Growing up I had an Orange Julius place within a short walk from my house, that was actually owned by a neighbor two doors down. Spent way too much time there as I really enjoyed their rotating/broiled dogs (chili dog and pickle pooch) and the Orange Julius drink (which I want to replicate).
Most of the copy cat recipes I have seen online call for frozen OJ concentrate, milk, water, ice, sugar, and vanilla extract… but that is not my recollection of how they made them. There was even one YT vid where they said they asked their local Dairy Queen what they used and were told frozen OJ concentrate. But this is decades after my actual Orange Julius experience (whose recipe may have changed in the licensing/franchising to DQ).
My recollection was a lot of fresh oranges (these were their centerpiece) juiced, ice, and a powder that I believe was made up of from milk solids, caster sugar, vanilla flavor, and possibly egg whites. Pretty sure this was a secret component made available to the franchisees.
So do any of you remember the original O.J. franchises, how they made them… and do you recreate them at home?
I think the ingredients in the Orange Julius is pretty well known now.
Orange juice
Ice
sweetener (not necessarily table sugar)
milk
powdered egg whites and
vanilla flavoring
But getting the ratios right of each ingredient is the key.
Also, from talking to some of the franchisees and current Dairy Queen franchisees (which now carry Orange Julius drinks), Orange Julius used a special proprietary blender of some sort.
Back in the day I used to make them using just orange juice, milk and sugar. I have no idea how Orange Julius made them. This past Christmas I had a lot of eggnog and on a whim I made one using eggnog. It was delicious.
Alton Brown made one on his show years ago. I planned on making one but never did. What is different from his vs some others posted here is he uses fresh orange juice, rather than concentrate which he freezes, orange zest and specifies confectioners’ sugar. I always figured there would be egg whites in it but I tried that once and it did not have the right texture. I would have used raw egg whites not dried so that might be why. Altons does not use egg at all.
Wow. I don’t think I’ve had an Orange Julius in 40 years. I just google-mapped to see if there are any near me. There’s 1 in my state. I thought they were long gone. Now I’m going to have to try to recreate one. They were good!
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CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
13
This came up some time ago, maybe on CH, and I did some googling at the time. My recollection from what I read is that people said the originals had egg (real egg), and the company later went to the egg whites powder.
My wife grew up drinking her grandmother’s version. I don’t think Mema had any special knowledge of the “real” recipe, but hers did include one egg per about 2 servings. Hers called for either the concentrate or fresh squeezed, and used whole milk (or half-n-half). Wife’s an anti-pulp bigot so she preferred the concentrate.
Here is a story I just came across that seems to confirm that decades ago they used fresh orange juice, and used powders (although a fresh egg was an add on).
The mentioned instant vanilla pudding is interesting. I’ll have a look at the ingredients of those products in my area to see if they still contain milk/egg powders.
Edit: Bummer… the only stuff at the local Safeway is Jell-o, which is just Cornstarch and Carrageenan.
As mentioned above, there are no milk or eggs to be found in this stuff. Directions say cook with fresh milk… and the rest is just corn starch and other thickeners.
Honest to Pete (Wells?), I replied without looking at the other responses, instant pudding mix having immediately come to mind.
Sounds like it works. I’m not clear what your objection is. Maybe look at the ingredient list on vanilla custard packets. It’s unlikely that any modern supermarket options have the same ingredients as the original Orange Julius. Even milk is processed differently.
I used to love Orange Julius drinks. I never ate food there, but my parents and my siblings all loved the drink. If you do find the right copy cat recipe, please share! It will be like stepping back into the 80s, and my family would love you forever.
That’s a nasty ingredient list. Imagine the legions of kids who have eaten pudding and other highly processed foods — at times, we are guilty as charged. Good reminder to stay vigilant about what we’re putting into our and others’ bodies.
), I replied without looking at the other responses, instant pudding mix having immediately come to mind.
