Description
If you love orange soda, you'll love this 3-ingredient homemade version even more! It's super refreshing, bubbly, delicious and easy to make. When it's this easy to make your own soda at home with fresh, seasonal ingredients, why even make a trip to the store?
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons orange zest (3-4 small oranges or 2 large oranges)
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (juice of 3-4 small oranges or 2 large oranges)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Sparkling water
Instructions
- Using a microplane, zest and 2 large or 3-4 smaller oranges, then juice them. Set the juice aside.
- To a medium-sized bowl, add the granulated sugar and orange zest. Use your fingers to massage the sugar into the zest, until the sugar is uniformly orange in color.
- To a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the zest and sugar mixture and the juice. Heat to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally until all of the sugar has dissolved, then turn off the heat and let the zest steep in the syrup for at least 20 minutes, ideally until fully cooled.
- Once cooled, strain the syrup through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest. Transfer the syrup to a mason jar or other storage container (we use this pump top bottle).
- To make your orange soda, add anywhere from 2-4 tablespoons of syrup to an ice-filled glass and then top off with sparkling water. Stir gently and enjoy!
Notes
Orange syrup storage: It should keep for about 1 month in the refrigerator. If you use a sugar substitute, it will not last this long.
Oranges: You can use whatever oranges you prefer or what you have on hand. Navel and Cara Cara are widely available and work well, but we've found that tangelos have the most vibrantly orange juice and zest, and are incredibly easy to juice and zest. To change the flavor up a bit, you can even try tangerines, blood oranges or a mix of orange and grapefruit. Whatever kind of citrus you choose, make sure not to skip the zest! That's what makes this homemade soda super flavorful.
Sugar: For a no sugar option, try using a sugar substitute like monk fruit sweetener.
Massage the zest and sugar together thoroughly. This will help extract the oils that are inside of the zest, thus adding a lot of flavor to your syrup.
If you have the time, let the syrup cool completely with the zest in it before straining. This is essentially like brewing a tea, and over time the liquid will become infused with the flavor of the zest. If you don't have the time, strain it right away and add an ice cube or two to cool down the syrup.
Ratio of syrup to sparkling water: You can vary this up according to how intense you want your flavor to be, but a ratio of about 1/4 cup of syrup to 1 cup of sparkling water should work well.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Drinks
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tbsp syrup
- Calories: 51
- Sugar: 12.1 g
- Sodium: 0.4 mg
- Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.9 g
- Fiber: 0.2 g
- Protein: 0.2 g