Easy Orange Julius Recipe

Channel your inner mall-rat and whip up a batch of Orange Julius! Perfect for your 80’s and 90’s themed party (or Stranger Things marathon!)

Ok, full disclosure….I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s. I spent a HUGE amount of time at the Bellevue Mall in Nashville when I was a teenager. I shopped at the Gap, I got my ears pierced at Claire’s and every single time we went to the mall, I BEGGED for an Orange Julius.

Begged, y’all.

And because my mom was amazing, I usually got one.

I hadn’t thought about Orange Julius in years until we started binging Stranger Things this summer (and I cannot WAIT for Season 4! Hopper has GOT TO BE ALIVE y’all. Has to be.) Anyway, we were watching the show and there it was, tucked back in the corner of the Starcourt Mall…the Orange Julius. And it all just came flooding back. The creamy, citrus-y refreshing taste of that delectable concoction.

How to Make an Orange Julius

Like most foods from the 80’s and 90’s, the Orange Julius is a simple blend of some highly Americanized ingredients. And it’s a cinch.

• Add orange juice concentrate, vanilla extract, milk and sugar to a blender ( I love my Ninja!) half full of ice.
• Add rum (if you are of age of course)
• Blend until you have the consistency of a milkshake (but with ice).

The milk will make it creamy (and you can use cream if you really wanna) but you don’t want too much sugar in there. It should taste something like a Creamsicle or the orange Push-up pops from the ice-cream truck.

Adding alcohol to an Orange Julius

I was so obsessed with Orange Julius as a teen that I made my Mom make them for us at home. It was never much of an arm twist. Much like Karen Wheeler in Stranger Things, Mom always had a glass of wine in the evening at the ready. As a mom myself, I can almost guarantee that Mom made her own, adult version, for herself.

If you wanna add a little kick to your Orange Julius (because you are older now and you can) I recommend either rum or vodka. You can add it to the blender before hand or just add a shot to the bottom of your glass before pouring in the frozen concoction.