Make homemade Strawberry Rhubarb Jam from fresh rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and lemon without pectin!
If you've ever made a homemade strawberry jam recipe, adding rhubarb enhances both the flavor and texture! You can easily store it in your refrigerator or freezer, or can it in a water bath to last all year long!
Why this recipe works:
You will see that this recipe is not only incredibly simple with only four ingredients, but it is extremely easy to make.
Strawberry and rhubarb are so amazing together. The combination is perfectly sweet and tart all at the same time.
The jam tastes great on toast, oatmeal, or ice cream.
Also, if you want to make a big batch, you can easily turn it into freezer jam or preserve it in a mason jar using a simple water bath canning set up for longer storage.
Here's how to make it:
- Slice your rhubarb into small chunks (photo 1) and be sure to discard the tops. Likewise, prepare your strawberries by washing them and removing the stems (photo 2).
- Combine the fruit with the sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan (photo 3). Turn the heat to medium and when the mixture starts to bubble (photo 4), reduce the heat to low.
- Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the jam thickens (photo 5). It can take around an hour to fully breakdown and thicken. You'll want the mixture to reach at least 205 degrees F.
- I like to store my jam in mason jars (photo 6). Refrigerate if you'll eat within a week, otherwise store or water bath can it.
Cooking tips:
- The quality of the jam will depend on the quality of the fruit. I used the best possible strawberries in the world - Oregon Hood strawberries. Try to find fresh rhubarb that is deep red on the outside with thick firm stalks.
- If your strawberries aren't sweet, you may need to increase the amount of sugar in your recipe to compensate.
- I recommend using fresh squeeze lemon juice although you could substitute with bottled.
Reasons to add rhubarb to your strawberry jam recipe:
I actually use more than twice the amount of rhubarb in this recipe than I do strawberries.
I do this for a few reasons.
- First, rhubarb is much cheaper than strawberries (at least mine was).
- Second, if you're not going to use pectin, you need a lot of sugar in order to get your jam to gel up. Strawberries are already incredibly sweet, so the addition of a ton of sugar is just nauseating. Rhubarb, however, is incredibly tart, so the addition of sugar makes everything right in the world.
I saw a lot of recipes online that called for a heck of a lot more sugar than I used and let me tell you - if you're using good quality sweet strawberries, I wouldn't put any more sugar than what my recipe calls for. The balance was perfect as was the final consistency.
How much does this recipe make?
As written, this recipe makes about 4 cups of homemade jam.
As much pleasure as I would have taken in devouring all four cups with a spoon and some crusty white bread, I decided to can four jars of this liquid gold for the winter months when I'm craving the summer bounty that had long since come and gone. I did, however, get enough extra to fill this little dish which made for some incredibly tasty treats.
If you don't want to can the jam, it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, but let's face it - canning is fun! So preserve it!
Can you use frozen strawberries?
Absolutely. My preference is always to make things seasonally when produce is fresh, but since both the strawberries and rhubarb are both cooked down, it makes no difference at all - zero, zilch, nada - whether you use fresh or frozen fruit.
Finding frozen rhubarb at the store, well, that's a challenge in and of itself.
My advice to each and every one of you is to buy as much rhubarb from the farmers' market when it's in season as your freezer can hold and freeze it yourself.
The reason for adding lemon juice when making jam:
Besides that glorious citrus flavor lemon adds, you need it in your recipe when making homemade jam, including this strawberry rhubarb version.
There's a little food science involved in understanding the importance of adding lemon.
In a nutshell, when you cook down fruit like strawberries and rhubarb with sugar, the natural pectin in the fruit breaks down, but that pectin won't bind together because the individual cells actually repel one another.
We all know lemon juice is acidic, which means it has a lower pH. When lowering the pH of your mixture, it neutralizes the negative charges on the pectin (the thing that made the cells repel), and then the jam can come together and gel.
What do you know? That chemical engineering degree of mine wasn't a total waste after all!
Related recipes:
If you love the mouthwatering combination of strawberry and rhubarb, you'll love these!
- Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade - This perfectly sweet and equally tart fresh squeezed Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade is the ultimate kid friendly summer drink and will quench any thirst.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - There are few pies better than a mouthwatering, sweet yet tart, flaky crusted, warm Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Oh yeah.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Muffins - Indulge in this naughty summer treat. Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Muffins are made with fresh strawberries and tart rhubarb wrapped in a brown sugar batter.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp - The fruit filling tastes like it's topped with a warm oatmeal cookie.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler - I took my super simple cobbler recipe and used a fresh strawberry rhubarb filling. Oh my!
Step-by-step recipe video below:
Did you make this recipe? Please leave me a comment below to let me know what you think!
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
CLICK TO PLAY RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
- 5 cups rhubarb (about 3 large stalks, cut into 1⁄2" cubes)
- 2 cups hulled and halved strawberries (about 1 pint)
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from about half of a large lemon)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium to large saucepan over medium heat. Once mixture starts to bubble, reduce heat to medium low. You'll want the heat set to the point where it continues to bubble but not violently when stirred (you'll understand once you start cooking if jam bubbles start to pop out of the center of the pot). Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the jam has thickened. Plan on cooking jam for about an hour and temperature of the mixture is over 220°F.
- While the jam is cooking, sterilize four 1-cup jelly glass jars plus their rings and lids. I do this by boiling them in water for 10 minutes or I boil the lids and run the rings and glass jars through the dishwasher.
- Transfer sterilized jars, lids, and bands to a clean dish towel.
- Have a very large covered pot of boiling water ready. There needs to be enough water in the pot so that when the filled jars are submerged, they're covered by at least 1" of water.
- Fill each jar with hot jam, leaving at least 1⁄4" of space at the top. Place lids on jars, and secure ring bands. Secure just tight enough so that they are hand tightened but you can easily unscrew.
- Transfer filled jars to pot of gently boiling water and let boil for 10 minutes. Transfer jars, set at least 1" apart, to a dish towel and let cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. You should hear the seals on the lids pop pretty soon after removing from the water.
- If any jar is not fully sealed, or you chose to skip the canning process, jam should be refrigerated and used within 2 weeks. Sealed jars will keep, in a cool, dark place, for up to a year.
Notes
NUTRITION INFORMATION
This post was originally created in May 2016 and has been updated with process photos, helpful information, and cooking tips. Don't worry - I didn't change the recipe!
Kathy
If I use frozen rhubarb can I put it in frozen?
Krissy
I apologize for the delay in responding - I was away on vacation and summer with the family is always super busy. To answer your question, you can use frozen. It will just take longer to break down.
Alana
This turned out exactly as expected. Often pectin free means runny in my experience but this recipe was not! Thank you.
RJE
Absolutely the best strawberry/rhubarb recipe!! The taste is the awazing. I added a few more berries than what was called for and still turned out great. Thanks for sharing!!!
Norah
haven't made this yet, seems like a lot of sugar for the amount of fruit, so I will be adding that slowly. But just a little side note: the color of the rhubarb (green vs red) is just the variety of the rhubarb and doesn't effect the taste. May change the color of the finished product but not the taste.
Diana
Can I use my frozen rhubarb?
Krissy
I apologize for the delay in responding - I was away on vacation and summer with the family is always super busy. To answer your question, Yes - frozen is fine!
Waneita
Do u not add any water to cook rhubarb,,,just the lemon juice
Barbara
Absolutely delicious. I have just made my second batch of this wonderful jam. Thank you Krissy.
Alex Darras
Good blog post. I absolutely love this site. Keep writing!
Stella
Just made this recipe today. Love it and it turned out perfectly!!
Marta K.
This turned out as the best jam Ive made! I had more rhubarb, more strawberries and more sugara and by boiling it on low heat , it thickened nicely ! Thanks !
Peter Meisinger
Shouldn't the cooking temperature be 220, not 202?
Barbara
Made this jam yesterday... absolutely delicious; loved by my husband, son, and me. Thank you Krissy for this wonderful recipe.
Marie L
Instead of can I g, can you freeze the jam?
Marie L
Can you freeze the jam?
Krissy
Absolutely!
Krissy
Sure can!
Cal
I made this today, it was to runny, I won't try it again
Krissy
Sorry it didn't work out for you! Maybe your strawberries were different than what I use or it needed to cook more?
Carol
I also think it's because there was no Certo in this recipe. That would thicken the jam.
Holly
I am so excited to try this recipe! I am going to try canning for the very first time and will report back once I do 🙂 I am just curious - how long will this jam keep in the fridge once you open a preserved can? I.e., in a few months from now when I want to dig in to one, how long will it last in the fridge once it's been opened? Thanks so much!
Liz
I’m a experienced canner but just never made much of jams and jellies. I have my own rhubarb from my garden and a luscious bucket of strawberries from a u pick strawberry farm. I googled rhubarb/strawberry jam on a whim this recipe popped up and it looked delicious so decided that I would try it. Oh my !where have you been my whole life! It’s just amazed me that i didn’t have to use pectin! It’s turned out just perfect it spreads beautifully I’m just thrilled with how incredibly delicious it is. And the color of the jam is phenomenal.I could go on and on, lol Than you for posting this recipe!
Pam
Can this recipe be doubled?
Krissy
Absolutely!
Marie
I just made the jam and I added only 1 cup of sugar and I find it still to sweet. It is good but I am going to make another batch today and will not put sugar. Will it be okay and can I freeze it instead of canning it? What will happen if I don’t put sugar?
Krissy
If your fruit is sweet, I think you can easily get away without the sugar. Rhubarb has a lot of natural pectin, so it may very well gel on its own without sugar. You made need some sugar to get it to the right consistency, however. Freezer jam is always great!
Clarice Emswiler
My sister is diabetic. What can I substitute for the sugar.? First time canning. This was an easy one. Love it!
Krissy
I apologize for the delay in responding - I was away on vacation and summer with the family is always super busy. I've only ever used sugar but I've had readers make it with stevia and they got good results!
Stephanie M
This is very good jam. Not too sweet or sour. First time making it I canned and am very happy with results
Dan Schaefer
I am new at making jam, a couple of weeks ago I made some Rhubarb Strawberry jam using pectin, this turned out extremely thick and used an extreme amount of sugar. I searched the internet to check for other recipes and came across yours. I made a batch of jam yesterday using your recipe. I found the taste the perfect balance of tart and sweet. When cooking the jam I was not sure if I was to cook it covered or uncovered. Which is correct? I cooked the jam covered and had 5 jars of jam in the end but they were more like a thick sauce than a jam. I will certainly use this recipe again and maybe utilize some of the suggestions of adding more lemon juice and lemon zest to thicken the jam. Also is it possible that the amount of Rhubarb needed to get 5 cups of diced Rhubarb should be 13 not 3?
Krissy
It must be cooked uncovered. By covering it, you trapped all the moisture which is why you ended up with a sauce instead of a jam. I'm usually able to get 5 cups from 3 stalks of rhubarb because the rhubarb that grows in Oregon is HUGE and thick. I hope you try making it again uncovered and come back with a 5 star review!
Marian
I just finished making rhubarb jam with the juice of two oranges and the grated rind of one orange added to 4 cups (about 2 lbs) sliced rhubarb. Then i sat down to check my mail and found your strawberry rhubarb recipe so i better not put away my canning kettle! Thanks for all your great ideas. I love finding them in my inbox.