How To Make Strawberry Jam (No Cooking, No Canning)

Here’s how to make strawberry jam with no cooking or canning needed. All you need is 3 ingredients to make this strawberry jam recipe that manages to maintain that fresh-picked strawberry flavor.

When I want to taste springtime strawberries, cooked or store-bought preserves don’t even hold a candle to this recipe. What is even better is that this is the lowest fuss, least maintenance way of making jam. This homemade strawberry jam recipe requires no cooking and no canning beyond pouring it into jars!

When I say low fuss, I mean it. You only need three ingredients to make my easy strawberry jam recipe: fresh strawberries, instant pectin, and sugar. The instructions are easy too! Just slice and mash the strawberries, stir in the pectin and sugar mixture, and your strawberry jam is done. This homemade jam recipe makes a sweet preserve literally bursting with fresh strawberry flavor. When you get that first taste of jam on toast, you’ll be glad this recipe makes more than one jar.

Alright, who’s ready to learn how to make strawberry jam?

Recipe Ingredients

• Strawberries
• Instant pectin (located next to the canning jars in Walmart).
• Sugar
• Canning Jars (I use these ones from Walmart) 

How to Make Strawberry Jam

First of all, you want to give all of your fresh juicy strawberries a bath.

Just put them in a tub of water and give them a good swisharoo.

Don’t let them soak too long, because strawberries actually absorb water. They’ll be fine in there in the amount of time it takes us to get them all chopped up for the jam though.

Cut the tops off and slice them up a bit.

As you slice them, add them to a large bowl. Once you get a decent-sized layer, stop chopping and mush them up real good. I love using this masher from Amazon. 

Like this.  Now chop some more strawberries and add to the top of that.

Stop every now and then and mash some more, until you have a bowl full of crushed berries.

In a separate bowl, measure out the sugar and instant pectin and stir those two together.

Pour that into your mashed strawberries.

Stir this strawberry mixture for 3 minutes or until it’s just really well mixed up and sugar is dissolved.

I have no idea who decided this would take place in exactly three minutes.

Now we are ready to scoop our jam mixture into jars! Almost done! See how easy this is?

That lime green thing you see in the photo is a canning funnel. You don’t have to have one but it helps keep the sides and tops of your jars from getting all sticky. I store a lot of things in canning jars: dried beans, pasta, rice, etc. Having a canning funnel just makes life easier and they’re pretty cheap too. 

Scoop it into jars.

Leave about 1/2-inch of headspace to allow for expanding should you opt for strawberry freezer jam.  

Now let this sit out for half an hour. It will thicken up during that time.

Then, place jar in the refrigerator and pop the rest in the freezer until ready to use or gift to some lucky person :).

Once your jam is cold, dive in!

Storage

• Store the homemade strawberry jam in the fridge for up to a month.
• Otherwise, strawberry freezer jam will last in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw it in the fridge overnight before slathering on some toast in the morning.

Recipe Notes

• If you use different measurements of fruit, see the inside label of the instant pectin for measurements.
• Now, you can use frozen strawberries instead of fresh strawberries. You’ll just need to thaw them first before crushing them.
• One accessory I recommend when learning how to make strawberry jam is a canning ladle. I am not usually a kitchen gadget person but THIS THING IS AMAZING and truly innovative! This canning ladle is really thick and well made, it can withstand the hot temperatures of canning syrups from traditional canning, and it has a hook that lets it hang not the side of the pot. But the greatest two things about it? It is perfectly shaped to get every last bit of liquid from a pot AND it holds exactly enough to fill an 8-ounce jar.
• Here are some simple strawberry jam serving suggestions:
  • On toast with cream cheese.
  • Spread it on pancakes or waffles with whipped cream (and more sliced strawberries if you have them handy).
  • With plain or vanilla yogurt and granola for breakfast.
  • Drizzle the jam over ice cream or cheesecake (here are more cheesecake topping ideas).
• This recipe also makes the perfect DIY Christmas or hostess gift.

You may also enjoy this jam recipe:

Peach Freezer Jam With No Canning!

Here are a few other strawberry recipes you might like:

Strawberry Poke Cake

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Cream Cheese Strawberry Cobbler

Strawberry Bread With Pecans

Strawberry Jello Pie

 

Don’t complain about the dark unless you are lighting a candle.