canner, match pressure to altitude, and keep solids out of a “broth” jar. Follow those, and the pantry jars are a straightforward way to keep homemade stock off the freezer shelf.