How Much Juice is in One Orange?

If you’ve clicked onto this guide, I’m going to assume one of two things:

1. You’re reading a recipe that calls for “the juice of one orange“. You don’t have any actual oranges, just a carton of orange juice, and you’re wondering how much juice you need.
2. You enjoy making fresh orange juice, and you want to know how many oranges you’ll need to fill a glass.

Regardless of why you’re here, you’ll find the answers you were looking for in this article. I’ll be breaking down exactly how much juice you can find in the various types of oranges we have access to in the US.

🤔 So, How Much Juice is in One Orange?

This varies from orange to orange, but as an estimate, a single, regular-sized orange should yield around 75 ml orange juice, or 1/3 cup. It will usually take three medium-sized oranges to yield enough juice for a single cup of fresh juice.

The bigger the orange, the more juice it’ll contain. Using a juicer rather than juicing by hand will also ensure that you get the maximum amount of juice from your oranges.

If you just want to add orange juice from a carton to a recipe, there’s your answer: substitute the juice of an orange for 1/3 cup orange juice.

But if you’re a juicing enthusiast searching for the best oranges for making your own juice, read on. I’ll be sharing the types of oranges that contain the most juice, and how to extract the highest juice yield from your oranges.

📋 Types Of Orange Contain The Most Juice

Blood Oranges 

One of the juiciest oranges available is the blood orange. One orange can produce around 1/3 of a glass of orange juice, or around 80 to 85 ml.

When shopping for these types of oranges, look for those that have the darkest red peel, which indicates that they’re the sweetest and juiciest.

A benefit of blood orange juice is that you can store it for several days without it spoiling or going too bitter.

Clementine

Clementines are small, but they still contain a lot of juice. A single clementine orange contains around two tablespoons of juice, so you’d need between 7 and 8 clementines to produce a glass of fresh orange juice.

Mandarin Orange

Mandarin oranges don’t quite produce as much juice as blood oranges. However, an advantage of these oranges from a juicing perspective is that they’re very easy to extract juice from. If you’re juicing by hand, you may prefer to use mandarin oranges as there’s less work required to extra the maximum amount of juice.

To make a glass of orange juice from mandarin oranges, you’ll need between 4 and 6 oranges.

Navel Oranges

Navel oranges can produce around 1/4 cup juice. These are a little more bitter than others on this list, so you may want to add sugar or honey to bring out the sweetness.

Once you’ve juiced a navel orange, you’ll get the most enjoyable taste from drinking it straight away. After 30 minutes, the limonin in the juice will cause it to become even more bitter.

Navel oranges have a subtype, called “cara cara navel oranges”. These are sweeter and juicer, with a reddish-pink skin.

Tangelo

Though tangelos look like oranges, they’re actually a citrus hybrid, so they’ll give a slightly different flavor than your average glass of orange juice.

These small, tomato-like citrus fruits can produce up to 3/4 cup of juice, so you’ll need between 1 and 2 oranges to fill a glass.

Valencia Oranges

Valencia oranges are most popularly used commercially for producing orange juice, as they’re large and juicy. They’re also widely available, and are in season for 9 months, from April to December.

You can get at least 1/3 cup of juice from a Valencia orange. This amount of juice is about the highest you can expect from an orange.

If you buy Valencia oranges in the peak of summer, you may notice that they have a green skin. This is fine – the green skin protects the fruit from the sun, and won’t affect its ripeness or flavor.

📌 How Much Juice in One Orange

Looking for an easy way to calculate how many oranges you’ll need for a single recipe? Take a look at the table below – it tells you how much juice each type of orange yields. You can multiply the per-orange juice quantity to determine how many you’ll need for a glass of juice.

✔️ Tips for Getting the Most Juice Out of the Orange

Now you know how much juice in one orange, let’s look at how to get more juice from your fruits – no matter which type of orange you’re using.

Use An Electric Juicer 

The easiest way to get the most juice out of your orange is to use an electric juicer. While using a manual juicer does work fairly well, it won’t extract the amount of juice that an electric juicer can.

Electric citrus juicers are designed to extract the maximum amount of juice from oranges, lemons, limes, and other citrus fruits. You don’t have to do any of the hard work yourself – simply send your oranges into the juicer via the feed chute and wait for around 5-10 minutes for the juice to be produced.

Some kinds of electric juicer will separate the juice from the unwanted parts of the fruit, so you also won’t have to worry about removing pips or skins from your juice.

Of course, electric juicers are more expensive than manual juicers, and require a lengthier setup. But if you’re a big fan of fresh orange juice, having your own low-fuss, low-maintenance alternative to a manual juicer might suit you perfectly.

Warm the Orange Up

Many people don’t realize that the temperature of the oranges they’re juicing can affect the amount of juice that can be extracted.

Colder oranges produce less juice, so avoid storing them in the fridge before juicing. If you do prefer to store your fruits in the fridge, make sure to remove them at least an hour before you plan to use them to make juice.

To get your oranges warmer than room temperature, try rubbing them between your hands for a few minutes. An easier alternative is to prick the skin of your orange and microwave it for between 12 and 17 seconds. This will break down the membranes and encourage a greater juice yield.

Don’t worry – microwaving your oranges won’t mean that you end up with a warm juice, as long as you stick to the 12-second limit.

Roll it Around

Another method that can get more juice from your oranges is to roll them around before juicing.

This is as simple as it sounds: place your oranges on a countertop or cutting board and use the palm of your hand to roll them across the surface.

You can use the rolling method on all citrus fruits to extract more juice. By rolling the fruits, you help them to lose some of their rigidness, which makes it easier to extract juice.

Cut it Into Smaller Pieces

When manually juicing, most people simply cut their oranges in half and juice each half one-by-one. The issue with this method, however, is that you may not extract all the fresh orange juice from each half before moving on.

Next time you juice your oranges, try cutting each whole fruit into quarters. This makes the segments easier to squeeze, and you’ll get better results. I recommend trying this method if you don’t own a juicer and you’re on the hunt for the most convenient juicing option.

🧐 How to Choose an Orange With the Most Juice

There are certain features of an orange that can make it better for yielding more juice in one batch. If you’re aiming to make the biggest batch of orange juice, you need to consider the following factors:

Heavier Weight

The weight of an orange is an indication of how much juice it contains. The heavier the orange, the more juice you should be able to get from it. When shopping, pick up each orange available and compare their weights. You’ll soon get a feel of which fruits are the heaviest of their kind.

Thin Skin

Of course, if a heavy orange is 50% skin, it won’t actually give more juice. An orange with a thin skin will contain more juice than one of the same size with a thicker skin.

Some kinds of orange have a naturally thinner skin. For instance, the Valencia orange has a thin skin, making it ideal for using to make a cup of orange juice.

Bright Skin

When an orange has a bright skin, it’s an indication that it is ready to eat. Vibrant skin is usually a sign that the orange is sweet and juicy.

Dull skin, on the other hand, could be a sign that your orange isn’t ready to juice. The orange itself may be hard and difficult to squeeze.

Less Pith

Orange pith, in case you’re unfamiliar with the name, is the spongey, stringy white stuff between the fruit and the peel of an orange.

Most people remove orange pith before juicing an orange, because it’s tasteless and doesn’t contain any juice. For that reason, just like the skin, having more pith on your orange will mean that there’s less juice compared to an orange of the same size with less pith.

Few Seeds

The more seeds an orange contains, the less space there is for juice. The navel orange contains very few seeds, which makes it ideal for juicing.

I would especially recommend using navel orange fruits for juicing if you’re making a cup of juice by hand. This will mean less prep for you, as you’ll have fewer seeds to remove.

💡 Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of orange juice?

Orange juice is a great source of vitamin C. We need vitamin C for keeping our cells, skin, bones and cartridge healthy. Citrus juices can also support the immune system and ward off cold and flu. If your juice contains pulp, it’ll be a good source of fiber, which is needed to maintain digestive health. Iron, folate, calcium and vitamin A are also found in citrus fruits.

Is it possible to juice orange peel?

Yes, you can juice your peels. However, you will struggle to get much juice from your citrus peel if you’re manually juicing. Only a plug-in citrus juicer will be able to extract juice from peel, and even then, it won’t be enough to produce anything near to a glass of juice.

It’s also worth noting that citrus peels contain chemicals that can cause stomach upset, so they’re not an option for everyone. If you’re keen to cut down on your food waste, there are plenty of other things you can do with your citrus peels.

How do you work out how much orange juice you need in a day?

It’s recommended that you drink up to two cups of fruit juice every day. You should stick to this recommendation no matter what your age, gender or weight.

While you won’t experience any major side effects from drinking too much citrus juice – and it’s a great source of vitamin C – it’s wise to impose a two-cup limit, as the sugars from the juice may damage your tooth enamel.

Do I need to peel oranges before making orange juice?

Not necessarily. It depends on whether you’d like to include peel in your fresh juice, as mentioned above. It may be easier to keep the peel on your fruits if you’re juicing by hand, as you’ll be able to grip onto them when you squeeze the fruits.