Apricot Jelly (Canning Recipe)
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Beautiful, orange Apricot Jelly is a homemade canning recipe that is perfect to celebrate the fresh stone fruit of summer. With only 5 easy ingredients it’s easy to make, plus canning instructions are available so you can enjoy this tangy jelly all year long.
I’m pretty excited to be posting this one! Not only because this apricot jelly turned out to be a beautiful orange color (my favorite!), but because it’s the second jelly recipe on the blog.
I have lots of canning recipes, and jams are by far my favorite to make. But when I put in the extra effort for jelly making, I love it when it turns out as clear and tasty as this one does.
If you’ve checked out my guide on Types of Home Preserves, you know I’m kind of a stickler for terms. This is a jelly, which means no lumps, chunks, seeds, or anything else. Just clear, sticky apricot deliciousness. It’s hard to say if this or my popular pomegranate jelly is my favorite these days!
The Ingredients for Apricot Jelly with Pectin
This recipe, like many pure and simple jelly recipes, is made from scratch with only 5 ingredients. You’ll need apricots, water, sugar, lemon juice, and pectin.
I should note that for every single canning recipe I make, I add a tiny pat of butter to the pot. It helps reduce foaming and I love skipping all that skimming I’d have to do otherwise. Just a half teaspoon or so is good, but it’s also entirely optional.
You can see in the picture that I made this with frozen apricots. They’re delicious ones I froze after an apricot u-pick excursion with my family, and you can definitely use frozen too. But fresh works just as well once they’re pitted and halved. You’ll need about 5 pounds of whole apricots, but there’s no need to peel them.
White sugar and lemon juice are common and essential for the pectin to work so the jelly will set. I do recommend fresh lemon juice for the best flavor.
Finally we come to pectin. Apricots are a naturally pectin rich fruit, but since we’re making jelly and not jam, we’ll need pectin. This is because the pectin in stone fruit hangs out in the skin, flesh, and pits (which you definitely should not eat, fyi). When we extract the juice we need to make the jelly, we lose the pectin and have to replace it so we don’t end up with syrup. It’s really easy, a single box of regular pectin or 6 tablespoons of this bulk pectin I use will work well.
Turning Apricots into Tasty Jelly
Now here at The Flour Handprint, I love to make everything from scratch, but I’m still a mom and a businesswoman with a schedule. Tending to a jelly bag overnight with a toddler running amok is just not gonna happen. So, I take a few liberties with jelly making that make it happen a lot faster.
To start I just place the fruit and water in a large pot. I bring them to a boil and let them cook for ten minutes until the fruit mushes really easily. Give it a good mushing with a wooden spoon or potato masher to extract all the juice.
Then just pour it (Carefully it’s hot) through a fine mesh strainer to extract all the lovely orange liquid we’ll be making jelly with. You should yield about 5.5 cups of juice from the fruit and water mixture. You may have to press on the fruit in the strainer to get all the juice out.
Then give the pot a quick wipe clean, and return the juice to it. Add in the lemon juice, pectin, and if desired a tiny pat of butter. Stir frequently and bring it up to a boil over high heat.
When the juice is at a rolling boil that doesn’t stop, even as you stir it it’s ready for the sugar. Add all the sugar to the pan at once and get stirring. You don’t have to create a whirlpool or anything, just keep it moving to prevent it from scorching at the bottom of the pan.
When the mixture has come back to a rolling boil that doesn’t stop even as you stir, start your timer. This is really, really important! Cooking for too long produces thick, gluey jelly, and not long enough leaves you with thin runny jelly.
For this Apricot Jelly recipe to properly set, cook for exactly 1.5 minutes once it’s at a rolling boil, stirring continuously. When the timer goes off, remove it from the heat immediately.
Canning Apricot Jelly
I definitely don’t ever go through the trouble of making jam or jelly unless I’m water bath canning it for my pantry. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to do!
I have a Complete Guide to Water Bath Canning available with exact techniques and tips. But here’s what you need to know for this specific recipe.
- It makes a large batch, I ended up with 52 ounces of jelly. I used a combination of 4 ounce and 12 ounce jars, but you can use your preferred size.
- The water bath processing time for this Apricot jelly is 15 minutes for 12-16 ounce jars, and 10 minutes for 4-8 ounce jars.
- Once canned and sealed, it’s shelf stable for a year as long as it’s not exposed to heat.
If you’re new to canning, please do check out the guide linked above. It has everything you need to can this and many more recipes.
What we love to use It with
With tons of jars in the cupboard, you might look for something to do with it beyond your morning breakfast toast. We like to serve it with homemade bread of course, but it’s also tasty with shortbread cookies or drop biscuits. Or, try it out on this Apricot Cranberry Baked Brie or on a yummy Cheese Danish Recipe.
However you prefer to use it, I promise the tangy, sweet flavor of homemade Apricot jelly is well worth the effort. And it makes so much! Enjoy, and check out my other homemade preserves while you’re here!
Apricot Jelly (Canning Recipe)
Ingredients
- 5 lbs apricots, pitted
- 2 cups water
- 6 tablespoons bulk pectin or 1 box of sure jell, regular pectin
- 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 7 cups sugar
Optional
- 1/2 teaspoon butter prevents foaming
Instructions
- Combine the apricots and water in a large stock pot and bring to a boil.
- Cook for 10 minutes, breaking the fruit apart with a wooden spoon or potato masher.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove skins and chunks, this should yield 5.5 cups of juice. Press down on the fruit in the sieve to extract as much as possible.*
- Wipe any chunks from the pan and return the juice to it. Add in the pectin, lemon juice, and if using, butter.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently, until it's at a rolling boil that doesn't stop even as you stir.
- Add in all the sugar at once, and stir continuously until the mixture returns to a full rolling boil that doesn't stop as you stir.
- Time for 1.5 minutes exactly and don't stop stirring. When the timer goes off, remove the pan from the heat immediately. If canning, proceed with that!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information and cooking times are provided as a best estimate. Values may vary based upon ingredients and equipment.
Hi! I followed the recipe exactly as you wrote it. It has been about 12 hours since I’ve canned them. When I turn the jar over I can tell it’s l still in thick liquid form. Do I need to wait longer for it to become more firm?
Hi, I would give it more time. It can take up to 48 hours for jams and jellies to properly set, and I’ve always found apricot to be on the longer side. If it’s still too loose at that point you can recook it for 5-10 mins and can it again. Good luck, hope it tastes great!
Thank you! Re-cook with adding more pectin or just boil it again?
To be on the safe side, yes I would add more pectin. Basically, for every 1 cup of jelly you want to recook (I wouldn’t do more than 8 cups at a time), you want to add 2 tablespoons of water and 1 teaspoon of pectin to a pot or wide rimmed pan. Stir constantly and bring it to a boil, then add in the jelly with 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup. Stir and bring it to a rapid boil just like you did the first time. If your starting jelly was really liquid, cook it for 1-2 minutes after it starts boiling, if it’s just a little loose, cook it for 30 seconds to a minute. Then add it to sterile jars with new seals and water bath them again.
I would recommend popping some spoons in the freezer before you start. Then you can drop some jelly on them after recooking to see that it sets up before canning again.
I hope that helps :). I’ve also just enjoyed loose jams and jellies as syrup before!!
I would like to try this using Sure Jell that uses less sugar. Is that possible? If so how much sugar should I use?
Hi Kathy, I am not an expert at low sugar pectin, but I did a little looking into it. I would go with the ratios listed in the sure jell box to ensure that everything sets properly. They recommend 6 cups of finely chopped apricots, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 box of sure jell low sugar, and 4.5 cups of sugar for jam.
To make that jelly, I’d follow the instructions in my recipe. Cook the fruit well and with 2 cups of water, mashing it until it’s well broken down. Then you’ll need to strain it. Really push on the fruit to get everything out of it! Unfortunately I don’t know how much juice that will yield, but I’d aim for at least 4.5-5 cups of liquid. Then go on with the recipe. These are my best guesses on how I’d approach it personally, but I can’t guarantee success. Keep in mind that apricot jelly can take a LONG time to set up, like days. I’d pop spoons in the freezer before you start, and drip little bits onto them when you think the jelly is done. If it sets up to a jelly on the cold spoon you should be okay, if not, keep cooking it in 1 minute increments. Best of luck!
Thank you very much for the information, I’ll give it a go.
I’ve used the jam recipe quote a lot and love it, just wanted to try something new.
Kathy, I am looking forward to hearing how it all comes out, delicious I hope!
I am trying to find a recipe for apricot jalapeño jelly( made with fresh frozen/ fruit) to can. Do you have any thoughts. Thank you
Hi BJ,
I’m sorry sorry for the delayed response! I don’t have a specific recipe for Jalapeno Apricot jelly but I have put chiles in my jam before. As long as you make sure you add the acid like lemon juice, adding 1-2 diced jalapenos to the apricots as they cook should be perfectly safe for canning. Good luck!
Mine didn’t set, what can I do now? Tia!
Oh no! So sorry to hear that! It stinks when that happens.
So you basically want to recook it and that should make it set. For every quart (32 ounces) you’ll want to combine 1/4 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 4 teaspoons of powdered pectin into a large pot over high heat.
Bring it up to a boil (stir!) And then add the 32 ounces of jam in. Stir and bring it back to a rolling boil. Once it’s boiling so hard that it keeps bubbling even when you stir, start the timer and cook for 30 seconds. Then go ahead and proceed with canning as usual!
If you want to double check the set you can keep a couple of frozen spoons in the freezer. Drop a few dribbles of jam on at the end of 30 seconds. If it sets and wobbles and creates a wrinkle on the surface of the jelly then it has set. If not, cook another 30 seconds.
Hope that helps!!
As a long time jelly maker, a quick tip is to not squeeze the jelly bag. Allow the juice to be extracted from the fruit naturally. Squeezing the jelly bag will give you more juice but very cloudy jelly.
Patti thank you for the tip, it is true squeezing can lead to a cloudier jelly. But I’ve never found it to affect the flavor. For anyone with the patience to use a jelly bag, it’s a great method for clarity.