A few summers ago, my guy and I planned a vacation to Disneyland. I grew up visiting the park nearly every year, especially since we passed right by it on the freeway when driving to my grandparents’ house in southern California. When I found out that my guy had only gone once throughout his entire childhood, as a 5-year-old, I decided it was my job to change that.
I wanted to show him both Disneyland and California Adventure: Main Street, Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Soarin’ Over California, California Screamin’, Grizzly River Run… And even more of my favorite rides, so we settled on two-day park hopper passes to fit everything in.
We booked a room at a hotel a little way down the road from the Disneyland with a free shuttle service that transported guests to the theme parks and back. Even better, I accidentally stumbled upon a special when making our reservation—our room came with a complementary breakfast every morning during our stay!
I love free food.
So after showering each morning, I phoned in an order to go and wandered down to the lobby while my night-owl guy slowly eased out of bed. With eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, and toast, each gigantic meal actually served both of us, despite being meant for just one person!
When I opened up the paper bag back in our hotel room, I pulled out the boxes of food… Followed by an assortment of tiny jam jars for the toast! Strawberry, raspberry, apricot, grape, and orange marmalade. Because of the hotel restaurant’s generosity, we came home with quite a collection, and I loved how quick and easy they were to use whenever I got a craving.
And they partially inspired today’s recipe: 10 Minute Raspberry Jam! This healthier fruit spread comes together in less time than it took me to ride the elevator down to the lobby and back, and it contains two of my favorite superfoods!
The first one is fairly obvious, seeing as the jam has “raspberries” in the title… But the second superfood is the secret ingredient that actually helps the jam thicken in just 10 minutes. It’s full of fiber, antioxidants, and omega-3s too! Can you guess what it is?
It’s chia seeds! These itty bitty seeds look similar to poppy seeds in color and size, but they’re really absorbent and can soak up huge amounts of liquids, which helps this fruit spread thicken so quickly.
As for a quick recipe run-down, either fresh or frozen and thawed raspberries will both work. I tend to use the latter since they’re usually cheaper and readily available year-round. Purée those, add the chia seeds and stevia (a no-calorie, clean eating, plant-based sweetener!), and cook the mixture on the stove for a few minutes. Cooking evaporates some of the water from the raspberries, and the chia seeds absorb the rest.
I started out making small batches since I only occasionally ate jam before, but… Those jam jars act like magnets for my spoon and empty themselves much too quickly!
| 10 Minute Raspberry Jam | | Print |
- 1 cup (140g) raspberries (fresh or frozen, thawed and drained)
- 1 tbsp (12g) chia seeds
- ⅛ tsp vanilla crème liquid stevia (I used Sweet Drops, about 20 drops)
- Purée the raspberries in a food processor or blender. Transfer the purée to a small pot, and stir in the chia seeds and stevia. Cook for 4-5 minutes over medium-low heat, or until thickened and reduced by about half. Transfer the jam to a jar to cool.
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, sugar-free}
More chia seed jam recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Strawberry and Rhubarb Chia Seed Jam by Healthy Nibbles & Bits
♥ Strawberry Chia Seed Jam by Running With Spoons
♥ Blackberry Chia Seed Jam by Two Peas and Their Pod
♥ Peach Chia Jam by Diet Taste
Hi,
Do you sterilize the jar first?
No, I didn’t because I knew we’d eat the jam within a week. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of it Jon!
I was able to try it this weekend. It turned out pretty well. I will likely make some more when this batch runs out. I do have another question regarding sterilizing the jars. Maybe this would be more suited for the nut butter pages but since those last longer, do you sterilize those? Or is sterilizing the jars more for long term storage? I am new to all of this so trying to learn as much as possible. Thanks
I’m glad you enjoyed the jam Jon! I don’t sterilize my nut butter jars either. I’ve had the nut butters last in the fridge for at least 4 months before without any issues! Sterilization is typical for canning things like fruits and veggies (that could easily grow mold or bacteria) when you want them to last for at least 8 months to a year. It generally isn’t necessary for nut butters!
Ok good to know. Thank you for your responses.
My pleasure Jon!
Amy,
For gluten free option on the PBJ thumbprint cookies. What can you substitute for the millet flour and coconut flour..can you just use 1:1 with GF flour? So you would have GF flour and tapioca flour?
Thanks,
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Brigitte! For my PB&J Thumbprint Cookies, I highly recommend using the exact blend that I included in the Notes section (millet + tapioca + coconut) for the best taste and texture. If you have strong feelings against using that blend, then you can substitute a store-bought gluten-free flour blend like this one in place of the white whole wheat flour. 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of the cookies!
Hi Amy. Jon again. I have really been enjoying the raspberry jam. I was wondering how difficult it would be to alter the recipe to make strawberry rhubarb jam. Obviously you would just swap the raspberries for the strawberries and rhubarb but the part I am finding difficult is trying to determine how much of each to keep the servings and calories about the same. The 8 1 tablespoon servings really fit in well with my macros. Every thought of doing a strawberry rhubarb recipe? Or even if I could just figure out the conversion rate to keep the calories and servings about the same. Any thoughts? I keep coming back to the page. So many good recipes to try.
I really appreciate your kind words about my recipes Jon — that means a lot to me that you enjoy this raspberry jam so often! 🙂 I don’t have much experience with rhubarb, but that sounds like a wonderful flavor combo for jam. It’s hard for me to work on reader requests right now, but I’ll certainly add that to my list! In the meantime, I imagine that it’d be good to use more strawberry than rhubarb, if you’d like to experiment yourself, and this is the nutrition calculator that I use so you can also track your macros for the strawberry rhubarb jam! 🙂
Thank you so much for the raspberry jam recipe! I am wondering if I grind the chia seeds first would it still gel up nicely? My kids don’t like to see the black seeds. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while!
I think that should work Lisa! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you and your kids think of this jam!
Can the 10 minute jam be frozen?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Cheryl! I haven’t tried freezing this jam, so I’m honestly not sure and don’t want to lead you astray. I’d love to hear what you think of it if you decide to try making it! 🙂
Love all your recipes! they are all delicious and healthy! I am having a good time making all your recipes. I learned so much about baking. Just bought your chocolate book. Btw, my husband thanks you too!! Now for my question: Would blueberries work for the jam recipe?