Make Your Own Orange Extract

I am a total orange extract junkie. My home is never without it. It comes in handy for holiday cooking, but personally I like just a few drops in my morning latte every day. Yummmmm…

So with the price of orange extract being so insanely high for such a tiny bottle, I decided to hunt some down at my local dollar store – and I scored! But then I used it all up, and found that they don’t sell it year-round. They only have it for November and December. So instead of going back to buying it at $4+ a bottle, I decided to make my own.

I found a few recipes online that seemed quite easy, but warned that they weren’t as strong as what you can buy in the store. So I used more orange peel (duh), and viola – orange extract that was just as strong as what I could get at my supermarket.

Orange Extract Ingredients

Vodka – approximately 1 1/2 cups

2 oranges

Plus you will need a glass bottle (preferably with a pourer), I got mine as part of a vinegar and oil set at my local dollar store.

This recipe is for a 15 ounce (or so) bottle.

How to Make Orange Extract

Peel two whole oranges with the channel knife part of a citrus zesting tool:

Place the orange peels into your bottle. Pour vodka over the top of them until they are fully covered, with about a half an inch more liquid on top. My photo shows the peels just barely covered – that’s because I’ve been using it a lot lately! If you use a smaller bottle, try to keep proportions the same.

The vodka flavor goes away the longer you let the orange peels steep. Let sit in a cool dry place for at least a week, but the flavor vastly improves if you can wait one month.

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