How to Make Mandarin Orange Sauce
This mandarin orange sauce is an easy and delicious sauce perfect for your favourite desserts or breakfast dishes like yogurt, pancakes, waffles or crepes.
Also Read: Strawberry Rhubarb Fruit Sauce, Mandarin Orange Jam, Apple Cranberry French Toast Bake.
I make a fruit sauce like this out of whatever fruit is in season! It’s one of our favourites for crepes, ice cream and yogurt or labneh parfaits.
Recipe for Mandarin Orange Sauce
Mandarin Orange Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cans mandarin oranges 11 oz/312g
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2-4 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp orange juice concentrate
Instructions
- Strain mandarin oranges to separate segments from juice. Keep juice. You should have approximately 2 cups of mandarin orange segments and 1 cup of juice, exact measurement does not matter.
- Pour cornstarch into small pot. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup of reserved juice to fully dissolve cornstarch.
- Whisk in remainder of juice, honey and orange juice concentrate. Stir constantly while bringing mixture to a boil, about 3-5 minutes.
- Continue to stir for one minute once it boils and begins to thicken and turn glassy.
- Taste and adjust sweetness to your liking and add mandarin orange segments. Cook for one minute more to incorporate any juice from added oranges.
- Remove from heat and let cool. Mixture will thicken further as it cools.
- Keep in fridge for up to 4 days. Sauce made with cornstarch does not freeze well.
The Ingredients for Mandarin Orange Sauce
Oranges
For this sauce, I use canned mandarin oranges. If you prefer, you can segment fresh mandarin oranges as I explain in my article and recipe for making mandarin orange jam. You could also use navel oranges, clementines or tangerines. If using other oranges expect a more tart sauce that may require a little more sweetener.
I separated the juice and the segments so that the orange pieces would not fall apart and disintegrate while making the sauce. If you prefer smaller bits and pieces of fruit in your sauce, you do not have to separate them.
Sweetener
To sweeten the sauce, I used a little bit of honey, but you can use whatever and however much sweetener you prefer. In this recipe, the sweetener is added for flavour only, so use whatever sweetener you prefer.
Cornstarch
Cornstarch is the key ingredient for getting this sauce to thicken. You’ll need to find a different recipe if you prefer not to use corn starch.
There are two important steps whenever using cornstarch.
First, you must dissolve the cornstarch in a little bit of cold liquid (the key liquid in your recipe such as milk, broth, water or in this case juice). Add 1/4 cup liquid to 1-3 Tbsp of cornstarch. Estimate about 1 Tbsp of cornstarch for every cup of liquid you want to thicken. Without dissolving the cornstarch first, your sauce will be lumpy.
Second, you must activate the thickening power of cornstarch by bringing the mixture a boil. Whisk or stir the sauce constantly as you bring the liquid to a boil. You will notice the sauce starts to thicken and turn translucent. Stir for about 1- 2 minutes as you begin to see the change until the sauce is glossy and smooth.
Additional Ingredients
Mandarin orange have a light mild flavour. To give the sauce more citrus flavour, I added some frozen orange concentrate. This is another optional ingredient. You could leave the sauce as is or you could add other ingredients like lemon juice, orange extract, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla extract, rose water, Grand Marnier, etc.
How will you use your mandarin orange sauce?
I’d love to hear your recipe ideas and how you end up using your mandarin orange sauce. Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram at #getgettys or Facebook @GettyStewart.HomeEconomist.
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Select, store and serve seasonal food for everyday cooking with Getty. Getty is a food educator and Professional Home Economist, who loves sharing tips and recipes following the seasons from her Canadian kitchen. Sign up to get seasonal tips and recipes delivered to your inbox. Learn more about Getty or check out her books and pdf guides.