The Easiest Candied Orange Peel Recipe
A foolproof and wonderfully easy Candied Orange Peel recipe that makes sweet and bright orange peel candy – perfect for the holidays!
Candied Orange Peels
The holidays call for a bit of flourish, don’t they?
Candied Orange Peels are a terrifically vibrant and delicious way to add festive pizazz to Christmas cocktails and desserts. Bright golden slivers of sugar-coated orange peels taste as wonderful as they look, and bring some impressive flair to nearly any drink or dish.
Most recipes for making candied orange peels from scratch seem trickier than necessary. They often use candy thermometers, and include watching (and watching… And more watching) for crystallization. No, thank you.
This easy recipe makes the BEST, sweetest orange peel candy, without all the fuss. The pieces are soft and perky, with just the right hint of chewiness and light, sugary crunch.
What Ingredients You Need
Our uncomplicated recipe for tangy Citrus Peel Candy includes only 5 simple ingredients:
- Navel Oranges – just the peels so feel free to use the juice of the orange to make other holiday recipes, like Holiday Wine Punch Cocktails (You can also use Valencia or Cara Cara oranges.)
- Water – for simmering the peels
- Granulated sugar – to create perfectly sweet candied orange peels
- Vanilla – adds a deep earthy flavor to balance out the sweetness
- Salt – essential for the candying process
You can also use this recipe to make candied grapefruit, lemon peel, or lime peels! Orange you glad to know? *wink*
How to Make the Easiest Candied Orange Peels
Instructions…
This effortless recipe is a great relaxing weekend or weekday evening project. Just follow these few basic steps for making cheery, citrusy-good orange peel candy from scratch at home in less than an hour!
First, prep the oranges by trimming off the tops and bottoms with a paring knife. Then use a vegetable peeler to carefully peel the oranges from top to bottom, into 2-4 inch long segments. It helps to press the peeler very firmly against the orange to collect a nice even layer of peel, omitting as much white pith as possible.
Once you’ve peeled all the oranges into wide strips, cut the slices into thinner ¼ inch strips.
Next, place the orange peel segments into a medium saucepan and turn the heat on to medium or medium-low. Add water, sugar, and salt. Stir and bring to a simmer. As soon as the water begins to boil, set a timer for 20 minutes. You want to cook the peels until they are just soft, but still have their lovely vibrant color. (Using medium to medium-high heat will burn your peels quickly.)
Meanwhile, prepare for the next steps: Add the remaining ½ cup sugar to a bowl and set aside, and set out a drying rack with a piece of wax paper or parchment paper under it.
Once the orange peels have simmered for 20 minutes, stir in the vanilla extract. Turn off the heat and let the peels rest in the sugar syrup for several minutes.
Then use tongs (or a slotted spoon) to move the orange peels to the cooling wire rack. Allow the orange peels to rest for at least 15 minutes to dry and cool. (This allows the excess syrup to drain off the slices.)
Toss the cooled peels in the sugar to coat.
Let the peels dry completely at room temperature. This should take another 30 minutes or so.
Store the Candied Orange Peels in an airtight container, and keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy as a snack or as a decoration on cake or cupcakes.
Get the Full (Printable) Easiest Candied Orange Peel Recipe + Video Below!
How Can I Enjoy Candied Orange Peel?
Eat these homemade candies right out of the container as a special treat, or serve Candied Orange Peels as a garnish on desserts and drinks.
Add a few to Homemade Chocolate Pudding for a delicious chocolate and orange dish, or top this Yogurt Cheesecake with Orange Shortbread Crust to add an extra burst of citrus flavor.
Use pieces of orange peels to finish festive cocktails, like an Aperol Spritz or in a Spiced Manhattan Cocktail.
However, you choose to include, these homemade candies are sure to add some joy to your holiday celebrations!
Looking for More Easy Candy Recipes?
- Vanilla Orange Candied Cranberries
- Bourbon Salted Caramel Candy Recipe
- The Tastiest Turkish Delight Recipe (Lokum)
- Bourbon Candied Bacon Bites
- Chocolate Toffee Christmas Crack Recipe
Check this candy’s printable recipe card below for the prep time, total time, and nutrition information including calories, protein, sodium, potassium, vitamin c, and calcium percentages.
Easy Candied Orange Peel Recipe + Video
Ingredients
- 4 large navel oranges or 5 small
- 2 cups water
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Trim the tops and bottoms of the oranges. Then use a vegetables peeler to peel the oranges from top to bottom, into 2-4 inch segments. Press the peeler firmly against the orange to collect a nice even layer of peel. Be careful to trim off just the peel, not the white bitter pith. Then cut the wide strips into ¼ inch thin strips.
- Place the orange peel segments into a medium saucepot. Set over medium to medium-low heat. Add the water, 1 cup of sugar, and the salt. Bring to a simmer. Once simmering, set the timer and simmer approximately 20 minutes, or until the peels look soft, but still retain their vibrant color. (You don’t want them to turn brown, so set the stove just hot enough to hold the simmer.)
- Meanwhile, place the remaining ½ cup sugar in a bowl and set aside. Set out a drying rack and place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper under it.
- Once the orange peels have simmered 20 minutes, stir in the vanilla extract. Turn off the heat and let the peels rest in the sugar syrup for another 5-10 minutes.
- Use tongs to move the orange peels to the cooling rack. Allow the orange peels to rest at least 15 minutes to dry and cool. Then toss them in the sugar to coat. Let the peels dry completely at room temperature. Then store in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Great easy to use recipe.
I wonder, would this recipe work for doing the same with pineapple pieces?
Can you use the left over syrup for something?
Hi Cynthia!
It would be great to use as a thick orange-flavored simple syrup for cocktails.
This really is a fast, candy-thermometer-free way to make good candied orange peels. I used blood oranges, not navels, and the recipe was fine. I also found I needed to pop them in the dehydrator for 30 minutes to really dry them out for storage.
My mom and I love to save the peels of oranges. We put them on a flat tray and keep them in the oven, to dry. Of course with the oven off. I decided to finally make candied orange peels today. I Googled and found this recipe.
It’s a simple recipe and I was pleased with the results. I saw how many complaints there was about bitterness and some just plain rude. Personally, I loved the pictures, showing each stage and I appreciate this simple recipe.
You will get some bitterness with all citrus. For me, I love the slight bitterness with the sweetness of sugar and a hint of vanilla.
And I used the liquid. No way I was tossing it out. I made a simple syrup with the addition of more sugar, a few cardamom pods and a stick of cinnamon. Oh my! We had a few pears that were getting to well done. Sliced them up and let them cook in the sauce to were they were still with a bite. A little bit of cool whip. And the perfect desert.
This recipe came out perfect. The people that are commenting that it is bitter, left the white pith on. The instructions clearly state not to leave the pith on. When you remove the rind, it is best not to use a knife – use a vegetable peeler with a gentle touch. If you just follow the directions as written, this recipe works. After tossing with sugar, I kept it on a cooling rack and the peels were dry after 24 hours. Other recipes state to boil/rinse 2x to remove the bitterness and people have commented that they need to add orange extract, which defeats the purpose. Just make sure to peel carefully and that there is no pith and the recipe will work just fine.
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Just got bitter slices, not a lick of sweetness apart from the sugar coating. Followed recipe exactly.
You clearly didn’t use the right oranges or you didn’t follow the recipe. That comes out perfect every time when you do it properly. It was your fault
I made this last night. I wanted to skip the pre cooking that I did last year. I will always use the other method. It removes so much of the bitterness. I am dipping in Chocolate so they are still edible but I prefer them less bitter.
It is nearly impossible to miss the mark with candied citrus peels! These are good and a favorite of mine since I first tasted them at age 3. Anyone who is uncertain about making this treat, just DO IT!
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Cooking the peels and then rinsing them in cold water takes away any bitter that may have been in the peels.
you either like the marmalady candy taste or you don’t.
don’t blame the chef..!
Looks good.
Personally, I would peel the oranges (4 peels per orange),
then cook the peels for 30 min
the let it cool down and remove the pith with a teaspoon or vegie-knife.
Then cut it in the desirable sizes, every 1/4 peel in 5 or 6 long strips.
now cook it with the sugar, add vanilla, let it rest, and put it on the dry rack.
Every now and then pour some of th syrup over it and wait till it drips off.
Now roll the strips in castor sugar or icing sugar.
Let it drip off. Cover 50% – 60% of the individual strips, by dipping it into melted chocolate. (Dark chocolate will work nicely).
Let the choc settle and then pack the strips in a sugar jar.
Same ingredients as your recipe.
Exactly! Who wants all that pith left on the orange?
I make candied orange peels all the time and this method is by far the best I’ve tried. Adding the vanilla after they cook make them taste even better.
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I made these little citrus delights. I layed them out on my dehydrator racks and left them on the counter to dry for about an hour before I coated them in sugar and layed out again. Yummy thanks for sharing!!!
For the person complaining about wasting time on this recipe.. the author took hours to write this out with photos (of which I’m sure was done with a kind heart). I was taught to be kind to others.. not to belittle their efforts (leaving a truthful review is one thing but saying a waste of time was rude and overboard). There’re several other variables such as how thin you shaved the peels away from the pith, what kind of oranges were used (huge difference that perhaps wasn’t known as all oranges aren’t the same) and how high the stove was turned up during those 20 minutes for example so let’s be kind and actually treat others how we’re like to be treated ourselves.. thanks.
Well said, Cheryl! Uploading a recipe takes an enormous amount of time, energy, resources & money! And we don’t have to pay a single penny, except maybe a kind word or two & perhaps a nice compliment.
I found this recipe on an accident when trying to search whether or not orange oil is still in my room dried orange peels. I never found that answer out but there’s no room in my freezer to put the huge amount of SUMO orange peels I have (I wanted to make essential oil to add in a spray bottle as an all natural air freshener). Although I can’t find a decent recipe for that I thankfully stumbled across this candied orange peel recipe.