Blood Orange Curd: Quick, Zingy and Flavourful

Easy no-fuss recipe for blood orange curd. It’s smooth, silky, sweet, tart, zesty and thoroughly delicious. With only four ingredients, it should take no more than twenty minutes to make from start to finish. Blender method also included.

If you haven’t made fruit curd before, I urge you to give it a try. It’s a lot easier than some would have you believe. This recipe for blood orange curd is one I often make during blood orange season.

Blood Orange Curd

Blood orange curd is really quite quick to make. You can probably do it in fifteen minutes, but I’ve allowed twenty so that you don’t feel pressurised. It’s made with only four ingredients: blood oranges, sugar, eggs and butter. You absolutely don’t need cornflour or any other additional ingredients to help it to set.

It isn’t as sharp as lemon curd, but it still has a zesty zing. If your blood oranges aren’t particularly tart, swap one of them for a lemon. It’s the tartness of the fruit that helps to bring out the flavour of the curd.

Instead of blood orange you can, of course, use other oranges. Sour Seville oranges make a particularly good fruit curd.

The flavour develops over a few days and I find fruit curd is generally at its best from day three onwards.

Every time I make blood orange curd, the resulting colour is always different. Batches vary from deep pink, such as the one pictured below, to salmon pink, to yellowy orange such as most of those shown in this post. It very much depends on just how red your oranges are and how much juice you extract. Although the varying colour of egg yolks play a part too.

How to Make Blood Orange Curd

Just like other fruit curds, blood orange curd is a bit like making custard. You cook eggs, sugar and the orange zest and juice over a low heat and stir. Then add butter towards the end of the process. You don’t even need to stir it all the time.

I recommend using a whisk instead of a wooden spoon for stirring. Give it a quick whisk every thirty seconds or so to ensure any egg doesn’t set on the bottom or sides of the pan and that no lumps form.

It’s important to use a non-reactive pan as citrus juice can react with some metals. Stainless steel is a good bet. Some recipes require a bain marie or a bowl over a pan of simmering water to make fruit curd. However, I’ve never found this necessary. Just make sure you don’t overheat the mixture as it cooks. It needs to be hot, but not boiling. Ending up with scrambled eggs is no fun.

Sealed well in sterilised jars, fruit curds will keep in the fridge for around four weeks. See the how long does blood orange curd last? section further down the post, to find more on this. Once open, however, make sure you consume it within three days. For this reason, I store mine in small jars. This recipe makes four to five 113ml (4oz) jars.

Why Add Butter to Blood Orange Curd?

Butter helps to thicken fruit curd and gives it a nice spreadable consistency. But it also adds richness and gives a delightfully silky smooth mouthfeel.

The trick is to add it at the end of the process. This really makes a difference to the silkiness of the finished blood orange curd.

How Thick Should Blood Orange Curd Be?

It should take about ten minutes of cooking for the curd to thicken. Look for a custard like consistency that coats the back of a spoon. If you run your finger along the spoon, it should leave a trail. Don’t worry if it seems a bit runny when it’s hot, the mixture will thicken as it cools.

If you really come unstuck and your curd is too runny, put it back in the saucepan and continue to cook until it thickens. Adding a little more butter will help too.

Do You Need to Strain Fruit Curd?

Some recipes suggest straining the curd through a sieve before jarring it up. This is not only a pain to do and creates more washing up, but it’s unnecessary. As long as you cook your curd over a low heat and whisk it often enough, you should have no lumps in it at all.

If you strain citrus curd, you’ll lose the zest and it’s the zest that gives so much of the flavour. So unless you’ve indeed scrambled your eggs, don’t worry about a sieve.

How Long Does Blood Orange Curd Last?

Like any homemade fruit curd, blood orange curd keeps for about a month if stored correctly. You need to make sure you pour the hot curd into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. See my post on how to sterilise glass jars, bottles and lids if you need guidance on this.

Wait for the jars to cool down, then store in the fridge. They will last for around four weeks, but if you notice any mould or strange taste, then discard. Once you’ve opened a jar, keep it in the fridge and consume within three days.

Basically, if the curd looks good, smells good and tastes good, it’s generally good to eat.

In theory, you can freeze fruit curds. However, I’ve never tried it, so I can’t vouch for its quality once defrosted.

How To Use Blood Orange Curd

Blood orange curd is very similar to lemon curd, just not quite as sharp. You can thus use it in exactly the same way. My favourite way is to take a spoonful and pop it straight into my mouth, but I try and restrain myself from doing that too often.

Pretty much any fruit curd is delicious spread on toast, hot crumpets or warm English muffins and it works beautifully with scones too. This blood orange curd is no exception.

It makes a fine topping for pancakes and waffles and a lovely filling for cakes. One of my favourite ways to use it is to mix it into a cake batter or with buttercream to slather over cakes or cupcakes.

As blood red oranges are in full season when Valentine’s Day strikes on February the 14th, this curd is the perfect way to express the love. Jars of blood orange curd also make fabulous gifts for family, friends, neighbours or colleagues.

To give you some ideas, here are a few recipes that I’ve used various fruit curds in. You can swap any of them for this blood orange curd.

Recipes Using Fruit Curd

• Chilli chocolate cake with lime curd buttercream
• Chocolate cake waffles with lemon curd and strawberries
• Chocolate tarts with lime curd mascarpone
• Mini blood orange sponge cakes
• Passionfruit curd sponge cake
• Roasted plum parfait with lemon curd

Can You Make Fruit Curd in a Blender?

If you have a power blender, you most certainly can make fruit curd in a blender. In fact I made the blood orange curd you can see here in a blender, though I usually do it in a pan over the stove top.

An ordinary blender won’t work though. When the speed is set high on a power blender, the friction of the blades heats the jug up enough to cook fruit curd.

You’ll find my blender method in the recipe below. It’s definitely quicker and you don’t have to do lots of stirring. But although it takes longer to make this blood orange curd the traditional way, it’s easier to tell when the curd is actually done. If you haven’t made a fruit curd before, I’d recommend doing it the classic way first.

Other Fruit Curd Recipes You Might Like

• Apple & lemon curd
• Apricot curd
• Ginger & lime curd
• Grapefruit curd
• Raspberry rose curd
• Rhubarb curd

Keep in Touch

If you’d like more blood orange recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.

Choclette x

Blood Orange Curd. PIN IT.

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Blood Orange Curd

Easy no-fuss recipe for orange curd. It's smooth, silky, sweet, tart, zesty and thoroughly delicious. With only four ingredients, it should take no more than twenty minutes from start to finish. Blender method also included.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Dips, Spreads & Sauces

Cuisine: British

Keyword: blood orange curd, blood oranges, filling, fruit curd, oranges, spread

Servings: 4 small jars

Calories: 376kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

• 3 blood oranges or other small oranges of your choice – juiced and zested
• 150 g golden granulated sugar or golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 100 g unsalted butter cut into cubes

Instructions

• Zest the blood oranges into a non-reactive pan. Then add the juice and sugar. Place over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  3 blood oranges, 150 g golden granulated sugar
• Whisk in the eggs, one by one. Turn up the heat a little and cook the curd until it thickens. This should take between five to ten minutes. Whisk it from time to time to keep the mixture light and to stop the eggs scrambling on the bottom of the pan.
  3 large eggs
• Once the mixture has thickened to a custard like consistency, whisk in the butter, one cube at a time. Wait for each piece to melt and blend in before adding the next.
  100 g unsalted butter
• Take the pan off the heat and pour into clean hot sterilised jars. Seal the jars and leave to cool. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Notes

Makes four to five 113ml (4oz) jars.

Store in the fridge for up to a month, but eat within three days once opened.

Blender Method

If you have a power blender, you can use it to make your curd. The friction of the blades creates enough heat to cook the curd.

1. Blend the juice, zest, sugar and eggs on a medium speed for 1 minute so that the sugar dissolves.
2. Turn up to the highest setting and blend for four minutes. Check the consistency and if it’s thickened and custard like, start adding the butter. If not blend for another minute and check again. It could take anywhere between four and seven minutes.
3. Turn the speed down to medium and blend for a minute whilst you add the butter. Drop the butter through the top opening, one piece at a time, waiting for each piece to melt and blend in before adding the next.
4. Pour into clean hot sterilised jars. Seal the jars and leave to cool. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Will keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 376kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 177mg | Sodium: 50mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 825IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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