This peach jelly recipe is a delicious way to preserve the sweet and tangy flavor of fresh peaches. With just a few simple ingredients and easy-to-follow instructions, you can make your own homemade jelly that’s perfect for spreading on toast, hot biscuits, or even using as a glaze for meats.

Sometimes I wish peach season would just last year-round… there’s nothing better. Since it doesn’t, preserving that flavor is a must.

While we make a lot of canned peaches and peach salsa, this simple peach jelly is my favorite way to preserve it. Sweet from the peach juice combine with tart lemon juice to make an amazing flavor. Plus, I oftentimes add just a touch of bourbon to really bring some flavor out.

What are the best peaches for jelly?

Any yellow peach variety will do for making peach jelly, however, clingstone peaches will provide you with more juice, and you’ll want juicy peaches to give you the most. That said, freestone peaches can be used, they just won’t give you as much juice.

Regardless of which type you use, I always recommend using organic peaches, especially when making jelly unless you’re going to peel them (or not use some leftover peels to make the juice). This is because peaches are a high spray fruit and we don’t want those chemicals extracted into our peach jelly.

If you don’t have access to organic peaches and are using conventional peaches, just make sure you peel them before extracting the juice.

Easy Peach Jelly Recipe

Follow these simple instructions and you’ll be well on your way to making this easy recipe. Note that my secret ingredient is a little bourbon at the end of the process, it really brings out the taste of fresh peaches and it doesn’t affect the set, but it’s completely optional.

You will need approximately 9 medium peaches, or 3 pounds, to make enough juice for the jelly.

Cook the peaches. Place quartered, ripe peaches, unpeeled(as long as they’re organic) into a large saucepan. You do not need pit the peaches first, which makes using clingstone peaches easy (they’re more difficult to pit).

Add 1 1/2 cups water for 3 pounds of peaches (1/2 cup per pound). Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and stir frequently.

Reduce heat to low, cover the saucepan and continue gently boiling, stirring and mashing up the peaches occasionally until the peaches are softened. This will take approximately 20 minutes.

Strain the juice. Pour the hot peach mixture into a dampened jelly bag fitted over a stand and placed over a large bowl. Allow the juice to strain into the bowl for a minimum of two hours, or overnight, occasionally gently squeezing the bag to help it along.

Prepare the jars and canner (if canning). Wash jars and lids in hot, soapy water. If canning, place jars in the canner and fill with water until it reaches the top of the jars and heat over medium heat to 180°F while preparing the jelly.

Prepare the jelly. Place three cups of peach juice and and a half cup lemon juice in a large saucepan. Whisk in a package of regular powdered pectin until it is dissolved.

Bring the juice and pectin mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Once boiling, pour all 5 cups of sugar in at once, stirring constantly and return to a full rolling boil.

Once returned to a boil continue boiling, stirring constantly for 1 full minute. Remove the peach jelly from the heat and skim foam. Quickly stir in 3 tablespoons of bourbon, if desired to the jelly mixture.

Check the gel. Use the sheeting test to check for proper set of the jelly. To do this, place a clean, dry spoon in the mixture after it is removed from heat. Pull the spoon out of the jelly and it should drip off the spoon in at least two “sheets”.

If the mixture doesn’t properly gel for some reason, you can add a bit more sugar and pectin to it to get it right.

Ladle into jars. Ladle the hot jelly into hot jars. The jelly is now ready to cool and eat, if you don’t want to can it. The jelly can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator for up to three months. It can also be frozen, however be sure to use straight sided jars and leave at least 1/2″ of headspace at the top of the jar.

Can the jelly (optional). If you want to keep the peach jelly at room temperature canning is easy to do. Simply ladle the hot jelly into the hot half pint jars and leave 1/4 inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles and adjust for proper headspace if necessary.

Wipe rim, center the lid and tighten the screw bands to finger tight. Carefully place the canning jars into the waiting water bath canner.

Place the lid on the canner and bring everything to a rolling boil over high heat. Process jars for 10 minutes, adjusting processing time for proper altitude. Turn off the heat and remove the lid from the canner. Allow the jars to sit for 5 minutes before removing to a towel-lined counter.

Leave jars undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking for proper seal. Remove the bands from properly sealed jars and store in a cool, dark place for up to 18 months.