Juice Yield Calculator

How much juice do you get from oranges?

Oranges are the benchmark juicing fruit, and they are generous: a kilogram of oranges yields roughly 500 millilitres of juice, which is two standard 250 millilitre glasses. A single medium orange weighs about 150 to 180 grams and gives 60 to 90 millilitres of juice, so a glass of fresh orange juice takes about three to four oranges. That is why a family breakfast of fresh juice goes through a bag of oranges so quickly, and why shop-bought juice, which is often made from concentrate, can seem surprisingly cheap compared with squeezing your own. Fresh juice tastes better, but it is honest work measured in fruit.

Variety and ripeness move the yield more than most people expect. Thin-skinned, heavy, ripe oranges such as Valencia and navel oranges juice far better than thick-skinned, light, underripe fruit. Roll each orange firmly on the counter before juicing to break down the internal membranes, and bring refrigerated fruit to room temperature first, since cold fruit gives less juice. An electric citrus press extracts a few percent more than a hand reamer, and a masticating juicer extracts more still, but no machine can rescue dry, woody fruit. Buy by weight and feel, choosing heavy fruit for its size, and your yield will consistently beat the averages.

Juice yield by fruit

Different fruits and vegetables juice very differently, because their water content, fibre and structure vary. Apples are excellent juicers, yielding about 600 millilitres per kilogram, since their flesh is mostly water held in soft cells that crush easily. Carrots yield about 450 millilitres per kilogram, a little less because their dense, fibrous roots hold water tightly. Lemons, despite their juicy reputation, yield only about 350 millilitres per kilogram, because their thick peel and segmented structure waste a larger share of the weight. Grapes, watermelon and cucumbers are among the highest yielders, while bananas and avocados barely juice at all and belong in a blender instead.

These differences matter when you plan a recipe or a juice cleanse, because substituting fruits by weight does not substitute juice by volume. A kilogram of apples gives a fifth more juice than a kilogram of oranges, and nearly twice as much as a kilogram of lemons. If a recipe calls for 500 millilitres of apple juice, you need about 850 grams of apples, but the same volume of lemon juice needs about 1.4 kilograms of lemons. The calculator handles these conversions for the most common juicing produce, so you can shop by the kilogram with a realistic glass count in mind.

How many apples for a glass of juice?

A single 250 millilitre glass of apple juice needs about five to six medium apples, which surprises people who imagine two or three apples doing the job. The reason is that an apple is mostly water by weight, but a meaningful share of that weight is skin, core and pulp that the juicer leaves behind. Smaller apples need more pieces for the same weight, so count by kilograms rather than by pieces when you shop: 850 grams of apples, whatever their size, reliably gives a glass. Blending instead of juicing keeps the fibre and gives a larger volume, but the result is a smoothie, not a clear juice, and it tastes and feels quite different.

The same counting logic applies to oranges for a jug. A one litre jug of fresh orange juice needs about 2 kilograms of oranges, roughly twelve medium fruits, which is a whole shopping bag. For a party, work backwards from glasses: ten guests having one glass each need 2.5 litres, which means about 5 kilograms of oranges or about 4.2 kilograms of apples. Buying a little extra covers dry fruit and enthusiastic second servings, and leftover fruit keeps far better than leftover juice, which loses flavour within a day even in the fridge.

Juicer types and how they affect yield

Centrifugal juicers are fast, loud and convenient, spinning pulp at high speed to fling juice out, but they introduce air and heat that dull flavour, and their yield is a few percent below slower machines. Masticating, or cold-press, juicers crush produce slowly with an auger, giving a higher yield, especially from leafy greens and carrots, and juice that stays fresh longer because less air is mixed in. Citrus presses are a special case: a simple lever press extracts orange and lemon juice efficiently with almost no waste, and for citrus-only households it often beats a general juicer on both yield and cleanup.

Preparation affects yield as much as machine type. Wash produce, cut it to fit the feed tube, and remove hard pits and thick rinds that add weight without juice. For citrus, rolling and warming the fruit, as described above, can add 10 percent or more to the yield. For apples and carrots, a sharp blade and a slow feed rate let the auger or grater extract fully instead of passing chunks through as wet pulp. If your pulp still feels wet and heavy, you are leaving juice behind: run it through a second time, or tighten the pulp adjustment on a masticating juicer.

Fresh juice, storage and nutrition

Fresh juice tastes best within minutes of pressing, when its aroma is brightest and its flavour most vivid. Oxidation begins immediately, dulling colour and taste, and after 24 hours in the fridge even well-stored juice is a shadow of itself. Store juice in a full, airtight glass container with as little headspace as possible, keep it cold, and drink it within a day. Freezing preserves juice better than refrigerating it for several days, though the texture changes slightly on thawing. Commercial juices last longer because they are pasteurised, but pasteurisation also flattens the fresh flavour that makes home juicing worthwhile.

Nutritionally, juice is a mixed blessing worth understanding. It delivers vitamins and hydration quickly, but it removes most of the fibre that slows sugar absorption in whole fruit, so a glass of orange juice contains the sugar of three or four oranges without the fullness of eating them. That does not make juice bad, but it does make portion sense important: a small glass with breakfast is a pleasure, while litre after litre as a thirst quencher is a lot of sugar. Blending whole fruit into smoothies keeps the fibre and is often the healthier everyday choice, with juicing reserved for a treat.

Cost: is juicing at home worth it?

Home juicing costs more per glass than buying juice, and it is worth doing the maths honestly. If oranges cost a few dollars per kilogram and a kilogram gives two glasses, each glass costs roughly half the per-kilogram price plus the cost of the machine spread over its life. Shop juice made from concentrate is usually cheaper per glass, but it tastes different, and premium not-from-concentrate juice is often comparable in price to home juicing. The real case for home juicing is flavour, control over ingredients, and the pleasure of a glass squeezed minutes before drinking, not saving money. Buy fruit in season and in bulk, when it is cheapest and juiciest, to keep the cost reasonable.

Reducing waste improves the economics further. Citrus zest can be frozen for baking before you juice the fruit, apple pulp can go into muffins or compost, and carrot pulp adds body to soups and veggie burgers. A household that uses the pulp and buys seasonal fruit will find home juicing affordable as a regular habit, while a household that juices expensive out-of-season fruit and bins the pulp will find it a luxury. Plan your juicing around the seasons, and the flavour and the budget both improve.

Juicing for a crowd

Juicing for a crowd needs planning, because a juicer processes fruit slowly and guests arrive thirsty all at once. Work backwards from glasses using the calculator, buy the fruit a day ahead, and juice in the morning of the event rather than the night before, so the flavour is at its peak. Enlist a helper to feed the machine while you pour, and keep a jug of water alongside so guests can dilute strong juices to taste. For large groups, a citrus press for oranges combined with a masticating juicer for apples and carrots covers most requests without either machine becoming a bottleneck.

• Count by weight, not by pieces: fruit sizes vary too much for piece counts.
• Choose heavy, ripe fruit and warm it to room temperature before juicing.
• Roll citrus firmly on the counter to break membranes and boost yield.
• Drink fresh juice within a day, stored cold in a full, airtight container.
• Use the pulp in baking, soups or compost instead of throwing it away.

Use the calculator above to turn any weight of oranges, apples, carrots or lemons into millilitres and glasses before you shop or start the machine. Knowing the yield in advance means the right amount of fruit, enough glasses for everyone, and no half-empty jug at breakfast.