Blood Orange substitute

Best substitute

Orange juice plus cranberry or pomegranate juice plus a little lemon

Use 1 cup blood orange juice for every ¾ cup orange juice + ¼ cup unsweetened cranberry or pomegranate juice + 1 tsp lemon juice

Best for margaritas and cocktails

Close match

The best all-round answer, because it addresses all three jobs at once: the orange carries the citrus body, the red juice supplies both the berry note and the colour, and the lemon restores the extra tartness a blood orange has over a navel.

Other blood orange substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Plain fresh orange juice with a squeeze of lemon
Close match
Use 1 cup blood orange juice for every 1 cup orange juice + 1 to 2 tsp lemon juice
The simplest swap and completely fine in any recipe where the blood orange was chosen for taste rather than looks.
What changes
The lemon matters because blood oranges are tarter than the navels and Valencias most people have on hand.
Best for
olive oil cake, marinades, pan sauces, braises, salad dressings, baked goods
You lose the raspberry note entirely and the colour completely, so a sorbet comes out orange rather than sunset pink. In anything baked or browned this is undetectable and there is no reason to do more.
3Tangerine, mandarin or Cara Cara orange juice
Close match
Use the same amount plus 1 tsp lemon juice per cup
Better than a plain navel because these are more aromatic and more complex, and Cara Cara in particular has a genuine pinkish flesh and a berry hint of its own.
What changes
Best for
cocktails, citrus salads, sorbet, curd, spritzes
Cara Cara is the closest single fruit you can buy, though its pink is salmon rather than crimson and it is sweeter, so lean harder on the lemon. Tangerine and mandarin are more floral and noticeably sweeter than blood orange.
4Orange segments plus red grapefruit segments (for citrus salads)
Different taste
Half and half by volume, replacing blood orange segments 1:1
When the recipe wants the visual drama of red-fleshed wheels on a plate, ruby grapefruit next to ordinary orange gives you the two-tone look and a bitter edge that stops the salad being merely sweet.
What changes
Best for
citrus and fennel salads, winter fruit plates, burrata and citrus, avocado salads
Grapefruit is properly bitter where blood orange is only faintly so, so use it as the accent rather than the bulk, and add a pinch of salt and a drizzle of good olive oil to tame it.
5Blood orange zest replaced with orange zest plus a drop of grenadine or hibiscus (for colour only)
Close match
Orange zest 1:1; add colour to the liquid separately, 1 tsp at a time
A practical way to split the problem when a cocktail or a frosting needs to look like blood orange and the flavour is already handled.
What changes
Best for
cocktails, frosting and icing, glazes, jellies, sodas
Hibiscus tea brewed strong is the better choice because it adds tartness along with a deep red, while grenadine is mostly sugar and will sweeten what it colours. Add either at the end, off the heat, since both fade with cooking.
6Bottled blood orange juice or blood orange soda
Close match
Use the same amount for bottled juice; for soda, treat as juice plus sugar and cut the recipe's sweetener
Genuinely useful and easy to overlook, since bottled Sicilian blood orange juice is stocked by many supermarkets year-round while the fresh fruit has a short winter window.
What changes
Best for
cocktails, sorbet, reductions and glazes, sodas and spritzes, curd
The colour holds up well but the fresh floral top note is largely gone, so add a strip of fresh orange zest to the mix. Blood orange soda is heavily sweetened and only suitable where you can reduce sugar elsewhere.

What is Blood Orange?

Blood Orange is Blood oranges, sold by variety name as Moro, Tarocco or Sanguinello, are winter oranges whose flesh develops deep red pigment in cold weather, giving juice that is slightly less sweet than ordinary orange and carries a distinct raspberry or red-berry note alongside the citrus.

Cooking tips

The red colour in blood oranges comes from anthocyanins, the same pigment family as in berries, and it only develops when the fruit gets cold nights. This is why a blood orange bought in July is often barely blushed inside and why the season is essentially December to April. If your fruit is pale, it is not defective and the flavour is still fine, but you will need help with the colour.
That pigment is pH-sensitive and heat-sensitive. Reduce blood orange juice hard in a pan and the beautiful crimson turns brownish; add it to an alkaline batter and it can shift muddy. Add the juice late, keep the heat moderate, and if colour is critical, hold back a couple of tablespoons of raw juice to stir in at the end.
Moro is the darkest and most berry-forward variety and the one to buy if you want drama. Tarocco is sweeter, larger and only partly red but has the best flavour of the three. Sanguinello sits between them. If a recipe just says blood orange, any of them is right.
For a sorbet or a granita, do not simply swap in ordinary orange juice at the same sugar level. Blood orange is tarter, so a recipe tuned to it will taste flatly sweet with navel juice. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice per cup and taste before churning.
Blood orange peel is thinner and less bitter than a grapefruit's and is excellent candied or zested. If you are substituting regular orange zest for it, use a light hand and stop at the coloured layer, since a navel's pith is more bitter.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just use a regular orange instead?

Yes, in almost every recipe, and it is the right call most of the time. Add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice per cup to account for the fact that blood oranges are tarter. You will lose the raspberry note and the colour, which matters in a cocktail, a sorbet or a plated citrus salad and matters not at all in a cake, a marinade or a pan sauce.

Can I just leave the blood orange out?

Only if something else in the dish is already supplying acid. Blood orange is usually the acid and the aroma at the same time, so removing it leaves a drink or a dressing tasting flat and heavy. If you truly have no citrus, a splash of white wine vinegar covers the acid in savoury cooking, though it brings none of the fruit.

How do I get the red colour without blood oranges?

Unsweetened pomegranate juice is the best option, since it adds a deep red plus a matching berry tartness. Strong-brewed hibiscus tea is a close second and is tart rather than sweet. A little raspberry puree, pushed through a sieve, works in cold applications. Avoid food colouring in anything transparent, since it reads artificially pink rather than the dusky crimson of real blood orange.

Is blood orange the same as Cara Cara?

No, though they are often mixed up in supermarkets. Cara Cara is a pink-fleshed navel, coloured by lycopene, and it is sweeter and lower in acid with a mild berry hint. Blood orange is coloured by anthocyanins, is darker and tarter, and has a much more pronounced raspberry character. Cara Cara is a decent substitute; they are not the same fruit.

What about using blood orange in place of regular orange juice, rather than the other way round?

That works well and is worth doing when you have the fruit. Expect a tarter, more complex result and a pink tint, so in a sweet recipe you may want a touch more sugar, which is the opposite of the adjustment on this page.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Blood Orange substitute

Other blood orange substitutes

2Plain fresh orange juice with a squeeze of lemon

3Tangerine, mandarin or Cara Cara orange juice

4Orange segments plus red grapefruit segments (for citrus salads)

5Blood orange zest replaced with orange zest plus a drop of grenadine or hibiscus (for colour only)

6Bottled blood orange juice or blood orange soda