Seedless Strawberry Jam (2024)

This Seedless Strawberry Jam is a quick, easy and no fuss recipe for making a fabulously smooth and sweet strawberry preserve. It’s perfect served classically with scones, as a cake filling or simply slathered on toast!

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It is well known that I am a very picky eater and I’ve made no bones about the fact that I don’t eat an awful lot of fruit. Peaches are an exception as are strawberries and the occasional fig.

So it figures that one of the only jams I use is strawberry. And I realised a few years ago that I much prefer it when it is lovely and smooth without seeds. My favourite is Hartley’s Smooth Strawberry Jam. So when I make jam at home, thats the type I make.

I did much research to work out the best way to make a smooth jam including asking lots of advice from the folks over at Lost in Food and Farmersgirl Kitchen. Then I gave my version a go…perfect first time. And I can’t stop eating it!

Update! I now love blueberries too (only cooked, not raw, I haven’t lost my mind!). And I’ve created a Smooth Blueberry Jam recipe. Its similar to this one, small batch and super easy to make.

How To Seedless Strawberry Jam – Step by Step Video

Jam or Jelly or Conserve

What are the difference between these terms or are they the same?

Jam

Jam is fruit and sugar boiled until it reaches a setting consistency like this recipe. In America, jam is traditionally called jelly. UK jelly is known as jello in the US!

Jelly

But we also have jellies in the UK which are not the sweet gelatin set kind that you eat for dessert with ice cream. Think cranberry jelly or redcurrant jelly that you’d eat with Roast Chicken.

These are basically jams with no actually pieces of fruit in them. The fruit is cooked, the juice strained out and the “jam” made with just the juice. This is different to this recipe where the smooth jam is made with the whole fruit which is pureed.

Conserve

Conserves are usually whole-fruit jams. So the fruit is left whole. The process to achieve this can be slightly different and longer from making jam or jelly and can involve soaking the fruit in sugar overnight before it it boiled.

How to Serve Seedless Strawberry Jam

There are a million ways to eat jam. Simply on toast or even spread on a Bagel or croissant for breakfast is a great start.

You can combine it with peanut butter to make that American classic, the “PB&J” or make a super classic British Pudding like jam roly poly or this Bakewell Pudding from Farmersgirl Kitchen. You could also try using it in these Easy Jam Muffins from Curly’s Cooking or switch out the raspberry jam in these Easy Jam Flapjacks.

And then of course it is almost a must to slather jam onto some Scones and to use it to fill a Victoria Sandwich.

If you are using an already opened jar that has been kept in the fridge, I would recommend bringing the jam up to room temperature before eating. The flavour will be dulled if you eat it fridge cold.

How to Sterilise Jars and Preserve/Can Jam

There is a whole world of variations and advice for how you should prepare your jars and deal with the jars once they’re sealed. They vary from person to person and country to country.

Here in the UK we largely make sure that the jars are properly sterilised, fill the jars with the hot jam, seal them and that’s that. In the US it is almost a given that the jars will then be “processed” to complete the “canning” process. I have purposely provided no links here – if you’d like to learn more about canning, Google is your friend.

There are a lot of strong feelings about this in the “jam community” (yes there is one) which I have no interest in being drawn into. All I know is that UK cooks have been making jam for a very long time without any issues. Therefore I am more than happy to follow the UK process for my jams.

Jar Sterilisation Options

There are several ways that you can sterilise your jam jars.

• Run the jars and lids through a hot wash in the dishwasher.
• Bake the jars and lids in the oven on a baking tray.
• Microwave the jars and boil the lids in water.
• Boil the jars and lids in water.

Whichever method you choose the only important thing is to make sure that the jars and lids are left to dry without being touched. And that you do not under any circ*mstances touch the inside of the jars or lids as this can contaminate them and undo your sterilisation. Tongs are your friend.

For the record, I usually use the dishwasher method.

How to Tell if the Jar is Sealed

It is essential to add the lid to the hot jars filled with the hot jam straight away. As the jam and jar cool, a vacuum is created in the jar and the lid will be pulled downwards. To help this, I often turn my jars upside down to cool.

This means that when you press the lid, it doesn’t move or pop. When you open a jar of properly sealed jam the lid will then pop. And an opened or not properly sealed jar will pop when you press it.

If your jars don’t seal properly, you can either keep the jar in the fridge and eat it relatively quickly or go though a canning process to seal them. The choice is yours.

Ingredients for Small Batch Strawberry Jam

Strawberries

You can use any strawberries you like here. Wonky, fresh, about to turn, big ones, little ones, frozen ones, it just doesn’t matter!

More Ways to Use Strawberries

Sugar

Use a white sugar. Granulated or caster are both fine. Other sugars will add flavour which will clash with the fruit flavour and may affect the recipe outcome.

Yes there is a lot of sugar in this recipe. Jam has lots of sugar, this is how jam is preserved – sugar is a preservative. Do not reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe or ask me if you can. You can’t, you shouldn’t, so don’t.

You can buy “jam sugar”. This has added pectin. You do not need this. We will be adding the correct amount of pectin using lemon juice. By using jam sugar and lemon juice, you might end up with a think lump of jam and not a nice spreadable preserve.

Lemon Juice

Jam requires a naturally occurring substance called pectin to set. Pectin is naturally present in most fruits including strawberries. However strawberries have a very low level of pectin so they need a helping hand.

I use lemon juice in this recipe to gain that extra pectin needed but also to add a little tang to cut through the sweetness of the jam. You can use fresh or bottled, it doesn’t matter.

Be Flexible

Actually don’t be flexible! Jam is a bit of a science so it is one instance where it is best to follow a recipe.

Saying that…! If you don’t need such a smooth jam you can skip the blitzing and/or sieving stage and just give the strawberries a gentle mash in the pan.

Vegetarian and Vegan Jam

This seedless strawberry jam recipe is naturally suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.

Is Jam Allergy Friendly?

This small batch recipe is free from egg, dairy, gluten and nuts.

Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.

Equipment Notes for Seedless Strawberry Jam

You don’t really need any great specialist equipment to make jam. The most important thing is to have a good sized pan. This recipe using just one pound of fruit makes a fairly small amount of the finished product but you still need to use a good large saucepan.

You might think that I’m being excessive when you first see the amount of fruit in the pan but it bubbles up so much when boiling, you’ll soon understand why.

There are a few things that will help make your jam making easier although they’re not essential. A thermometer is one of them. It turns out that I own quite a selection and they are all suitable. My laser thermometer (centre) is mess free and fun to use.

My meat thermometer (left) posed a little more peril as I needed to hold it in the jam until it registered the temperature. And my old fashioned sugar thermometer (right) just happily sat in the pan the whole time. But it was harder to wash up!

And don’t forget something the store the jam in. I love my super cute quilted jam jar set. But you can simply use old jam jars that you’ve thoroughly cleaned.

A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.

Discover More Homemade Jam Recipes

Get Ahead

You can get up to a year ahead with this jam! The more important point to note is that you really need to be at least 24 hours ahead of the game. The jam needs sufficient time to cool and set before you dig in.

Seedless Strawberry Jam Tips

Do not touch the hot jam. I cannot stress this enough. I don’t care how tempting it looks. Or if that little bit on the side looks a bit cooler. Do. Not. Touch. It. You will regret it.

If you are using a thermometer, you can simply rely on the jam hitting temperature and not worry about doing the wrinkle test on a cold plate. I like to take a belt and braces approach so I use both testing methods. But you can just use one or the other.

I mentioned before to use a good big saucepan. This is worth repeating here!

If you don’t need to keep your jam for any length of time, you can skip the jar stage and use any old container and keep your jam in the fridge.

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?

Still Have Questions?

Simple! Just contact me and I will do my best to help as quickly as I am able. Head over to my Contact Me page, any of my social media channels or post a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll see what I can do.

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More Seedless & Smooth Jam Recipes

Seedless Strawberry Jam (Small Batch Recipe)

This Seedless Stawberry Jam is a quick, easy and no fuss recipe for making a fabulously smooth and sweet strawberry preserve. It’s perfect served classically with scones, as a cake filling or simply slathered on toast!

Nutrition (Approx)

Serving: 1tbsp | Calories: 60kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 28mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg

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