Orange marmalade is one of the most delicious yet complicated condiments you could ever make at home. It goes well with many interesting snacks and everyday meals whether you are making meat, vegetables, or salads.
Orange marmalade is mostly used in breakfast in many European countries such as the United Kingdom or any Slavic countries. But what happens when you don’t have any at home ?
Best orange marmalade substitute
You can substitute orange marmalade with mango chutney, lemon juice, strawberry marmalade, cooked orange juice, orange zest, apricot jam, peach jam, or fig jam. These are the best options, but there are many many more to try.
Of course, this all depends on your personal taste and preference. Oranges are easy to find at any time of the year, and they are very popular.
Their taste is refreshing and sweet, with just enough acidity to spice up any meal. Not to mention oranges are one of the fruits that go so well with meat.
If your recipe calls for orange marmalade, know that you may swap it for a different fruit preserve like raspberry, or forest fruits, or whatever fruit strikes your fancy.
Orange marmalade is a beloved condiment. Children and adults love it because it is so sweet, and its citrusy punch really goes well with everything.
It goes best with toast or bread, pancakes, and fruits. But you can use it in recipes that include meat, fish, or vegetables as well!
Sometimes recipes require some ingredients that we could not find in the store or make yourself; you need a substitute.
There is another reason you might want to use a substitute for marmalade. Marmalade is often very time-consuming if you choose to make it at home.
When making marmalade, you will need hours to find the ingredients, mix them, and cook all of them.
So if you cannot find any orange marmalade or you just wish to use something else in your dish, read on.
You can even just leave the marmalade out of the recipe, but then you risk changing the flavor too much.
In another article about substitute for mango chutney, we talked a lot about it. But since mango had so many substitutes, we didn’t even mention orange marmalade as one of the main ones.
But it is safe to say that orange marmalade can be substituted with mango chutney or marmalade.
Now let’s explore each of the orange marmalade substitutes we can use.
Read Also:Why Is Orange Jam Called Marmalade ?
1. Mango chutney or jam
Mango chutney can be very easy to make at home using some basic ingredients.
If you are making it yourself, get your hands on some mangoes, some sugar, white vinegar, onions, ginger, and some mustard. You can also add garlic, red chili pepper flakes, and raisins.
Chutneys can vary in ingredients, taste, and texture depending on your use of certain foods like tomatoes, peanuts, cucumber, yogurt, spices, and mint.
Vinegar is often added to these recipes to enhance the acidity; you can also get with oranges.
If making something savory, like roast meat or a curry, definitely use mango chutney. If you’re baking something sweet or making any sort of dessert, you can go with mango marmalade or jam.
2. Apricot jam
Apricot jam can be made at home or bought in the store. So if you want to make it at home and can’t find it anywhere, here is a quick recipe for it.
Mix the apricots and lemon juice in a pot, you can add white sugar. No matter how you store them, the lid needs to be tightly sealed on containers. The jars then need to be stored somewhere cool and dark.
Apricots and peaches are quite similar in taste and texture, so we can combine them with oranges or use them interchangeably in recipes that require either of them. Of course, you can always add a dash of lemon.
This brings us to another condiment on her list, which is each chutney and peach marmalade.
3. Peach chutney and marmalade
Since peaches are similar to apricots, we can use both of them as substitutes for oranges. Still, marmalade is more complicated to make than chutney. Chutney can be made from peaches very simply.
All you need are ripe peaches, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar or white vinegar, and some ginger.
Don’t use too much ginger since it has a very strong taste most people dislike.
4. Lemon juice, orange juice, and orange zest
Lemons and oranges are similar in their acidity so they are often used together because they complement each other well.
We often use salt to add some flavor to our meals, but sometimes we overuse it and still don’t get enough out of it.
We need to consider acidity more often to give our dishes some dimension without the salt overpowering the other ingredients.
Zest is often added to cakes, but also consider adding it to other recipes that include meat, and you may get surprised with the outcome.
5. Fig jam
You can also make some fig jam at home to replace orange marmalade. The recipe we offer is simple. Simmer figs in a saucepan for a few minutes, and once they go soft and release their juices, you can add lemon juice and sugar.
It is that simple. Figs can add some sweetness more than oranges. Depending on the figs age and type, they can be very similar to different fruits and other foods.
Suppose you are making a sauce or jam with figs. In that case, we recommend you cut down on the sugar since figs are usually very sweet by themselves or add extra lemon or orange juice to the mixture.
It is very easy to find a suitable substitute for orange marmalade since any jam or jelly will do the trick.
You don’t need to research too much and buy expensive ingredients to achieve this goal since oranges do not have too specific of a flavor.
Think of any sweet and acidic condiment, and it will do just fine. Any fruit marmalade or jelly can serve as a replacement for the orange marmalade.
Don’t worry too much about the price, time, or cooking abilities. Get creative and make or buy the condiment you think you will like the most.
Whether it is lemon juice, peach jam, apricot jam, fig jam, mango chutney, blueberries, apples, or melons – they are pretty similar in taste.
And in case you like your English breakfast, play around with marmalade as much as you would like. You will discover what works for you and what you like best.
Read Also:Is Marmalade Gluten-Free ? Its Ingredients Are
Substituting orange marmalade in a recipe
When it comes to salty foods that require orange marmalade, you can use anything – papaya, apricots, cranberries, or figs. You can make them into marmalade, jelly, or chutney.
They all go well with pork, goose, or duck meat, poultry, or bread and the best options are apricots and figs when it comes to these sweet baked dishes.
Use any marmalade from the list to replace orange marmalade when it comes to bread or toast snacks and breakfasts since it is the easiest snack you can make with just any jam.
Basically, any recipe that requires oranges can do well with lemons instead. Consider lemon juice and lemon zest in recipes for desserts or chicken.
Poultry goes well with oranges and lemons, duck meat goes better with the sweet oranges, but you can use apples or figs instead.
It is best for spicy recipes dishes to use apricots or peaches, since they are the most similar and give the balance to spices.
This is just a safe choice, but you can always play around and try out different mixes. Apple jam goes better with meats that are of softening taste.
For seafood, use lemon juice or orange juice, while sweeter fruits go best with sweeter meat.
It is the safest to use lemons or peaches instead of figs for any dessert if you need to substitute orange marmalade. Or just use any marmalade that you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Conclusion
There are quite a few great substitutes for orange marmalade. Which one you use depends on what taste you prefer and what you plan to do with it.
I hope this article gave you a few replacements for the orange marmalade in case you don’t have any or you don’t like the taste but you go for a recipe that requires orange marmalade.
