how to freeze oranges for smoothies + orange smoothie recipes (2024)

In today’s post: Learn the easiest way to freeze oranges for smoothies plus two great healthy orange smoothie recipes.

You may have noticed by now that most of the recipes I share aren’t exactly healthy. There’s chocolate cookies with caramel cream and Oreo Madness and let’s not forgot the chocolate peanut butter brownie mousse. Of course, I have a few bread recipes and some main dish recipes mixed up in there, but my recipe section is fairly dominated by the tasty and fattening. So I’m sure you’re all shocked that today I’m sharing a tasty and healthy recipe or two. One of them even has spinach in it! I know, crazy times.

We’ve recently purchased a Blendtec blender and have made our foray into the land of green smoothies. I was skeptical, as I always am about anything that’s either 1) very healthy, or 2) supposed to change my life. And I’m not sure my life has actually changed, but I do have to say that my own special green smoothie, complete with a few secret ingrediets, is very, very good. I don’t feel like I’m forcing myself to eat vegetables, and I’m fairly impressed with the amount of spinach I’ve consumed in the past week. And I like being impressed with myself.

Above is my green smoothie, which I’ve dubbed the Popeye Orange Dream Smoothie, because it tastes a lot like a Dreamsicle. Really. It’s suprisingly rich due to the addition of a small amount of fat free half&half and a dash of vanilla extract. Yummy. And did I mention healthy? That’s right.

Below you’ll see my Paradise Orange Dream Smoothie, which is a more decadent smoothie (no spinach and some extra creaminess from more FF half&half and a little cream of coconut). Yes, I said decadent because it’s not as screaming healthy as Popeye’s version, but it’s still much healthier than brownie ice cream or any of my other normal desserts, and it’s really, really good.

Printable recipe card for both smoothies (click here):

These are my “secret” ingredients, and believe me, they make a HUGE difference in the taste of the smoothies. Green smoothies can be a bit bland, but a little bit of FF half+half and vanilla really pumps up the flavor. If you don’t like using FF half+half you can use the real thing (a few more calories) or you can substitute milk (but it won’t be quite as good). And the cream of coconut gives the Paradise smoothie a tropical I’m-sipping-this-by-the-side-of-the-pool feel. Worth the extra calories now and then.

Sorry – I forgot to put the yield on the cards. Popeye’s smoothe makes about 2.5 cups which the Paradise comes in at about 2 cups. The ingredient measurements for both smoothies are completely customizeable – just experiment with what you have and see what you like best. You’ll want to plan on two medium oranges for the Popeye smoothing and one to two for the Paradise smoothie, depending on how much pineapple you want to put in.

How to freeze oranges for smoothies

I like to start with frozen fruit because you end up with a much slushier drink, which tricks my mind into thinking it’s higher calorie and therefore even more fun to eat. Plus it’s just easy to cube up a bunch of fruit, freeze it, and use as needed. In fact, since we’re getting to the end of orange season, it’s a fantastic time to find a great deal on oranges (I scored 40 lbs for $14 last week!) and freeze them for months worth or smoothies. (NOTE: Navel oranges will start to get bitter after 2-3 months in the freezer, so if you want to keep them longer than that you’ll want to use a different variety).

Here’s what you’ll do:

Happy blending!