Home » Homemade Ingredients » How to Make Ube Halaya Jam For All Your Ube Recipes
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If you want to make a delicious authentic ube dessert, you'll want to use a traditional Ube Halaya Jam recipe to do it — and I'll show you how.
By Gemma Stafford | | 76
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Ube halaya jam, purple yam jam, halayang ube, or simply ube jam — whatever you choose to call it, it’s absolutely delicious and the key ingredient in many Asian desserts!
The wonderfully colored yam, a relative to our more familiar sweet potatoes, is a popular ingredient in the Philippines. The texture is even similar to sweet potatoes, but while sweet potatoes have a nutty, vanilla taste, purple yams are even sweeter and a bit more mellow.
You can use this ube halaya jam in baked enriched doughs, ube pastries, halo-halo (a great Filipino dessert made of crushed ice, evaporated milk, and other ingredients like coconut strips and sweetened beans), and even my3 Ingredient Ube Ice Cream!
What Is Ube?
Pronounced OO-BEY, is a popular crop grown in South Asia that is becoming more and more popular in other parts of the world. The taste is somewhat hard to describe to a person who has never had it, and the beautiful purple color may raise a few eyebrows. To me, it is a wonderful, lightly-sweet that reminds me of a vanilla-y pistachio.
Fresh ube may be hard to find at your local grocery, but frozen works well with this recipe as well.
Ube jam is simply a jam made from the boiled and mashed purple yam and a few other ingredients, like full-fat coconut milk and condensed milk.
What You Need To Make Ube Halaya
- Measuring cupsandspoons
- A large pot with a heavy bottom
- Immersion blender, liquidizer, food processer, or hand masher
- Jars for storage
How To Make Ube Halaya (Ube Jam)
Making ube halaya is a super simple process, and the result is a beautiful purple and delicious ingredient for a lot of incredible desserts. I won’t judge if you eat a spoonful or use it on top of milk bread either. Here’s how you make it (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
- Prep the ube by washing them. Leaving the skins on, boil, or steam them whole until they are tender in the middle. This will take about 30-40 minutes depending on the size.
- Once they are cooked through, let me cool down and then peel off the skin. Roughly chop into cubes and set aside. (Once the ube is cooked, you can store it in the freezer in an airtight container for months, until you are ready to make your jam.)
- Add the cooked ube,evaporated milk, coconut milk,condensed milk, and sugar into a heavy bottom, large pot.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture to make the ube as smooth as possible. You can also do this using a liquidizer, food processor, or even a hand masher.
- Once the ube is smooth, put on a lid and move the pot to the stove. Heat it over medium/low heat until it comes to a simmer.
- Simmer the ube mixture for roughly 40-45 minutes. You’ll want to stir the mixture frequently to prevent the jam from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning. Be careful when you remove the lid because the jam mix will spit.
- Once the jam has thickened, whisk in your butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. The ube halaya will thicken significantly as it cools.
- Spoon the mixture into jars while it is still hot and then close the lids. Allow the jam to cool down to room temperature.
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Ube Halaya
- Don’t have condensed milk?Make your own condensed milk.
- Don’t have evaporated milk?Make your own evaporated milk.
- Use ube jam to make myNo Machine Ube ice-cream.
- You can use either fresh or frozen ube for this jam.
- Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan, so your jam doesn’t burn on the bottom, stirring every few minutes, so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Also, be sure to cover the pot with a lid while cooking because the jam will spit.
How To Store Ube Halaya
You can keep ube halaya in your refrigerator, after bringing it to room temperature after cooking, for up to 5 days. Alternativly, you can place in small airtight containers and freeze for 2 months.
Make More Recipes!
- Best-Ever Pumpkin Bread
- The Perfect Classic Apple Pie
- Mum’s Irish Apple Cake
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
Authentic Ube Halaya Jam Recipe
4.76 from 89 votes
Print Recipe
If you want to make a delicious authentic ube dessert, you'll want to use a traditional Ube Halaya Jam recipe to do it — and I'll show you how.
Author: Gemma Stafford
- Dessert
- Saucepan
- Stovetop
- Blender
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 45 minutes mins
Steaming Ube 35 minutes mins
If you want to make a delicious authentic ube dessert, you'll want to use a traditional Ube Halaya Jam recipe to do it — and I'll show you how.
Author: Gemma Stafford
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs (675g) ube (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup (8floz/240ml) evaporated milk
- 1 cup (8floz/240ml) full fat coconut milk
- 1 can (1 cup/ 14oz/397g) condensed milk
- 1 cup (8oz/225g) sugar
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Wash the ube but leave the skins on. Steam or boil them whole until tender in the middle, roughly 30-40 minutes depending on size.
Once cooked through, let them cool down before peeling off the skin. Roughly chop into cubes and set aside. Note: Once cooked, ube can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container for months. You can get the ube ready in advance of making your jam.
In a heavy bottom, large pot, add the cooked ube, evaporated milk, coconut milk, condensed mil and sugar.
With an immersion blender, blend the mixture to make the ube as smooth and silky as possible. (You can also do this in a liquidizer, food processor or using a hand masher)
Once smooth, move the pot to the stove and place on a lid. Heat over medium/low until it comes to a simmer.
Simmer for roughly 40-45 minutes. Stir the mixture continually while cooking, to prevent the jam from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning. The jam mix will spit so just be careful when you remove the lid.
When the jam has thickened, whisk in the butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt. Remember that the ube halaya will thicken greatly as it cools down so factor that in.
Carefully spoon the mixture into jars while hot. Then close with the lids. Allow the jam to cool down to room temperature. The ube jam will last in the fridge for about 5 days, but I like to divide up into smaller amounts and freeze for up to 4 months.
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Purple Yam
3 years ago
It’s traditionally pronounced as OO-BEH not OO-BEY.
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markus aurelius
3 years ago
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markus aurelius
3 years ago
looks more like camote (sweet potato). ube has a more ‘rooty’ skin/peel.
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Richelda Jeon
2 years ago
Being a Filipino myself who has a passion for cooking, I agree that this is authentic “halayang ube” or ube halaya. It’s a good ratio of the ingredients. I am also a subscriber of your YT channel.
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Ara Gutierrez
3 years ago
Looking forward to a more popular filipino foods on your vlog 🥰 Thank u so much Gemma.
2
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Nicole
3 years ago
Hi Gemma,
I was just wondering what the difference of boiling and steaming Ube is and which one is faster.
2
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Clem lafs
5 months ago
That looks like Okinawan Japanese Sweet Po… definitely not FILIPINO ube. another example of cultural take over or appropriation
1
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Daniel
3 years ago
Ube halaya is specifically FILIPINO, it’s a significant error that you didn’t state that specifically
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Nicole R
4 months ago
This is prob a silly question, but, do u have to use coconut milk? My family doesnt like coconut, but i really wanted to try this! Trying to expand our palates 😃
Is there anything I can sub for it?
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Lou
4 months ago
Hi Gemma! I happen to browse your blog when I was searching for a variation of ube recipe. The real ube has an uneven shape and when cut, it has a texture similar to gabi (another kind of tuber but white inside and chewy when cooked). Ube has a distinct smell that I can’t describe but I know if it is real ube. By the way it is better to steam ube rather than boil it to preserve the flavor, taste and color. You can also add some pandan leaves during steaming to make the aroma better. I’ve been cooking…Read more »
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Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, a cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 500+ videos on YouTube & TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 go-to baking authority.
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