Bright and sunny. Sweet and tart. Bits of juicy pineapple in every bite. If you’ve never made jam before in your life, this pineapple jam is the place to start. 20 minutes. 2 ingredients. It’s practically impossible to screw up.
Need a little spring in your step? Homemade pineapple jam is sure to brighten up your morning, it’s like sunshine on toast.
A couple years ago I inherited all my grandmother’s canning supplies. I went through a jam/jelly/canning bonanza. I made and home-canned everything I could; salsa, pickles, cherry habanero jam, hot pepper jelly, peach butter, apple butter, pumpkin butter, apple sauce, gooseberry jam, banana jam, kiwi jelly…so much jam and jelly!
I learned 2 things during this process:
- If you don’t have your own garden and grow your own produce, canning can get pretty expensive. Especially if you have to go out and buy all the jars, lids, and seals to get started.
- I learned that I don’t really have the pantry space to store that much jam and jelly! I ended up giving most of it away. (And most people kept the jars, see point 1.)
So while I still do enjoy jam and jelly making, I’ve moved from the old fashioned recipes that make enough for an army, to recipes like this one that make smaller batches because it’s more practical for me.
Today’s pineapple jam recipe tastes just 20 minutes and makes one jar. I actually really love that because that makes it really accessible. Singles, empty-nesters, college students, any one can use one jar of jam. There’s no special equipment needed and it costs less than a dollar to make.
20 minutes and less than a dollar, you couldn’t even get to the grocery store to buy jam that quick or that cheap.
Pineapple Jam
Ingredients
- 1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple , with juice
- 3/4 cup white sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, bring the pineapple and sugar to a boil.
- Boil for 20 minutes, stirring often, until the jam is thickened.
- Pour into a clean 8 oz jar.
I like to use this jam to make these pretty pineapple cookies!
Light and flaky pastry rounds with juicy pineapple filling, topped with maraschino cherries, pecans, and powdered sugar glaze.
Pin this recipe for later!
75 comments
I’m making it now,tweaked a bit.
1,20 oz can crushed Pineapple,1,thinly sliced Lime,1/2 c water , 2, small jalapeno peppers descended and 3c sugar.
I used blender to do the pineapple and peppers.
Bubbling away,smells amazing! Gonna can it!
I am going to make this today! You wouldn’t happen to have a fool proof pear preserves recipe, would you?
Oh how fun!I hope you’ll enjoy it. I’m sorry, Tonya, but I don’t have a pear preserves recipe. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had pear preserves, only pear butter. Now I’m off to look for some. 🙂
Ohhh it’s so good! Sticky fruit has a little tooth to it. Reminds me of candied apples.
Loved the pineapple jam.Brought me back to my childhood.we used to buy it years ago but they took it off the market.it was Robinson’s make.Thankyou so much for your recipe Amy D.
Hi Dawn, I remember it being in the stores when I was a kid too! Can’t even imagine why they stopped making it because Pineapple Jam is the bee’s knees. I’m so happy that this recipe was able to bring back that childhood nostalgia for you. 🙂
Can I use fresh pineapples if so what is the procedure?
If you use this recipe with fresh pineapple it will make a yummy pineapple syrup, but it won’t thicken up into jam. Sorry.
do you have to cool the jam before putting a lid on it ?
Not if you are putting it in a glass canning jar with a screw on lid. Yes if you are putting it into a plastic container.
Hi this recipe looks super easy! just one silly question, do I have to drain the pineapples?
Hi Emily/ Nope, no draining! So simple. 🙂
My wife and I live in Great Britain and have never seen crushed pineapple, we can get either pineapple chunks or pineapple rings in cans, they come in natural juice or sweetened juice, which would be better for your jam as it sound simply divine, suppose we would be able to blend some chunks down and boil them with the Suger, but like I said would it be better to buy chunks in Suger syrup or natural juice for the making of your gorgous sounding pineapple jam. Wait for your reply with great excitement 👍
The pineapple that I use for this is just pineapple in 100% pineapple juice, so I’d go with the natural variety. I think that if you blend the chunks down that it will turn out just great. Hope that you enjoy!
This recipe is amazing and so easy 🙂
I have just made up a batch. I x4 the recipe and added in 1 cup of sugar extra, it’s so yummy and I’m giving them to family for Christmas gifts this year
Oh yay! And you can make cute little covers for the jars. I love it!
Wow…..I just made this recipe very delicious. I did add some vanilla and cinnamon for a more richer flavor.
Those sound like some yummy additions! Glad you enjoyed the jam Angel.
I just made the pineapple jam. So easy and it tastes delicious. My crushed pineapple was a little too chunky so I blended it some with my stick blender. Hickory Farms used to make a pineapple glaze that I put on their beef stick after browning it slightly. But I haven’t been able to find the glaze for years, so I going to try it with this jam as an appetizer for Christmas. I’m sure it will taste great. I’m going to make the pineapple cookies that you suggest, too. Thanks for posting the recipe.
Karen,
That sound sounds like a great idea. I’ve thought that this jam would make a great glaze for a Hawaiian Chicken recipe. Please let me know how you like the cookies if you try them out too!
I made this today! I used a 20oz can of crushed pineapple and added 2 cups of sugar per the comment above, I did blend it slightly because my kiddo doesn’t care for large chunks in her jam, and I cooked it down for 30 mins due to the added quantity.
It made 5 half pint jars for us, I processed 4 to store and put one in the fridge… this is a new favorite for us!!! My daughter absolutely loves it, as do I , we’ve almost gone through a half pint jar already and it’s only been completely made for 30 mins lol. We are planning tons of recipes using it, including thumbprint cookies!
Thanks so much for sharing this, it was so incredibly easy and absolutely delicious! We will be making it again soon 🙂
Thanks for the comment Mary! I’m so happy that this has turned into a family favorite for you! I also have a cookie recipe that I use this jam in.
Hi! I just made it and am waiting or it to cool. I did get a “ping” out of both jars (I used a 20 oz can of cubed initially blended since it was what I had on hand) does that mean they sealed to last at least a week in the fridge? Also, if I wanted to can this would I use the same water bath method and such as strawberry jam?
Hi Gracelyn,
Yes, this will last in the fridge for several weeks. And you are correct that if you wanted to can this jam, you would use the water bath method, but I’m not certain on the process time. I actually developed this single jar recipe because I’d gotten tired of canning for a while :). Hope that you’ll love the jam.
Would you not have to boil your jars and lids before you put pineapples in it,can you do other can fruit that way to?
Hi Karon, thanks for your question. The only reason that you don’t have to have boiled sterilized jars for this recipe is because it’s not canned. You would need to have prepared jars if you wanted to preserve the jam for any length of time. Because this recipe makes enough for just one jar, it’s meant to be refrigerated for use after making.
Is the canned pineapple in a syrup or in its own natural juices?
Hi Gina, it’s just canned pineapple in it’s own natural pineapple juice. Hope you enjoy the jam!
Hi,
I loved it! Look so good! Thanks for share!