No Added Sugar Strawberry Jam – All the Taste Without the Carbs (Shelf Stable!)
So I made several jams these past few weeks to stock and filled my pantry for the winter. I have a few favorites, but this sugar-free strawberry jam is, by far, my #1 favorite. I used my fresh garden strawberries, and I think that made the difference. It’s sweet and punchy and tastes like fresh strawberries with a tiny hint of burnt sugar. I’ve been smearing it on everything.
You don’t need garden-fresh strawberries though, you can make this jam with a frozen bag of strawberries.
There is no added sugar in this recipe, only the natural sugar from the fruit.
Oh the ways you can use this sugar-free strawberry jam
This sugar-free strawberry jam is super versatile.
Think of it as a strawberry filling.
I’m in the process of creating a few recipes with this jam, like low carb lamingtons, and some gluten-free PB&J cupcakes. But you could add this to anything where you want a punch of strawberry flavor.
Having a few jars on hand is a time saver. Making your jam also allows you to control the ingredients and level of sweetener in your jams. This process is a big win-win for me.
PLUS making your own shelf-stable strawberry jam is a great way to save a few bucks.
We’re using a 100% pectin without added sugar, for a perfect gel.
Ok so now let us talk about the pectin problem.
Pectin gets a bad wrap in the low carb/ keto food community. You will often see recipes say “made without pectin,” and that’s usually because the low sugar required pectins still have sugar in them.
So what do we do?
Well, I found this amazing product called Pomona’s 100% Pure Pectin. This post isn’t sponsored. I am over the moon crazy for this product.
No sugar is required, but you do need to use a sweetener. Stevia, xylitol, erythritol, monk fruit, allulose – it doesn’t matter, it will work. I tested ALL of them to see what sugar replacement would work best, and they all worked exceptionally well.
PomoNa’s 100% pectin
So if you have canned jam before, this process has an extra step.
The package of pectin also comes with a small packet of calcium powder.
There are two types of pectins – pectins that require sugar to gel, and pectins that need calcium to gel. There is a whole scientific explanation on Pomona’s website if you’re interested,
The calcium powder gets mixed into a small jar of water (and lasts forever refrigerated). The calcium water is what gets added to your jam recipes, usually a teaspoon or two at a time.
SO easy.
You can find Pomona’s pectin on Amazon, or in health food stores. I paid a little over $8.00 Canadian for a box. I balked at the price but did not realize that one box will make up to 22 half-pins (8 ounces) jars.
And you know what… with commercial low sugar jams priced high, it’s still way cheaper to make your own. Especially if you can get your hands on local, in-season berries.
Working with PomoNa’s 100% pectin
I found working with this pectin much easier vs. working with regular pectin. This pectin was much more forgiving. If the jam didn’t gel to my requirements, I could add more calcium water, and it would thicken a bit more.
If I added my pectin and sweetener, I could always add more sweetener and continue to process without over thickening the jam. This was great because I wanted to make sure my jam was sweet enough, but I didn’t want to over-sweeten at the start.
Additionally, If you have jars of jam that don’t quite set after they are cooled, you can reprocess them and add either more pectin or more calcium water to get the gel to thicken.
The instructions come in the box, and they are super easy to follow. Pomona’s also has a fantastic website with all kinds of directions and base recipes for you to work with including instructions for developing your own recipes.
- Quick note: Use filtered water in your recipes. If you have hard water (which tends to lean heavy on the calcium already), they will thicken more than you want them to – so be mindful that your water can play a part in how thick your jam gels.
What are the best sweeteners for this low carb strawberry jam recipe?
I tested them all! My kitchen will be forever sticky after this jam making session.
I tested Stevia (which I am not a fan of in the first place, but for testing, I gave it a whirl), Swerve, xylitol, erythritol, monk fruit/erythritol blend, allulose, and Truvia. They all worked beautifully, but some stood out above the rest.
By far the jam made with Allulose was the best. It had a sticky, gooey texture that commercially bottled jams are known for, and had the best taste. It straight up tasted like jam. By far, my favorite.
Erythritol did tend to turn grainy when cold, as erythritol tends to do. If you warmed the jam up, it was perfect. So if you want to use erythritol know that graining up when cold will happen.
I also tested my favorite sweetener, So Nourished monk fruit erythritol blend, and it did grain up a tiny bit but not as much as straight-up erythritol in the recipe.
Xylitol was GREAT, but it does add additional carbs, so not my favorite for that reason.
Truvia, Stevia, and Swerve worked fine, but I find they have an aftertaste for me, but that’s personal. If you like Truvia, or Stevia, or Swerve, absolutely use them. The jam gelled beautifully, and the fruit held the colour and texture.
****If you use Xylitol, remember that it is poisonous to dogs and cats! ****
Important Canning Tips
There are a few safety precautions!
This sugar-free strawberry jam requires a full 10-minute rolling boil to seal the jam jars – DO NOT skip this!
- DO NOT skip the lemon juice. I usually say fresh lemon juice at every opportunity, but canning is different. Use bottled lemon juice. Fresh lemons vary in acidity, and you want to make sure you get your acidity level correct. Using bottled lemon juice will ensure you’re adding the right amount. Strawberries are lower in acid, so the addition of lemon juice is required to get the PH levels correct for canning.
- Do not use a jam bottle larger that 500ML (2 cups).
- When you pull your sugar-free strawberry jam bottles from the canning bath, leave them rest for 24 hours without moving them, or tilting them. Let them set.
- Any jars that did not pop or did not seal properly can be reprocessed in the water bath for another 10 minutes, or stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
Storage and Serving suggestions
After canning, this sugar-free strawberry jam stores well for up to a year in a cool dark place. Once opened, you can store this jam in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
I suggest using smaller canning jars, like 4 ounces (half cup) so when you open your jar, you only have a few servings at a time in the fridge.
Of course, if you bake a lot, canning your jam in 8-ounce jars makes sense. Eight ounces is the perfect size to top a cheesecake or add as a filling to squares or bars.
Looking for More Sugar Free Jam Recipes?
Check out these sugar free and low carb jam and sauce recipes:
Laura Kennedy
Writer, Recipe Developer, and Blog Owner
With decades of experience in low-carb baking, Sugar-Free Sprinkles has been whipping up guilt-free treats long before keto became a trend. Her recipes have been featured in Prevention Magazine, Women’s Health, Woman’s Day, Taste of Home, and The Pioneer Woman — to name a few!
Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam - All the Taste Without the Carbs (shelf stable!)
A sugar-free strawberry jam that gels perfectly and is shelf-stable for up to a year. Perfect for adding to low carb baking recipes for a punch of strawberry flavor.
Ingredients
- 5 cups fresh chopped strawberries
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 1/3 cup allulose
- 2 tsp Pomona's Universal Pectin
- 2 tsp calcium water (provided in the pectin box)
- 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
Instructions
Notes
You control the level of sweetness in this recipe. If you want to add half the sweetener, that is perfectly fine. If you want to add more, that will also work. The level of sweetener does not impact the gel from this pectin.
The jam is shelf-stable unopened for up to one year so long as the jam is stored in a cool dark place. Once opened, the jam will need to be refrigerated and will last for a week.
Serving size is one tablespoon
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 80 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 4Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 1gNet Carbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 1gSugar Alcohols: 9gProtein: 0g
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs (and sugar alcohols) are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fibre.
We are a family run dive centre in Cyprus, we love your content.
So 2 things. This recipe was for strawberry rhubarb jam. No rhubarb instructions. Recipe called for vanilla optional. When do you add?
I have all the ingredients right here, right now. Gonna skip vanilla and use to cups rhubarb to 3 cups strawberries and use your recipe. Hope it comes out! P,ease try to be very clear when adding recipes, it is work to do this and to have to repeat makes twice as much work. Thanks for the info and I will let you know it turns out!
Hey Marlene, this recipe is for no sugar added strawberry Jam – there is no mention at all of Rhubarb. Thanks for pointing out the vanilla though I made that adjustment asap.
Hello! In addition to making strawberry jelly, I’d like to make blueberry jelly. Any idea if I switched the strawberries for blueberries if that would work? Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Eva, I actually have a blueberry jam recipe that uses the exact same method. You can check out the post here https://sugarfreesprinkles.com/shelf-stable-sugar-free-blueberry-jam/ Cheers!
Is the measurement for the sweetener the same regardless which one you chose to use?
Hi Shannon, there will be a lot of math, unfortunately. Some sweeteners pour 1:1 for sugar, some are 90% as sweet, some 50%. Usually, the sweetener you have will let you know how it subs out for sugar. If you email me I can send you a copy of a sweetener substitution chart (sugarfreesprinkles@gmail.com), or you can grab it at the top of the site by clicking the banner.
Good evening Laura…. I made this jam today and it turned out marvelous. The fruit rose to the tops of the jars and the bottom is clear ‘jam’ but otherwise tastes great. The serving size is missing in the specs. It says ‘serving size 1’ but what is one? One Tablespoon, one teaspoon? I need to know for carb counts.
Hi Kevin, the serving size is for one tablespoon, I’ve gone back and adding that note to the recipe card. Cheers!
Just checked, and Pomona pectin on amazon.ca is currently CAD 15.95. Shame, as I would have liked to try it
Hi Dean, I’m actually in Canada and you can find Pomona’s Pectin at many natural food stores. Well.ca carries it (currently out of stock), as does goodness me and a few others. It’s usually priced at 7.99 -8.99 but one box does about 4-5 batches of jam.
Hi Laura,
I would like to try this recipe using allulose, but I don’t can. Can I just freeze the jars of jam instead? Will it change the taste or texture? Thank you.
Hi Sharon, you can make freezer jam with allulose and universal pectin no problem at all, but the process is a bit different from what I have on my site. You can check it out on Pomona’s website under freezer jam, for some reason my site won’t allow me to leave a link.
If I sweeten my blueberry jam with stevia, can I still can it and store it on my shelf in my pantry?
Hi Patty, if you use Stevia that measures like sugar (cup for cup Stevia) can be used just like sugar in this recipe. The big concern with canning jam like this is the acid level, so do not adjust or change the lemon juice, it is 100% required to ensure a safe jam. Hope that helps!
Hi , I make my jam with Citric Acid instead of lemons. Seems to take a bit longer to come to setting point. However the finished result was really fine.
Hi Mit, thanks so much for the feedback, I’ll add it to the post. I know lots of canners like using citric acid over lemon juice so it’s good to know that it worked. Cheers!
Hi,
I’m looking for a way to make blackberry jam using monk fruit/erythritol. Do you think I could substitute blackberries in this recipe?
Hi Maryalice, you can replace the blackberries in this recipe no problem. Just know if you use erythritol in canning the texture can end up crystallized and hard in the final product. You can soften it back up by warming it. Also, be sure to use a pectin that does not require sugar like Pomona’s. Regular pectin will not thicken without sugar. Cheers!
According to the USDA, Ball and even Pomona, strawberries are acidic enough to not need added lemon juice. Can you please pint me to the research you found staying otherwise? 1/2 a cup in a small 4 cup batch of jam is indeed a lot.
I do realize it can help preserve the color, but you stated it is necessary for the acidity.
Thanks!
The recipe calls for a 1/4 cup of lemon juice, I don’t see where it says 1/2 cup? I always add lemon juice even to acidic fruits and especially in posts I put on the internet. People add ALL kinds of things to recipes and without the lemon juice and safety warning I could have someone mix half strawberries with something else and get seriously sick. So my research is the emails I get from readers who do all kinds of odd and weird things to recipes. It is required if you want to keep the color. But beyond all this, lemon juice generally helps the pectin create bonds and does make for a better gel. Hope that helps.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for sharing your no sugar jam recipe. We made 20 batches of regular jams and they all came out fine. We tried a no-sugar jam recipe and used Swerve 1:1. This batch has really large visible crystals. We weren’t sure if it’s safe to consume. Is there a way to fix it or should we trash it? I appreciate your help!
Hi Karen, Swerve will crystalize in most recipes when it is at high concentrations and cold. It’s fine to consume, but that texture is a bit off-putting. To save your jam and not toss those fresh fruits and effort you can do two things. You can heat the jam up as you need it. Just add a tablespoon or two to a small bowl and microwave it on a low setting for a few seconds until the jam starts to melt, which will remove the crystals. The second thing you can do is make that bottle of jam into pancake syrup. Add the whole jar to a pot and add water and heat until everything is melted. It won’t be shelf-stable at this point, but it will last in the fridge for a week or two. The ratio of water will depend on how thick you want your syrup, but I would start with 1 cup of jam to 1/2 cup of water and work up from there. I recommend allulose for jams because it stays sticky and won’t crystalize like some of the other sweeteners. I hope this helps!