Roasted Winter Citrus

I have been on a citrus bender these past few weeks.

I always do this, starting in December or January. I load up our grocery orders with everything from clementines to blood oranges to grapefruit for weeks on end. We never really tire of them!

I love any of them as a snack anytime of day. And right now, the citrus is so. darn. good. Even the grapefruit is sweeter and juicier than normal. We are loving every minute.

While I cannot wait for warmer weather and springtime in general, I don’t want this citrus train to end. I’m going to ride it to the very last stop!

I wanted to do something with the abundance of citrus in our crisper drawer other than just eating them raw with breakfast or as an afternoon snack. So I decided to try roasting them!

Oh. My. Gosh.

They came out SO great. I am in love. Even MORE in love, I should say.

As if they weren’t gorgeous enough on their own…but once you roast them until they’re slightly caramelized? I mean, just look at them! Like nature’s jewels!

The best part? The process for roasting these couldn’t be simpler. It’s ridiculously easy.

First, peel and slice all the citrus you want to roast. This is probably the most labor intensive part of the entire recipe, hah. I went with a mix of grapefruit, cara cara orange, navel orange, and blood orange for a variety of flavor and color. ANY citrus will work here, though! Pick your favorites and go for it.

Before roasting, I melt together some coconut oil and honey and then add in a touch of vanilla. I brush all of the citrus with the mixture just before baking. It helps the citrus caramelize!

The combination of the coconut oil, honey, and vanilla happens to be perfect for this particular use because none of the ingredients is too overpowering. The citrus still shines through in the end!

Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, brush with more of the coconut oil-honey mixture, and then roast some more until the citrus is tender, juicy, and even caramelized in some spots.

Your kitchen will smell amazing at this point.

Allow the citrus to cool a little bit before serving – the sugars are CRAZY HOT when first out of the oven.

You could serve these a million different ways. My absolute favorite: with yogurt or cottage cheese, sprinkled with homemade granola, and a drizzle of honey. It is the most amazing winter breakfast!

These would also be delicious added into a salad or served along any entree as a stand-alone side. I could see these being the perfect accompaniment to a flaky white fish.

Or! If you really want to go over the top (and I’m totally in support of you if so), serve these warm over vanilla ice cream! I’m planning on trying this soon, and I’m betting my kids will absolutely freak over it. The juices alone from the roasted fruit make me want to swoon. I can only imagine how wonderful they would be drizzled over ice cream.

The point is, you have to try this! It’s so easy and the results are amazing. It also switches things up a bit from just raw citrus (not that there’s anything wrong with that – like I said, I’m riding that train to the very last stop!).

As delicious as they are gorgeous. If you can believe it!

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