The 11 Best Orange Juice Substitutes

Have you ever been cooking a meal or baking a treat and looked at the list of ingredients with a sinking feeling in your stomach: you forgot the orange juice.

You start to panic when you realize you forgot to take it on the way home from work and now your recipe is ruined.

Or maybe you are allergic to oranges and want to find a substitute that can mimic the flavor as closely as possible.

With a little creativity and knowledge on your part, you can learn how to substitute orange juice like a pro.

It’s often used to give a sweet, citrusy flavor and some tartness to whatever you’re making, so if you can find options that recreate that flavor profile, you’re all set.

So what are the best orange juice substitutes? Depending on how you plan to use it, you could try orange concentrate, orange extract, orange-flavored liqueurs, lemon juice, lemonade, Meyer lemons, pineapple juice, cola, tamarind paste, or freshly squeezed clementines.

Read on to discover the best ways to use these different substitutes for all your baking, sauce-making, smoothie, and marinade needs.

1. Orange concentrate

One of the easiest substitutes for orange juice is to use an orange concentrate. Concentrates are juices that have had most of the liquid removed, making it a concentrated form of the juice.

They are usually sold and stored frozen so that they last a long time.

If you want to use an orange concentrate instead of orange juice, you will need to reconstitute it with water to achieve the correct flavor and consistency. 

This reconstitution is especially important if you are using it in a baking recipe, as the ratios of wet and dry ingredients are a key component to the success or failure of a recipe.

To substitute orange juice for concentrate, use the following measurements:

• For every quarter cup of orange juice, you will need 1 tablespoon of concentrate plus 3 tablespoons of water.
• For every half cup of orange juice, you will need 2 tablespoons of concentrate plus 1/3 cup of water.
• For every cup of orange juice, you should use a quarter cup of concentrate and three quarters of a cup of water. 
• For every two cups of orange juice, you will need half a cup of concentrate and 1 and a half cups of water.

Remember that some orange concentrates have added sugars, so you can decrease the amount in your recipe by a couple of teaspoons.

The concentrate can work great in sauces, marinades, baking, and even salad dressings if needed.

2. Orange extract plus water

Orange extract is a bit different because its flavor does not come from the juice of the orange, but from the oils in the peel.

These oils give orange extract a bright, fresh flavor that can be quite concentrated, so it’s great to dilute it with a little water before using. 

You can use orange extract and water in place of orange juice in sauces, marinades, salad dressings, smoothies, and in baking.

However, remember that baking requires some acidity for the recipe to rise, so adding a squeeze of lemon juice is an important step in achieving this.

To dilute the orange extract, you can use approximately 1.5 teaspoons of extract for every half cup of orange juice.

It also won’t have the sugars found in orange juice, so you’ll want to add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, honey, or maple syrup to balance it out.

3. Orange-flavored liqueurs

Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, and Cointreau are great options to use in cooking recipes to find that orange flavor if you don’t have orange juice on hand.

All of them are orange-flavored liqueurs of varying strength and can be used in a ton of cooking recipes, such as sauces, marinades, and soups. 

Although most of the alcohol will be burned off during the cooking process, it may still taste slightly alcoholic.

So if that’s something you don’t like, you can try this non-alcoholic triple sec or this non-alcoholic Grand Marnier kitchen extract.

Remember that these liqueurs are not going to have a flavor as strong as that of a pure orange juice. You may want to add a bit more to make up the difference.

These liqueurs are also often used in confectionery because they are more subtle than orange juice.

If your recipe calls for orange juice, you may want to add a squeeze of lemon juice (a teaspoon per half cup should work) to increase the acidity. 

4. Freshly Squeezed Tangerines, Tangerines, or Clementines

If you don’t have oranges or orange juice on hand, freshly squeezed tangerines, tangerines, and clementines will work as a perfect substitution.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to find pre-squeezed juices at the store.

This sparkling clementine juice is a great alternative to orange juice, especially in baking, as the carbonation will give your final product a great fluffy and airy texture.

They all have slightly different flavors than orange juice, but are close enough that only the most discerning taste buds will notice the difference. They have similar acidity and sweetness, so you won’t need to adjust them at all. 

These juices work great in any recipe that calls for orange juice, whether it’s for baking, a soup, a sauce, a marinade, a smoothie, or a salad dressing. 

5. Lemon juice

In many recipes, orange juice is used to add a bit of sweetness and acidity to the final product. If you want to use lemon juice to replace orange juice in a recipe, you’ll need to keep a couple of things in mind.

Lemon juice is more sour and acidic than orange juice

If you plan to use lemon juice to replace orange juice in a pastry recipe, it is important to know that it is more acidic. Baking is a science and all the ingredients are combined in a specific way to create the right rise and texture.

Since lemon juice is more acidic, it will have a different effect than basic ingredients like baking powder. You will have to reduce the lemon juice by half and add some water to balance it. 

For example, if your recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of orange juice, you would use 1 tablespoon of lemon juice plus 1 tablespoon of water.

If you use lemon juice in a cooking recipe, you won’t have to be so precise, since cooking is more of an art and you don’t always need such strict measures to be successful.

Still, it’s important to note that less is more when using lemon juice instead of orange juice.

Lemon juice has less sugar than orange juice

If you’re using larger amounts in a recipe, say half a cup, then you’ll want to add some sweetener in addition to the water to create a closer representation of orange juice.

You can use liquid or crystalline sugar, depending on what you have on hand. If you use dry sugar, be sure to dissolve it completely.

To substitute half a cup of orange juice for half a cup of lemon juice, you should use the following

• a quarter cup of lemon juice
• a quarter cup of water
• two tablespoons of sugar, honey or maple syrup
• Stir everything together until dissolved.

Remember that lemons will taste slightly different than oranges, but the bright citrus flavor works perfectly in both baked goods and savory recipes.

6. Lemonade

If you don’t want to use pure lemon juice and make your own mix, you can easily swap the orange juice for lemonade.

It will already have sugar added to make it an approximation of the sweetness of orange juice and it will be diluted with water so that it is not so acidic.

Since it’s already been diluted and sweetened, you can usually use lemonade in a one-to-one ratio when substituting for orange juice in a recipe.

Keep in mind that although lemons and oranges are both citrus fruits, they have different flavors, so that could change your final product.

If you’re not sure if lemonade will go well with the other ingredients in your recipe, you can go to Google and search for lemonade + your ingredients to see if they complement each other.

If they don’t seem to work, then you can try using one of the closest orange flavor substitutes on this list.

7. Pineapple juice

Pineapple juice is a great option when it comes to replacing orange juice. It is naturally sweet and slightly acidic, so you can use it to replace orange juice without making any changes.

Plus, it has a tropical flavor that goes well with many orange-based recipes.

It won’t necessarily work in every recipe, but it will certainly add a delicious flavor profile to any baked goods you plan to make with orange juice.

It tastes great in sauces and is an excellent marinade for meat thanks to its acidity and enzymes that help tenderize meat. 

If you’re wondering if pineapple juice will work in your specific recipe, you can look up if pineapple + your ingredients go together.

In most cases you should be able to substitute the orange juice for the pineapple juice, but it never hurts to check before you start.

8. Meyer lemons

These delicious citrus fruits are a hybrid of lemons and tangerines, so they are not as tart as lemons, but they are also not as sweet as oranges or tangerines.

Its flavor is really fresh and bright and it complements most, if not all, flavors that go well with orange juice.

If you use more than a couple tablespoons of Meyer lemon in a recipe, you may want to cut it with some water and sweetener to balance out the flavor.

I opt for a ratio of about two-thirds Meyer lemon juice to one-third water. 

So if you have a cup of juice, you would use 2/3 cup Meyer lemon juice, plus 1/3 cup water, and about a tablespoon of sugar, maple syrup, or honey.

If you really want to boost the flavor of your dish, try zesting the Meyer lemon.

Much of the richest flavor in citrus is found in the rind, so grating it is a great way to boost flavor without adding extra moisture to the dish.

Zest works great to enhance the flavor of sauces, soups, and dressings, and it works great in baked goods because it doesn’t really affect the chemical structure of the final product.

9. Cola-flavored drinks

While this option may seem totally out of the question, hear me out. Colas are carbonated, which means they can give baked goods like cakes and cookies a beautiful airiness and fluffiness.

If you want the taste of orange, try adding a drop of orange extract to your cola. 

Remember that these fizzy drinks are packed with sugar. To balance it out, you can decrease the amount of sugar you use in the rest of the recipe. It has about 23 grams of sugar per cup, which is a little more than orange juice.

Try to eliminate 1 tablespoon of sugar for every half cup of cola you use in your baking to prevent things from becoming overwhelmingly sweet.

10. Sweetened Grapefruit Juice

Grapefruit juice may not be your favorite substitute, as it can be slightly more bitter than orange juice, but I find the citrus flavor so fresh and delicious that it works well in baking, smoothies, and sauces.

If you are reducing the grapefruit juice in a sauce, you may want to add a little more sugar or sweetener to take away the slight bitterness that the grapefruit juice can have.

It shouldn’t be too bad, but a little sugar will help balance it out.

11. Tamarind paste + water

If you want to get really creative, you can try using tamarind paste plus water instead of orange juice in your recipes.

Tamarind is a tart, dark, sticky, sweet fruit that grows in pods and is very popular in many Thai, Indian, Mexican, Vietnamese, Latin, and Caribbean cuisines. 

You can find it in most grocery stores in the world food aisle or you can order it here.

When you use it to replace orange juice, you will need to reconstitute it with a little water in a one to one ratio or paste to water plus a tablespoon or two of sugar or sweetener.

Give it a good mix and use it in your sweet and savory dishes instead of orange juice.

Final thoughts

As you can see, there is no shortage of options when it comes to substituting orange juice in your recipes.

If you don’t have any of the items on this list, you can even try using apple juice, buttermilk, orange marmalade, or a mixture of vinegar and sugar.

Do you have a substitute for orange juice that you use that is not on the list? Let us know below!