ALERT!!! It’s orange season! It’s cara cara orange season! It’s blood orange season!
This might surprise you, but oranges are one of my absolute favorite fruits. I don’t eat them much in my oatmeal (I find their flavor is muted in porridge), but they are one of my favorite fruits to eat as a snack.
With beautiful blood oranges back in season, I was determined to make another recipe. This time, I discovered the trick to making better citrus oatmeal: zest.
I should have known this was true, considering how much I love lemon extract, which is imitates lemon zest far more than lemon juice. I’m not sure why it took so long for me to figure this out. All I need to do was zest one of the orange halves into the oatmeal, and it changed the game.
I chose blueberries because I’m going through a blueberry phase, but I could see this recipe working with blackberries or raspberries, too.
P.S. I actually made this using quick oats. I can’t believe after all this time, I’ve fallen in love with quick oats. I used to swear by old-fashioned, but…
What you'll need:
- 1 blood orange
- 3/4 cup milk of choice, or water
- 1/2 cup regular rolled oats
- 1/4 tsp lemon juice
- zest from one half of blood orange
- pinch of salt
- handful of blueberries (or any berry)
How to make it:
- Prep your blood orange.
- Bring milk (I use 1/2 c original almond milk and 1/4 c water) to a boil, add oats, and reduce heat to medium. (If you’d like to add flax or chia seeds, do so now.)
- Immediately add half of the blood orange either by dropping in the segments and stirring, or juicing it. I juiced. (Save the rest for topping.)
- Once more of the liquid has absorbed, add lemon juice, orange zest, and salt. Stir.
- When you’re pleased with the consistency of the oatmeal, transfer to a bowl. Add a splash of your milk of choice, remaining orange segments, blueberries, and any other additional toppings (shredded coconut, nuts, etc.).
