Apricot is my favourite flavour of jam. And the great thing is you can make dried apricot jam at any time of year and it tastes just as good as when you use fresh apricots and is so easy to make.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Dried apricot jam has only 3 ingredients, all things you’ll have at home.
- There is no pectin required for this recipe.
- Dried apricot jam is SUPER easy to make.
- Versatility – you can use your dried apricot preserve on everything from croissants to cakes, added to gravy, as a glaze for roasts and in stir fry too!
I’m not kidding when I say that apricot jam is my favourite.
Quite honestly I could keep Bon Mammam in business single-handed with my purchase of their apricot jam for a great many years before I started making my own jam about three decades ago.
Dried apricot jam was something that my Mum always used to make when I was growing up. Mum was a great jam maker and back then we only had fruit that was actually in season available to us.
OMG that makes me sound SO old doesn’t it! Anyway, Mum loved making her jam. Bloody great vats of the stuff.
She really looked forward to every season and the fruity goodness it would bring.
In winter it was always marmalade season of course. But another delicious preserve she’d make in winter was dried apricot jam.
Ingredients for dried apricot jam
There are only 3 actual ingredients for this super tasty jam.
Dried apricots
Sugar
Lemon juice and zest
Dried apricots are healthy
Don’t just think of dried apricots as a handy snack to give to kids to take to school. No, these delicious dried fruits are a healthy addition to your own diet.
Weight for weight dried apricots contain more vitamins, minerals and fibre than their fresh counterparts.
3-4 dried apricots count as 1 of your 5 a day fruits and veggies.
What type of dried apricots
There are two types of dried apricots available in the shops. What most folks consider normal dried apricots that are that gorgeous bright sunshine golden colour and the organic brown type.
The golden apricots have actually been treated with sulphur dioxide which retains their amazing colour.
Lots of dried fruits are treated with this, including sultanas, raisins and prunes.
You can buy organic untreated apricots of course. But for this jam you would end up with something really rather off-putting in colour.
However, the choice is yours.
How to make this jam
This is a super easy jam to make and it’s a two-step process.
First, soak those dried apricots. This is to rehydrate the fruit. Bring it back to life again so to speak. I pour boiling water over the apricots and leave them to soak up as much as they can overnight.
If you are in a desperate hurry to make your dried apricot jam you could just leave them for about 6 hours or so.
The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Once those dried apricots have soaked up as much water as they can it’s time to blitz them in the food processor. I told you this jam was easy to make. You don’t even have to wield a knife!
Now pop the chopped apricots into a pan along with the water they were soaking in.
Sugar
A bit of a note here on the sugar in this dried apricot jam. Because the apricots have been dried it means that they contain more suger by volume than their fresh apricots.
When you dry fruit you remove the water and thus the sugar is higher by volume.
What does this mean for our apricot jam?
Well, it means that since the dried apricots already contain more sugar than fresh apricots you don’t have to add as much sugar to make the dried apricot jam.
Making the jam.
Add the sugar to the pan along with the lemon juice and zest.
Heat gently till the sugar has dissolved then raise the heat to get it that jam bubbling and boiling. It will take approximately 20-25 minutes to reach that magical 105C setting point.
Now simply ladle your dried apricot jam into sterilised jars and pop on the lids.
New to preserving? Then don’t panic, I can take you from zero to hero in no time at all.
Just check out these handy articles to get you heading in the right direction fast;
How to make great jam and marmalade
How to make chutney and relish
How to sterilise jars and bottles
Can you add flavours to apricot jam?
Yes, yes, yes! If you fancy adding some different flavours to this apricot preserve you can do this whilst cooking the jam. Here are some great flavour ideas;
vanilla
lavender
chilli
cinnamon
black pepper
orange
ginger
How long will this keep?
This is like all my jams really. Your dried apricot preserve will keep for up to a year in a cool dark place. Once opened store your jam in the fridge and use within a month.
Please Note – We do not usually do water bath or other canning methods here in the UK. Our preserves keep perfectly well without this.
Water bath canning
If you wish to add an extra dimension of preserving safety then you can water bath can your dried apricot jam for 10 minutes.
Serving ideas
My favourite way is of course on croissants in the morning. Ah the bliss, I can almost feel the French sunshine as I type this.
Stir some dried apricot jam into your breakfast yoghurt for a fruity treat.
Use this apricot jam as a glaze for roasting pork or chicken or lamb. Simply thin the jam with a little water and then paint it on to whatever meat you are roasting.
Add the dried apricot jam to lamb gravy for a wonderfully Moroccan style flavour.
Use this apricot preserve in a stir fry for a bit of fruity sweetness.
Serve dried apricot jam with a cheeseboard. Like Spanish Membrillo quince paste it goes very well with cheese.
Use your apricot jam as a filling for cakes and scones too of course.
Add dried apricot jam to a ham and cheese toasty, result!
This recipe makes a great foodie gift, so why not check out my post on how to make Christmas hampers.
Looking for more super tasty preserves to make in winter? Then check these out before you go;
Spiced black grape jam with rosemary
Cranberry and orange marmalade
Bordeaux Jelly (red wine jelly)
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
3 ingredient dried apricot jam
Ingredients
- 600 g dried apricots
- 400 ml boiling water
- 300 g sugar
- 1/2 lemon juice and zest
Instructions
- Pour boiling water over apricots and leave to soak overnight or for at least 6 hours
- Whizz the apricots in food processor
- Add apricots and soaking water to pan along with sugar and lemon zest and juice
- heat gently till sugar has dissolved then boil rapidly till it reaches 105C setting point
- spoon into sterilised jars
- you can waterbath can this for 10 minutes if you wish
Fantastic apricot jam and so easy to make. It’s delicious, just made two more jars.
Hi Lydia
So thrilled you like this apricot jam so much.
K
do you chop the apricots before soaking in hot water? You didn’t mention this in the directions, but it LOOKS like you did, in the picture.
Hi Stephanie
The apricots are clearly whole for soaking as in photo then I blitz them in food processor. I don’t mention chopping apricots in directions because I don’t do it. Just soak them whole then blitz them. Hope this helps
K
I made it a year ago, then panicked that I might need the recipe to make again. The preserves are SO GOOD! So nice to use the dried easily found fruit. Its too cold to grow in my location. The apricots in the store are few and pricey.
Hi Roberta
So glad you like my dried apricot jam so much. It’s such a great year round recipe.
K
Hi Karen, love this recipe – just one of many of yours.
Do you think rosewater would go with this or with a pear jam?
Hi Donna
Rosewater would go well with the apricot. It’s not a flavour I usually pair with pears.
K
How much jam does it make?
Hi Katie
I’m a little confused by your question as the amount of jam this makes is clearly listed in the recipe card. It makes 3 x 325ml jars.
Hope you make it
K
thank you for sharing helpful article
Glad you find it useful
Hi and thanks for the recipe. Havent tried it yet, but have a question before I start. I don’t have a thermometer and no access due to Covid rules. . Roughly how long would you say to boil for please? A strawberry jam recipe I found with similar process said 10 mins for that jam. Appreciate your response before I have a go. Thank you.
Kind regards
Jo
Australia
Hi Jo,
If you read this page on jam making on my blog https://larderlove.com/how-to-make-jam/ it tells you how to check for the setting point without a thermometer. There was a link to this on the recipe post itself. Hope this helps
K
Hi, if the dried apricots are more sour than sweet, would adding more sugar and reducing the amount of lemon juice helps? Thank you 🙂
Hi Rau
Sweetness is all really a matter of taste and if you feel the dried apricots you have are too sour then by all means add more sugar. The lemon gives a nice kick to the flavour
K
Hi can this apricot jam be made into a smooth jam if left in a blender for a longer period of time .
Just replied to this question. I am sorry I haven’t replied sooner but I am actually away on holidays just now and not working.
K
Just want to know the process if I want to make smooth jam please
Just use a stick blender or processor to make it smooth
K
Thank you
Hi Kyriakos
Glad you liked the recipe.
K
Do I put the soaking apricots in the fridge overnight or leave on counter.
Thank you
Hi Marcey
I just leave them on the counter.
K
Maybe a stupid question but can I use lime instead of lemon?
Hi Kyriakos
I haven’t tried this using lime juice instead of lemon. I imagine you could use it though.
K
I made a half batch of apricot jam beginning of september all of it is gone now have ingredients for full batch jam is brilliant
Hi Robert, glad you liked the jam so much and are making more.
K
Hi Diana
It could just be down to the dried apricots themselves. Some take longer to soak and soften than others, that’s before making the jam itself. I’ve never had a problem with this recipe myself. You could add water and cook it for longer, sounds like the dried apricots just not soaking up enough water to soften.
K
I had some dried apricots and needed jam–this is a delicious solution for my need.
Hi Nancy
Glad the recipe is what you are looking for. Hope you like the jam.
K
I was looking around for a recipe to make jam using some dried apricots I had. I also really don’t like using pectin so your recipe was a great discovery. It’s so easy and quick to make, and tastes delicious. Thanks so much!
Hi Ann
So glad you found my recipe and that it was such a success for you.
K
Can I use less sugar in your recipe?
I always bought the reduced sugar type of apricot jam but since covid I’ve been unable to get it.
Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Sue
If you use less sugar you will have to keep your jam in the fridge as it is the sugar that preserves jam.
K
Hi,
Can I just use white sugar for this jam?
Hi Jesse
It is white sugar that I use in this recipe.
K
If I could give this 10 stars, I would! Can I use this recipe using dried cherries?
Hi Nancy
Haven’t tried it with dried cranberries but I guess it would work, must give it a go myself. Glad you liked the jam so much.
K
I would like to add fresh ginger. How much would you recommend?
Hi Sandra
I don’t add ginger to my dried apricot jam. It’s entirely a matter of taste how much you want to add. I’d start with about a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.
K