Ingredient Spotlight: Blood Oranges

Gloriously messy and beautiful, blood oranges sparkle with flavor and promise from December until April or May. In any dish you might use a supermarket orange, consider the blood orange equivalent instead. With their ruby-red flesh and candy-sweet taste, they add an exquisite hue and charm to almost anything you’re craving.

How to Buy and Store

Like navel and Valencia oranges, blood oranges should be heavy for their size, with firm, smooth skins free of bruising or soft spots. They tend to be a bit smaller than other oranges, and their skin may have a slight dark reddish hue. Store blood oranges at room temperature for several days or refrigerated in a plastic bag for up to three weeks.

How to Enjoy

Before peeling, squeeze your blood orange between your palms or roll it on a countertop, pressing down firmly. This will make it a little juicier and easier to peel. To juice, cut it in half and use a juicer or reamer to extract the liquid. You may also remove the zest from an orange or segment it before using it in a recipe.

Savor the transcended flavor of blood oranges by eating them fresh, either segmented or sliced in salads and salad dressings, or as a topping for a dessert. (Check out this gorgeous ombré cake!) Or bake them or make them jammy: They’re also delicious in preserves, such as a compote or marmalade. Read on for how we’re eating blood oranges right now.

1. Quinoa Salad With Roasted Carrots and Blood Oranges

Take a minute to think about how marvelously well the textures and tastes work together in quinoa salad with roasted carrots and blood oranges: sweet roasted carrots, plush quinoa, toothsome edamame, and sweet blood oranges. Plus edamame, which is always a welcome addition.

2. Winter Citrus Upside-Down Cake

Attention, anyone who just received a boatload of Florida or California citrus: Make this winter citrus upside-down cake. All the heavy hitters—kumquats, grapefruits, blood oranges, and navel oranges—make cameos. Serve it with labneh on the side, and eat it for breakfast without judgment from us!

3. Radicchio and Fennel Salad With Basil and Blood Oranges

Hi, Campari and soda and Negroni drinkers, here’s the slightly bitter salad you covet: radicchio and fennel salad with basil and blood oranges. Radicchio is one of those greens that lovers of dandelion greens delight in. Fennel delivers its anise-y oomph. Basil adds brightness, and blood oranges deliver on the sweet front.

4. Blood Orange Mimosas

So innocuous-looking, yes, these blood orange mimosas? But drinker beware: Chef Bobby Flay’s mimosas also feature a little kick of Campari. Along with the blood orange, it delivers that signature garnet hue. We love the mint garnish, which adds welcome freshness.

5. Blood Orange and Olive Oil Upside-Down Cake

An instant hit from Claire Saffitz, this blood orange and olive oil upside-down cake is as pretty as a picture and delicious, to boot. Be sure to cut those oranges paper-thin, or use your mandoline, to avoid a tough cake. Perhaps the best part of this dessert aside from its beauty is the fact that a dairy-free olive oil cake can sit at room temperature and improve over the following few days. (You won’t believe it’s possible after the first bite.)

6. Blood Orange Peach Cocktails

This fruit can be messy. If you don’t want your kitchen evoking a low-budget horror film, consider a pre-made mix, such as this glorious agave-based option from Gaby Dalkin. It’s got peaches; it’s got blood orange; it can easily transform into two blood orange peach cocktails. One is bourbon-based; one employs sparkling wine. As is true of blood orange itself, there’s something for everyone.

Check out all our blood orange recipes, right this way!