Homemade Grape Jelly tastes amazing spread over buttery toast or in a PB&J sandwich. Made with just 3 easy ingredients, try it today!
Homemade jams like Strawberry Jam or Blueberry Jam are easy to make with fresh fruit and make a delicious topping, Breakfast or Brunch spread. This homemade jelly is another super easy recipe with bright flavor that you can make and store for months.
Table of Contents
Sabrina’s Homemade Grape Jelly Recipe
Homemade Concord Grape Jelly is the perfect recipe to make with fresh, late summer fruit and store for months. Thanks to the fresh grapes, this jelly tastes so much better and fresher than any you can find at grocery stores. In fact, it’s so delicious and easy to make that you’ll find yourself making this favorite jelly recipe over and over again.
Ingredients
- Concord Grapes: You’ll need 4 pounds of fresh concord of grapes to get the right flavor and color for homemade jelly. Use the scale at the grocery store if you’re worried you won’t get enough.
- Sugar: 6 whole cups of sugar are used to sweeten the grapes into that classic Grape Jelly flavor.
- Liquid Pectin: In order to thicken and get that jelly consistency, you’ll use 3 ounces liquid pectin in your cooked, strained, sweetened grapes.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Large Pot: A large pot will be needed to hold all of your crushed grapes and break them down, releasing all of the grape-y goodness.
- Potato Masher: A simple way to crush your grapes is to take out your trusty potato masher and go to work on those concord grapes inside your pot. Just make sure you don’t use a metal masher on a non-stick pot otherwise it will scratch it.
- Strainer with Cheesecloth: You will line a strainer with cheesecloth in order to completely strain all of the grape pulp and end up with smooth jelly. If you don’t have cheesecloth then you can use a coffee filter instead.
- Jars with Lids: The size of your jars will determine how many you need to hold the Grape Jelly. You can use mason jars or recycled jars that used to hold other products. Either way, it is a good idea to label the jars and date them, just in case you forget when you made them, or so no one mixes them up with something else.
How to Make Homemade Grape Jelly
Time needed: 35 minutes.
- Prep Time
Start by washing the fresh grapes. Then add the washed grapes to a large pot or deep saucepan and use a potato masher to crush them.
- Cook
Leave the grapes in the deep saucepan and set the stovetop to medium heat. Once they start to break down lower the heat and continue to cook for 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the grape mixture sit for 5 minutes.
- Strain
Put a damp cheesecloth or a coffee filter in a strainer. Add the grapes to the strainer and press the grape juice through the strainer.
- Sugar
Rinse out the pot or deep saucepan, and return 4 cups of juice to the pot. Add 6 cups of sugar and bring the strained grape juice to a boil at medium-high heat. Mix in the pectin and continue boiling mixture for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and use a wooden spoon to remove any extra foam from the top. Hot jelly isn’t very appetizing, so you’ll want to give it a couple hours to cool before serving or storing the jelly.
- Store
If you’re storing mason jars of jelly, sanitize the lids in a boiling water bath. Then pour the mixture into your jars or another airtight container for storage.
- Canning Jars
If you want to can the jelly and keep it for extended periods of time, you’ll need to follow more specific instructions with canning supplies. Use these canning instructions if you’re interested in that. Canning is precise and contains high heat and hot items, so make sure you follow instructions from a site dedicated to it.
Nutritional Facts
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Making your own homemade jelly will be super easy by following these helpful tips.
- Don’t Overcook the Jelly
- You might be concerned that your jelly isn’t set after you add the pectin and boil for 1 minute, but be sure to avoid overcooking by letting it boil for longer. You can actually destroy the ability for a gel structure to form if you cook pectin too long.
- Use the Spoon Test
- The consistency of your hot jelly should be a bit thickened. When you dip a cold spoon (from the refrigerator or freezer is best) into the jelly, the jelly mixture should slide down the spoon in sheets and dribble off more slowly, rather than drip off like water drops.
What to Pair With Homemade Grape Jelly
Once it’s done you can use the jelly in a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich, spread it over buttered toast made with Homemade White Bread, or muffins like Applesauce Muffins, or Raisin Bran Muffins. You can also use it in baked good recipes, like as filling for cinnamon rolls the same way strawberry jam is used in Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls.
How to Store
- Serve: Give the jelly time to set and thicken in the fridge before you use it as a spread.
- Store: You can seal the jelly in mason jars or another airtight container to store in the fridge for up to 3 months.
- Freeze: For longer storage, seal and freeze the Grape Jelly for up to 6 months.
Ideas to Serve Homemade Grape Jelly
In addition to serving the jelly with breads and baked goods, you can also use this Homemade Concord Grape Jelly in more unexpected recipes like BBQ Grape Sloppy Joes or BBQ Grape Jelly Meatballs. Get creative and try these sauces on other recipes like chicken or baked beans. The smokey flavor in BBQ sauce tastes wonderful with the sweet grape jelly recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jam and jelly are very similar. They’re delicious and sweet spreads made with fruit, pectin, and sugar. However, the key difference between jelly and jam is in the way the fruit is used. While this jelly, and others, are made with fruit juice, jams are made with the fruit pulp and the juice. That’s why straining the batch of grape jelly is important.
Since you will strain the grapes from all of the pulp and skin, its fine if you use seeded grapes as they will be strained out along with everything else to use the juice of the grapes for the jelly.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 4 pounds concord grapes
- 6 cups sugar
- 3 ounces liquid pectin
Instructions
- Wash grapes and crush them in a large pot with a potato masher.
- Cook on medium heat until they start to break down, then lower heat to low for 15 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Using a strainer press the juice from the grapes through a cheesecloth or coffee filter.
- Using 4 cups of grape juice return the juice back to a rinsed pot.
- Add in the sugar and bring to a boil on medium-high heat.
- Add in the pectin and boil for 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat, remove any foam.
Notes
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
Variations
- Fruit: You can add different kinds of berries like raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries to the jelly with the grapes.
- Lemon Juice: To add a little acidity and extra flavor to your grape jelly, add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice to the concord grape juice when you add the pectin.
- Frozen Grapes: Freezing grapes makes for easy storage, and you can use them in this recipe. Instead of using fresh fruit, add the frozen concord grapes to the pot and prepare the homemade jelly as usual. You’ll just have to cook a few minutes longer so that you can thaw the grapes and then break them down.
- Pectin Powder: If you don’t have liquid pectin, you can use a box of pectin powder in the recipe. Use 2 tablespoons of powdered pectin for every ounce of liquid pectin. For some extra sweetness, you can add some honey at the same time as the pectin and whisk in the pectin-honey mixture until well combined.
Related Recipes
Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread
Blue Cheese Butter
Smoked Salmon Spread
Easy Blueberry Jam
