It’s easy to make your own homemade Strawberry Preserves. With just a few ingredients and a little time, you can create a delicious spread that captures the essence of fresh strawberries. Whether you spread it on toast, place a dollop on top of yogurt, or serve a spoonful on oatmeal or fluffy pancakes, it’s pure heaven in every bite.
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
- Simple Ingredients: I love this strawberry preserves recipe because it’s only three ingredients and uses natural sweetener. With just strawberries, lemon juice, and honey, you can create a spread that’s bursting with fresh strawberry flavor, not loaded with sugar and has no pectin!
- Naturally Sweetened: I love preserves that taste like pure strawberries with just a touch of added sweetness, so I decided to come up with my own recipe substituting honey for sugar. Making your own preserves allows you to control the sweetness and avoid any unnecessary additives.
- Versatile Use: It’s perfect on toast (like this American Flag Toast), stirred into yogurt, or even as a topping for ice cream and other desserts. A dollop of fresh strawberry preserves makes everything better!
The Ingredients
- Strawberries: Fresh, ripe strawberries provide the main flavor and natural sweetness. Look for berries that are bright red and perfectly ripe.
- Lemon Juice: Adds a touch of acidity to balance the sweetness and enhance the strawberry flavor.
- Honey: Natural sweetener that add sweetness without the use of refined sugar. You could also use agave nectar.
How to Make Strawberry Preserves
Step 1: Begin by washing, stemming, and halving the strawberries.
Step 2: Place the strawberries, lemon juice, and honey (or agave nectar) in a saucepan or pot.
Step 3: Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer uncovered for 50-60 minutes or until mixture has thickened. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and to help break down the strawberries.
Step 4: Allow the preserves to cool before transferring them to a jar or container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy your homemade strawberry preserves!
Tips and Tricks
- Adjust sweetness: Depending on the sweetness of your strawberries, you may want to adjust the amount of honey or agave nectar. Taste the mixture as it cooks and add more sweetener if needed.
- Consistency: If you prefer smoother preserves, use a potato masher to break down the strawberries further as they cook. For chunkier preserves, leave the strawberries in larger pieces.
- Add flavors: For a twist, you could combine a mixture of berries (raspberries, blueberries or blackberries) to make mixed berry preserves.
How to Store Homemade Strawberry Preserves
Store the cooled preserves in an airtight container or jars in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. You can also freeze the preserves for up to 3 months.
FAQs
The preserves are done when most of the liquid has evaporated, and the mixture has thickened. It should have a jam-like consistency with little chunks of strawberries remaining.
In a pinch, yes, you can use frozen strawberries. Thaw them completely and drain any excess liquid before cooking to ensure the preserves thicken properly.
Serve Preserves with These Recipes
It’s so much fun to make your own strawberry preserves. This homemade strawberry preserves recipe will give you a strawberry preserve that has way less sugar than what you’d buy in the grocery store but is still absolutely delicious. Every morning, we’ve been enjoying these vitamin C-packed, gooey, chunky preserves, and we can’t get enough! If you love this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and rating below.
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Strawberry Preserves
Equipment
- Sauce pan
- mason jar with lid (for storage)
Ingredients
- 2 pints strawberries (about 5 cups), stemmed and halved
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup honey or agave nectar
Instructions
- Begin by washing, stemming, and halving the strawberries.
- Place the strawberries, lemon juice, and honey (or agave nectar) in a saucepan or pot and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 50-60 minutes, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid has evaporated (you want the preserves to have little chunks of strawberries).
- Allow the preserves to cool before transferring them to a jar or container with a lid. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Photo by Maren Caruso
Thanks for updating it. I tried it with the correct temperatures and we were very happy with this recipe!
I just tried this for the first time and it is a scorched mess. I followed the directions on here that say to cook it on med-hi for an hour. I thought that sounded odd, but trusted the recipe. After wasting a ton of organic strawberries, I double checked your Lunches cookbook and it says to simmer over low for an hour. Much more sense… what a waste!
I just tried making this with cherries, and it didn’t really turn out like the strawberry preserves. I did cut them in half because I don’t have a cherry pitter, maybe that’s what I did wrong?
Hello Catherine!:)
Love this recipe!!turned out SUPER!!
Can this stay on the countertops for a few days or does it have to go straight to the fridge? I’m planning to give it as a gift 🙂
Can I make this with apples? Tanks!
[…] 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 cup butter, chilled & cubed 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup Nutella, peanut butter or preserves […]
Yes! You can use this method for just about any fruit!
Hi Catherine!
Will this recipe work on other kinds of berries? Like, blueberries or raspberries? Thanks!
[…] Cup Smooth Peanut Butter1/4 Cup Strawberry Preserves, Jam or Jelly1 Double Crust Recipe or 1 14 oz Pre-Made Pie […]
Would this work with blueberries?
Yes! You can either thaw them in the fridge overnight or let them thaw in the saucepan over heat!
can you use frozen berries? i have a ton in the freezer from last summer and need to get rid of them
[…] did not use refines sugar (we are trying to limit BabyN’s sugar intake) and found a recipe on this website that we wanted to try. Here are the directions as well as some pictures I took of the […]
Just made these with the sweetest, tiny little locally grown strawberries and a cinnamon-infused honey from Temecula Valley Honey Company (both from the farmer’s market in Irvine today!) and it turned out AMAZING. The cinnamon honey makes for a great aroma. On a side note, I have a high output burner, so I had to turn mine down to about 3-4 for most of the 60 minutes, and stir frequently, scraping down the sides and bottom with a spoontula to prevent burning. Hope that helps anyone who has had problems with the burning!