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…
We picked 10 pounds of blueberries this weekend so this recipe was perfect. My 5 year old gives it lots of Mmmmms! I get so frustrated at the supermarket looking at containers of jam all with high fructose corn syrup. This is sweet enough for me and I love knowing exactly what went into it. Thank you so much.
I like ro using chia seeds to make cold drink, I love chia seeds for everything! This blogs looks fantastic, I’ll have to give it a try!! :)
Made it on the weekend and it is AWESOME! Halved the recipe because I didn’t have enough blueberries and it worked perfectly well. It should work with other types of berries, correct? Should I use the same quantities?
Yes it will work with other berries :) If you check the comments some people have mentioned variations theyve made! I tried blackberries and it too was good. Just needed a touch more sweetener since they were frozen.
This is great news on using chia seeds- thanks for sharing!! I have a few pounds of frozen blueberries a farmer friend gave us, do you think I can use those instead of fresh?
I tried a batch using frozen blackberries and it worked fine – although I think I had to cook it down much longer. Goodluck!
Hi Angela!
Love your blog! Every recipe I make of yours turns out amazing :)
I made this jam the other day, except I used some left-over cherries instead of blueberries – and it is soooo good! Your a genius
I made one with cherries last night – we must have been on the same wavelength! Glad you are enjoying it :)
Where did you buy your white spoons?
Is it ceramic?
Just made this jam with frozen strawberries and a few nectarines I had to use up. HOLY YUM!! I used date paste to sweeten it. Absolutely delicious. Thanks for a healthy jam recipe! :)
So, aside from the fiber in the chia, what would be the advantage here, vs. other thickeners? The heat destroys the Omega 3’s, correct? Not meaning to criticize in ANY way, and maybe it was asked above? I just am not a HUGE fan of chia but do use it on occasion because I like the health benefits – but I had understood those were pretty much null and void if you heated the chia. Just curious. Thanks so much.
Hi Marti, From what I understand, there is some damage to EFA’s when cooking, especially at high heats. If this is a concern for you, you can cook it at a very low heat or even try mixing it and leaving it overnight in the fridge to thicken up on its own. Goodluck!
YUM! Trying this today! I love jam but don’t eat it because of the calories and additives. I’m a diabetic and it’s not good for me. Nice to know I can eat my jam again! Can you use agave nectar instead of the maple syrup?
Yes I think that should work fine :)
made this tonight with blackberries – turned out great! thanks for the recipe!!! will definitely make again!
Is it possible to can this in a hot water bath? don’t know if there is enough acidity. maybe add some lemon juice? I’d really appreciate instructions if anyone knows.. so much healthier than the normal canning recipes with tons of sugar and pectin.
Hey Beth, I think someone mentioned in the comments recently that they tried canning it and it worked (so far anyways!) You might want to scan through them to see if anyone has pointers.
I made this blueberry jam over the weekend and used it as a topping on your baked oatmeal. It is now my new favorite breakfast item (the baked oatmeal too)! I could (and maybe did…just a little) eat this jam straight from the jar. It was so easy to make that I am going to make some as a favor for my wedding guests next year :)
Wondered if anyone has canned this jam? Do you just do it the same, but then process for about 20 minutes?
Thanks! Looks so good.
Just made apricot chia seed jam, so we will see how that tastes. Used organic cane sugar, as that was the only sweetener in my house!
Do you know if you could can this jam using the water bath canning method?
Thanks!
It’s so delicious! Yummy
I have never even heard of chia seeds. Where do you purchase them? I would love to try this recipe!
You can find them in most health food stores or the organic section of some grocery stores. And online! Enjoy
What a great, healthy, and yummy looking recipe! I can’t wait to try this on an english muffin! Thanks for sharing!
Hi. I just found your Web site. Lucky for me since I am a gluten free vegan! I have tried two of your recipes (both delicious) and look forward to making the blueberry jam. I so appreciate your “allergy” claims, it makes it so easy for me with my gluten allergy. One thing I noticed is that you use bananas in your recipes. Unfortunately, I have an allergy to bananas. Do you have a substitute fruit that I can use? In the vegan overnight oatmeal I used maple syrup in place of the banana and it worked out great.
Thank you!
Eve
Sometimes medjool dates can work as a sub for banana – depends on the recipe of course! But if you need a sub in a smoothie I would try using dates. It wont give it that “soft serve” consistency, but it’s a good alternative in some recipes. Maple syrup – yes that works too! It’s no secret how much I love that sweetener… :)
WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! This has got to be the best jam recipe I’ve ever tried. MAGIC is the right word. I made this with a mix of raspberries and blueberries. It made exactly one big jar and is to die for. Love the use of chia seeds – not often you get a low sugar, high fibre, nutritious jam like this. Thanks xoxo
Hi!
This has become a super important staple in our house. Every weekend I make a batch (or two) of strawberry, and a second batch of either blueberry or raspberry. (I use stevia to sweeten it instead of maple syrup, mostly because I have gestational diabetes.) It’s so easy, yummy and good for us! We use it in smoothies (my fav is strawberry “jam” with raw almonds, water, and stevia blended in a Vitamix), vegan overnight oats, on toast with almond butter for a super easy brekkie, and sometimes with plain yogurt (we aren’t 100% vegan). Thank you for this! I’m about to travel to a couple of thousand miles away to visit family and asked my mom to have some frozen berries on hand so I can whip some up after I get there (the seeds are super easy to bring along). Since developing gestatonal diabetes, this has become my favorite “sweet” and I don’t want to be without it!
Thanks again!