Grapefruit Marmalade Recipe - Traditional All in One Method – Yum Eating (2024)

All in one method – easy to make grapefruit marmalade recipe with no added pectin which can be made any time of the year.

This grapefruit marmalade has a great citrus flavour and is perfect as a spread on your breakfast toast, as toppings for puddings or for baking. This is also a very versatile recipe that can be made with any citrus fruits with a thicker peel.

This is my favourite recipe for grapefruit marmalade that is relatively quick to make and you can be a bit slapdash when making it. The recipe works every time and it’s also super easy to make.

I also like that unlike seville oranges for traditional orange marmalade, which you can get only few weeks a year, you can buy grapefruits any time of the year and make this delicious marmalade any time of the year.

If you are already baking your own bread, then the next best thing is to have a homemade marmalade to go with it.

Why make this recipe?

• Easy grapefruit marmalade recipe to make using the all in one method
• Much quicker than the traditional marmalade recipe
• This recipe is very versatile and can be used with other citrus fruits
• You can make smaller amount by halving the recipe ingredients

MARMALADE RECIPES

• Tangerine Marmalade (all in one method) >>
• Orange Marmalade (reduced sugar) >>

What is all in one method grapefruit marmalade making?

This is all in one method of making marmalade which can be used for any citrus fruits, including seville oranges and it’s substitutes.

There is no need to spend long time shredding your grapefruit peel and leaving it overnight to soak, but the result is as good as the traditional way of making marmalade. I first boil the whole fruit and then cut the peel when it’s soft from boiling. This method is much quicker than the traditional method.

The other main difference is that traditional method of marmalade making (shredding uncooked peel, leaving it for 24 hrs and then boiling) will produce much more see through (translucent) marmalade with a thinner peel (because it’s easier to cut the peel thinly when it’s uncooked).

The all in one method produces slightly more cloudy marmalade and the peels are usually much thicker, as it’s not as easy to cut very thin pieces.

This difference is usually just noticed by a seasoned marmalade maker, but I’m mentioning it because if you want to produce very light translucent type of marmalade you need to follow the traditional method of marmalade making.

Marmalade making equipment

• Large stock pot or marmalade-making pan – if you are using this recipe as it is, you will need a very large stock pot or traditional jam making pan, because of the large volume. If you half the recipe, you can use large saucepan or smaller stock pot
• Jam or digital thermometer (no need for this recipe, but can be useful if you have one)
• Small plates (kept in the fridge for testing the marmalade later)
• Small teaspoons (for testing the marmalade)
• 4-6 sterilised jam jars with lids

Grapefruit Marmalade Ingredients

Grapefruits

In this grapefruit marmalade recipe, I’ve used white/yellow grapefruit, but you can use any citrus fruit here or a mixture of different types.

Pink, yellow or white grapefruit, Seville oranges (even sweet oranges are fine if you mix them with lemons or limes), tangerines, limes or lemons can be used with this recipe.

White grapefruits have the lightest flavour out of all the different types of grapefruits. Yellow grapefruits are very sharp, which means that you might need less lemon juice. Pink grapefruits, like other pink fruits will give this marmalade subtle pink colour and they are also the sweetest from all the different grapefruit varieties.

Lemon juice

Although grapefruit is fairly sharp flavoured fruit, a little bit of lemon juice compliments the flavours and rounds up this homemade grapefruit marmalade perfectly.

Sugar

White granulated sugar is the best for this recipe, as the grapefruit flavour comes through best and it doesn’t discolour the marmalade.

Technically you can use other granulated sugars, such as light or brown sugars and even sugars with stronger flavour such as coconut sugar or other substitutes, but the final flavour and colour of your grapefruit marmalade will change because of that.

But, then if you are after a caramelised, deep rich flavoured citrus fruit marmalade then go for a darker sugars, by all means.

Gin or other alcohol (optional)

If you want to make your homemade marmalade extra special add 2-3 tablespoons of gin or other alcohol to your marmalade just before you are ready to pot it (pour it into your jam jars).

Most of the alcohol will evaporate as you pour it in, but the flavour will stay and complement the flavour of your grapefruit marmalade perfectly.

Do I need to use pectin or special marmalade or jam sugar for grapefruit marmalade?

No, absolutely not! The good thing is that grapefruits have plenty of natural pectin in their skins and pith, which helps the marmalade to set nicely.

This is similar to all the citrus and other fruits, such as quince, which can be all made into jams and marmalades without the need for commercial pectin.

In the same way you don’t need to use any specific jam or marmalade sugar (which quite often contains pectin), because this grapefruit will set with any kind of sugar.

This makes homemade grapefruit marmalade very budget friendly and easy to make without any specialist ingredients.

How to make grapefruit marmalade recipe (without pectin) at home

STEP 1 – Soften the grapefruit

Scrub the fruit, remove the buttons at the top and put them whole into a preserving pan with 2.5 litres water. Bring to the boil then simmer, covered for 2-2,5 hrs or until the grapefruit skins are tender and can be easily pierced with a fork.

If you are using softer fruits, like tangerines this takes a lot less time. You will know that they are getting softer because the fruit changes colour slightly and becomes more opaque.

STEP 2 – Measure out the grapefruit juice/liquid

When cool enough to handle, take the fruit out, or use a large spoon to take them out. Measure and keep the cooking water – you should have about 1.7 litres.

Make it up to this amount with more water if you have less or bring to the boil and reduce if you have more. The skin of grapefruits (or any citrus fruit for that matter) contains pectin, so you want to make sure you keep the water, they have boiled in.

STEP 3 – Cut the grapefruit into thin shreds

Now, cut the grapefruits in half and remove the pips with a fork. Strain any juice from the pips back into the cooking water. Discard the pips.

After that, cut up the grapefruit peel and flesh into thick, medium or thin shreds. Put the cut-up fruit into the strained cooking liquid.

STEP 4 – Dissolve the sugar

Add the lemon juice and sugar and initially on a very low heat let the sugar dissolve in the liquid.

Check with the back of a wooden spoon for any sugar crystals. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, bring to the boil, stirring gently if needed.

STEP 5 – Boil your grapefruit marmalade

Bring to a rolling boil (this means, that the liquid will increase in volume and bubble away) and boil rapidly until setting point is reached – about 10-15 minutes.

STEP 6 – Test your marmalade

Test the grapefruit marmalade by putting a tea spoon full of marmalade on to a cold plate (which has been in the fridge for few hours). Leave it for a minute and try to slide your finger across the marmalade to see whether it will wrinkle.

If it has a bit of a skin on the top and looks firm, then you are ready to go. If the marmalade is stil runny, add more heat and boil for another 5 minutes. Then do the test again.

STEP 7 – Add any additional flavours

If you wish to add any alcohol (about 2-4 tablespoons of whisky work well with this recipe) or other flavouring, add them now. Be careful the alcohol will make a lot of steam.

STEP 8 – Pour

Leave to cool for 10-12 minutes and then stir gently to disperse any scum, which often forms on the top, pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal immediately.

Recipe quantity

This recipe makes about 4-6 large (450 grams) jam jars of grapefruit marmalade.

Since this recipe makes a good stock of grapefruit marmalade, if you don’t need that much or you don’t have a sufficiently big marmalade making pot, half the quantity of ingredients and make the same recipe in a smaller quantity.

How to use grapefruit marmalade

Just think about homemade grapefruit marmalade in the same way as a traditional orange marmalade. So the best use for grapefruit marmalade is as a spread for a toast, croissants or rolls.

Grapefruit marmalade is also perfect as spread for any type of pancakes, crepes or drop scones, including my gluten free oat pancakes. I often use it as a topping for my sugar free porridge (since I try not to add any sugar into the actual porridge mix), berry smoothie bowl or even use it as a sweetener for smoothie drinks.

You can also use grapefruit marmalade for baking in the same way as seville orange marmalade. The results might be slightly sharper, but that just makes a nice change.

To add to this amazing list of grapefruit marmalade uses, you can also add grapefruit marmalade to fruit based sauce for meat (for example marmalade sauce for game, duck or roasted chicken).

RECIPES WITH MARMALADE (OR ORANGE FLAVOUR)

• Orange Flummery Pudding >>
• Blood Orange Cupcakes >>
• Orange Marmalade Fruit Cake >>

How to store your grapefruit marmalade

Once the marmalade jars are cold, make sure that the lids look slightly indented or inverted in and firm. This means that as the marmalade was cooling down, the air evaporated and it seeled the jam jar lid properly.

Store your marmalade jars in cold, dry place, like the back of a colder kitchen cupboard, cellar or a cold pantry. Check once in a while to make sure that you have no mould or bacteria growing inside the jam jar.

Make sure that you always use clean knife or spoon to take out your marmalade as any other ingredients especially dairy (like butter) might speed up or start the bacteria growth.

Grapefruit marmalade shelflife

This grapefruit marmalade, if stored correctly, will last for 2 years, but in our household it never does! We usually eat it within a year and then make some more.

Once opened, marmalade should be stored in the fridge and ideally eaten within 2-3 weeks. It will last longer, but you might start getting mould or bacteria growing inside once you open it.

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This recipe was originally written on 27 January 2015 and last updated on 19 November 2022