Christmas Simmer Pot Recipes Are So Easy To Make (2024)

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The time of the year is finally here when everything smells of Christmas! Pine trees, citrus fruit, peppermint, cinnamon and other whole spices (like whole cloves) are the most common winter scents. An inexpensive way to fill the whole house with the woodsy smells of the holidays is by making Christmas simmer pot recipes. The fresh ingredients create such an inviting home smell and it’s also a super easy way to have the scents of the season match the holiday decor.

Christmas Simmer Pot Recipes Are So Easy To Make

The smells of the holiday season are indeed some of my favorites. There are just so many delicious scents for this time of year. For me bringing that Christmas smell into the house starts on November 1st. That’s also when the Christmas music begins to be piped through the Alexa speakers in the kitchen. So it’s definitely the smells and sounds of the season that I’m all about!

Speaking of the smells of Christmas though…

I took lunch to a dear friend yesterday (she just had a really big surgery) and she had a fir and grapefruit scented candle burning. Oh my goodness. It smelled AMAZING. So very festive and Christmasy. And I never thought of grapefruit as a Christmas scent before! The candle is available HERE.

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DIY Christmas Simmer Pot Recipes

When making a Christmas simmer pot I’ve found that I don’t even have to make a run to the grocery store. Often I have most (if not all) of the fresh ingredients right in my kitchen. And if not all currently in the kitchen then I’m sure to have enough to create a marvelous scent. It can always be a fun experiment!

Wonderful Gift Idea

Christmas simmer pot recipes also make great gift ideas if you go the route of the dried variety. Sooo cute when given in a mason jar, too! I’m talking teacher gifts, neighbor gifts, coworker gifts and even gift exchange parties. Similar to the popular potpourri pot recipes that our moms and grandmothers all infused in the 80’s and 90’s, Christmas simmer pots provide a festive scent. Keep in mind that this Christmas simmer pot recipe is definitely not the dehydrated variety!

What is a potpourri pot?

The seasonal scent (or every day scent depending on time of year and ingredients used) often come wrapped up in cellophane bags. Contents of the bag are typically dehydrated fruits, dried flowers, cinnamon sticks, etc. A popular gift idea because it doesn’t take more than a minute of prep for the recipient to have their own home smelling delicious in no time. Simply place a scoop of the dry ingredients into a pot of water and simmer on low heat for a couple of hours to create a pleasant aroma in the entire house!

Christmas Simmer Pot Recipes

Christmas simmer pot recipes are so easy to make!

What you’ll need:

orange slices (including the orange peels)

sprigs of evergreen, pine or fir

ground cinnamon or cinnamon sticks

What you’ll do:

Place oranges, cranberries and evergreen in a small saucepan.

Fill with enough water to cover the contents.

Sprinkle with some ground cinnamon.

Put sauce pan on the stove top and bring contents to a rolling boil.

Reduce heat to then simmer for 1-2 hours.

* I’ve heard of a slow cooker or small crock pot being used as the heat source, but I haven’t tried that method yet.

It’s that easy to create Christmas simmer pot recipes! So festive and easy to make. I got creative with this particular one and just threw in what I had here at home. Mandarin oranges, fresh cranberries, ground cinnamon and fir branches for the win! While on most days I probably wouldn’t have the cranberries or fir available, I think that even just the oranges and cinnamon together would have created a lovely scent. Especially with adding other spices from the spice rack.

I just happened to randomly have the extras in the house. The branches of evergreen and cranberries were both for dressing up a breakfast charcuterie board to make it look festive for the holidays. So I don’t typically have those in my kitchen. But honestly there are so many ways to make a simmer pot!

What types of ingredients will work in a simmer pot?

There are so many different types of Christmas simmer pot recipes. Most will be woodsy with a hint of cinnamon spice and citrus. But you can definitely more than just oranges. Lemons and grapefruit would also create a love scent. (Remember from my mention above about the fir and grapefruit candle? It smelled amazing.) I personally think apple and cinnamon would be delicious smelling!

I created the above concoction myself, but here are just a few other recipes from others that I’d like to try out:

Lilac Potpourri Simmer Pot

Fall Simmer Pot

Orange & Ginger Simmer Pot

Apple Cinnamon Potpourri in a Crock Pot

Get other recipe ideas on the Seeing Dandy blog HERE.

This post could contain affiliate links or be sponsored which means I earn from advertising. Also as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. More details here.