How to Can Oranges Step by Step

Some of my very favorite canned foods are fruits. There’s just something about them I love. Whether I’m opening up the can and eating them straight away with a spoon, or adding them into various recipes, I love having preserved and delicious fruit on hand in my pantry.

I have no doubt you’ll love it too. And when it comes to canning fruit, some of the very best are oranges.

Done properly, they will stay sweet, and tangy, and an excellent source of vitamins for months on end. Even better, they are comparatively quite easy to can yourself at home…

Sure, you can can orange juice, but what if you want to actually taste the oranges? Keep reading, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know, and I’ll also give you with a step-by-step guide on how to can sliced oranges using nothing more than a water bath.

Is it Safe to Can Oranges?

Yes, done properly, it is absolutely safe to can oranges. Whether you want to can mandarins, navel oranges, or some other type, all can be preserved safely and effectively using the water bath method with the right approach.

It is tested, tried and true…

Why Water Bath and Not Pressure Canning?

If you’re new to canning or a little inexperienced, you might already be raising an eyebrow at the mention of water bath canning for oranges.

This type of canning has something of a bad reputation with those who don’t know the difference between it and pressure canning, but is still completely safe and effective for high-acid foods, like oranges here.

It should, though, never be used for very-low acid foods, meat, or thicker vegetables. Your oranges will come out just fine, so don’t worry.

If all you have is a pressure canning setup, or that’s what you’re familiar with, it is possible to pressure can oranges but the results usually aren’t too good.

Most folks who have tried both will report that pressure-canned oranges tend to taste cooked and washed out compared to the succulent, plump, sweet results of water bath canning.

If you’re absolutely insistent on pressure canning them for safety reasons or just because that’s what you’re used to working with, you can, but you’ll have to check another article for that.

Can You Can Whole Oranges?

Yes, you can, but only very small varieties like mandarins. Large oranges will not be heated through sufficiently in order to make them safe for long-term storage.

What You’ll Need

Your list of supplies for water bath canning oranges is kind of lengthy, but if you’re just getting started, much of it will be available in a kit, all together. In any case, gather the following items and supplies.

Oranges: All kinds work just fine for at-home canning, and how many you’ll need depends on how many jars you want in total.

A good rule of thumb is that you’ll need around 15 pounds of oranges, total, to make 7 quarts of canned oranges. For smaller batches, you’ll need about 6 or 7 pounds to make 7 pints of canned ones.

Water: used with sugar to make syrup for this recipe, and also needed for the canning operation itself.

Sugar: needed to make syrup. Oranges are best canned using an extra light syrup. This keeps them sweet and tangy without dramatically altering their flavor.

While it’s true that you may can oranges at home using just water, it will significantly degrade their flavor because it draws out and dilutes their juices.

You can create your own extra-light syrup at home easily and cheaply for canning oranges, and the steps for doing so are included below in the walkthrough.

Canning Jars, Quart or Pint Size: get canning jars that are either a quart or pint in size depending on your preferences and the size of the batch you are making.

You can use new or used jars, but make sure you carefully inspect the rim and threads for any chips, dings, cracks, or other defects that could compromise the seal.

Canning Jar Lids, New: you need a matching quantity of brand new canning jar lids that fit your chosen jars above, plus extra for successive batches or retries.

Do not, under any circumstances, reuse a used jar lid. They’re far more prone to failure. Jar lids are very cheap, so just get new ones.

Lid Bands: you’ll need lid bands to secure the lids to your chosen jars. Make sure you get the right size, but you can use a new or used here as long as they are in good repair and not dented, cracked, or rusty.

Extra Large Pot: you need a large pot or a specialized water bath canning pot. It should hold several jars at once and be deep enough to fully immerse the tops of the jars with the lids on in at least an inch of water.

Large Pot or Saucepan: you need a separate large pot or saucepan to create your syrup.

Jar Lifter: a jar lifter is a specialized set of tongs used to safely lower and raise jars out of the water bath. Some folks improvise using tongs, but I strongly advise against this.

Note that you don’t need a jar lifter if your canning rack has handles that let you lift it easily to move all of the jars at once.

Canning Rack: a canning rack is like a grate or grill that fits into your pot and provides a stand for the jars that are lowered into the boiling water.

Without this rack, they will rest on the bottom of the pot and then get jostled around by the water. That’s a bad outcome and potentially can cause breakage.

A handy canning rack will also have tall handles that stick up out of the pot and will allow you to raise and lower all of your jars at one time.

Canning Ladle or Canning Funnel: a canning ladle or canning funnel is used to help you get your syrup into the jars under control while avoiding spills and splashes that can cause a mess and potentially contaminate your jars, preventing a good seal.

If you’re only going to get one, I highly recommend you have a canning funnel because it’ill make the job a lot easier.

Thin Spatula: a thin spatula is used to run around the interior of your jar once it’s filled to help eliminate air bubbles which will degrade your oranges and reduce storage life.

Lacking this, you can use a butter knife, a specialty bubble stick, a skewer or something similar.

Paring Knife: you’ll need a paring knife to help you peel and, if you’re going to, segment your oranges.

Cutting Board: any good cutting board of your choice will help you prep your oranges without making a mess.

Paper Towels: paper towels are essential for cleaning up spills and also necessary for wiping off the threads and rims of your jars before you put the tops on. Water and little splashes of syrup or other food debris can interfere with a proper seal.

Kitchen Timer: timing is everything when canning. Make sure you have a kitchen timer handy if you’re not using an app on your phone or on your stovetop clock.

And that’s all you need. It seems like quite a list, but again if you buy a complete water bath canning kit, most of this stuff will be included. Time to get down to business and can those oranges!

Canning Oranges, Raw Packed, Step by Step

The following steps will guide you through raw pack (no cook) canning oranges using the water bath method.

Step 1: Sanitize all equipment. The very first thing you’ve got to do is sanitize all of your equipment that will be touching your oranges and your syrup.

You can give them a thorough cleaning yourself by hand with very hot, soapy water, or just run them through the dishwasher immediately prior to use.

Step 2: prep oranges. Grab your knife and cutting board and peel the oranges completely. Once that’s done, take some time to remove the large bits of white pith on the exterior and from the top, bottom, and core of each fruit.

At all phases, be extremely careful to avoid puncturing the segments because they will leak juice when you can them and not be as flavorful.

Step 3: segment if needed. With the pith removed, section the oranges if you need to or want to. Larger ones should always be segmented, but smaller ones like mandarins can be left whole as long as you get the pith out of the middle as described above.

Step 4: prepare workspace. With the oranges in the jars, take a moment to get your everything ready. Get towels and clean cutting boards set out to protect your counter from hot jars.

A tidy, orderly workspace is required because you must move quickly during certain steps. Read over these steps entirely before you move on.

Step 5: Fill large pot with water, turn on heat. Place your pots on the stove, filling the larger one with water, making sure to leave room for displacement.

Know where you’re going to set the jars when you pull them out of the water bath because they will be hot. Once you are set, turn the heat on high for the larger pot.

Step 6: prepare syrup. With your jars nearby, prepare the extra light syrup in the smaller of the pots: you’ll need 6 ½ cups of water to ½ cup sugar for a load of 9 pint jars, or 10 ½ cups water to 1 ¼ cups sugar for a load of 7-quart jars.

Boil the water, add the sugar, then stir until totally dissolved. That’s it! Keep at a boil as you complete the following steps.

Step 7: Pre-heat jars. Lower your jars into the larger pot, on the rack, to pre-warm them until they’re ready to be filled.

Step 8: pack oranges into jars. Once the syrup is nearly ready, add your whole oranges or orange segments into the jars. Pack them in as tightly as you can without crushing them. They will shrink slightly during the canning process.

Step 9: Cover with hot syrup. With the syrup prepared and the water in the canning pot boiling, use your funnel and pour the hot syrup over the oranges in each jar, leaving about a half inch of headspace at the top.

Work quickly from here through the following steps until you get the jars into the water.

Step 9: run spatula around rim of interior. Quickly, but carefully so as to avoid a mess, use the bubble stick or other tool around the rim of the jar once you’ve filled it to release any trapped air bubbles. Take care not to puncture the oranges.

Step 10: cap the jars. Carefully, but quickly, wipe off the rim and threads of the jar with a moist paper towel if necessary.

Then, being sure not to touch the sealant, place a new lid on each jar, and then quickly secure it with a band until it is snug and hand-tight. Do not over-tighten, as air must be able to escape during the canning process.

Step 11: load jars into back into canner. If using a rack without handles, place the rack carefully back in the bottom of the pot. Then using your jar lifter carefully put each capped jar into the water.

If you have a rack with handles, load the rack and then cautiously lower it down into the water.

In either case, leave at least a half inch of space between each.

Step 12: return to boil. Let the water come back to a rolling boil. It doesn’t have to be boiling vigorously, but it does need to be properly boiling.

Step 13: start the clock. Process the jars for 10 minutes if you are below 1,000 feet in elevation, or 15 minutes if you are above 1,000 feet.

Step 14: turn off heat. Once your timer has gone off, turn off the heat to the pot and then leave the jars in for five or so minutes before you pull them out.

Step 15: remove jars from water. Using your jar lifter or by lifting the jar rack, remove the canned oranges from the bath. Be very careful to keep them upright; avoid tilting them. The pressure of the oranges acting against the lid from the inside could compromise the seal.

Step 16: place jars on towels or cutting board. Place the jars on folded towels or on a clean cutting board to let them cool down.

Keep them away from drafty areas, especially in the wintertime, and stone countertops because a sudden temperature differential can cause them to shatter due to temperature shock.

Step 17: cool. Leave your jars to sit for at least 12 hours and potentially as long as 18. Don’t touch them, poke them, prod them, don’t even move them during this time.

If you hear a creaking, popping, or pinging sound, that is perfectly normal due to the contraction and flexing of the metal lids and bands.

Step 18: check lids. Once your jars have totally cooled down, it is time to inspect for a good seal.

Press down on the lid from above and see if you can detect any movement. They should feel absolutely solid. If this check is good, remove the ring and then carefully try to pick up the jar by the edges of the lid. The lid should not fail.

If any of the seals crack or lids come off, check after the steps for what to do.

Step 19: wipe down. Assuming your lid check is passed, delicately wipe off the jars using a damp paper towel and then wipe them dry.

Step 20: store. Keep your canned oranges anywhere that is cool, dark, and protected from freezing. They will last up to one year, but our best if consumed within 6 months or so.

Step 21: finished! You are done. Enjoy your home canned oranges.

What Should You Do if a Lid Fails?

If the lid check fails on one or more of your jars, don’t panic, and don’t get upset. Set them aside briefly, and continue checking the rest of the jars so you know which ones are good and which ones are not.

For the ones that didn’t pass, you’ve got two options. The first is to put the jar in the refrigerator and then eat the contents in the very near future. They’ll be safe and tasty, don’t worry about that.

Otherwise, you can reprocess the contents all over again by transferring them to a newly sterilized jar and, using a brand-new lid, and then re-canning them following all of the steps above.

What you cannot do is let time go by before you try to re-can them. Re-do immediately, eat the contents within a day or so, or throw them out. That’s it!

Helpful Hints and Tips

• Be even more efficient! There are tons of specialty canning tools out there that might look like a great way to separate fools from their money, but they make a big difference. Magnetic canning wands to help you handle lids, lid holders, cooling racks, and a lot more can improve your workflow when seconds count and make the whole process safer and more reliable.
• Ditch jars that are too old. Keep in mind that the slightest imperfection in the rim or threads of a jar could cause it to fail. It might even cause it to fail spectacularly and hurt you or make a big mess! A jar is good as long as it’s good! If you notice consistent failures with one or more jars, just get rid of them. Don’t try to figure it out or rehabilitate them somehow.
• Experiment with syrup. You might decide you want a little more sweetness with your oranges, or maybe even some spices. There are lots of great things you can do when water bath canning oranges at home, so don’t be afraid to look for recipes to make them more exciting and even tastier.

Recipes for Canned Oranges

• Mandarin Orange Salad. A favorite, and somehow canned oranges make it even better than fresh. I am not kidding!
• Mandarin Orange Cake. An old-fashioned cake recipe that is light, tangy and delicious. A perfect use for canned oranges of any kind, not just mandarins.
• Orange Jell-O Fluff. A holiday favorite around my house.