Meal in a Jar: Apricot Chicken

Meal in a Jar: Apricot Chicken

1-1.5 pounds chicken breast or chicken breast tenderloins

1 pkg dried apricots

Spice mixture, divided**

1 cup chicken broth

Makes 2 pint jars or one quart jar.

Put 4 or 5 dried apricots in the bottom of each pint jar (put 10 in the bottom of a quart jar), spoon in your dried spice mix and start packing the chicken in. Half way full, put in a few extra pieces of apricot, continue packing with chicken, leave about 2 inches at the top of the jar. Divide the remaining dried apricots between the jars, on top of the chicken, and then pour your chicken broth over. I find a lot of air gets trapped, so run a butter knife around the edges of the jar to release any trapped air bubbles, then fill with more chicken broth, leaving 1 inch head space at the top of the jar.

Process in your pressure canner for 75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts, at the correct pressure for your altitude (10 pounds of pressure for me).

Spice mixture: When I wrote this recipe I meant that you should use whatever spices you usually like on chicken. I have gotten a lot of questions about what the spice mix is, exactly, and the answer is “whatever you want!” ** But for clarity:

I use 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon garlic, half teaspoon cinnamon, half teaspoon ginger, and half teaspoon salt. I mix these together in a small container and divide it between the 2 pint jars, or just put it in the quart jar as I am layering. I have also added curry powder and turmeric to this in the past, because the only way I’ll eat turmeric is to hide it behind a lot of other flavors.

When you’re feeling a little rushed for time, put some rice mix on to boil and pop open a jar of apricot chicken. Since mason jars are glass you can safely heat the jar (sans lid and ring, of course) in the microwave, or you can heat on the stove in a small pot.