Since our recent outing to pick strawberries, it’s been all about strawberries here at home. Since I have a large amount to use up (quickly!), I’ve been looking for new recipes to make with our haul. I found this new-to-me, perfect-for-summer strawberry lemonade slush recipe and then there are the old recipes I fall back year after year — like my easy strawberry chia seed refrigerator jam.
I call this recipe “easy” strawberry chia seed refrigerator jam because it is ridiculously easy to make. It contains only 4 ingredients and when I say easy, I mean easy. The only hard part about this recipe is waiting the 6 hours for it to set in the fridge!
When processing the berries in your food processor, if you like to have some berry chunks, pulse them until they get to the consistency you like. I prefer some pieces in my jam and for it to not be fully smooth, but of course, everyone is different, so blend until it’s the way you like it! You also control the sweetness based on your preference and how sweet your berries are. See the recipe notes for more info on this.
Another thing I love about this jam is that is contains chia seeds. I don’t have to go into how good chia seeds are for you, right? If you don’t already know, read this article. I add chia seeds to my recipes to bump up nutrition any time I can. I add them to muffins, granola recipes, and all of my smoothies.
If you’ve never had chia seeds before, don’t be scared because you think you may not like the taste – they are tasteless. They have no flavour. The only way you’ll notice they are part of this recipe is because you see them.
And you may be wondering why chia seeds are part of this recipe. Fair question, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a store bought jam that contained chia seeds. The chia seeds are the magical ingredient that transforms and sets the liquid berry mixture into a jam texture. They work in this jam the same way they work in an overnight oats recipe. So don’t omit them or your the recipe won’t work!
How Long Does Chia Seed Jam Last?
Strawberry chia seed refrigerator jam (or any chia seed jam) does not keep as long in the fridge as a store-bought jam. It will last about 2-weeks. So use it up as quickly as possible (it won’t be hard to do once you see how delicious it is!) Enjoy!
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How to Make Strawberry Chia Seed Refrigerator Jam
A recipe for easy, no boil strawberry chia seed refrigerator jam that just needs 4 ingredients and a little bit of patience!
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, stems removed
- 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp chia seeds
- pure maple syrup to taste (see note below)
- Place strawberries in a food processor and pulse until the desired consistency is reached.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl and add lemon juice and chia seeds. Mixed until combined.
- Add maple syrup, 1 tbsp at a time and taste after each addition. Repeat until the desired sweetness is reached. See note below.
- Transfer mixture to a jar.
Close jar and refrigerate for at least 6 hours for the jam to set.
- Depending on how sweet your berries are, the amount of maple syrup needed will vary. Add maple syrup, 1 tbsp at a time. Taste after each addition until it reaches the level of sweetness you prefer.
- Recipe makes 1 1/2 cups of jam.
- Calorie count is based on each serving being 1 tablespoon and 4 tablespoons of maple syrup being added to the jam.
Misty says
Funny, I just did this today! I had about 20-25 cups of strawberries. It made A LOT…lol. So I’m attempting to freeze some. I don’t know how that will go with the chia seeds!
Gwen says
It’s the strawberry jam making time of year, Misty! That is a lot! You will have jam for a long time, which is a good thing 🙂 Enjoy it!
Margaret @ Veggie Primer says
This looks delicious and sounds easy! How lucky ng does it keep in the fridge?
Gwen says
Hi Margaret! It will keep in the fridge for a couple weeks, not as long as the store bought stuff but the batch is small so it shouldn’t be a problem 🙂