Roasted Strawberry Refrigerator Jam
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An easy to make strawberry refrigerator jam recipe with vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar tastes like the essence of fruit. The jam keeps in fridge for a up to two weeks.
When strawberry season comes around, it absolutely makes sense to buy more pounds of the beautiful, ripe beauties than you know what to do with.
Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that when life gives you strawberries, make strawberry refrigerator jam.
This simple and intensely flavorful jam was inspired by an old standby recipe from Cooking Light — and like the best refrigerator jams, no canning or sterilizing is required. That jam is made in a Dutch oven on the stovetop.
Roasting fruit for jam
But why stand watching over a pot of simmering strawberries for the better part of an hour when you can pop them in the oven and walk away?
Let the oven do the work! It’s a technique I employ a lot in my cooking.
Roasting the strawberries releases their juices and concentrates the fruit until they taste like the very essence of strawberry. Plus, allowing yourself the freedom to become hands-free is a great thing in the kitchen.
And because strawberry refrigerator jam only gets better with a little balsamic vinegar and brandy, there’s a little of both in there too.
- This jam tastes amazing on my best flaky biscuits with soft butter or a schmear of cream cheese.
Roasted Strawberry Refrigerator Jam
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (900 g) strawberries, hulled and sliced in half
- 1 cup (200 g) sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) clear fruit brandy, raspberry, strawberry, cherry or vodka
- 1 vanilla bean pod, split, plus scraped seeds
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Yield: 2 cups jam
- Toss the strawberries in a bowl with the sugar, brandy, vanilla pod and scraped seeds. Let stand 10 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet or small roasting pan.
- Roast in a 250 (120 C) degree oven for about 2 hours, until the berries are very soft and shriveled. Mix around once or twice as they cook.
- Let the syrupy berries cool. Remove the vanilla pod. Transfer the berries and all the pan juices to a bowl and mash with a potato masher to a chunky consistency, or pulse a few times in a food processor, making sure to keep some chunks of strawberry. Stir in the vinegar, lemon juice and salt.
- Store in a covered jar in the refrigerator up to 10 days.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- The jam will become thicker as it cools, as the natural pectin in the strawberries sets.
- Keep the jam in a covered glass container in the refrigerator up to 10 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
Hi! Karen.
May I know why the strawberrys are still so bright in colour even after being roasted for
2 hours?
I think it has to do with choosing ripe, red berries to start with. Also, the lemon juice added to the puree helps set the color.
The oven temperature is 250 degree farenheit or celcius?
Hi Kelly – It’s 250F or 120C
Thank you very much for the recipe.
I hope you enjoy the jam!
Jut home from the farmer’s market with a half flat of fresh Oregon Hood strawberries and I made a big batch of this jam (used almost all of the berries). SOOOOO delicious! Thank you!
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This sounds so good! I am from Canada and we have a very short Strawberry season. Wondering if you would recommend using my fresh frozen strawberries to make this jam. Or, would this become too runny with the strawberries having been frozen and thawed? Thank you!
The roasting sounds brilliant! And so glad I don’t have to worry about canning!
I can’t wait to get our first big batch of strawberries from the local farms – this will be the first thing I do with them!
I recognize that little jam devourer!!! i now have to make this and i LOVE your extra added info!!
OMG – I am in love with that last picture. Beautiful! This totally screams childhood summers to me. We had a family owned berry farm where I grew up, and everyone would go picking together in the summer. Then, my mom, grandma and I would take the ice cream buckets full of strawberries and make jam! I am nostalgic just thinking about it. 🙂 Thanks for bringing me back to those days!
Thanks for this. I love strawberry jam…and hate canning. I like collecting different easy jam recipes and this one is a good one!
An easy jam recipe?! Thank you! I love taking advantage of strawberry season and this is the perfect way to buy a ton and enjoy them later.
Karen, what a wonderful way to make jam, capturing all the flavour and colour. Saw the photo on foodgawker and had to check it out.
I tried making strawberry jam like 3 weeks ago, the kind that you stand there for like an hour. I was good, but I will tell you that this recipe looks so much BETTER! Making this one tomorrow!
Gorgeous! Ugh, I want to make this right now.