Have you ever tried making chia jam, a pectin-free way to make your own preserves? This Blueberry Chia Jam uses just 3 ingredients – frozen blueberries, maple syrup, and chia seeds – and is perfect for toast, oatmeal, or baked goods.
Jam is traditionally crushed fruit cooked with sugar and pectin – as water evaporates, the fruit thickens to a spreadable consistency. Instead of pectin, which requires a lot of sugar to set, we’re using the absorbency of chia seeds to thicken our frozen fruit.
Bonus: chia seeds are packed with healthy fat and protein, so your toast with jam can be more filling. Ch-ch-ch-chia!
I love keeping frozen berries on hand, because even in the summer, they are cheaper than fresh!
I use them for smoothies, and baked goods, and recipes like this chia jam where the additional liquid is beneficial. The frozen fruit will basically let off fruit juice as it thaws for the chia seeds to soak up – much better than adding water to our recipe.
- 1 and ½ cups frozen blueberries
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 and ½ tablespoons chia seeds
- In a small saucepan, combine frozen blueberries with maple syrup. Begin to cook on medium heat, allowing the berries to thaw while you stir them. After about 5 minutes, you should have a decent amount of liquid that has come out of the berries.
- Use a potato masher or a fork to quickly mash up some of the frozen berries (do this to your taste - I like some berry chunks so I leave some berries intact).
- Add in the chia seeds and stir to incorporate. Stirring frequently, let the mixture cook for 10 minutes until there is no liquid at the bottom of the pan when you stir the mixture. Taste the mixture and adjust sweetness if desired.
- Refrigerate the mixture until firm (4+ hours), and keep refrigerated.
Looking for a way to use up your fresh picked berries? I have yet to experiment with fresh fruit, but using fresh berries will yield less liquid for the chia seeds to absorb.
If you want to play with it, you will need to add a bit of water at the beginning of the recipe or reduce the amount of chia seeds by a bit. Let me know if you try this!
Looking for ways to use up this jam? It is perfect in my Jam Bars or Blueberry Pie Overnight Oats!
Marisa
Nora (A Clean Bake) says
Chia seed jam is one of the best things EVER if you ask me. I love this blueberry version. It’s so simple – how could I pass up trying it!
Marisa says
Yay for chia fans! 😀 Thanks, Nora.
soheila says
I bought fresh blueberry to make jam tonight and I am not sure about a pectin version or chia seed! I have a question. Are not the seeds chewy or feelable/bothering under teeth?
Thanks!
Marisa says
Hi there! Since blueberry jam naturally has seeds, and I’m a fan of seedy jam (things like blackberry jam too), I find it doesn’t bother me. The chia seeds absorb lots of liquid so they are not really chewy or bothersome, but you can tell they’re there.
Carly @ FitLiving blog says
I love making homemade chia seed jam! I recently made a strawberry jam with a squeeze of lemon and drizzle of honey – so delicious!
Marisa says
That sounds amazing, Carly! I’ll try that next!
Tara | Treble in the Kitchen says
Love love love chia jam!! 🙂 Sometimes if the fruit is sweet enough I don’t even need the sweetener! When I have made it with fresh fruit, I typically smash one cup of fruit fruit, add 1 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp sweetener, mix it all together and am good to go 🙂
Marisa says
Yes! Good to know your ratio – I will try that out too!
Megan says
I am so going to be trying chia jam!
Marisa says
Yay! Let me know what you think, Megan!
Christen says
Pinned this and can’t wait to try it!!!
Marisa says
Awesome Christen!
Cassie @ Almost Getting it Together says
I would have never thought to use frozen berries to make jam (I feel like Olivia Pope talking about jam – do you watch Scandal?). I am going to definitely use up what I have in my freezer with this jam!! xoxo
Marisa says
Hope you love it!
rachel @ Athletic Avocado says
gotta love that this only has 3 ingredients!!! yum!!!
Marisa says
Right!? No excuses 🙂
Carly @ FitLiving blog says
I love making homemade chia jam! It is so easy and so delicious. I put it on everything! I recently made one with strawberries, honey and lemon and it was to die for. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Marisa says
Yess!! Wow – that sounds fabulous!