White wine, vinegar, and fresh citrus create layers of tangy flavor in this bright duck à l’orange recipe. It’s a far cry from the overly sweet orange duck recipes that dominated American kitchens in the 1960s, often hit with heavy pours of cloying orange liqueur—quite the departure from centuries-old versions made with bitter rather than sweet oranges. Of course, that’s all up for debate, as are the recipe’s actual origins: Some say that Florentine noblewoman Catherine de’ Medici brought duck à l’orange to France when she married the Duke of Orléans in 1533; others argue serving a whole duck with orange sauce seems awfully similar to the ancient Persian practice of cooking meat and fruits together. We’re just happy someone had the good sense to pair the juicy citrus with the gamy bird.
This version, a 2006 adaptation of a recipe from Gourmet 1943, bridges the gap, using fresh-squeezed orange juice and zest and lots of aromatic herbs and spices. Roasting the duck breast side up and finishing it beneath the broiler guarantees crispy skin, and the drippings from the bottom of the pan give the sauce a luscious flavor and texture. Presenting a whole duck always feels luxurious—for maximum drama, garnish your bird with a few extra orange slices, charred if you like, and carve tableside.
Note: Reserve the carcass after carving the meat to make duck stock, which you can use to make soup, cook a batch of grains, or sip by the fire.
Recipe information
Total Time
2¼ hours
Yield
4 servings
Ingredients
Duck
Sauce
Preparation
Duck
Step 1
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 475°. Whisk together 1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal or 1¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt, 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp. ground coriander, and ½ tsp. ground cumin in a small bowl. Pat one 5–6-lb. whole Pekin duck, neck and giblets removed, dry and sprinkle inside and out with spice mixture. Cut 1 orange in half through the equator; cut one of halves into quarters. Stuff duck cavity with orange quarters along with 4 onion wedges (from 1 small onion, cut through root end into 8 wedges), 4 sprigs marjoram, 4 sprigs thyme, and 2 sprigs parsley.
Step 2
Squeeze juice from remaining orange half into another small bowl. Add ½ cup dry white wine and ½ cup duck or chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth and stir to combine. Set aside.
Step 3
Spread out ½ medium carrot, halved lengthwise, ½ celery stalk, and remaining 4 onion wedges in a roasting pan. Place duck on top of vegetables and roast 30 minutes.
Step 4
Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Remove roasting pan from oven and pour in reserved orange juice mixture. Return pan to oven and roast duck until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thigh near the bone registers 170°, 1–1¼ hours. Remove from oven.
Step 5
Heat broiler. Broil until duck skin is golden brown, about 3 minutes.
Step 6
Using tongs, carefully tilt duck so juices run from cavity into pan. Transfer duck to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes; set roasting pan with vegetables and juices aside.
Sauce
Step 7
While the duck is roasting, cook ⅓ cup sugar in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, undisturbed, until starting to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a heatproof rubber spatula, until sugar is fully melted and caramel turns deep golden in color. Reduce heat to low and carefully add ⅓ cup fresh orange juice and 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar to caramel (mixture will bubble vigorously and might spatter); season with a pinch of kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until caramel is dissolved and mixture is combined. Remove orange syrup from heat.
Step 8
Remove vegetables from reserved roasting pan; discard. Pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a measuring glass; skim duck fat and reserve for another project. You should have 1 cup pan juices; if you don’t, add duck or chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth to get you there.
Step 9
Stir together 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour and 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, in a small bowl to form a paste. Pour pan juices into a small heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisking constantly, add flour mixture followed by orange syrup and orange zest (from ½ orange, zest removed in wide strips with a vegetable peeler, strips thinly sliced). Simmer, whisking, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Step 10
Serve duck with orange sauce alongside.
Editor’s note: This recipe for duck à l’orange was first printed in the June 1943 issue of ‘Gourmet.’ Head this way for more of our best Christmas dinner ideas →
Leave a Review
Reviews (75)
Back to TopThought that I'd try fixing duck for Christmas Eve and did not want to ruin the mel. I followed the recipe to the letter but added a cup of bourbon to the orange sauce, and it turned out superb. I also added carrots, the giblets and gumbo mix to the sauce. A half cup of water to the sauce kept it from thickening too much. My family loved it, as I did. I had to save this recipe...
Enedina L Stockhaus
Satsuma, Florida
12/24/2023
Easy to follow and tastes amazing!
Anonymous
7/23/2023
I prepared this recipe for my Christmas dinner but my ducks' skin didn't have the golden color that is at the top of the recipe page. I did exactly what recipe suggested, I put the broil on for about 3min. How about you all? The sauce flavor was amazing though. Thx
Ruhl S.
seattle
12/25/2022
Sucess! Two changes: increase all the orange during the preparation, no fear... decorate with dehidrated orange thin slices. If you canot dehidrate, just decorate with very thin orange slices.... excellent!
Rosario Umaña
Villa de Leyva Boyaca Colombia
8/6/2022
This was pretty good but I think recipes like this overcomplicate what you are trying to do. Basically you have a duck and a sauce. If you overthink it it will not be good. The duck needs to be crispy. There are better ways to cook a crispy skin duck than this. Also, don't put the sauce over the duck before serving (the recipe does not say to do this but the temptation's there). So basically, the recipe should be: 1. Cook a duck so you have crispy skin (a cut up duck would work). 2. Make a sauce (you can adjust sweetness, amount of orange, etc to your taste.) 3. Serve the crispy duck with the sauce on the side (not over it). On another note, the vegetables are good but I understand why the recipe says to discard them. Basically all the flavor has cooked out of them by the end. The cooks who suggested straining off the fat now and then were spot on. I think the orange zest is optional (or could be added at the end). I disagree with those who said it needs more fresh orange juice because fresh orange juice can add bitterness.
Anonymous
New Jersey
11/13/2021
Very easy to make and a lovely way to serve a whole duck. The sauce was divine. I followed the suggestions of others when making the sauce, and allowed the sugar to melt at medium to low temperature, then added the orange+wine storing constantly until the caramel melts. I found everything very simple to make. My husband who doesn't like fruity dishes really enjoyed the sauce and froze the leftover sauce for future chicken dishes. Next time I would add more vegetables to the roasting pan, and serve the roasted vegetables.
Calif
Staffordshire UK
10/15/2021
Really good duck recipe, with a very tasty skin. I checked the duck after an hour, but would check after 45 minutes next time. It’s a bit of a faff at the end making the gravy , so would remove the juices earlier next time. Added more orange juice to the syrup as I felt it wasn’t orangey enough. All in all, a very good recipe and will certainly make it again.
Traceyw1
Scotland
4/4/2021
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