Before we left for our trip, I found myself with a couple pints of blueberries and a few spotted bananas to use up. I’ve been meaning to make my strawberry chia seed jam for a while now, so I ended up adapting my recipe using blueberries, all-natural sweetener, and a touch of vanilla. It turned out lovely and was ready in 20 minutes flat!
This is the strawberry chia seed jam that I made a couple years ago:
Chia seeds are magic. I love using them as thickeners in all kinds of foods from homemade jam to vegan overnight oats to pasta sauces.
This strawberry chia seed “jam” is a tasty filling for my Healthy Strawberry Oat Squares! You can use any kind of filling that you like in these oat squares. They remind me a lot of a healthy nutri-grain bar.
This is not a traditional jam recipe by any means, but then again I’m not one for following traditions all that often when it comes to food. Instead of using white sugar, I used maple syrup to lightly sweeten the berries. The maple and vanilla extract do a great job of bringing out the flavours in the blueberries without overpowering them. Chia seeds thicken the mixture nicely while adding a tasteless burst of nutrition in every bite.
If you’ve got 20 minutes, you can make this jam. It’s a snap. All you do is add blueberries and a touch of maple syrup into a pot. Bring it to a low boil and then reduce it to simmer for about 5 minutes or so. Then stir in the chia seeds and simmer it for another 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently until it’s as thick as you desire.
Before adding the chia seeds, the blueberries will be quite watery.
Have no fear chia is here!
After adding in the chia seeds and cooking the mixture down, it thickens up beautifully! Hence, the name – magical jam. You won’t believe your eyes how thick this gets. Thanks to the chia seeds, we’re also pumping up the jam with all kinds of healthy omega fats, iron, fibre, protein, magnesium, and calcium. Who knew jam could be so healthy?
Enjoy this on toast, oatmeal, vegan overnight oats, thumbprint cookies, tarts, in smoothies, and so much more. Also, feel free to try this out with any seasonal fruit you wish.
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Magical Blueberry Vanilla Chia Seed Jam
Yield
1 cup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Adapted from my strawberry chia seed jam.
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup, to taste (or other liquid sweetener)
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions
- In a medium-sized non-stick pot, bring the blueberries and 3 tbsp of maple syrup to a low boil. Stir frequently, and reduce heat to low-medium to simmer for about 5 minutes. Lightly mash the blueberries with a potato masher or fork, leaving some for texture.
- Stir in the chia seeds until thoroughly combined and cook the mixture down until it thickens to your desired consistency, or about 15 minutes. Stir frequently so it doesn’t stick to the pot.
- Once the jam is thick, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Add more maple syrup to taste if desired. Enjoy on toast, English muffins, oatmeal, vegan overnight oats, oat bars, tarts, cookies, banana soft serve, smoothies, and more. The jam should keep for at least a week in an air-tight container in the fridge.
A breakfast sandwich sounded like a good idea.
Banana slices, sunflower seed butter, and blueberry jam all sandwiched in a toasted English muffin….I couldn’t wait a second longer.
*Poof*…it was gone just like a magic trick.
~~~
We’re off for our flight back home this morning! I think my first meal back will be banana bread oatmeal with blueberry jam & sunbutter to top it all off…yum. And then about a week’s worth of salads because I kinda got off track with the salad-a-day challenge a bit. Whoops.. This last week of June is going to be a leafy one…
This will be my Saturday afternoon project. I have to get to the market first to find my berries! It looks so good and so healthy. Thanks for sharing. :)
Great blog and I have a few clients who will be interested in this so thank you.
Many thanks
Nick
Brilliant idea, I can’t wait to try it out with all kinds of fruits!
Hi Angela and thank you for all the great recipes and stories! I also love making my own jelly and jam and thought I was the only one that thought to add the vanilla ~ silly me. I can’t wait to try the chia seeds which I will be buying this weekend. The vanilla adds such a nice subtle flavor. Thank you for sharing ~ Adriana
I agree…I add vanilla to pretty much anything! hah
Perfect timing Angela! I have a ton of blueberries that need to be eaten ASAP. My boyfriend is in town and I think I’m going to surprise him with this for breakfast :)
Your pics make me want to make some right now!! I use chia seeds on my cereal but never thought to use in a jam recipe….brilliant!!!
I hope you don’t mind I add your blog to my list of blogs to follow? You are an incredible inspiration and your recipes are fantastic!
Question: is L-cysteine always non-vegetarian, or can it be vegan? For example, I thought the pies from Mcdonald’s were vegan, as they list no eggs or milk…but they are made of l-cysteine and I’m not exact sure what this consists of. Thank you =)
I love blueberries and I love jam so am totally keen to try this natural lower sugar option! BTW – I made your potato burritos today and they were delicious – a keeper for sure! Keep the delicious recipes and creativity coming!
I love chia seed jam! The blueberry, maple syrup and vanilla combo sounds delicious. :)
Wow, I (a) want to make this jam asap and (b) am going to use whatever jam I have currently to make that banana, jam, butter sandwich tomorrow morning. Looks so mouth watering!
I have found so much inspiration on your sites, and for that I am deeply thankful. I’ve had so much fun trying your recipes, like this one above. Can’t wait to try the batch I made this evening on an english muffin in the morning! A million thanks!
– Kate
Thank you Kate, Im so happy to hear that! Enjoy :)
Looks amazing. I used chia seeds for a chocolate pudding and it is quite magical to see the transformation from runny to just right! :)
This looks SO good! Any idea if I can put this into sterilized jars and can it so it keeps all winter? Right now I make a jam recipe that uses berries, sucanat, honey, and green apples for the pectin to thicken, it goes into sterilized jars, and then into a boiling water bath in the canner for 5 minutes, and I have jars of jam that keep all year. Do you think I could do the same with this recipe? Thanks!
Hey Leah, That is a great question and Ive wondered it myself! I have no prior experience with canning so I wouldn’t be able to say for sure. Maybe someone else has tried it and can give us their advice!
I’m going to give it a go over the next few weeks. I’ll be out picking bilberries in August, so will have a crack at it and let you know how it goes.
Made this yesterday, thank you SO much!! It took hardly anytime to make and it is a winner in our house. Chia seeds to thicken is unreal, thank you:))
Chia seeds in anything with liquid usually totally gross me out – they just get so slimy in the chia puddings and smoothies! But I think this is one I could handle! It would be just like raspberry seeds. :) I’m gonna try it!
yea I found that they reminded me of rasp seeds too. I didnt find it overly slimy!
would stevia work instead of maple syrup?
can’t see why not :)
I was about to ask whether the chia added a slime-factor, but that comment ^^ answered it for me! Plus, I guess jam is fairly slippery anyway so it would be less noticeable. I made jam last year with agar agar flakes, but I’m definitely trying a chia version this summer, thanks for the idea!
Can this jam be canned in a traditional waterbath? I’d love to make some and I love the idea of thickening it with chia seeds. I’ve been canning strawberry jam this year for the first time and using a low/no sugar pectin and a small amount of Sucanat. This recipe sounds amazing.
I think this just changed my LIFE! Lol, okay that sounds a bit dramatic but seriously what a fabulous recipe for easy jam! And by the way, Angela, I love your blog and amazing recipes :)
You are a wealth of brilliant ideas, Angela! Love the idea of adding chia seeds to thicken (and pump up the nutrition) of jam. Sounds delicious!