This easy Orange Marmalade recipe is made using fresh oranges and lemon. It only takes a few simple steps and is absolutely delicious! Enjoy it slathered on toast, pork chops, chicken, or stirred into your yogurt or overnight oats.
Looking for more jams and sauces? Try my Mango Chutney, Pepper Jelly, or Blackberry Jam!
Why this is the best marmalade:
- Versatile – Serve it on grilled pork tenderloin, grilled chicken, stirred in greek yogurt or overnight oats, or simply slathered on toast!
- Delicious – This marmalade tastes so much better than anything you can get in the store. It tastes so fresh and tasty!
- Quick – A lot of recipes are more time consuming with a more complicated process. This marmalade is quick to make and only has a few easy steps!
Four Basic Ingredients:
- Oranges: Preferably choose organic oranges since the skins have not been treated with pesticides and aren’t waxy. Choose thin skinned, oranges for best results, so there’s less plith to make the marmalade bitter. Recommended oranges for marmalade: naval, Seville, Cara Cara, blood oranges, mandarin, tangerines, or a combination.
- Lemon: citric acid to help the jam set up and make it safe for canning.
- Sugar: helps preserve the marmalade, balance the flavors, and helps it to set up. You could try using ½ sugar and ½ Splenda/sweetener, but I don’t recommended reducing the sugar unless you are okay with a runnier marmalade, and only if you don’t plant to can/preserve it.
- Water.
Oranges contain so much natural pectin that the marmalade will thicken without any added pectin (unlike with my peach, strawberry or raspberry jam, that all require pectin). Pretty cool!
How to Make Orange Marmalade:
Prepare oranges: Wash oranges and lemon, thoroughly scrubbing the peels. Cut off ends of the oranges then cut each orange in half, and then cut each half into 4, so you’re left with 8 pieces of orange. Discard any seeds.
Puree: Place oranges in food processor and pulse until rind is in very small pieces. Meanwhile, place a plate in the freezer, for later use.
Add to saucepan: Add oranges to a saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Zest lemon and squeeze the juice into the pot. Add water and sugar and stir well.
Cook: Bring mixture to a boil. Simmer for 30-35 minutes until thickened.
Test if it’s ready: Use the frozen plate to test for doneness. When it’s done, it will be a soft gel that moves slightly. If it is still thin and runs easily on the plate, keep cooking.
Pour into jars or containers with a lid. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
Canning Instructions: Cook mixture to about 220 degrees F on an instant read thermometer, then pour into sterilized jars, and top with new lids and rings that have been washed in warm soapy water. Process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. Allow to sit at room temperature for 24 hours, then store in a cool dry place for 6-10 months. Once opened, refrigerate marmalade for up to 2 weeks.
FAQ’s:
- What if my marmalade didn’t thicken? Stir in a package of liquid fruit pectin and boil for 1 minute.
- Why is my marmalade too thick? It was cooked too long. Return to pot over medium heat and stir in additional water.
- How to avoid bitter aftertaste:? The white plith that lines the orange can cause the marmalade to be bitter but is important in adding a natural pectin. This is why I suggest buying oranges with a thin skin. If your oranges have an overly thick layer of plith, scrape some out before adding to food processor.
Storage and Freezing Instructions:
To Store: This easy marmalade recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
To Freeze: Freeze in a freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
Flavor Variations:
- Other Fruits: Combine with other citrus fruits, like grapefruit or pomelo (just make sure the end weight of the fruit is the same)
- Ginger: Add a pinch of freshly chopped ginger root.
- Add Jalapeño, diced.
- Add Cinnamon Stick and a whole clove to the mixture while cooking, then remove.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: add a splash at the end.
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Recipe
Orange Marmalade
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2.0 to 2.3 pounds oranges (about 4 medium)
- 1 lemon , zest and juice of
- 1/3 cup water
- 4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Prep fruit: Wash the oranges and lemon, thoroughly scrubbing the peels.
- Chop: Cut off the ends of the oranges. Cut the oranges in half, then cut each half into 4, so you’re left with 8 pieces of orange. Discard any seeds.
- Puree: Place the orange pieces in a food processor and pulse/chop until the rind is in very small pieces. Place a plate in the freezer, to help us test for doneness later.
- Combine in saucepan: Add oranges to a large saucepan over medium heat. Zest the lemon into the pot and squeeze the juice from it, into the pot. Add water and the sugar and stir well.
- Cook: bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and simmer, stirring often, for 30-35 minutes until thickened. When done, it will slide off the spoon in sheets, not droplets, and a spoonful poured onto a cold plate should be a soft gel consistency that moves slightly. If after pouring onto a cold plate it’s thin and runs easily on the plate, it is not ready, so continue cooking.
- Pour into jars or containers with a lid. Allow to cool to room temperature, then store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Other Citrus: Combine with other citrus fruits, like grapefruit or pomelo (just make sure the end weight of the fruit is the same.)
- Ginger: Add a pinch of freshly chopped ginger root.
- Add Jalapeño, diced.
- Add Cinnamon Stick and a whole clove to the mixture while cooking, then remove.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: add a splash at the end.
Nutrition
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Holy moly! Super yummy recipe.
I didn’t think it was hard to make, just a bit time consuming, but it was definitely worth it.
Absolutely everyone loves it!! Yayyyy!!
Its good! It’s my first time to make marmalade…I like it although it’s not as smooth as store marmalade. But when I saw high fructose corn syrup on the store bought marmalade jar I knew I didn’t want it.
Lauren,
Thank you for a wonderful recipe. A good friend gave me a whole bunch of kumquats. I ate many but could not eat them all. I decided to try making jam/marmalade. I found your recipe online. What I loved about it was the simplicity and small batch amount. Others were suggesting too many steps which in my humble opinion was not necessary. It took me one hour from start to finish. Waiting anxiously for it to cool down to taste.
Keep up the great work. And if you do celebrate, have a wonderful Easter.
Florence
Made this twice now and it’s definitely a winner! Last of our tree oranges are in a new batch cooking now. These oranges are the sweetest so far, so cut back on the sugar. Thank you for a great, easy recipe.
Used this recipe with the oranges from my tree and it was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly. Sooo worth the time.
Just made a batch. I like mine thicker so, I cooked it longer. Smells great and, so does the house! Can’t wait to try it!!!👅
First time making marmalade, loved how simple the recipe is. What can I say over the moon the taste is amazing.
super easy! i used mostly mandarins, and it cane out super great! i did use half the sugar, but I aint planning on long term storage. I had no idea it is so easy to make! Thank you!
I was happy with the consistency of the marmalade but unfortunately the bitterness of the pith is too strong to serve except as an ingredient in a savory dish. Even then it just disappoints. Did I do something wrong?
The white plith that lines the orange can cause the marmalade to be bitter but is important in adding a natural pectin. This is why Lauren suggest buying oranges with a thin skin. If your oranges have an overly thick layer of plith, scrape some out before adding to food processor.
Super fun recipe to make with my little kids and teach them a lot along the way. Taste really good too!
Such a simple recipe that was delicious.
I just made some with oranges from my turned fabulous
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! My whole family raves about it!
The only slight change I made is instead of zesting the lemon, I used the whole lemon, just like the oranges.
Thank you for a fantastic recipe!
Can i double the recipe? And if so do i need to cook it longer? Or do anything different from the original directions?
DELICIOUS!! I had a bag of very ripe “cutie” oranges and the marmalade was easy to make and so tasty!
Will definitely make this recipe again and again!!
Can dark brown sugar be user versus granulated sugar?
Only question is can dark brown sugar be substituted for granular sugar in the orange marmalade?
Made recipe with Cara Cara oranges. Came together exactly as stated. Really easy to follow instructions. I made 4 oz jars yielded a doz.
Very easy and delicious.
First time making marmalade. This was so easy and really delicious.
Could you use tangelos
I have not tested them to say for sure, but I think it would be fine…
Loved the orange marmalade!! Canning multiple jars while visiting in Arizona!
I have lemon peels that have been sprinkled with sugar to remove the oils for oleo-saccharum. I’d like to use the peels, which still have some decent flavor to them. Can I make marmalade from the leftover peels, and should the recipe be modified? Do you think it would need extra pectin added? If you don’t think marmalade would work, any suggestions on how to use them?
Such an easy recipe to make and it turned out perfectly!!!
Thank you Lauren!! I will buy your cookbook!
I like this recipe very much, however, the amount of sugar seems like a lot. I only use about 1 cup. I’ve made it a couple of times w/less sugar than noted and it comes out delicious.
First time making orange marmalade, and I went about it backwards. I wanted to make Serrano jam, but I had no pectin. So, I made orange marmalade with serrano. It is the best hot pepper marmalade? Jam? Whatever. Great recipe. If you like it hot then add whatever your favorite pepper is, well shredded.
Why if sealed properly, won’t it last for over a year. Vs 3 months. I’d like to give for Christmas
Thank you, Lauren. This recipe was easy and so yummy! I used 2 blood oranges, a navel orange, a grapefruit and one lemon. For 1/2 of the batch I added a 1/4 cup of Canadian whiskey (’cause I’m Canadian!) and that kicked it up a notch. I will never buy store bought marmalade again!
I made this today and oh my goodness it turned out great.
Thank You for the recipe
This was a fabulous recipe. Easy to make and it turned out amazing!! We have these bitter orange trees in our front yard, so it’s nice to have something to do with them.
XOXO
Jodie
Can you use a full amount of splenda or ½ and ½? Diabetic here 🙂 i candy orange peels but cant eat many. Im wondering if this will work or result in a watery marmalade.
Thank you!
I havent tested it with splenda so I cant say for sure. In normal “jam” I wouldn’t advise it, but the oranges have so much natural pectin that in this case I think it would be fine.
If you try any artificial sweeteners let us know how it turns out. Thanks.