Dried Apricot Jam is rich, flavorful jam. It is easy to whip up in minutes and you don’t even need pectin so it is about the simplest kind of jam you can make! If you ever run out of jam you can always whip out some dried apricots that have been in your pantry too long and make the best jar of apricot jam you have ever had!
My mom always says this is her favorite apricot jam recipe! It has such bold flavor. I love making it and gifting it to her since it is just so darn easy. My mom is really easy to make gifts for because she likes almost anything I do. Moms, huh? But my Dried Apricot Jam is a special favorite of hers.
How To Make Apricot Jam
This apricot jam recipe is about as easy as it gets! Cut fruit. Boil fruit and water. Stir in sugar. Look, you made jam!
Honestly if you have kids that are old enough to use scissors and not stick their hands into boiling fruit this is a great project to do together. Children love to give gifts they made themselves and watch others enjoy them.
I have three jars of lovely Dried Apricot Jam waiting in the freezer for my mom. Who will you be making some for?
Why Make Jam With Dried Apricots Instead of Fresh?
When you dry an apricot the flavor is concentrated and magnified. When you add a bit of water and boil them up into jam the final product is really a bit exotic.
It has a lot more punch than fresh fruit jams. Apricots also have natural pectin in the fruit so you don’t have to fuss with getting the jam to jell.
The process is so simple I think a monkey could do it – if I would let one in my kitchen. (For health, safety and sanity PLEASE don’t let monkeys in your kitchen!)
Dried Apricots Nutrition
Dried apricots are rich in nutrition. Like other orange colored foods they are very high in Vitamin A. They are also a good source of calcium, Vitamin B-6 and Magnesium.
Like unique jams? You might enjoy my lovely Peach Melba Jam!
Quick and Easy Dried Apricot Jam
Ingredients
- 12 oz dried apricots
- water
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- ½ cup packed brown sugar can sub white
Instructions
- With a kitchen scissors, cut two apricots in half at a time. Cut the halves into three pieces each so each apricot is cut into six pieces each. (Can be cut smaller if you prefer smaller chunks in your jam.)
- Place the chopped apricots into a 4 cup measuring cup. Add water to the 4 cup line.
- Dump all that into a medium sized sauce pan over medium heat. Add the salt and simmer for about 30 minutes until the apricots are tender and the jam coats a spoon. Stir in the brown sugar.
- Decant into ½ pint jars and refrigerate for several weeks or freeze for six months. Note, this jam does not have enough sugar to be considered safe for pressure or water bath canning.
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published in November of 2016. It was updated for content in April of 2020.
Denise Barker
I’m not a “canner”, so I don’t understand your last line about not enough jam for canning. I have a bag of apricots in the pantry and want to make “easy jam” for my rugalach. Think this will work?
Thanks so much!
Mirlandra
I just went back and had a look at the post and there is a typo that says jam instead of sugar! So not even a canner would understand what an earth I meant! Sorry about that. This should be a wonderful jam for your rugalach. Enjoy and let me know how it turns out! It sounds really tasty 🙂
Alison Barlow
Whyever does Miranda put her jam in the freezer? Poured hot into sterilised glass jars and sealed while hot to create a vacuum, jam will keep without freezing or refrigerating.
Mirlandra
Hi Alison! Thanks for your question. I’ve done the vacuum seal method you are suggesting a lot. While I do know it can work I have also seen it fail more quickly than traditional canning. I also CAN’T suggest it to my readers because it is not considered a safe way to store jam. While you and I both understand that it can work, there is also more risk for food born illness here. In the end this is an to each her own kind of situation and I’m glad you have something that works well for YOU. Enjoy making jam this summer!
Evelyn
Can you use this recipe to make glaze for french tarts?
Mirlandra
You certainly could! One thing I would note is that this recipe has big chunks of fruit. Just keep that in mind. You could cut the fruit a little smaller but the recipe is designed to be chunky. I’m a bit jealous of your tarts! Good luck 🙂
Kamuran bora rug
I don’t understand why we will use salt while cooking jam..when we pour salt in jam.also if apricots are so dry what can we do.thanks.
Mirlandra
Those are great questions and I’m so glad you asked! Salt is a flavor enhancer. Using just a tiny big makes the flavor more full and rich and satisfying. If you read the recipe through you will see that the salt gets added in step #3. Dry apricots make great jam. Boiling them in the water causes them to become plump and juicy. Don’t worry about the fruit starting out dry! I hope that helps answer your questions!
Rachel
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’m not big on jam myself, but my husband loves it. We used up the last of his jar yesterday and we’re trying to avoid going to the store (COVID!), and we happened to have a bag of dried apricots in the pantry. It wasn’t quite 12 oz, more like 10, but I still did water up to the 4 cup line and it worked fine. I reduced the sugar and added some lemon extract to make it more sour like he likes, and it turned out perfectly. Many thanks!
Mirlandra
Oh Rachel this makes my day!!! Thanks for sharing. This has certainly been a tough season in some ways but I am enjoying the chance to think outside the box in my life and try some new things! Sometimes I think ahead a year and wonder who I will be on the other side of so much change. Quite the journey we are on 🙂 I’m so glad this blessed you and you have jam again! Stay well and say hi again soon 🙂
Jennifer Norbeck
I do not have any brown sugar, would organic cane sugar work?
Mirlandra
Hi Jennifer – thanks for asking! Organic cane sugar would be fine here! I often use brown sugar with any kind of peach / apricot / nectarine just for that extra bit of flavor but they are all also wonderful with white sugar. And seriously these days use what you HAVE on hand! Simple = good. Let me know how your jam making goes!
Stacy
Hi! How much jam does this roughly turn out to?
Mirlandra
This recipe makes 1 1/2 pints, so 3 cups of jam. Hope that helps, Stacy!
Sathya Natarajan
Hi
Shall I grind the chunks mixture to a fine paste and add it back to the saucepan before adding sugar? Bcoz my toddler hates chunks in his food.
Mirlandra
As soon as the mixture is soft enough to grind you can grind it with an immersion blender. Or you can finish making the jam, cool it some and grind it with a food processor if you prefer. I hope that helps! (And kids! You never know what their crazy plan is – good luck!)
Honey
Does it taste like the apricot jam u buy in stores?
Mirlandra
It will have the almost the same flavor but a different texture because it is a chunky jam recipe. You could blend it a little bit more for a more traditional texture. I think the flavor of this jam is a little bit more intense because you start with the dry fruit. I love that about this one.
Ann
I don’t have a scale to weigh the apricots. 12 oz. liquid measure would equate to 1&1/2 cups? If I wanted to add pineapple, would that be after the apricots have thickened? Thank you!
Mirlandra
Great question! Yes using 1 1/2 cups of the apricots should work great! I feel like I can’t give a solid answer on the pineapple because I haven’t done it but I can give you some thoughts and you can decide what to try! Fresh pineapple has an enzyme in it that has a reputation for creating issues with jam and jelly setting. But I know pineapple / apricot is a standard combo so I think this one might work! If it were me I would totally try it as an experiment and see! But I love to experiment with recipes! I see some people online have recipes for pineapple apricot jam that involves boiling the crushed pineapple with the apricots. I think they mean canned pineapple which would be lower in the problematic enzyme. But I imagine fresh pineapple would be so tasty in the jam! Bottom line if I were going to try it I would get wild and just crush fresh pineapple, toss it in with the apricot chunks and boil as directed and then see what I got! Good luck! Please do tell me if you try it – I’m so curious!
Lyn Willis
Can you prepare this recipe in a slow cooker? If so, how long do you cook it?
Mirlandra
Hi Lyn,
I have never done this in a slow cooker so I can’t give exact directions. However, you are right that the slow cooker can be a great jam making option. This jam needs to come to a simmer so you are probably going to have to put it into the slow cooker and then watch it for timing. I did a quick Google search and it seems that people are cooking slow cooker jams for a few hours on low (stirring every hour or so) and then finishing them on high. Whatever you choose to do I would make sure to stir every hour or so and check the jam so you don’t overcook it! Good luck 🙂
Nancy
I have a question about the part where you cut the apricots and then add water to the 4 cup line. Does that mean put the 12 oz. cut apricots in a 4 cup measuring glass and then add water until it reaches the 4 cup line or to separate the two?
Mirlandra
Yes, it does mean to put the apricots into the 4 cup measuring glass and then add water to the fill line. I hope that helps clarify!
Mark
I’m wondering if I could do this in an instapot, pressure cooker, or slow cooker.
Do you have any thoughts or tips?
Mirlandra
Sure! Many kinds of jam can be slow cooked and this one should be fine that way. I don’t have a time recommendation for you but expect it to take longer than 30 minutes. I would keep an eye and pull it when you like the thickness of the jam. In terms of an Instant Pot I don’t recommend any type of pressure cooking here. I think you would risk impacting the texture in a negative way.