This simple strawberry jam recipe uses low sugar and simple ingredients to make a homemade favorite.

Strawberries are by far my favorite fruit. Lots of other delicious fruits out there, but strawberries are definitely my fave. My children love to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on some homemade bread for a quick lunch.

I used to purchase jam at the store and unknowingly slather absolute junk all over their bread. The brand I purchased had:  strawberries, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, fruit pectin, citric acid. Listed for ingredients.

High fructose corn syrup, seriously? How about strawberries, water, sugar, pectin. That’s it! Four ingredients. All things I can pronounce, all things I can create in my own kitchen.

A couple years ago, I tried just a typical sugar strawberry jam. Honestly, we love sweet stuff, and it was WAY too much sugar. So, I’ve opted for a low sugar jam and we love it. If you don’t want to add any at all, you absolutely don’t have to. This recipe will work fine sans sugar, just omit the ingredient and the step.

I can our jam and put it up for the year. Four pounds of strawberries will comfortably yield you 10 half-pints with not much, if any, left over. Never do more than 10 half pints in one session.  

I usually do two groups. That affords us roughly 20 half pint jars out of 8 pounds of strawberries. This typically lasts us all year. I do can other types of jams, but Strawberry definitely gets used the most. This is what we use, so just adjust accordingly to what you need :).

What type of strawberries can I use?

Fresh, ripe fruit will always yield the best results. But, you can also use frozen strawberries with the same success.

If you utilize frozen berries, make sure you thaw them first to reduce the water content before cooking them. This will help your jam gel up faster.

Can you make strawberry jam without pectin?

You can honestly make just about any jam without pectin, including strawberry jam. I use it in this recipe which allows the jam to reach gel stage more quickly, but you can omit it.

If you choose to omit the pectin, you’ll simply cook it longer to reach gel stage. No other changes are necessary.

Can I freeze this instead of canning it?

You absolutely can. If you want to freeze it, you won’t need to follow the canning portion of the instructions. You will simply take the finished jam, ladle it into straight sided jars (so they don’t crack in the freezer). Place the lid on, allow them to cool to room temp and place them in the freezer.

This jam will keep up to a year in the freezer. Simply thaw it to use it, that’s it.

That’s all there is to it! Easy peasy, and you’ll have a ton of jars of delicious, homemade jam to pull out whenever you need.

Other Jam Recipes You’ll Love:

• Low Sugar, Homemade Blackberry Jam
• Homemade Christmas Jam
• Old-Fashioned No Pectin Raspberry Jam Recipe