This recipe originally appeared on Pateron.
You may know winter is citrus season, but have you tried the spookiest citrus of all—blood oranges?
Years ago, I found a recipe for blood orange margaritas and made it my batch cocktail for Halloweenie Roast. I fell in love with the flavor and, after learning a bit more about the fruit, I now keep an eye out for this spooky citrus in late December/early January when its season hits.
Blood orange season in the U.S. is December to April. You can, of course, find blood orange juice year-round if you know where to look — or if you’re willing to pay a premium.
You’ll find my tips for locating this fruit/juice at the end of this post, but by sharing these two drink recipes in December, I’m hoping you’ll be able to find it fresh and give one of these a try!
Cocktail Recipe: Blood Orange 31
French 75s have been my cocktail of choice over the last year. I love the simplicity: gin, simple syrup, and fresh lemon juice topped with sparkling wine. My fave slightly spooky bar in Houston, Betelgeuse, had a frozen version I was obsessed with and still dream about…
It’s also very easy to modify to add in other flavors. I recently tried it with blood oranges and thought this would be a perfect winter recipe!
Here are three ways you can make the cocktail version, depending on what you have available:
Cocktail with fresh blood orange juice:
2 oz gin
1 oz blood orange juice
½ oz simple syrup
Top with sparkling wine
Add gin, blood orange juice, and simple syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a champagne flute or martini glass. Top off the drink with your favorite sparkling wine. Garnish with a blood orange slice—place a fresh slice on your flute or float a dehydrated slice in your martini glass.
Can’t find bottled blood orange juice? You can always juice the oranges yourself since you only need one ounce per drink, and it can be pricey bottled. If you can’t find fruit to juice, I go back to the classic recipe and use lemon as my citrus. But instead of simple syrup, I use a blood orange liqueur and bump the quantity up a bit for the flavor.
Cocktail with blood orange liqueur:
2 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz blood orange liqueur
Top with sparkling wine
Add gin, lemon juice, and blood orange liqueur to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a champagne flute or martini glass. Top off the drink with your favorite sparkling wine. Garnish with a blood orange slice—place a fresh slice on your flute or float a dehydrated slice in your martini glass.
Cocktail with pre-made blood orange syrup:
While not my favorite option for enjoying blood orange, you could also modify your recipe to use a pre-made flavored syrup.
2 oz gin
1 oz lemon juice
½ oz blood orange syrup
Top with sparkling wine
Add gin, lemon juice, and blood orange syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a champagne flute or martini glass. Top off the drink with your favorite sparkling wine. Garnish with a blood orange slice—place a fresh slice on your flute or float a dehydrated slice in your martini glass.
Modify it:
A fun way to add additional flavors is to make herb simple syrup, which we do for the spiritless drink below! Rosemary, thyme, or mint would all pair well with this drink.
Tips:
Use a plain, everyday gin for this recipe — nothing with a specific flavor forward or overly botanical.
This is also a great “freezer door” cocktail. In the summer, I would mix up batches of the gin, juice, and syrup in a mason jar and store it in the freezer. Then, when I wanted a cocktail, I’d pour the chilled mix into a glass, top with sparkling wine, and enjoy!
Mocktail Recipe: Blood Orange 31
Want to enjoy blood orange without the booze? This simple spritz is just the thing, and add a little dimension to it with a flavored simple syrup. I don’t have modifications for this one because I think it is best with fresh blood orange juice.
Recipe:
3 oz blood orange juice
1 oz rosemary simple syrup
Top with club soda
To make simple syrup, add equal parts water and sugar (i.e. ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar) to a saucepan. Over medium heat, dissolve sugar and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and add fresh rosemary sprigs. Steep the mixture for at least 15 minutes. Remove rosemary sprigs, allow the mixture to cool completely, and strain into an air-tight container. Keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.
To make the drink, add blood orange juice and rosemary simple syrup to a glass. Mix with a spoon, fill the glass with ice, and top the drink with club soda. Stir to combine. Garnish with a fresh blood orange slice and sprig of rosemary.
Just a note that for my photos of this one, I chose not to stir it because I liked the layered look…but I mixed it up before drinking.
Modify it:
As mentioned above, you can customize this one by also trying a simple syrup with thyme OR mint.
Tips:
Also, consider freezing blood orange juice into ice cubes and using those so the drink doesn’t become watered down over time.
How to Make Dehydrated Blood Oranges (for garnish)
Dehydrated citrus has become a favorite garnish for cocktails lately. This is SO easy to make at home — plus, it’ll make your house smell great.
Slice your fresh blood oranges into even ¼-inch slices (thinner is better for this process), and place in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Turn on the oven to 200 degrees, and place the cookie sheet in the oven. (You don’t need to wait for it to preheat.)
“Bake” your slices for 6-8 hours, flipping slices hourly, or until dehydrated.
Don’t rush this process by turning up the heat! You will burn your slices. I cheat this system sometimes and will actively “bake” my slices for 4-6 hours in the evening, then turn off the oven and leave the cookie sheet in the oven overnight to finish the process.
You can float a slice in your drink, which doesn’t add flavor but is a fun detail to elevate at-home drinks.
Where to Find Blood Oranges & Juice
Right now, you might be able to find the fruit in grocery stores. In my experience, not every store carries it, and quantities are usually limited/irregular, but keep an eye out for them! Blood oranges look like regular navel oranges, sometimes with a slightly red hue to the skin. Be sure to check stickers for “blood orange” to make sure you’re grabbing the right fruit. (Learn from my mistake.)
Natural and organic grocery stores (spots like Whole Foods, Sprouts, or Fresh Thyme in the U.S.) are more likely to carry fruit and juice, in my experience. Look for juice in any juice cold case or the bottled juice aisle. For this recipe, I found my fruit at Fresh Thyme and the bottled juice at Whole Foods.
Depending on where you live, farmer’s markets could be an option for fresh fruit. You may also be able to find juice seasonally at liquor stores in the mixer aisle.
Finally, Amazon is always an option for buying juice, but it comes at a premium here. Mongibello is the brand I originally used for my margaritas years ago, but it is currently $26 for a quart. Lakewood, the brand I found at Whole Foods, is available here for the same price I paid in-store.
