How to Use annatto in a Sentence

annatto

noun
  • It’s made with corn dough colored with annatto oil, which gives the dough a distinctive flavor.
    — Roxsy Lin, Los Angeles Times, 18 Dec. 2023
  • Best of all, the smell of geranium, hibiscus, and annatto seed lingers on my skin throughout the day.
    — Aliza Abarbanel, Bon Appétit, 11 Oct. 2019
  • Once the oxtail is tender, slowly add the ground peanuts, peanut butter and the annatto water.
    — Tara Duggan, SFChronicle.com, 30 Oct. 2020
  • Add ground annatto, paprika, cumin, pepper, oregano and oil and mix together.
    — Illyanna Maisonet, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 May 2018
  • Strain and discard the annatto seeds, reserving the water to serve as the coloring.
    — Tara Duggan, SFChronicle.com, 30 Oct. 2020
  • Kare-kare is all about the sauce, which gets its flavor and reddish-bronze color from a dose of annatto seeds and bagoong, or fermented shrimp paste.
    — Bon Appétit, 17 Aug. 2021
  • Turmeric makes things yellow; beets produce red; a seed called annatto can give orange; blue can come from spirulina, an algae.
    — Alina Selyukh, NPR, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Today, the color most often comes from annatto, a food coloring and condiment made from the seeds of the achiote tree, and/or paprika.
    — Sarah Jampel, Bon Appétit, 17 Dec. 2019
  • Since cow's milk varies in richness and color throughout the seasons, adding annatto was often a way to achieve a consistent color year-round.
    — Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 1 June 2026
  • Genie defined ingredients like wood ear mushrooms to annatto seeds.
    — Rebecca White, Dallas News, 15 June 2023
  • Shot through with tamarind, tomato paste, and nutty annatto oil, the crimson broth at Bún Riêu 41 has amazing depth.
    — Peter Jon Lindberg, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Nov. 2018
  • Organic California basmati rice, cooked with a satchet of bay leaf and annatto seed.
    — Garrett Snyder, Los Angeles Magazine, 20 Dec. 2017
  • Sazón overlaps some, and also contains annatto for color, plus coriander, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and oregano.
    — Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 5 Feb. 2026
  • Each color is natural, thanks to vegetable juice, spirulina, and annatto extract.
    — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 28 May 2026
  • They're made with natural orange flavors and annatto extract coloring - check them out today!
    — Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022
  • Research suggests that annatto has many healthful properties.
    — Ann Pietrangelo, Verywell Health, 24 Sep. 2024
  • It might be replaced with fish sauce and annatto to make adobong pula (red adobo), with turmeric to make adobong dilaw (yellow adobo), or skipped entirely for adobong puti (white adobo).
    — Bettina Makalintal, Bon Appétit, 19 Oct. 2021
  • The marinade traditionally is a mixture of achiote (an orange-red paste made with ground annatto seeds), citrus juices and a variety of spices.
    — Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Sep. 2025
  • This is my take on sazón, minus the MSG, and with turmeric added along with the standard annatto to imbue dishes with a golden hue.
    — New York Times, 22 Mar. 2021
  • The annatto, citrus juices and habanero imbue the meat with a warm-weather brilliance that feels earthy and, ironically for roasted meat, refreshing at the same time.
    — Ben Mims, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2023
  • While some movie theater popcorn may use artificial colors like Yellow 5, many use annatto and turmeric.
    — Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 27 Feb. 2026
  • According to Windsor, many cheesemakers use annatto, a food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree, give their cheddar a rich orange hue.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 17 Oct. 2019
  • The mixture gets a dose of earthiness from annatto oil, creating a multidimensional dish.
    — Michael Bauer, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Feb. 2018
  • But Bacolod’s homemade version is very easy — just sauteing the various ingredients in annatto oil until the sauce is reduced.
    — Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2024
  • Their classic red velvet color is natural, too, coming from vegetable juice, annatto, and turmeric, as opposed to artificial dyes.
    — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Bubbling inside that cauldron is a heady, 17-plus-ingredient stew that includes chiles, ground annatto seeds, cinnamon and banana leaves briefly fried in brisket fat.
    — Washington Post, 15 June 2022
  • Whole Foods store-brand riff on the classic is made with eight ingredients, like cream, vanilla extract, a blend of stabilizers, and annatto extract for color.
    — Ali Francis, Bon Appétit, 29 Aug. 2022
  • Scallops, for example, come cured in a chilli, annatto and coconut cream, and tiramisu turns an Instagrammable shade of violet with blueberries and purple yam.
    — The Week Uk, TheWeek, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Add some patriotic flair to the party with this confection that comes in an iconic red, white, and blue color scheme derived from vegetable juice, spirulina, and annatto extract.
    — Michele Laufik, Martha Stewart, 23 June 2026
  • It’s made with the juices derived from cooking birria, the trad-Mexican marinated beef stew, which is then spiked with chiles, onions, cilantro, spicy-sweet annatto paste and maybe some witchcraft.
    — Matt Wake | [email protected], al, 17 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'annatto.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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