This is a delicious mixture of chicken, beans and salsa in a jar.
The prep work for canning is also really fast: the entire mixture is raw pack.
This recipe comes from the Ball All New book (2016). It uses another home-canned product from that book, Roasted Salsa Verde, as an ingredient.
You can reduce the salt, which is just there for seasoning, and add it instead if you wish at the table.
You may wish to double or triple this recipe to get a full canner load: if so, just do your calculations on paper first before proceeding so that you aren’t trying to do mental gymnastics in the thick of things.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Half-litre (US pint / 16 oz) OR litre (US quart / 32 oz)
Processing method: Pressure canning only
Yield: 2 x litre (US quart) jars
Headspace: 3 cm (1 inch)
Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.)
Processing time: Half-litres (pints) 75 minutes; litres (quarts) 90 minutes
If you don’t have a pressure canner, you can freeze this in plastic containers or straight-sided jars with no shoulders. (Water-bath canning is not acceptable for safety reasons.) Cook when you thaw it.
Chicken Chili Verde
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken breast (boneless. 2 lbs)
- 100 g green onion (chopped. 1 cup)
- 4 tablespoons cilantro (aka fresh coriander. Washed, chopped.)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 tablespoons pickled jalapenos (sliced)
- 175 g white kidney beans (aka cannellini beans. 1 cup cooked)
- 250 ml roasted salsa verde (1 cup)
- 2 teaspoons salt (or non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub)
- chicken stock (hot)
Instructions
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Cut the chicken into 5 cm (2 inch) chunks. Put in a large bowl.
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Wash the green onion, trim, and chop, measure, add to bowl.
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Wash the cilantro, chop, measure, add to bowl.
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Peel the garlic, and slice or chop, add to bowl.
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Drain the pickled jalapeno, chop, measure, add to bowl.
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Drain the cooked beans, measure, add to bowl.
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Add everything else except chicken broth to bowl.
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Put a kettle or pot of water on to boil for you to make your chicken broth from, if you are using bouillon cubes, powder or liquid. If you're using home-made, start heating it in microwave. Mind the surge when you remove it.
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Using your clean hands or a very sturdy spoon, mix the contents of the bowl.
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Jar size choices: half-litre (1 US pint) or 1 litre (US quart)
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Pack the hot jars firmly (but not overly tightly) with mixture.
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Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
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Top up the jars with hot chicken broth.
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Debubble; adjust headspace.
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Wipe jar rims.
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Put lids on.
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Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.)
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Processing time: half-litre (1 US pint) 75 minutes; 1 litre (US quart) 90 minutes.
See also if applicable: Dial Gauge Pressures.
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
For salt substitute, Herbamare Sodium-Free was used.
Recipe notes
- See here for the roasted salsa verde recipe.
- As this is a raw pack, there will be shrinkage during processing. Thus they want you to pack the jar “tightly.” But that doesn’t mean squish it down, either.
- To be clear, you don’t heat or pre-cook the mixture before packing it in jars. This is a raw pack. Ball says, “These easy raw pack recipes are an innovative way to create delicious ready-to-eat meals for your pantry all year long. Raw ingredients and seasonings are combined, packed in the jar, and covered with hot broth; all of the cooking takes place right in the jar! Note: To ensure proper pressure and temperature is achieved for safe processing, you must process at least 2 quart or 4 pint jars in the pressure canner at one time.”
- You could use any type of white (or red) bean you wish. Just make sure they are cooked first; don’t put dry ones in the jar, you want them rehydrated first.
- Instead of 2 cloves garlic, you could use 1 teaspoon of minced from a jar.
- You can use any kind of boneless chicken you wish (e.g. thigh). It will affect the nutrition, raising calories and fat level, if that matters to you.
- Want it zippier? You can adjust the seasoning by adding a bit of hot sauce or some dried chili flake (or simply add hot sauce when serving.)
Usage notes
To serve, Ball says, “Transfer contents of jar to saucepan and and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve over hot cooked rice.”
Instead, we like to stir in a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour to thicken the sauce, and then zap in microwave for 3 minutes, stirring half way through. That gives a less runny sauce.
Nice with a dollop of low-fat sour cream, either stirred into the sauce, or dolloped on top when served.
We also garnish it with lots of chopped fresh veg.
Recipe source
Butcher, Meredith L., Ed. The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. New York: Oxmoor House. 2016. Page 274.
Modifications: none
Nutrition
Serving size: 1 cup (250 ml)
Regular version (with salt)
Per 1 cup (250 ml): 181 calories, 1014 mg sodium
Note: does not include any possible sodium from the broth. Allow for that in your mind as well if that matters to you, unless you made your own from scratch salt-free
Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 4 points+ (3 SmartPoints)
Salt-free version
Per 1 cup (250 ml): 181 calories, 445 mg sodium
All other nutrition information same as above.
* Nutrition info provided by https://www.myfitnesspal.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
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