Strawberry Chia Jam
Two ingredients, five minutes, and no added sugar. The swap that trades the sugar bomb for fiber.
A five-minute refrigerator jam that turns the biggest sugar bomb in your pantry into a way to get more fiber into your day. You warm the strawberries until they slump, stir in chia seeds, and let the seeds do the thickening. No pectin, no canning, no long boil. At its simplest this is nothing more than frozen strawberries and chia, and that is exactly how I make it, with no added sugar at all.
Method
- Warm the strawberries. Add the frozen strawberries to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until they break down and turn saucy, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Mash. Mash with a potato masher to the texture you like, chunky or smooth, or use an immersion blender for a smoother spread.
- Add the chia. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the chia seeds. Let it sit a few minutes, then stir again to break up any clumps.
- Set the jam. Pour into a clean jar and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, longer is better. The chia pulls in the liquid and firms the jam into a spoonable spread. It keeps about two weeks in the fridge.
- Serve. Spoon it over Greek yogurt, swirl it into oats, spread it on toast, or build a better peanut butter and jelly.
Most supermarket jams run 10 to 12 grams of sugar in a single tablespoon, almost all of it added, with high fructose corn syrup near the top of the label and next to no fiber. This jam flips that. It leans entirely on the strawberries, so there is no added sugar at all, and a tablespoon lands around 17 calories instead of 50.
The chia is the engine. It does two jobs at once: it thickens the jam as it absorbs the liquid, which is why there is no pectin and no long boil, and it brings fiber. Between the chia and the strawberries, the batch carries more than 20 grams of fiber, in a spread that usually delivers none.
That fiber is the part that matters most. The sugar in store-bought jam hits your bloodstream fast, so you spike and then crash. The fiber in the chia slows all of that down, so the same sweet bite on your toast keeps your blood sugar a lot steadier. Store jam is sugar with no brakes. This one has brakes.
Educational, not medical advice. Fiber is calculated from the chia and strawberries. Contains chia seeds. The peanut butter and jelly serving suggestion adds peanuts, a common allergen.
Swap the fruit, keep the method
The ratio of fruit to chia works with almost anything. Strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, or a mix, fresh or frozen. If you want it sweeter, a small squeeze of lemon or a spoon of honey across the whole batch does it, but the ripe fruit usually carries it on its own.
MaxWell Collagen Peptides
This jam is fruit and fiber forward, which makes it a natural topping for a protein-rich breakfast. The move is to round out that breakfast with protein.
MaxWell Collagen Peptides is grass-fed, pasture-raised Type I and III collagen, 9 grams of protein per serving with no flavor, no carbs, and no sugar. Stir a 10 gram serving into your morning coffee or oats, then spoon the jam over a Greek yogurt bowl or onto toast alongside it. One note: collagen does not dissolve in cold liquid, so always mix it into something warm.
The jam brings the fiber. The collagen brings the protein. It supports normal skin, hair, nail, and joint health with consistent daily use.
Shop MaxWell Collagen PeptidesFind this recipe, and many more like it, in the app.
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