Boost your fruit intake with this homemade citrus juice! Packed with zesty goodness, it has a vibrant color and pure natural taste in every sip.
This is a recipe for natural juice with no added refined sugar.
Making juices at home is easy and has a ton of benefits. First of all, you know what you drink because you choose the ingredients yourself.
Second, you can experiment with ingredients and create flavor combinations you like.
You don’t put any preservatives nor colorants in it. Plus, it will always be cheaper than buying good quality juice from a store.
How to make citrus juice at home
Ingredients:
- Fresh mandarin oranges
- Oranges
- Grapefruit
- Lemon
- Lime
- Agave syrup – optional
Tools:
- Chopping board & knife
- Juicer
The process:
Juice peeled oranges, mandarins and grapefruit. Squeeze in lemon and lime juice.
Stir and taste. If you feel it is too sour to your liking, add any sweetener you like.
A printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
Frequently asked questions:
I don’t have a juicer. What can I use instead?
This citrus juice can be easily made in a manual orange juice squeezer, electric citrus juicer or a blender.
Do you have to peel citrus before juicing?
Yes, you do. Unless you use the kind of juicer where you stick half of the fruit in and squeeze the juice out.
A great way to use any discarded peels is to turn them into a sweet treat. Chocolate covered orange peels are delicious!
Can I put a whole lemon in a juicer?
I do not recommend doing so. Its peel and pith tend to be bitter. You don’t want your drink to have a bitter taste.
Useful tips:
- When using a blender, you might need to strain the juice before drinking.
- To remove the skin of the produce, use a knife. It is faster than peeling each piece by hand.
- As with all produce, try to buy organic if you can.
- As will all produce, their sweetness can vary. This means the same juice can have a different level of sweetness every time you make it. If you find that it is rather sour, add a sweetener of your choice. Honey, agave or maple syrup are good options.
- When adding honey, make sure to stir it well as it does not melt easily in cold drinks.
- Lemon and lime can be omitted.
Storage:
Homemade juices must be kept in the fridge. If you can, use a glass pitcher with a lid or jar. An airtight container is also an option.
How long will it last?
It is best to drink it within 48 hours to get the most nutrients. After you make your juice, it will be exposed to oxygen, different temperatures as well as time. All this affects its quality.
This post has been recently updated (2024) for more tips and useful information.
More fresh juice recipes you might like:
Homemade Citrus Juice
Ingredients
- 10 mandarins , peeled
- 5 oranges , peeled (see note 1)
- 1 grapefruit , peeled
- ½ lemon
- ¼ lime
- agave syrup to taste (optional)
Instructions
- Cut the oranges and grapefruit into chunks if too large to go down the mouth of the juicer.
- Juice mandarins, oranges and grapefruit. Squeeze in lemon and lime.
- Taste it. Add agave syrup or another sweetener of your choice, if you like.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You might be quicker to cut their skin off with a knife rather than peeling it.
- To make the juice, you can use any of these: Juicer, manual squeeze juicer, electric citrus squeezer or blender. When using the blender, strain the juice before drinking it.
- The post above this recipe card has useful information as well as answers to FAQ’s.
Nicola says
This juice looks so sweet and refreshing that I’d happily down a glass, even if it didn’t have all the amazing health benefits you listed!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
It is a great juice indeed! :)
Helen says
A lovely cocktail of citrus fruits for a boost in all those vitamins and goodness.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thank you, Helen!
Gloria says
That is a lot of citrus in that juice. For some reason I am not a huge juice fan. Perhaps this combination would get me interested. I need all the vitamin C I can get. With the weather and sickness going around here, you need to keep your immune system up.
Dan says
Refreshing, healthy and full of vitamins! Beautiful. Thanks for the tips, too.
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
You are welcome! :)
Bintu says
So packed full of Vit C, this juice is so good for you!
Amanda says
Super juice! Not only does this sound delicious, but I love all the health benefits that come with it. :)
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks, Amanda! It’s a pretty powerful juice. :)
Alina says
This is amazing, fresh food photography, even by looking at it I get vitamins! :D
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Thanks so much for your comment, Alina :)
Linda says
This juice looks wonderful… just wondering.. is it 1 serving of 3 cups, or 3 servings of 1 cup? ;-)
Looking forward to trying it!!!
Thanks!
Julia | Happy Foods Tube says
Hi Linda. You will get 3 cups out of it. It really depends on you how much you will enjoy in 1 go :) but I recommend 1 cup as 1 serving so yes you should get 3 servings of 1 cup out of this. Hope this helps and sorry for the confusion! Enjoy!