This delicious Atol de Naranja - Costa Rican Orange Pudding recipe is made with fresh orange juice and served with ground cinnamon. This pudding is full of orange flavor with a jello like dessert to enjoy the flavors of Costa Rica.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and substitutions for Costa Rican Orange Pudding
- Orange juice: Fresh orange juice is best thanks to the lack of any additives and it's full bodied flavor that will still shine through in spite of the sugar. Medium Valencia or Naval oranges will work perfectly, though you could replace with blood oranges, if you prefer.
- Sugar: Light brown sugar adds a caramel undertone to our pudding with dark brown adding too much flavor. You could replace with superfine or caster sugar or even raw sugar here, if you prefer, though the flavor might be a little more sweet and less nuanced.
- Corn starch: Sometimes termed cornflour in certain parts of the globe. Corn starch is what gives our pudding that thick texture without being runny. It does need to be heated to 95C/203F before it is activated to thicken.
- Butter: The small amount of butter adds a light richness to the pudding, though you could omit, if you prefer.
- Ground cinnamon: The light topping of cinnamon adds depth of flavor to the pudding, you could add a little vanilla extract for vanilla flavor in it's place.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Costa Rican Orange Pudding:
Make the pudding: Heat the orange juice, corn starch and sugar in a saucepan.
1
Stir, stir baby: As it thickens it will need to be stirred constantly.
Butta: Add the butter into the pudding and stir through to melt and combine.
2
Serving glasses: Pour the pudding into your serving glasses and refrigerate to set.
3
Sprinkle of cinnamon: Top the pudding with ground cinnamon and serve.
FAQ's for the best Costa Rican Orange Pudding
You definitely can! The amount of sugar in this recipe is quite high, with how sweet some purchased orange juices are, you might want to limit the sugar to 150 grams / ยพ cup brown sugar.
While the recipe specifically calls for oranges, you can experiment with other citrus fruits such as tangerines or even a combination of different citrus fruits to create your own twist on the pudding. Just make sure to adjust the quantities and taste as you go!
Other pudding recipes you'll love
Orange Pudding
Ingredients
- 500 milliliters / 2 cups orange juice 8 medium oranges, juiced
- 200 grams / 1 cup light brown sugar
- 50 grams / ยฝ cup cornstarch
- 14 grams / 1 tablespoon butter
To serve
- Dash of ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Place the orange juice, sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and on high heat whisking until it reaches a simmer and the juice goes from cloudy to almost translucent, this will happen quickly!
- Remove from the heat and add in the tablespoon of butter, stirring until the butter has melted and the pudding is smooth.
- Pour into serving dishes and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Sprinkle a little of the ground cinnamon over and serve.
- Dig in!
Video
Notes
- Replacing the orange juice with storebought: You could definitely replace the fresh orange juice with storebought, however, the amount of sugar in this recipe is quite high, with how sweet some purchased orange juices are, you might want to limit the sugar to 150 grams/3/4 cup brown sugar.
- Ground cinnamon: The light topping of cinnamon adds depth of flavor to the pudding, you could add a little vanilla extract for vanilla flavor in it's place.
- As the pudding thickens: Stir or whisk the pudding constantly to ensure it thickens evenly and to avoid burning the burning on the base of the saucepan.
Nutrition
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Made it and loved it?
If you have made this recipe, it would mean so much to leave a review below to help more people find this.
Katie
I am doing a Spanish project on Costa Rica and plan to make this dessert. I also have to share with my class the history/background, significance, and when this dessert is typically eaten. Do you happen to know any of this information that you could pass along?
Sylvie
Hi Katie
Thanks so much for stopping by.
After your question I've done a little googling and like most Costa Rican recipes I've researched, there isn't a huge amount of information on the origins. Apologies I can't help more as it seems even Wikipedia hasn't helped. This is a delicious recipe though.
Kind regards and hope your class enjoy this.