Orangecello (Arancello)

5 from 2 votes

Make this delicious, vibrant Italian orange liqueur - orangecello at home with only 4 ingredients. It's perfect to sip chilled or mix in cocktails.

Prep Time15

Infusion Time10

Total Time10 15

Course: Aperitivo, Digestivo, Drinks

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 8-ounce bottles

Calories: 491kcal

Author: Svi

Ingredients

For orange infused alcohol

5 oranges or 4 oranges and 3 tangerines , about 80 grams (3 ounces) of peels total
500 milliliters alcohol

For Sugar Syrup

1 ⅔ cup sugar , 365 grams
3 cups water , 720 grams

Instructions

Wash oranges and if using mandarins/tangerines under water and dry.

Peel oranges and infuse in alcohol.

Zest oranges. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the skin from oranges as thin as possible. Avoid removing the white pith. Roughly chop with a chef’s knife. Add to the jar with alcohol.
Zest mandarins/tangerines. Using a small sharp knife scrub off as much white pith from the tangerine peels as possible. Chop with chef’s knife and also add to the jar with alcohol.
EXTRA TIP: Make sure your mandarins/tangerines are fresh with firm/bouncy skin. It's almost impossible to zest a wilted/withered mandarin.
Infuse: keep the jar in a dark place or wrap with aluminum foil. Let infused to 7 days or better yet 2 weeks.

Make sugar syrup.

In a pot add water and sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Turn the heat off, cover the pot with a lid half open and let cool completely.

Filter and mix with sugar syrup.

Filter orange-infused alcohol using a strainer placed over a large bowl. The bowl should be large enough to fill both orange-infused alcohol and sugar syrup.
Start adding syrup at room temperature. Once you’ve added almost all the syrup, taste. If needed add the remaining.
Bottle in swing-top bottles and enjoy! It's best served chilled.

Notes

This recipe makes about 1,25 liters of Orangecello or 42 fluid ounces. This quantity will fill 5 8-ounce (250ml) bottles.

PAY ATTENTION: I do not recommend using a microplane zester for peeling oranges or mandarins, unless you have a good paper filter to strain through after maceration. Notice however, how I chopped the peels to have a similar effect of those zested with a micro-plane. The end goal is to have as much of the surface of the citrus peels with alcohol as possible. That's my method, use it or make your own call.

Nutrition