Homemade Candied Orange Peel

Homemade candied orange peel can be both a great filling for pastries and a delicious dessert in its own right. It is so aromatic, delicate, and gives pastries a fresh, slightly caramelized and festive flavor and aroma.

Some of the most popular recipes on my blog, such as Panettone or English Christmas Fruit Cake or German Christmas Stollen, include candied orange peel as one of the main ingredients.

And, most importantly, candied orange is very easy to make. Below is my favorite candied homemade orange peel recipe, that you can make quickly and easily.

The amount of products in the recipe makes about 500–600 grams (1.1–1.3 lbs) of candied orange peel.

Ingredients

• orange peels
• sugar
• water for syrup
• lemon juice

How to make homemade candied orange peel

1. Put the orange peels in a bowl, add cold water.

2. Put a pot of water on the fire, boil, transfer the orange peels from cold water to boiling water and cook for 10–15 minutes. Then put them back to cold water.

3. After a couple of minutes, replace the water in the pot and in the bowl with fresh cold water.

4. Repeat step 2 one more time.

These manipulations will help to remove the bitterness from the peel and make it soft.

5. Drain the peels and cut them into strips or cubes.

6. Put the sliced peels, sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan, stir and put over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cook the peels for 40–60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7. When the liquid is boiled and the mass almost stops spreading when stirring, remove the saucepan from the heat and cool the candied fruit.

Important! The moment of readiness depends on what result you want to get: from soft, moist candied fruits to hard candied crusts. When hot, candied fruit is moister than when it cools down, so remove it from the heat in a more liquid state than you want to get in the finished form.

It is advisable to transfer the candied fruit to a storage dish immediately after removing it from the heat, otherwise it will be too difficult to do so after cooling.

Don’t forget to add lemon juice in step 6, which not only gives a pleasant flavor but also prevents sugar from crystallizing.

If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out! Share your experience or any creative twists you made in the comments below. Let me know if you have any questions. Your feedback helps me create even more delicious content. Enjoy your homemade treat and happy baking!