No need to heat up the kitchen by making preserves on the stove-top. Let the slow cooker do all the work in this easy recipe for Crock-Pot Fig Preserves! Just 4 ingredients (fresh figs, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract) and you have a beautiful and tasty preserve that you can either can in jars or store in the refrigerator.
Slow Cooker Fig Preserves
We love using our slow cookers to make up batches of jams, jellies and preserves! It lets you do some home canning without watching the pot constantly and heating up your kitchen.
So, when Crock-Pot Ladies reader Sheryl B. sent us over this recipe we were so excited to try it out for ourselves.
Figs are a treat for sure and are in season late June to July in most areas of the US and are so tasty. This slow cooked preserve has just a few simple ingredients and comes together quite easily.
You can opt to can this recipe in jars using the water bath method for about 15 minutes (adjusting as needed depending on your altitude) or you can simply store this yummy treat in your refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Give it a try when figs are in season!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Fig Preserves Recipe:
- 5 Quart, 5.5 Quart, 6 Quart, 6.5 Quart Or 7 Quart Slow Cooker
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Container With Lid
- Measuring Cups And Spoons
- 6 Ounce Canning Jars OR Freezer Containers
- Water Bath Canner
Frequently Asked Questions
In the United States there are two seasons for fresh figs. The first season is called the u0022brebau0022 season and falls around the first weeks of June. The second season is called u0022new woodu0022 season and typically runs from August through October. This is when you should be able to find fresh figs at your local grocery store or your homegrown fig trees producing fruit.
This recipe makes approximately four (4) six ounce (6 oz.) canning jars of fig preserves. And for the nutritional information and Weight Watchers SmartPoints I figured a serving size is about 1 tablespoon. So this recipe makes about 48 servings.
If you want to store your homemade fig preserves at room temperature for up to 1 year you will need to process this recipe in canning jars using the water bath canning method. The National Center Of Food Preserving has a wonderful PDF resource where you can learn more about how to water bath can. If you are not into canning you can of course just put this fig preserve into food safe containers and pop them into your refrigerator for up to 1 month or freezer for up to 6 months.
– Spread on your morning toast, bagel or English muffin.
– Spoon over Greek yogurt, maybe even sprinkle on some granola for a yogurt parfait.
– Slather on pancake or waffles.
– Dollop a spoon or two into your morning oatmeal.
– Set out a jar on a cheeseboard for entertaining. The sweet preserves pairs great with cheeses like aged Cheddar, Brie, Emmental, and Camembert.
– Spread on a sandwich. I put a little on a smoked turkey sandwich and it was out of this world!
– Swirl into a cheesecake before baking.
– Combine with a little balsamic vinegar to create a glaze for chicken or pork.
Special Diets
Gluten Free | Low Calorie | Low Carb | Low Cholesterol | Low Fat | Low Sodium | Low Sugar | Vegan | Vegetarian
This recipe for Crock-Pot Fig Preserves is Weight Watchers Friendly on the new Personal Points plan. You can see the WW personal points for this recipe here on the Weight Watchers website. Click here for MORE of our Weight Watchers Recipes
More Great Crockpot Canning Recipes!
Crock-Pot Sweet Tomato Butter
Use up fresh or canned tomatoes with this delicious & flavorful Slow Cooker Sweet Tomato Butter. Serve with crackers or bread!
Crock-Pot Homemade Apple Sauce
Turn fresh apples into one of the best Slow Cooker Homemade Apple Sauce with this simple and delicious recipe. Can the applesauce in jars or freeze!
Crock-Pot Pumpkin Butter
Your home will smell amazing while this Slow Cooker Pumpkin Butter is cooking away with cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Spread on your morning toast, bagel, pancakes and more!
Crock-Pot Banana Jam
Easy Slow Cooker Banana Jam recipe using those old and mushy bananas. 3 Ingredients and made in the slow cooker. Serve on toast or English muffins!
Recipe Collections:
- 5 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- 5.5 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- 6 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- 6.5 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- 7 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- Canning Recipes
- Fall Recipes
- Spring Recipes
- Summer Recipes
Crock-Pot Fig Preserves Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Diced Fresh Figs
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Lemon Juice
- ¼ Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Place figs in a large food storage container that has a lid.
- Sprinkle the figs with sugar and place the lid on the container.
- Refrigerate for at least 12 hours (I usually do this overnight).
- Transfer figs with the liquid that has collected while the figs macerated in the sugar to a 5 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Add lemon juice and vanilla extract.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or until the mixture is jammy and slightly thickened,
- Divide figs into four sterilized 6 ounce canning jars. Wipe rims of jars off with a clean dampened paper towel and put lids and rings on jars.
- Can the jars of figs in a hot water bath canner for 5 minutes (adjusting for altitude if needed). Store processed jars for up to 1 year at room temperature.
- Alternatively you can put the fig preserves into clean food safe containers and freeze for up to 6 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Question: If you don’t want to use white refined sugar, what substitute sweetener would you recommend for making these preserves?
Brown Sugar I was in a fig Perservers
Hi Denise,
While I did not create this recipe (it was sent in by one of our readers) I would think you could use honey instead of refined white sugar.
According to this article I found (http://www.pickyourown.org/SubstitutingHoneyForSugar.htm) you could use 7/8 of a cup of honey to replace the 1 cup of sugar in this recipe.
If you try it, let us know how it turns out for you!
Heidi
Marvellous recipe!! Any idea how much 4 cups of figs are in either metric or imperial?? Thanks!
Isabella, to be quite honest I am not sure on the conversions to metric or imperial. In this recipe you use 4 (8 oz.) jars so I would think if you have similar sized jars where you live you could roughly estimate it. I found this conversion table (http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml) but I am not 100% sure on what the proper conversions would be.
Thank you so much for that. What a good conversion site. I do have others, but not as useful as this one. I have managed to find the relevant info needed in a very old cookery book! One cup of pears, figs, dates, etc, weighs whole, 5 ozs, chopped, 3 ozs. In metric this would be 150 and 75 grams respectively. Cheers!
Can just can these or does it have to be Refrigerated
Because this is a recipe sent to us by a reader and not one of our own recipes I am not sure if you can process these fig preserves to can them. The reader recipe states store in refrigerator so I am guessing it is best stored that way instead of canning them.
I would hate to try and give canning advice on any recipe that I did not personally test myself for fear of making someone sick.
seems to me you could freeze the preserves in jars.
Freezing should be fine Suzie.
I made these with my friends figs He pick and gave to me I love everything in crock pot everythings better did not have watch so easy smells like haven in my home. These taste great . So easy Turn out great .
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Brenda!
Your recipe uses less sugar than any other recipe for fig preserves that I have seen, and yet it is plenty sweet. Mine took 5 hours at high setting on my crockpot. It is delicious. Thank you for posting this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
How long will these keep in the fridge if I do not use the canning technique?
I would say these would be ok in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks Cheryl.
This taste good, but mine is very thin – it has not thickened up. It’s been cooking for 5 hours on high, and it’s still runny.
It should thicken up as it cools. Hope that helps Xina!