Easy Orange Curd
Homemade Orange Curd Recipe – Bright and sweet orange curd is easy to make with only 6 simple ingredients, and perfect to enjoy with breakfast or your favorite baked snack treats!
Why We Love This Orange Curd Recipe
Creamy and bright citrus curd is a delightful condiment to serve for breakfast or with your favorite snack-time goodies. It’s similar in sweetness to a fruit jam or preserves, but made ultra-rich with egg yolks and butter for a more decadent spread.
If you love classic lemon curd, you will absolutely go nuts over this Orange Curd variation. The flavor is slightly sweeter with less of a tart bite, and pairs perfectly with all types of baked treats – from healthy muffins to decadent cookies and more!
Our practically foolproof orange curd recipe requires 6 pantry staples and takes 15 minutes to prepare. It makes a generous 2 cups of orange curd, which is just the right amount to enjoy a bit right away, and also put up in cute little jars.
Ingredients You Need
- Oranges – fresh oranges are the base of this recipe! You can use regular navel oranges.
- Lemon – for a bit of tart flavor
- Granulated sugar – to sweeten it up!
- Large eggs + egg yolks – for a silky smooth texture
- Butter – round out the curd and makes it more rich in flavor
- Salt – a pinch of salt will balance out the flavors
Get the Full Ingredients List with Proportions and Detailed Instructions in the Recipe Card Below!
How to Make Orange Curd
Use a zester to zest all three oranges and the lemon. Make sure to zest just the color and not the bitter white skin underneath.
Collect the zest of both the oranges and lemons. You should have at least 1 tablespoon of orange zest and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. Use it all! The orange zest is what really lents that orange flavor.
Cut 1-2 of the oranges to squeeze ½ cup of fresh orange juice. Squeeze the lemon and measure out 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Set a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and all the orange and lemon zest.
Then add sugar, eggs, additional egg yolks, butter, and salt.
Use a whisk to mix the ingredients together as the butter melts. Once the butter has completely melted whisk thoroughly to make sure there are no clumps.
Get the Complete (Printable) Orange Curd Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring consistently. Once the curd is boiling, lower the heat if needed and continue to simmer and stir for 5 to 6 minutes until the mixture seems thick.
Pro Tip: I like to use a rubber spatula to make sure to scrape all the orange curd recipe off the bottom, so it doesn’t burn as I stir.
Remove from heat. Pour the orange curd into two 8-ounce jars or four 4-ounce jars. There will be a little leftover to enjoy right away.
Cover and chill the orange curd until it is set. Then keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Suggestions for What to Do With Orange Curd
Fresh and fruity orange curd is delicious to spread on baked treats, like store-bought or homemade cookies. Here are a few of our classic cookie recipes to try:
- The Best Sugar Cookies
- Cornmeal Cookies
- Lemon Cookies (For a true citrus mouth party!)
- Scottish Shortbread
I love to have a little bowl with biscotti to dip and a cup of coffee for breakfast. And it is fantastic to use in yogurt and granola parfaits! The curd also is great with nearly any sweet breakfast foods, like:
- Homemade Waffles and Pancakes
- Orange Cranberry Bread
- Walnut Cherry Scones
- Blueberry Muffin Cake
- Jamaican Johnny Cakes
The citrus curd can even be used as a filling for pies, tarts, eclairs, cupcakes, and donuts; and as a tangy topping for Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and cheesecake. You could even make an orange curd cake with this tangy orange curd recipe as the cake filling!
Get creative and discover your favorite way to eat homemade orange curd!
Frequently Asked Questions
Fruit curd is a dessert spread or topping that is typically made with citrus fruits, but can also be made with other fruits if desired. The difference between fruit curd and fruit jam is the addition of eggs and egg yolks to thicken the mixture and turn it into a silky smooth fruit spread.
If your orange curd is chunky, that means that your curd has curdled, meaning the eggs in the mixture were cooked too quickly and turned into scrambled eggs in the mixture. To prevent this from happening, you need to whisk the mixture constantly while it is heating up. This will ensure the eggs slowly heat up and integrate into the mixture instead of turning chunky.
Any type of ripe orange is good to use in this orange curd recipe. Oranges that aren’t ripe enough won’t be as sweet, so be sure to select fruits that are slightly soft when given a gentle squeeze.
Navel oranges are classic, Cara Cara oranges offer a delicate floral note, and blood oranges have a beautifully deep sweet flavor. You can even use tangerine, for a slightly different but wonderful flavor. You really can’t go wrong!
Lime and grapefruit can be used instead of the orange for unique tasty citrus curds! Lime curd will have a very tart and tropical flavor that is less sweet. Grapefruit tends to be a lighter taste that likewise isn’t quite as sweet as orange or lemon.
If you prefer to make a lemon curd, follow my perfect homemade lemon curd recipe instead!
The curd needs to be cooked for several minutes while constantly being whisked. If it isn’t thickening right away, just keep cooking on medium and whisk until it becomes the consistency you like. And remember that it will continue to thicken once it cools.
It will keep well for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Looking For More Delicious Dips and Spreads?
- Strawberry Rhubarb Jam Recipe
- Nutella Chocolate Fondue
- Cranberry Jalapeno Dip
- Retro Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
- Cherry Cheesecake Dip with Pie Crust
Check the printable recipe card below for the prep time, cook time, total time, and nutrition information. Make sure to share this recipe on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Easy Orange Curd Recipe + Video
Ingredients
- 3 oranges
- 1 lemon or lime
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs + 4 egg yolks
- ½ cup butter 1 stick
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Use a zester to zest all three oranges and the lemon. Make sure to zest just the color and not the bitter white skin underneath. Collect the zest of both the oranges and lemons. You should have at least 1 tablespoon of orange zest and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. Use it all.
- Now cut 1-2 of the oranges to squeeze ½ cup of fresh orange juice. Squeeze the lemon and measure out 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Set a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add the 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, all the orange and lemon zest, sugar, eggs and additional egg yolks, butter, and salt.
- Use a whisk to mix the ingredients together as the butter melts. Once the butter has completely melted whisk thoroughly to make sure there are no clumps.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring consistently. Once the curd is boiling, lower the heat if needed and continue to simmer and stir for 5 to 6 minutes until the mixture seems thick. *I like to use a rubber spatula to make sure to scrape all the curd off the bottom, so it doesn’t burn as I stir.
This is yummy, but next time I make this, I’ll use alot less sugar…maybe only 1 cup
Fantastic! I’ve never made anything like this before, but it was easy to follow the recipe and had a good flavour. Made it for a deconstructed pavlova recipe, but like the recipe says, tried the bit that didn’t fit in the jar, yummy.
Just tried this on a whim after filling a birthday cake with raspberry curd. It turned out wonderful and should be awesome as a filling for chocolate cake with orange chocolate glaze!
In your opening description, you say than the Orange Curd can be “put up in cute little jars.” If this recipe safe to can or preserve in a water bath? I surely plan to make your recipe!
Hi Phyllis,
You can can this curd recipe and it should last for 3-4 months. Hope this helps!
Talk about DELICIOUS!! I couldn’t believe how good this was, and it was so easy to follow, thank you!
I had never had orange curd but we loved this! Yum
And, I thought lemon curd was my favorite! This is so zesty & fresh! I am excited to try it with different things!