Everyone has that time of year that’s a favorite. Mine revolves around the tiny but mighty strawberry. I’ve discovered the easiest way to enjoy them all year long…by making this Easy Strawberry Jam Recipe!

Before you go off the deep end and start getting panicked about canning, take a deep breath. Even though we ARE using a standard canning recipe for this version of an easy strawberry jam recipe, we are also skipping the extra work of water bath canning. If you’re wondering how this is possible, I encourage you to keep reading! It’s going to be so worth it!

Strawberries Picked Fresh on the Farm

Are you staring at a 5 pound basket of strawberries with no idea how you’re going to use them all before they go bad?

What if you could CAN your own Strawberry Jam?

The best part about this recipe is that no canner is required. We are going to explore the magic of the freezer for food preservation, and I’ll share two ways to preserve your summer strawberries to enjoy all winter long.

Canning is a popular summer past time for a couple of reasons.

That’s when the produce is in season, and abundantly available
So many favorite fruits grow only in the summer, so preserving that freshness for later is both rewarding and delicious.

But let’s be honest. Water bath canning is a LOT of work.

It does produce shelf stable food storage, and that’s really important. But not everyone has a canner or has the kind of time and space it takes to do the canning. This is when you discover what a wonderful appliance your freezer is!

Let’s take a look at different kinds of jars that are suitable for freezing jams.

Using authentic Mason Jars are important to safely can AND freeze your food preservation. I recommend Ball® products, because they are easy to find. (affiliate link) They even have freezer specific containers.

Jars and Lids matter when freezing easy strawberry jam.

I recommend using high quality, name brand jars when preserving your food. My favorites are Ball®, Kilner® (affiliate link), and Kerr. (affiliate link) All of them are very sturdy and reliable to use in a variety of conditions. Freezing food in mason jars is safe as long as you don’t over fill, leaving plenty of room at the top for the product to expand as it freezes.

While you can use and reuse the metal lids with bands for freezing, I have discovered the reusable lids for mason jars, (affiliate link) and I absolutely love them. The No Spill reusable lids from Ball® are guaranteed to contain whatever you put in the jar. No leaking! I love them. I have some others are a cheaper, knock off brand, (affiliate link) and they are fine for dry goods used on a regular basis. But for freezing or anything liquid I do recommend the Ball® branded no spill lids.

If you didn’t already know, Ball® has plastic freezer containers, (affiliate link) too. I LOVE them for freezer jams or for freezing cooked jam as we’re doing here. Since they are plastic, they expand and you never have to worry about losing a jar in the freezer.

How do we go from fresh berries to sticky, sweet jam?

First we need the right tools and ingredients, and then you need to cook as directed by the recipe. I personally use and recommend the tried and true recipe for classic strawberry jam as written and shared by Ball® Mason Jars. I have several of their cooking and food preservation books, and I’ve never been disappointed. The recipe in today’s blog post uses pectin, (affiliate link) so if you are not into that, this is not the recipe for you. If you find something you prefer, you can make it as directed and then freeze it the same way I’ve done here. But let’s make this dependable version today.

Uniformly slicing the strawberries will yield an evenly cooked jam

Slice all 5 pounds of your strawberries, put in a large, heavy bottomed stockpot and crush with a potato masher. Turn the heat on to medium high and sprinkle on the pectin as the strawberries begin to cook. Pour in the lemon juice in this step as well.

The berries begin to cook and boil

Bring the berry, lemon juice, pectin mixture up to a rolling boil that can’t be stirred down. Stick with it closely, because it will easily burn on the bottom. A good flat bottomed wooden spoon is excellent for keeping everything moving as it cooks.

Once you’ve hit that heavy rolling boil, add all the sugar at once and keep stirring until fully dissolved.

Getting ready for the foam

Foam is part of cooking strawberry jam. Skim what you can off the top as it cooks down.

Eventually a jewel colored jam will appear in the bottom of your pot

Using a candy thermometer, monitor the temperature of your cooking jam. It should reach 220°F, but don’t over cook it either. Over cooked jam is hard and rubbery and not what you want. It should look deep, ruby red and be reduced by about half with the fruit broken down sufficiently.

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Once the easy Strawberry jam recipe is cooked, it’s ready to go into the jars.

What do we need to get the strawberry jam into the jars and then into the freezer?

Simply ladle the hot jam into clean jars leaving ample headspace

Two pint jars of fresh strawberry jam cooling

Hot jam cooling before covering and freezing. Leave at least 1″ headspace at the top

Hot jam cooling in the freezer containers. Leave space at the top for expansion.

Once the jam has cooled to room temperature, simply seal with the lid of your choice and either refrigerate or freeze. I store mine in pint sized jars, because it’s so good an actual jelly jar is just too small.

It’s fun to experiment with different jar styles when you get into food preservation. You’ll figure out which ones are your favorite to use. Everything pictured in the following gallery are Ball® products.

FAQs about making and using Strawberry Jam

Although a classic, strawberry jam is a great topping for more than just your morning toast. Top your favorite yogurt or vanilla ice cream with a heaping spoonful.

Freezer jam is made with uncooked fruit which gives it a brighter, fresh-from-summer color and flavor. Traditional jams are made by cooking the fruit with sugar and lemon juice, and often placing the jam in hot jars, which are then boiled in a big pot of hot water. This is also known as water bath canning. In this recipe we cook the berries the same way BUT we’re going to freeze it and avoid the extra steps involved in canning.

As shown, I believe the best way to freeze fresh made strawberry jam is in Mason Jars giving 1″ headspace. The newer reusable freezer containers are also very nice.

It is sufficient to wash jars in the diswasher or by hand with soap and hot water. But be sure to cool your jam in the jars to room temperature before placing it in the freezer. Placing hot liquids or food in a mason jar and then placing that jar immediately into the freezer can cause breakage. Mason jars are designed for both freezing and boiling temperatures. But not at the same time.

Making freezer jam requires no sterilizing or sealing of jars. Just clean your jars with hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher.

Are you still intimidated about making Strawberry jam?

Or if are you missing some of the tools needed to make it, I have another suggestion for you!

As an alternative to cooking jam and freezing in jars, strawberries can also be simply washed, sliced and covered with granulated sugar. Mix in the the sugar and allow the berries to sit covered in a large bowl in the fridge for a couple of hours. This technique is call maceration and it means to let the sugar pull the juice from the berries and soften the fruit. Once the fruit is sufficiently macerated, scoop into silicone freezer containers and freeze over night into solid blocks. Once the fruit has been in the containers 24 hours and is frozen solid, simply pop the frozen rectangles out of the container and store in freezer bags until ready to use. You could use them as fruit toppings for cakes or yogurt or ice cream. They would also be delicious to use in fruit smoothies.

I love the 1 cup size silicone freezer containers (affiliate link) and have prepped several things in them to freeze for later use. I highly recommend them!

Frozen Strawberries in the container
Closeup of frozen Strawberries
Frozen strawberries removed from containers
Frozen blocks of Strawberries in freezer bag

Whether you make today’s easy strawberry jam recipe, or freeze macerated slices, I hope you see how simple it is to use the freezer to preserve your summer 🍓.

Frozen in Silicone Trays

Glass and Plastic Containers

vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberry jam

Strawberry Jam on Vanilla Ice Cream

close up of straweberry jam in a glass jar

Summer Freshness in a Jar all Winter Long