This Homemade Strawberry Jam with pectin recipe is a delicious homemade strawberry jam. It has all of the sweetness, bright strawberry flavor, and texture that I love in a good jam. Plus, this recipe is made for water bath canning (or freezing). So make a batch now and enjoy summery strawberry goodness all year long.  (And if you love to make your own jam, also check out my recipe for Blueberry Lemon Jam.)

Strawberry jam is one of the first canning projects I usually tackle when canning season begins to roll around. It really starts to feel like summer is on the way when those first sweet strawberries appear. (And while you can pick up strawberries at the market, it’s a fun activity to go strawberry picking for your own berries!) And after eating my fair share of these fresh strawberries, I make sure to make a few batches of jam. I like to have a good supply to always have a fresh jar to pop open throughout the year. And in our house, we love the flavor and texture of a classic strawberry jam.

Why use added pectin in this recipe?

Now I know some folks have strong feelings about not using pectin in their jams, and I get it. We should all do things the way we like to. And don’t get me wrong, I never met a strawberry jam I didn’t like, pectin or not. But for me, I like to use pectin in certain jams, including in this version of my homemade strawberry jam.

Strawberries are naturally low in pectin, so a batch without pectin requires a longer cooking time to reach a gel stage than a strawberry jam made with added pectin. And while still delicious, long-cooked jams have a different flavor than the bright fruit flavor of a jam that is cooked quickly. The added pectin reduces cooking time by about 75% and so preserves the fresh strawberry flavor and also color. In addition, since much of the juice is cooked off during the cooking of a long cook jam, using added pectin increases the yield and results in more jars of finished jam. And I don’t know about you, but when I make jam, more is better.  But if you would like to make your jam without adding pectin, check out these instructions by the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

Is this a low-sugar jam recipe?

I would say this is a moderate-sugar jam. Many jam recipes often call for as much sugar cup-for-cup as fruit (and sometimes even more). In our family, we like a sweet jam, but not one that is so sweet that it overpowers the fruit flavor. So in this recipe, I use about half the amount of sugar by volume as fruit.

But taste preferences aside, there is another reason to consider using a bit of sugar in your jam recipes. Sugar acts as a preservative and helps prolong the shelf life of the jam, helping to retain its quality during storage. And after opening your jar of jam and popping it in the fridge, the sugar helps the jam stay good longer here, too, by slowing down mold formation. This article by Simply Canning sums up the preservative role of sugar in jams and jellies nicely.

But I know that some people avoid sugar for health reasons or other personal reasons. So if you are looking for canning jams with low or no sugar, I will refer you to the Penn State Extension article on canning with less sugar.

Ingredients for Strawberry Jam with Pectin:

There are only a few simple ingredients for making this Strawberry Jam with Pectin

Ripe Strawberries – Use fresh strawberries without mold or rotten spots. If there are small blemishes, you can remove those with a paring knife. If it’s wintertime when you are making jam, I’ve also successfully used frozen strawberries. For this recipe, you will need 4 pounds of strawberries.

Pectin – I use powdered pectin that is made for less-sugar or no-sugar recipes. I like the Sure Jell, Ball, and Mrs. Wages pectins. 

Sugar – Use any type of granulated sugar that you prefer. I like to use raw cane sugar in my jam. I would avoid brown sugar as it will give the jam a dark appearance.

Optional Fresh lemon juice or bottled lemon juice. I don’t use lemon juice in my strawberry jam because it’s unnecessary for safety. Strawberries are already acidic and don’t require added acid. But if you like the lemony flavor, you can add a tablespoon or two of fresh or bottled lemon juice. 

Tips for Making Homemade Strawberry Jam with Pectin:

Use good quality fruit and give it a good mashing. Use good-quality strawberries to make your jam. You don’t want to use fruit that is too overripe, underripe, mushy, or moldy. Cut off any bruised or blemished spots. The best quality fruit makes the best quality jam.

And you’ll want to make sure you mash it up well, too. I like to use my potato masher to crush the strawberries. I don’t recommend using a food processor because it introduces too much air into the crushed strawberries and can sometimes cause the jam to have a lot of air bubbles. Crush them finely for a smoother jam or crush them coarsely for a chunky jam.

Bring it to a boil. When cooking the jam, be sure to bring it to a full rolling boil. A gentle simmer won’t be enough to thicken the jam.

Keep down the foam. Of all of the jams I make, strawberry jam likes to foam up the most while cooking. You can minimize this by adding a small pat of butter to the jam while it’s cooking. You can also skim the foam off. Of course, the foam is not harmful, so you don’t need to worry about a small amount of foam in your jam. Try to avoid a large amount of foam, however, as might cause problems down the road with the longevity of your jam in storage.

For me, I typically skip the butter. To remove most of the foam, I remove the finished pan of jam from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Then I skim the foam from the top of the jam and proceed to ladle it into hot jars. If I have enough foam left over, I put it into a jar and pop it into the fridge to use with toast or waffles.

Boiling Water Bath can or freeze your jam. You will need to preserve your jam. Your options are to freeze your jam or use the boiling water bath canning method. You can freeze this jam in freezer-safe containers for up to 12 months. This recipe makes a very good strawberry freezer jam. I like to use BPA-free plastic pint containers for this like these containers (affiliate link).

The other option is to water bath can your jam. This canning method is very easy and there is nothing to worry about when using safe, approved canning methods. This tutorial by Ball gives great instructions for getting started. And I highly recommend this book by the USDA. It gives good, solid information for both beginners and experienced home canners.

Store any extras in the fridge. When making jam, you’ll often find that you don’t have quite enough towards the end of the batch to fill a whole jar. If this happens to you, simply ladle the extra into a jar, store it in the refrigerator, and eat it up before opening a jar (though I guarantee it won’t be around for long!)

Keep it safe. Boiling-hot jam is like molten lava. Because of the added sugar, jam boils at a temperature higher than water and sticks to everything (including skin and clothing). So please be careful while making jam and be sure not to splatter yourself or get the hot jam onto your skin. Keep kids and pets away from the kitchen, and keep your kitchen free of distractions.

Label your jars. It’s so tempting to believe that you’ll recognize the contents of the jar and skip the labeling part. I’ve been there and done that, and trust me when I say that it’s not a good idea. Unless strawberry jam is the only homemade jam you have in your pantry, you will likely run into a problem sorting out which jar is which when it comes time to pull one off the shelf. So save yourself the trouble and go ahead and label those jars (and include the date, too!)

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If you try this recipe for Easy Homemade Strawberry Jam, I hope you love it. And follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram so you don’t miss a post. 

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{Please note. I slightly updated this recipe on May 25th, 2024. The original recipe called for added water, which I removed in this update to make it more foolproof and ensure a better gel.}

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