Don’t discard those citrus peels from now on. Make these delightful sugar treats with those citrus peels. Guess what – they make great Christmas gifts as well. Today I am going share how to make Candied Orange Peels with step-wise pictures.
The citrus season has begun. I see grapefruits, mandarins, baby mandarins, different varieties of oranges in the local farmer’s market. Resisting these vitamin C loaded fruits is hard. The peels are also rich in fiber and flavonoids.
We love the baby mandarins, and I regularly buy them during the season. I love the citrus peels. I use the zest in my salads, and I like to make orange peel vathal kuzhambu as well.
This year instead of kuzhambu, I decided to make some candies with these orange peels. And guess what, this month’s weekly blogging marathon theme is also Christmas Candies. Perfect right?
These candied peels reminded of my childhood favorite orange mittai/pulippu mittai. We liked this mildly sweet and sour and bitter candied peels. I couldn’t stop with just one. For today’s recipe, I went with oranges, but you can use other citrus varieties too.
DIY Candied Orange Peels
The DIY candied orange peel recipe procedure is very simple. Chop the peels and first cook them in water (time varies depending upon the peel thickness) and then cook them again in the sugar syrup. Coat the cooked peels generously with sugar and let it sit for 48 hours. And that’s it. Your candied orange peels are ready. I know there is a wait time, but I can assure that its worth the wait.
Wondering how and where to use these orange candy peels? You can use them as a topping in the cake, cupcake, muffins and also you can use it as ice-cream garnish and what not. Before I forget, I wanted to mention about the parchment paper.
Parchment paper is your friend, folks, when it comes to candies. I repeat, parchment paper is your friend. :-) I love this pre-cut parchment paper from Amazon, and that’s what I used it for all my candy recipes. (No, this is not a sponsored post.)
Candied Orange Peels Recipe
Now without any further ado, here is my candied orange peel recipe.
Ingredients:
- Baby Mandarins / Cuties – 4
- Water – 2 cups + 1 cup
- Sugar – 1 cup + ½ cup for coating
Prep-Work:
- Cut the mandarin peel into 4 or more vertical segments, depending on the size of the fruit.
- Carefully remove the peel and the rind from each segment.
- Remove the white fibers if any, and chop into thin strips.
Steps:
- In a saucepan or heavy bottom pan, combine two cups of water and the cut orange peels.
- Cook them for 15 minutes over medium heat.
- After 15 minutes, drain the water and set it aside.
- Now heat remaining one cup of water and add the sugar and stir well.
- When the sugar dissolves, add the cooked mandarin peels.
- Cook the peels over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the sugar syrup becomes bubbly.
- Carefully remove the peels from sugar water. (You can use this citrus flavored sugar syrup for your tea and juices)
- Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
- Take a small portion of the remaining sugar in a plate/bowl and place the peels on the sugar. Generously roll the orange peels on the sugar. Ensure the peels are coated nicely with sugar. Add the sugar to the plate as required. Do not add the entire sugar in the bowl.
- Place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray or plate and set aside for 48 hours.
That’s it. Candied orange peels are now ready. Wrap it and gift it or relish it as is or as a topping. You can store them in an air-tight container and refrigerate it.
Notes:
- I went with baby mandarins, but you can use any citrus variety including limes and lemons. Depending upon the thickness of the peels, the cooking time might vary.
- Make sure you coat the cooked peels generous with sugar.
- Letting the peels to dry for 48 hours helps in the sugar to stick correctly.
P.S.:
- Sending this recipe for the BM 95. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#95
📖 Recipe
Candied Orange Peels
Ingredients
- 4 Baby Mandarins / Cuties
- 3 cups Water 2 cups + 1 cup
- 1.5 cups Sugar 1 cup + ½ cup for coating
Instructions
Prep-Work:
- Cut the mandarin peel into 4 or more vertical segments, depending on the size of the fruit.
- Carefully remove the peel and the rind from each segment.
- Remove the white fibers if any, and chop into thin strips.
Steps:
- In a saucepan or heavy bottom pan, combine two cups of water and the cut orange peels.
- Cook them for 15 minutes over medium heat.
- After 15 minutes, drain the water and set it aside.
- Now heat remaining one cup of water and add the sugar and stir well.
- When the sugar dissolves, add the cooked mandarin peels.
- Cook the peels over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the sugar syrup becomes bubbly.
- Carefully remove the peels from sugar water. (You can use this citrus flavored sugar syrup for your tea and juices)
- Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
- Take a small portion of the remaining sugar in a plate/bowl and place the peels on the sugar. Generously roll the orange peels on the sugar. Ensure the peels are coated nicely with sugar. Add the sugar to the plate as required. Do not add the entire sugar in the bowl.
- Place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray or plate and set aside for 48 hours.
- That's it. Candied orange peels are now ready. Relish it as is or as a topping. You can store them in an air-tight container and refrigerate it.
Notes
- I went with baby mandarins, but you can use any citrus variety including limes and lemons.
- Depending upon the thickness of the peels, the cooking time might vary.
- Make sure you coat the cooked peels generous with sugar.
- Letting the peels to dry for 48 hours helps in the sugar to stick properly.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
A recipe that I have been looking for, thanks a lot. Can this be made with Navel Orange peel? Or may be even with a different type of range (as is in market, “Florida Juice Orange”)?
You can make with any sweet variety. Just make sure the skin is not super bitter.
Making these as I write this, using the leftover peel from my oranges used for you fig Newtons! Waiting for my dough to come to room temp lol…these peeps will be used in a myriad of desserts if I can keep them out of my granddaughter’s mouth 😆 thank u for the easy recipe
Thanks :-)
I have tried this recipe, very happy with the result.. They look great and tastes yumm..
The step by step explanation is very clear
Thanks much.
making candied orange peels at home sounds great. given step by step pics is so helpful. bookmarking to try once.
Thanks a lot. :-)
This is just so brilliant and I can’t wait to give this a try. Such a perfect holiday gift. I am going to make this ASAP.
Thanks a lot, Sandhya.
Oh wow that is fantastic Srividhya, love how pretty these peels look..very neat idea.
Thanks Valli.
Candied peels look so beautiful!! what a lovely idea to gift to your loved ones!!
:-) Thanks
wow!! That looks amazing. I have been wanting to make this for a long time but never did. These photographs are tempting me to try now
Thanks Veena.
Seems like a tempting treat. What a nice way to use those orange peels which would otherwise usually are discarded.
Thanks Suma.
Wow! These look sinful. My little one is a citrus lover and I am sure she would love these.
Thanks :-)
Since ever i tried making candied orange peels by myself at home, i never discard them, its seriously worth to make homemade candied peels by ourselves na. Lovely.
Oh yeah absolutely.
Candied citrus peels are such an amazing gift for this season. Yours have turned out perfect. I love my Christmas cake loaded with candied peels. They impart that amazing flavour.
Thanks… Yeah I can imagine the citrus flavor in cakes… yum
What a nice way to use up orange peel! I am sure candied orange peel is very addictive. Nowadays I am using orange peel as stovetop potpourri. I should try these sometime very soon.
Thanks. Stovetop Potpourri seems very interesting… How do you do that… just boil them?