Provided is an ink jet recording method in which an image is formed by applying an ink containing a coloring material and a processing liquid containing a flocculant to a surface of a recording medium by a droplet discharge device to coalescence, wherein an application amount of the processing liquid is changed in accordance with an application amount of the ink for each unit area, and is controlled to be 5 g/m2 or less in all of the unit areas in which the images are formed, and when the image is formed in a plurality of printing passes, an average value of the application amounts of the processing liquid in each printing pass in the unit areas in which the application amount of the processing liquid is 0.8 g/m2 or more is controlled so that a deviation when compared between the printing passes is within ±30%.