Add Blood Orange Juice To Your Smoothies For A Tropical Twist

Whether you're using them as a quick snack, a tasty refreshment, or a hearty meal replacement, smoothies have so much to offer. They combine convenience, deliciousness, and nutrition all in one cup, and all you need to make them is a blender and an assortment of your favorite fruits. A problem many people come across with smoothies is falling into a flavor rut, thinking that the only ingredients they can use are strawberries, bananas, and other classic fruits. Nothing could be further from the truth, though, and we are here to prove it. If you're looking to shake up your smoothie game, we recommend adding blood orange juice for a result guaranteed to excite your eyes as well as your palate.

Traditional orange juice has been a staple in fruit-based smoothies for a long time, so you may wonder what's so different about blood orange juice. One obvious difference is the color. Where classic orange juice has a pale orange hue, blood oranges earn their name from their deep scarlet juice that will grant your smoothies an impressive aesthetic upgrade. This improvement is only one-upped by the elevation in flavor, as blood oranges have a sweeter and less acidic quality when compared to other oranges. It's almost as if they've been crossed with raspberries. This novel flavor and color combination is guaranteed to get even the pickiest smoothie enthusiast out of their funk.

For those who are ready to experiment with blood orange juice, you may be excited to use it as the star of the show in your next smoothie. It's easy to do so by using the juice as the main liquid in your recipe — though we recommend against using it as the only liquid, as the flavor can be quite strong on its own. You can also incorporate whole segments of blood orange for extra bulk alongside other fruits, as we do in our blood orange tropical smoothie recipe. Given that the flavor of this juice is both sweet and tart, it will get along with most other fruit flavors.

Of course, this juice can also be used as a supporting flavor to improve smoothies that are less fruit-centric. Don't be afraid to let it boost the sweetness of a green drink, like this plant-based matcha smoothie, or to brighten up a rich peanut butter protein shake with a twist on the flavors of peanut butter and jelly. Blood orange juice can also wow your palate in more indulgent blends, such as a chocolate and orange smoothie. Get creative and enjoy this out-of-the-box ingredient for all it offers.