Chili and Cornbread in a Jar!

Chili and Cornbread Jars!

I had been intrigued since seeing pies in a jar and all the other things people were coming up with to use canning jars for.  I love to can my own jam and marmalade so of course I have jars around and they need to be used!  During a round on Pinterest ( A horrible addiction that needs to be broken!) I saw chili and cornbread baked in the jar.  The next week I found myself making chili for my mom and my chance had arrived!!

I will definitely do these again and can’t wait to do more things in jars!

Chicken Corn Chili… The original recipe comes from Food Network magazine Oct. 2011.  I tweaked it though!

For the Chicken:

I used 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts this time and poached it in a large pot of water with salt, spicy pepper and a generous shaking of dried cilantro. If I had not been lazy and entire quartered onion would have gone in as well. Once the chicken is cooked through just dice it up and continue on with the recipe.

For the Chili:

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Serrano chili, minced (I used a whole can of chopped jalapenos undrained)

1 (4oz) can chopped green chilies (I did not drain my can)

A generous shake of cumin (recipe calls for 1 tsp but I just started shaking until I was happy lol)

3 cans of low-sodium chicken broth

4 15 oz cans white beans or pinto beans (2 undrained, 2 drained and rinsed)

2 cups frozen corn (recipe said thawed I just threw it in frozen and it was fine)

1 8 oz bar of pepper jack cheese, grated

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, until slightly soft, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic, chopped Serrano chili, green chilies and cumin and cook, stirring, until the cumin is toasted about 2 minutes.  Stir in the chicken broth, chicken and beans (including the undrained liquid).  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer.  Stirring occasionally until thickened, about 15 minutes.

Stir in the cheese and corn.  Cook about 15 minutes until creamy and hot.

Fill jar size of choice halve full, I did pint jars because well that is a nice serving for me! I then just put my jar away until the next day; the chili was made for my Mom’s chili potluck at work.

The next day I came home and set the oven as directed on my cheap cornbread box, because well I was testing the idea and honestly was too tired from work to make my own cornbread, Jiffy it is! Once oven was set I put about 2 good heaping spoons of batter in my cold jar of chili and put it in the oven on a try.  I baked it for about 25min until golden and chili was bubbling in the jar. 

It was so cute!! The jar was awesome, from the fridge to the oven.   Remember they are canning jars and are meant to take the heat! I am up for doing so much with Jars now; I just kind of can’t help myself!

On a recent trip to the mountains I did banana pudding in a jar, my first use of the jars for something other than canning. So handy for picnics!!