Homemade Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

Homemade fresh squeezed orange juice is delicious and easy to make from fresh, ripe & sweet oranges!

As you know, orange juice is one of the most popular, refreshing fresh juice for summer or anytime of the year. Enjoy the freshly squeezed homemade orange juice as soon as it is made or keep it refrigerated so you can enjoy it chilled for another 3 to 4 days. You can also freeze any leftover homemade orange juice for even longer storage!

You can easily make fresh homemade orange juice using a blender, juicer or you can squeeze them with your hands or using a hand held citrus juicer or citrus reamer. Just make sure to use good quality fresh oranges for making the best tasting homemade freshly squeezed orange juice!

can you juice oranges using blender?

Yes, you can juice the oranges in a blender. If you follow a few tips and tricks, you can easily make orange juice at home without a juicer, using just a blender.

In fact, you can even make orange juice at home just by squeezing the oranges using your hands, as most oranges are usually easy to juice that way. However, when you have more oranges or if you don't want to squeeze the juice with your hands, using a blender to juice the oranges is the best option. Also you can use a hand held juicer or citrus reamer to squeeze the fresh juice of oranges easily.

When you make your own homemade orange juice at home, there are many advantages.

• You can choose the kind of oranges you want to juice.

• You can also decide if you want to add any water and how much, about the quantity of juice that you want to make, decide on your choice of sweetener, add more ingredients like lemon juice to improve the taste of orange juice, and you may even make them in very small quantities like one or two small servings if you do not want leftovers.

• On the other side, you may even make large batches of orange juice and store longer times for later use.

• And the best thing is that you know what goes in your orange juice and the way you have prepared it!

Also, making orange juice at home is one of the most easy and best ways to use any leftover fresh oranges that you may have!

You can also make orange jam if you have more oranges! More delicious, easy orange recipes include mango orange juice smoothie, orange peel tea etc! If you have orange trees in your garden or if you are gifted with a lot of fresh oranges, it's a great idea to juice at least some of those fresh oranges so you can use it as you need.

So there are many advantages of preparaing orange juice at home, though we usually go for the most convenient way of buying the prepared orange juice from the stores. Of course, I do buy orange juice from the stores as well and that's what I do most often. However, sometimes I run out of store bought orange juice and want to make my own! That's when I make orange juice at home!

how much juice in one orange?

If you are using one regular, medium sized orange you can make about ⅓ cup of pure, fresh orange juice.

If the size of the orange is smaller, you can obtain about ¼ cup of fresh orange juice from 1 orange. This is without adding any water and you can obtain the juice more easily using a juicer if you do not want to add any water. You can also squeeze out the juice using hands, or you can use blender to make the juice. To make one cup of fresh orange juice (without adding any water), which is equivalent to one serving of orange juice you will need 3 to 4 oranges depending on the size of oranges that you use.

If using small sized oranges like mandarin oranges, the amount of juice could be even lesser but mandarin oranges are usually very juicy so it depends. Keep in mind that these are only estimates, the amount of juice that you obtain from oranges can vary slightly based on the kind of orange that you use and also the size of the orange.

In this orange juice recipe we use only three oranges to make two servings of juice, because we add water and also lemon juice in the making. If you decide not to use any water or lemon juice in the recipe, you can make one serving of fresh orange juice from the recipe.

should you add water while making orange juice?

I actually prefer adding water while making orange juice, and I actually find it more refreshing than just the fruit juice.

It is a personal preference, and so you will see that I have used water in this recipe for orange juice. Whenever, I make orange juice with no water or less water, I usually thin it down by adding little more water to my preference.

Because I find pure orange juice made in a blender or a juice too strong in flavor for my preference and also more acidic in nature. However, when I make orange juice just by squeezing the oranges (not by a blender or juicer), I see that the orange juice made from squeezing the oranges is kind of thin on its own and it's perfect consistency for me without adding any extra water as well. When I make the juice in the blender, like in this recipe, I almost always use water to make the juice. I am sure many will disagree with me on this, as I have seen people disagreeing about adding water to juice, because it will thin down the fresh juice and it will also lessen the flavor.

In this orange juice recipe, I am also adding a bit of lemon which will increase the flavor of the juice, and so you will not feel any less flavor really. You may also use little more lemon if you like. If you wish to reduce the amount of water, you may just blend the fruits with little water, only as needed, and just pass it through a fine mesh strainer. Or you may not add water at all, if that is your preference.

So here is how we can make delicious orange juice in a blender.

how to make fresh orange juice at home?

We use the following ingredients to make easy, delicious orange juice at home.

ingredients to make refreshing orange juice

• oranges 3 medium sized (or large ones)
• water 1 cup chilled (use little or less water if you prefer that way)
• sugar 2 tablespoons
• lemon juice 1 tablespoon

step by step instructions

• Peel the oranges and also remove any seeds (if not using seedless orange).
• Also remove any white strings that you can.
• Slice the fruit in medium sized pieces and add to a blender (I had about 2.5 cups of sliced fruits).
• If there is any seeds remaining, you can easily remove them as you slice the fruit.
• Add water, sugar and lemon juice (you may use less water based on your preference and also you may adjust the amount of lemon juice and sugar).
• Blend for few seconds, but do not blend for more time since that can make the juice slightly bitter.
• Pass the prepared juice through a fine mesh strainer (you may discard the leftover fruit pulp or you may save that if you find it useful for anything else).

• Transfer the filtered fresh orange juice to glass cups, add few ice cubes if desired, serve immediately for best results.
• If serving later, you may save the juice in the refrigerator and serve as needed. For longer storage, you may freeze the juice in ice cube trays.

Alternate methods for making fresh squeezed orange juice

• You can peel and slice the oranges, discard the seeds and then squeeze the oranges using your hands.
• If any seeds or white strings or pulp fall through, you can filter the pressed juice through a fine mesh strainer for a clear juice.
• Once the juice is prepared, you can add enough sugar if desired. Also, you can add the lemon juice and stir in for the best flavor.
• For orange juice made this way, I usually do not add any extra water, but you may add if you wish.
• Other methods of making fresh squeezed orange juice include making the juice using an electric juicer or hand held juicer or citrus reamer which are all very easy ways to make fresh orange juice at home without adding any water.

Notes: If using small sized oranges like small mandarin oranges or other small varieties, you may use about four oranges in this recipe.

does orange juice go bad?

Freshly prepared homemade orange juice tastes the best when it is enjoyed immediately. You can also store the juice in pitchers in refrigerator. Keep chilled until ready to use. However, if you are planning to store the orange juice for more than a couple of days, it's a good idea to transfer the juice to ice cube trays and store in the freezer so it doesn't go bad and stays fresh for longer period of time.

what to do with leftover orange juice?

If you prepare a large batch of fresh orange juice, you might wonder what to do with leftover orange juice. As I mentioned above, you can freeze the juice in ice cube trays for longer storage. If you have lot more leftover orange juice, you can use some of those in many recipes. You can use orange juice in recipes to make cakes, muffins, puddings etc.

For example, this homemade orange cake is made using orange juice as an ingredient! Here is a guide on ways to use orange juice if you have more leftover orange juice.

more frequently asked questions on orange juice:

does orange juice has caffeine?

This homemade orange juice has no caffeine in it since we make it from fresh oranges and no ingredients with caffeine content is used in the recipe! When you buy orange juice from outside, if it is pure orange juice, it is still caffeine free. However, it is a good idea to look for ingredients since some drinks like tea or coffee flavored with orange juice can have caffeine in it from the tea & coffee in it.

Similarly, it is a good idea to look for ingredients list, if you buy any orange flavored drinks to see if any of the ingredients in the list has caffeine.

is orange juice gluten free?

Pure, homemade, fresh orange juice (like in this recipe) is definitely gluten free, since we do not use anything with gluten in the preparation. When you buy orange flavored drinks or other products, it is a good idea to check for any gluten information, though pure orange juice is highly unlikely to have any gluten content in it unless there is any cross contamination from other gluten products.

If you are unsure, always check the ingredients label and also check for the gluten free label!

does orange juice need to be refrigerated?

Yes, orange juice need to be refrigerated after preparation so it stays fresh. It is also a good idea to chill the orange juice & serve it with ice cubes so it tastes the best & most refreshing. You can always keep any leftover orange juice in pitchers or jars and keep refrigerated. While store bought orange juice may last longer (check for anyt labels to see how long you can use it after opening the bottle, usually they last well for about a week), I recommend storing homemade fresh squeezed orange juice for about 3 to 4 days in the fridge.

can you freeze orange juice?

Yes, you can freeze homemade freshly squeezed orange juice! For longer storage, you can transfer the orange juice to ice cube trays and store in the freezer.

more fresh juice recipes:

• strawberry juice
• kiwi juice
• plum juice
• watermelon juice
• peach juice
• pomegranate juice
• blueberry juice
• cranberry juice

Below you can get the recipe for homemade fresh squeezed orange juice in detail.