Cold-Pressed-Style Carrot Ginger Juice (No Juicer Needed)

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The bright orange juice-bar staple, made in a regular blender and strained until it's clean and silky — no $300 juicer required. Sweet carrots get sharpened with a serious hit of fresh ginger, lifted with orange and lemon, and finished with a pinch of salt and cayenne so it tastes like something you paid $9 for. Serve it very cold over ice.

Ingredients

• 2 lb carrots, scrubbed and trimmed (about 8–10 medium)
• 3 cups cold water, plus more as needed
• 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1 oz)
• 1 inch piece fresh turmeric, peeled (or 1/2 tsp ground turmeric)

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (from 2 medium oranges)
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or honey, or to taste (optional)
• 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
• Ice, for serving

Instructions

1. Cut the carrots into 1/2-inch coins or chunks — smaller pieces blend far more completely and give you noticeably more juice. There's no need to peel them if they're well scrubbed; just trim any dry ends and dark spots.
2. Add half the carrots, half the ginger, the turmeric, and 1 1/2 cups of the cold water to a blender. Blend on high for 60 to 90 seconds, until the mixture is a thick, uniformly smooth orange purée with no visible chunks. Stop and scrape down the sides once if pieces are riding above the blades.
3. Pour the purée into a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining carrots, ginger, and 1 1/2 cups water, and add to the bowl. If your blender struggles, add water 1/4 cup at a time — you can always strain a thinner purée, but you can't juice a stalled blender.
4. Set a fine-mesh sieve over a second large bowl and line it with a nut-milk bag, a doubled layer of cheesecloth, or a clean thin kitchen towel. Pour in about a third of the purée at a time and let it drain for 30 seconds.
5. Gather the cloth into a bundle and squeeze firmly, working from the top down, until the pulp inside feels dry and crumbly and no more liquid drips out. Scrape the spent pulp into a separate bowl and repeat with the remaining purée. Expect about 4 cups of juice from 2 pounds of carrots.
6. Whisk the orange juice, lemon juice, salt, cayenne, and black pepper into the strained juice. Taste: if your carrots were on the bitter or woody side, whisk in the maple syrup a teaspoon at a time until the juice tastes sweet and rounded. Add another squeeze of lemon if it tastes flat.
7. Chill at least 30 minutes, or pour immediately over plenty of ice. Stir or shake well right before serving — carrot juice separates fast, and the good flavor settles to the bottom.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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