Orange Bars are the perfect dessert for anyone who loves oranges! Packed with flavor and seriously sweet, these bars are the perfect summertime treat! Don’t miss my Lemon Bars and Strawberry Bars for more great hot weather desserts!
Orange Bars Recipe
What is an orange bar? They are loaded with real orange and are sweet, buttery perfection. Fresh orange juice paired with orange zest creates a wonderful flavor that is only amplified by the rich butter crust. Orange bars are exactly like Lemon Bars, only not as tart or acidic.
How to Make Orange Bars
Cut up the cold butter into cubes. In a large bowl add the sugar and flour and then better. Using your hands (my preferred method, you can also use a pastry cutter or food processor) break up the butter until each piece is coated with the flour and sugar mixture and no bigger than the size of a pea. I have made this crust with room temperature butter and while it was faster (the butter is much easier to incorporate) it does make quite a mess!
Tips for Perfect Orange Bars
Room temperature ingredients are key! I teach you how to quickly warm up butter and eggs here.
Lining your pan with parchment is optional, but it does help for easy removal.
Do you want to get as much juice as possible from the orange? Take the orange and roll it on the counter roughly, pressing hard. This will help to loosen up the juices before extraction. Another tip I heard was to pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and then juice.
Can You Make Gluten-Free Orange Bars?
Make these bars Gluten-Free simply by using an interchangeable Gluten-Free flour. I used a good 1:1 Gluten-Free flour blend and it worked beautifully.
How to Store Orange Bars
While these bars can be kept out at room temperature for several hours, they should be refrigerated if you can’t finish off the pan the same day you make it. If you know that you are going to be storing them, try to only cut off the pieces you need, not cutting up the entire pan into bars. (Hint: This also means nice crisp cuts when you serve them cold!) I usually place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the bars and then cover with foil. Orange bars can be stored for several days in the refrigerator.
If you are freezing the orange bars I like to cut them into individual size portions and then wrap each bar with plastic wrap. Date and stack in your freezer. To thaw, either place bars in the refrigerator the night before using or leave them on the counter to come to room temperature.
Orange Bars
Ingredients
CRUST
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 226g) butter, cold
- 1 cup (126g) confectioners sugar
- 2 cups (252g) all-purpose flour
FILLING
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (32g) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (160ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 teaspoons orange zest (up to 1 tablespoon, but zest can be strong so start with less)
- confectioners sugar, for dusting
Instructions
CRUST
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, blend together cubed butter, flour and sugar with a pastry cutter, a food processor, or your hands. Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are just starting to brown.
FILLING
- In a large bowl, crack eggs and whisk them.
- To the eggs, add sugar, flour, orange juice, and orange zest. Whisk well, until no clumps remain. Pour over the baked crust after it is done baking.
- Once the filling has been added, bake for an additional 20 minutes. (Do not cover.)
- Remove from oven and let bars cool to room temperature. Place in the refrigerator for at 2 hours then dust with confectioners sugar before serving.
- Cut into squares and serve.
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Can the Orange Bars be frozen for a week or longer, then thawed?
Hi, JacquiMiller! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. If you are freezing the orange bars, cut them into individual size portions and wrap each bar with plastic wrap. To thaw, either place bars in the refrigerator the night before serving or leave them on the counter to come to room temperature. Have a wonderful day!
I just made these, yum they were so good. The oranges on my tree are very sweet so I halved the sugar amount for the filling. It was perfect. If your oranges aren’t as sweet or you just like very sweet desserts than add the full amount. I used whole wheat flour as that is what I have and I didn’t have enough butter so I had to use vegan butter as well. With those minor tweaks I can still say that this was an amazing dessert (Mmm, I’m imagining this with full butter). When life gives you oranges make these orange bars.
If eating within say 3 days, store in the fridge or on the counter?
Hi, Emily! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. Store them in the refrigerator. If you know that you are going to be storing them, try to only cut off the pieces you need, not cutting up the entire pan into bars. (Hint: This also means nice crisp cuts when you serve them cold!) I usually place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the bars and then cover them with foil. Orange bars can be stored for several days in the refrigerator. I hope this helps, and have a great day!
The crust was delicious.
Great recipe! I made this recipe Gluten-free and sugar-free by using Gluten-free flour and monk fruit for sugar and Powdered sugar. I also added an 8 ounce block of 1/3 less fat name brand cream cheese. Really delicious recipe. Thank you!
I believe I found a typo in the first line of the Section, “How to Make Orange Bars”. I think it is meant to read ‘butter’ instead of “better.” I blame autocorrect for all my substituted words. 🙂
Thanks
Absolutely delicious! I made these the other night! Omg!!! These are a big hit with me and hubby. Used up the extra oranges, got some left over juice from the oranges, BUT, we ended up with a great new dessert and recipe! Thank you Amanda!😊❤
Have kind of an off the wall question. If I need to make a LOT of the orange bars (like 150 to 160 of them for finicky people), will I just continue to double and triple the recipe until I get that amount?
Ammmmmazing dessert and super easy to make. Thank you for this great recipe, I shared with all the people I love around me and they devoured them!
Can I add a bit of vanilla extract to the filling to give it that creamy vanilla hint, or will it affect the bake? Thank you in advance!