Sweet strawberry chia jam swirled into soft Paleo muffins, perfect for breakfast on the go!

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Summer night paradise

This really has nothing to do with strawberry chia jam muffins, but we’re right in the thick of summer, and we are pretty much parked at the Lake Michigan shoreline daily! That warm powdery sand and crystal clear fresh water makes for the best evening playground to wear out kids of every age for bedtime, and we take full advantage of it being right in our backyard!

A new breakfast option!

We picked strawberries last week, and boy this heat has them turning so fast! I used the last bit of strawberries that were turning too fast to make some chia jam so that it wouldn’t go to waste, and as one of my girls was spreading it on her banana muffin for breakfast one morning, I had an idea! That chia jam would be so amazing swirled right up into a breakfast muffin!

Summer’s best produce jammed up…chia style!

I was pretty late to the party jumping onto the chia jam train. I know it’s all the rage, but there was just something about that once a year task of choosing a summer fruit and cooking it down for jam that was so satisfying! Last year I just didn’t have the kitchen time to spend making traditional jam for our strawberries, and really fell in love with making them into chia jam.

No strawberries? No problem!

This muffin recipe will really work with whatever chia jams you are making this summer, and better yet, if you are jamming up the traditional way, that jam will work too! Really any summer fruit will work just fine!

Texture perfection!

Almost tipping on the addicting side of things, the texture of these muffins are perfectly soft and satisfying. You’ll never know they aren’t loaded with gluten! Not only are they gluten free, they are free of grain too for those following more of a Paleo lifestyle or need to avoid grains for gut healing.

Some notes on the jam

If you have already canned your favorite summer fruit jam, you can use that for this recipe! Or, if you are done picking fruit, and only have store bought jam on hand, you could use that too. The chia jam recipe I will leave in this post is a super basic chia jam – always about a cup of fruit to a tablespoon of chia seed and sweetener to taste. I think if you have some real little guys in the house you could get away with just a half or so tablespoon of the honey for that jam. If you are going to use store bought, just watch the ingredient list and be sure there isn’t anything funky added to the list.

Muffin ingredient swaps notes

I haven’t tried these muffins egg free, but if you don’t tolerate eggs, I do think a couple gelatin or chia “eggs” would work in here. There are only 2 eggs in the whole recipe so that usually swaps out ok. The muffins might not puff up as much since the eggs make that happen, but they will hold together and still taste really good. The only flour swap that I have made is the Namaste Gluten Free Flour – that will work to swap for all of the cassava, almond, and coconut flours if you happen to have that on hand and prefer to use that. I love the nutritional profile that the specialty flours give to add to breakfast, so that is why I love those other flours. If you are nut free, I do think that using all cassava flour would work.

Ohhh yes they are freezer friendly!

As you move through your summer, picking and enjoying all the special fruit that the warm summer months have to offer, make a batch of chia jam muffins to preserve the fruit! Stashing them away will make your school morning breakfasts easy peasy come fall! To freeze, simply let the muffins cool completely to room temperature, and then put them in a freezer bag. The texture stays super soft even after they thaw out!