This fresh blood orange juice recipe squeezes the vibrant flavors of fresh blood oranges into a bottle, allowing you to enjoy it glass by glass throughout citrus season. It’s bursting with the sweet-tart taste of blood oranges, and ready to replace regular OJ in any recipe.
Whether you drink the juice on its own or use it to make a blood orange simple syrup or enjoy it in specialty drink like a blood orange daiquiri or blood orange margarita, you’re sure to fall in love with this special crop of citrus!
Blood orange season is one of the most anticipated citrus seasons in the world! And growing up with a grandmother from Southern Italy means I understand the hype around this fruit. These super special oranges originated in the southern mediterranean. They have a bold and vibrant hue, a slight tart flavor, and floral raspberry-like taste, which is why they’re sometimes called raspberry oranges.
💕 why you’ll love this blood orange juice recipe…
🍊 bold & vibrant. These vivid oranges range in color from light orange-red to a deep red color, almost maroon in hue. The resulting fresh juice is a truly stunning color!
🌟 special & seasonal. Blood orange season runs from December through April, sometimes extending from November to May. This means when the season is over, the oranges are GONE!
⏱️ quick & easy. One ingredient means this juice is super simple to make and contains zero artificial ingredients! If you want to make even quicker work of this recipe, you can use an electric juicer.
🛒 ingredients
- blood oranges – There are a few varieties of oranges commercially available throughout citrus season. The most well-known are called moro blood oranges or Sicilian blood oranges, and they’re native to Southern Italy. These oranges are slightly smaller in size compared to conventional juicing oranges, averaging about 2-3 inches in diameter. You’ll need at least 10-12 fresh ripe blood oranges, which are in peak season from about December through April. They are sweeter and less acidic than conventional varieties of oranges, like Navel oranges and Valencia oranges, and most notably, they have bright red flesh!
🍳 instructions
prep the oranges
1: Wash and dry your oranges to remove any dirt or impurities.
2: Slice the oranges in half.
juice the oranges
3: Juice each orange half using a citrus juicer or manual citrus press.
4: If desired, strain your juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove excess pulp from the orange juice.
serve & store
5: Pour your juice in an airtight storage bottle.
6: Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
💡tips & tricks for getting it right
🍽️ serving tips
While you can simply enjoy your juice as is, you can also use it in the following ways:
- freeze it – I love freezing seasonal juices and purées into ice cube trays for later in the year. It’s a great way to extend the season and enjoy these special fruits year round. As a bonus, if you portion the cubes out into 1 ounce servings, you can easily add the juice into drinks throughout the year!
- blood orange simple syrup – use the juice to make a flavorful seasonal syrup!
- blood orange soda – one of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy seasonal produce is making homemade sodas! Take a trip to Southern Italy without ever leaving your kitchen with this soda pop!
- blood orange spritzer – add 2-4 ounces of juice to sparkling water or one of your favorite bubbly wines like prosecco or champagne for a refreshing drink!
ℹ️ troubleshooting tips
- use within a few days – Fresh juices don’t tend to last very long, even when refrigerated. You’ll want to use this juice up within a few days; three to be exact. This is also assuming you have it properly stored in an airtight container, so no open pitchers, please!
- add lemon – if you want to extend the shelf life of your juice a little, you can add in up to 1 ounce of lemon juice per 8 ounces of orange juice. This will make your juice a bit more tart, but it will also help highlight the floral flavors of the oranges. The lemon also acts as a natural preservative, extending the freshness of the juice by an extra day or two.
- sweeten it – while I think the juice is perfectly sweet on it’s own, if you like you can add in a few ounces of simple syrup that’s been infused with other citrus fruits, like lemon syrup or key lime syrup, to boost the citrus flavor. The added sugars of a simple syrup will highlight the fruity and vibrant flavors of the blood orange juice!
♻️ substitutions & variations
♻️ substitutions
While I recommend using as many blood oranges as possible, sometimes you just can’t get as much juice as you want from a few pounds of fruit. In this case, you can use one of the varieties below to join the mix! Stick to a 2:1 ratio of blood oranges to other varieties of fruit for the best flavor.
- Cara Cara oranges – these pinkish oranges are sweeter in flavor than traditional juicing oranges like Valencia or Navel varieties. Their lighter color also makes them the perfect choice to complement the dazzling color of blood oranges.
- tangerines – tangerine fruits are also much sweeter in taste than conventional oranges. They’re technically the same type of citrus as mandarins, but they often get lumped in with oranges.
- mandarins – You know those cute little peelable oranges that are popular in lunch boxes? Mandarin orange juice compliments the fresh-squeezed blood orange juice perfectly!
- other juicing oranges – other regular oranges that are conventionally used for juicing include Valencia oranges and navel oranges. However, you might not get the striking dark blood-like maroon color in your final juice blend when using a combination of oranges.
🧰 equipment needed & storage tips
🧰 tools needed
- citrus juicer – I love using an electric juicer for homemade orange juice, because it makes quick work out of a laborious task. You can also get by using a manual juicer or citrus press, but I wouldn’t recommend using a citrus reamer— it will take much much longer to juice so many fruits.
- fine mesh strainer – if you are not a fan of pulp in your orange juice, you’ll want to strain it through a fine mesh sieve before bottling. Make sure to use a stainless steel strainer— the acidity of citrus juices can impart a metallic taste in juice that is strained through an aluminum sieve. You can also use a strainer bag or cheesecloth, too!
- cutting board & knife – use a sharp knife and sturdy cutting board to slice your fruits. A dull knife is actually more dangerous than a sharp one, so be sure your knife is properly sharpened!
- airtight storage bottle – you’ll need an airtight storage container for your juice because once squeezed, the juice starts to slowly go bad. Freshly squeezed juice isn’t pasturized like storebought juice, so it has a shorter shelf-life.
🫙 storage tips
Store your juice in an airtight container in the fridge. It has a relatively short shelf-life of about 48-72 hours, or 2-3 days.
If your juice smells sour, bitter, or vinegar-like, it’s no longer safe to drink!
💬 q+a
How many blood oranges does it take to make 1 cup of juice?
You’ll need about 10 oranges that are 2-3 inches in diameter to get 1 cup of juice from them.
When are blood oranges in season?
Peak blood orange season usually runs from November through May, but sometimes it goes from December – April.
If you make this recipe, please leave a review in the comments and a star rating!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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Fresh Squeezed Blood Orange Juice (Seasonal Citrus Juice)
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Equipment
- 1 citrus juicer
- 1 cutting board
- 1 knife
- 1 airtight storage bottle
Ingredients
- 10 blood oranges medium sized, 2-3" in diameter
Instructions
wash & prep the oranges
- Wash and dry your oranges to remove any dirt or impurities.
- Slice your oranges in half.
juice & strain
- Juice using an electric juicer or a manual juice press. You'll need 10-12 oranges to get 1 cup of fresh juice, and you'll get more juice from an electric juicer than a manual press.
- If desired, strain your juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove excess pulp from the orange juice.
serve & store
- Store your juice in an airtight storage bottle in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- If you want to store the juice for longer, you can freeze it into portioned cubes in the freezer.
Notes
- Cara Cara Oranges
- Tangerines
- Mandarins
- Navel or Valencia Oranges
Nutrition Information
The information provided is an estimate based on an online nutrition facts calculator and actual nutrition facts may vary.
🧯food safety & other information
Food safety is an important ingredient in any recipe for success! Here are some tips to keep you safe in the kitchen!
- Washing your fruit before juicing it can be an annoying extra step, but it’s a good idea to do. When slicing fruit, impurities can be transferred from the outer peel to the inside flesh by the knife. Washing helps prevent that from happening!
- Once fresh citrus is juiced, it becomes susceptible to bacterial growth. On average, fresh squeezed juices last about three days when stored in the fridge in an airtight container. If anything ever smells or tastes off, it’s safest to toss it.
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