You’re going to love this elegant and sweet Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis. Easy to make and delightfully fruity, it’s a sweet treat that pairs perfectly with tea or coffee.
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Simple and sweet, Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis is the perfect pairing to tea or coffee. This fruity dessert has delicate citrusy flavors and a sweet coulis to bring everything together. Blood oranges, essential oils, and infused olive oil uplift the flavors in this not-so-average panna cotta.
The citrus from the oranges cuts through the rich custard to create a sweet and light dessert. After it sets in the fridge overnight, it’s ready to be enjoyed next to the easy to make raspberry coulis. It’s an elegant and surprisingly easy dessert you can make for the holidays, to impress guests, or for a special treat for yourself.

What is panna cotta?
Panna cotta translates to “cooked cream” and is a traditional molded Italian dessert. Delicious in the summertime, panna cotta is made from cream, gelatin, and vanilla, and left to firm up in the fridge for hours or days. It’s a surprisingly easy recipe, is great when you need to have a dessert ready ahead of time, and looks beautiful with a garnish of colorful berries and fruit.
What equipment do I need?
You need something to hold the individual servings of panna cotta, such as baking molds, ramekins, or glassware. I like to use baking molds from Ikea, or you could eat it right from the glasses or mason jars you already have at home.
Panna Cotta ingredients
This recipe has all of the classic ingredients of a traditional recipe but with a few added extras to really amp up the flavor.
Here’s what you need:
- Whipping cream
- Unflavored gelatin
- Sugar
- Greek yogurt
- Blood oranges
- Orange Essential Oil
- Orange Fused Olive Oil
How to make blood orange panna cotta
The process of making a citrus flavored panna cotta is quite simple. You’ll need to allow the cream and gelatin to sit together first, then combine the rest of the ingredients before allowing the dessert to set in the fridge.
Here’s how to make it:
- Combine the gelatin and cream: Place 1/4 cup of cream into a small bowl, sprinkle with gelatin, and let it stand to soften (about 10 minutes).
- Dissolve the sugar: Pour the remaining cream and 1/2 cup of sugar into a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat. Stir in the blood orange zest, then squeeze in the juice from the cut oranges.
- Mix everything together: Pour the orange cream mixture and softened gelatin into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Finish by adding in 10 drops of essential oil, then mix in a drop or two of the blood orange olive oil.
- Leave to set: Lightly grease your molds with the orange olive oil before pouring in the cream mixture. Place them in the fridge for several hours or overnight until they’re completely set.
- Serve: Let the molds sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving. This will loosen them slightly, making them easier to remove. Turn the panna cotta in the mold upside down on a plate until it comes out of the mold. Serve with raspberry coulis and the toppings you desire.
Raspberry Coulis Ingredients
Three ingredients is all it takes! This simple coulis recipe (also known as raspberry sauce) is sweet, tart, and perfect for all of your summer desserts.
This is what you need:
- Sugar
- Raspberries
- Water
How to make raspberry coulis
Coulis is so easy to make and has a million uses. The leftovers can be drizzled over crepes, chocolate cake, or even yogurt for breakfast.
This is how to make it:
- Boil sugar and water: Combine the sugar, berries, and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Dissolve the sugar: When it comes up to heat, lower to medium low heat and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan.
- Cool and strain: Remove the pan from heat and leave it to cool completely. Once it’s cool, pour the coulis into a blender and puree until smooth. Lastly, strain it through a fine-mesh colander into a jar or bowl and discard the solids.
Recipe variations
- You can substitute the whipping cream for half and half if that’s all you have.
- Both full fat and non fat Greek yogurt will work in this recipe.
- Feel free to replace the blood orange infused olive oil with a light olive oil instead.
- Don’t have essential oils? Feel free to leave them out and add in a little extra orange olive oil instead.
- For more citrus flavor, use up to 3 blood oranges.
More fruity dessert recipes
- Apple Fritters With Vanilla Lemon Glaze
- Red Wine Poached Pears With Vanilla
- Cherry, Almond, & Cardamom Galette
- Strawberry Apricot Rhubarb Cobbler
Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups whipping cream, or half & half
- 1 packet unflavored gelatin, about 2 tsp
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 2/3 cups greek yogurt, fat or nonfat (I used regular fat
- 2-3 large blood oranges, for their zest and juice
- 10-15 drops of Aura Cacia Sweet Orange Essential Oil
- a few drops per mold of Blood Orange Olive Oil from Oregon Olive Mill
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 18 oz raspberries, 1 1/2 pints
INSTRUCTIONS
Raspberry Coulis
- Combine sugar, berries, and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium low; cook until sugar is dissolved, about 8 minutes. Use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush down any sugar crystals on the side of the pan. Remove from heat; cool completely.
- Place mixture in the jar of a blender; puree until smooth. Pass through a fine-mesh colander, and discard solids.
Blood Orange Panna Cotta
- Place 1/4 cup of cream into a small bowl, sprinkle with gelatin. Let stand to soften (about 10 minutes).
- While gelatin is softening, pour remaining cream and 1/2 cup of sugar into a 2-quart saucepan; place over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Take off heat. Add zest of blood oranges directly into the saucepan, then cut the blood oranges in half and squeeze the juice in, making sure the seeds don’t go in. It’s ok if some of the pulp is in the mix, it will add a great flavor. After juicing 2 blood oranges, taste and see if you want more juice and zest. I prefer it citrucy, so I add the third. Pour into a large bowl.
- Add softened gelatin and whisk together to combine. Add yogurt and whisk. Lastly, add the Sweet Orange essential oil, add about 10 drops and whisk it, taste it, if you want more citrus flavor add a few more at a time and whisk, until desired flavor is achieved. Don’t add more than 15 drops.
- Add a drop or two of the Blood Orange Olive oil into the molds (if you don't have this oil, I would use a very light oil instead). Use your finger and make sure the molds are coated.Note: You can skip this step if you decide to keep the Panna Cotta in glass cups or glasses and not take them out of molds.
- Divide between your choice of molds or glasses and chill for several hours or overnight, until set. I think 4 hours is plenty of time if you are using the molds I am using.
- When you are ready to serve, let them sit out of the refrigerator for about 5 minutes before taking them out of the molds. Add the raspberry coulis and serve with optional toppings like toasted chopped hazelnuts or a small cookie.

xoxo,
LENA : : lenaskitchenblog
Love this recipe! The flavours just pop and make it feel extra fancy.
Could I make this recipe 2 days in advance in cups I would serve them in?