Candied Orange Peel
Candied orange peel will be super helpful in making Christmas Panettone or Stollen and is one of those classic homemade ingredients that can completely elevate holiday baking. The bright citrus flavor, delicate sweetness, and soft chewy texture add incredible depth and aroma to festive breads and pastries. Homemade candied orange peel tastes far more vibrant and natural than most store-bought versions and brings a truly special touch to seasonal baking.
Candying is the process of slowly soaking fruits in sugar syrup so the final concentration of sugar preserves the fruit while maintaining its texture and flavor. During this process, the orange peel gradually becomes translucent, tender, fragrant, and beautifully sweet while still retaining its fresh citrus character. The result is a flavorful ingredient that works perfectly in rich holiday doughs like panettone, stollen, fruit cakes, brioche, and many other traditional European pastries.
One of the things I love most about homemade candied orange peel is the aroma it creates while cooking. As the syrup gently simmers, the kitchen fills with warm citrus fragrance that instantly feels festive and comforting. It’s one of those preparations that makes holiday baking feel even more special and nostalgic.
The quality of candied fruit can make a huge difference in recipes like panettone and stollen, where citrus plays an important role in balancing the richness of butter, eggs, and dried fruits. Homemade peel provides a softer texture and much cleaner flavor without the overly artificial sweetness often found in commercial products.
This recipe was adapted from the book Sourdough Panettone and Viennoiserie by Thomas Teffri-Chambelland, whose work and techniques are incredibly inspiring for naturally leavened enriched baking. The method creates beautifully preserved orange peel with excellent texture and flavor that can be stored and used throughout the holiday season.
Another great advantage is that homemade candied orange peel is very versatile beyond holiday breads. It can also be dipped in chocolate, added to cookies, folded into brioche dough, mixed into granola, or used to decorate cakes and desserts. Even a small amount adds wonderful brightness and complexity to baked goods.
Although the process requires a bit of patience, the final result is absolutely worth it. Once you experience the flavor and texture of homemade candied orange peel, it becomes difficult to return to store-bought versions again. It’s fragrant, flavorful, festive, and truly one of the secrets behind exceptional holiday baking.
Ingredients
- 4-6 oranges
- 650 g sugar
- 400g water
- Water for boiling oranges
Directions
Prepare the orange peel
- Wash the oranges.
- Do a cross cut in the surface of the orange, remove the skin.
- Boil 1/2 gallon of water. Submerge orange skin in hot boiling water, simmer for about 2 hours. The orange skins have to become soft.
- Drain hot water, submerge hot skins into an ice cold water, to stop the cooking process.
Prepare the syrup
- Boil 400g of water and 400g of sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Pour syrup over the orange peel to cover completely and let it cool.
- Strain the syrup into a pot, add 50g sugar, and boil until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Pour hot syrup over an orange peel and let to cool down completely.
- Repeat draining the orange peel and boiling syrup with addition of 50g sugar and covering orange peel for 4 more times.
Make sure you let orange peel cool down completely before covering it with hot syrup.
By the end of 5th boiling concentration of sugar will make the syrup thicker and orange peel will get deep orange color.
If not, continue to boil the syrup for 2-3 more times without adding any more sugar and pouring it over cold orange peel.
The peel is ready when the cooled syrup has a consistency of honey.
Transfer the orange peel with syrup into an airtight container, and keep refrigerated for 4-6 months.
Candied Orange Peel
Ingredients
- 4–6 Fresh oranges
- 650 g Sugar Divided across the staged boiling process
- 400 g Water For the master syrup
- 1/2 Gallon Water Reserved strictly for the initial rind simmer
- Ice-cold water Reserved for halting the heat transfer
Equipment
- Large Pot or Saucepan For simmering the peels
- Second Pot For boiling the sugar syrup matrix
- Colander / Strainer
- Large Bowl For an ice-cold water bath
- Airtight Storage Container
Method
- Prepare the Fruit: Thoroughly wash the skins of your 4 to 6 fresh oranges under clean water.
- Using a sharp paring knife, slice a clean cross-cut into the outer surface of each orange, then carefully peel the segments of skin away from the inner fruit flesh.
- Bring 1/2 gallon of water to a rolling boil in a large pot over high heat.
- Submerge all of your extracted orange skins directly into the boiling water, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook undisturbed for roughly 2 hours until the rinds become exceptionally tender and soft.
- Drain the hot boiling liquid out through a colander and immediately plunge the hot skins into a large bowl of ice-cold water to halt the cooking process instantly.
- In a separate saucepan, combine 400g of the water with 400g of the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the sugar crystals dissolve entirely into a clear syrup.
- Arrange your cooled orange peels in a heatproof dish, pour the scalding hot syrup directly over them until they are fully submerged, and let the mix cool down completely on your counter.
- The Second Boil: Strain the cooled syrup off the peels back into your saucepan. Add exactly 50g of extra sugar to the liquid, bring it back to a rolling boil until dissolved, and pour the bubbling hot syrup right back over the cold peels. Let cool completely.
- The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Boils: Repeat this extraction and boiling process 4 more times in exact succession—draining the syrup, adding 50g of sugar, boiling it clear, and drenching the completely cooled rinds each time.
- By the conclusion of the 5th boiling stage, the sugar concentration will yield a remarkably thick syrup with the rich consistency of honey, and your rinds will transform into a gorgeous, translucent deep orange shade. Transfer the candied orange peel alongside its preserving syrup into an airtight container and store in your refrigerator.
Nutrition
Notes
- Adapting for Thinner Citrus Skins: The 2-hour boiling baseline listed in step 4 is tailored for traditional, thick-skinned oranges. If you are working with thin-skinned orange varieties or want to candy lemon peels using this exact same method, shorten your initial water simmer down to 1 to 1.5 hours to keep the skins from disintegrating.
- The Importance of Precision Rest Cools: Never rush the candying steps by pouring freshly boiled hot syrup over rinds that are still warm from a previous stage. Allowing the orange skins to cool completely before hitting them with the fresh, hot sugar reduction is what coaxes the syrup deep into the cell walls, ensuring a plump texture.
- Troubleshooting Thin Syrup Consistency: If you complete your 5th and final boil and find that your syrup is still thin and watery rather than thick like honey, do not worry. Simply continue to drain and boil the syrup for an additional 2 to 3 cycles without adding any more sugar, pouring it over the cold peels each time until it achieves a glossy thickness.
- Long-Term Bakery Shelf Life: Because the sugar concentration works as a natural preservation asset, this recipe is perfect for making well ahead of the holiday rush. Sealed inside an airtight jar submerged in its master syrup, the peels will keep perfectly fresh inside your refrigerator for 4 to 6 months.
Tried this recipe?
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Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Thank you 🙏
Natalya, thanks for sharing this process as the one I did last year was a big mess.
I bought some navel oranges this week that looked good but when I cut into them they were not a bright orange color. Should I assume the peel will not taste good candied if the flesh doesn’t taste good?
Also, would you candy the lemon Peel the same way?
Take care
Jeanette, hi!
I think the skins of your oranges will work great.
And yes I would do the same method for lemon peels.
Thank you for sharing (and caring).
Isn’t simmering 2 hrs a bit too much?
And what if I have oranges with a thinner skin?
The skins have to become soft.
If yours are thin, then do just 1-1.5 hours
I did 40 minutes and they where fine
Hello,
I’m having a hard time converting grams into cups. I’ve tried Googling, but I’m get mixed information. Any chance you can help translate your recipe. I will greatly appreciate it. I’m trying to recreate this recipe for my family for the Holidays. My grandma would make it every year. She passed away 2 years ago. Thank you in advance.
Hi!
I’m so sorry for inconvenience.
You have to be very accurate above sourdough baking.
That’s why I’m using kitchen scale with grams setting
Thanks so much Natalya for sharing this recipe. Candied orange and lemon peel have been very difficult to find this year. I assume this is because many of us are spending more time at home and have more time to bake. Thanks to your recipe I’m able to bake my traditional Christmas recipes. I’m tempted to save one candied wedge, slice it into strips and dip it in dark chocolate:) Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Shawnee, thank you so much!
Marry Christmas to you and your loved ones 🎄🎄🎄
Good morning. I love your recipes. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us. I.m looking at this method of making candied orange peel. It looks like it takes hours upon hours to accomplish a finished product. Is this the typical way of achieving a candied orange peel?
Thank you! Yes!
It takes some time to make orange peel, but so worth it 😊
I’ll give it a try. Thanks for sharing. I’m retired so I have nothing but time.
Omg I love candied orange peel makes me feel like a kid. Thanks for posting 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Thank you 🙏
boiling for 2hrs will destroy any essential oil in the peels… In Italy it is good practice to freeze fresh peels. Once defrosted they will become naturally softer and soak up the syrup more easily and quickly and all essential oils are sealed in the peels.
Woow! That looks good
since comments cannot be modified, I’ll post another comment to better explain what I meant in my previous one.
boiling for 2hrs will destroy any essential oil in the peels… In Sicily traditional candied peels are made by curing peels by spreading some salt on the “white” side of the peels and let them rest in a colander to release some of the water and their bitterness with it (the more thick is the peels, more time you will need. For citron it can take up to four days, washing and salting the peels each day). Then the peels are carefully washed and frozen for 1-2 days. Once completely defrosted you start the process of bathing them in hot boiling syrup for few days (the process described in the post is perfectly fine); the process of salting-freezing-defrosting will make them naturally softer and ready to soak up the syrup more easily and quickly and all essential oils are sealed in the peels making them much more fragrant.
Wow thanks for this info, Rocco; had never heard of the salting technique; will look into it; sounds very intriguing !
should you chop it first or after it is cooked the is for an Easter wheat pie