Let’s take the classic way to fragrance your home during the holidays and move your simmer pot to a crock pot…no stove babysitting here!
So, I bought 6…or maybe 8 bags of cranberries at the store before Thanksgiving. Do we love cranberry sauce? Not really. Cranberry salsa? Yes, during the holidays, but not 8 bags worth. What I do love is my house smelling like I walked into a Hallmark Christmas movie kitchen. Enter the simmer pot! And not just any simmer pot. I am not babysitting the stove all day or running down the propane…aka gaseous gold! Take this holiday classic way to fragrance your home from the stove to a small crock pot. Save your time, money and effort!
See full recipe card at the bottom of the post with detailed ingredients list and detailed instructions for this super easy Holiday Simmer Pot. Print to save in your cookbook binder or bookmark this page for future use. The holidays will be better with just this one new tradition!
Why I Love This Simmer Pot
I already mentioned a few reasons above why I love this simmer pot, but if you aren’t sold on trying it, here are a few more:
- Save money as mentioned above
- Saves me time. I can prepare it once and it lasts for a good 3 days.
- I can turn this on and pretty well forget it.
- It only needs to be refilled with water, or additional spices if you want them
- If you forget to turn it off before you go to bed, it’s really not a big deal
- No fake fragrance wafting through your home. Ingredients are clean
- You can customize the smell to what you like
Ingredients Needed
- Cranberries
- Orange(s)
- Apple(s)
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Cloves
- Small to medium Size Crock Pot
These are the ingredients I use for my simmer pot. You can customize your ingredients or try different combinations out until you find something you are in love with. Honestly, I could probably just use the cloves and oranges and be completely satisfied.
My kids prefer the cuties like oranges and small, mini apples. I bought the oranges and already had the apples. If you already buy this produce, nothing special is needed.
If you are going to be purchasing fruit or spices specifically for this simmer pot, don’t waste your money on buying anything organic or premium. Get the store brand and call it great!
To run my simmer pot, I use a small 2 quart crock pot. I got this crock pot probably 8 years ago or so. Anything similar in size, a tiny bit smaller, or larger will work. I would want to use one that has a high, medium, and low settings at least. This is the perfect crock pot size wise as everything fits, it heats quickly, and I also don’t fix a lot of other things in this crock pot. My main, larger crock pot is available for use when I need it and not tied up making my home smell good.
Instructions for Simmer Pot
I probably don’t really have to explain this part, but here it is. Slice up your apples and oranges however you would like. Add in the cut fruit, cranberries, cinnamon sticks and cloves to your crock pot.
Fill your crock pot to the top with water. I like to cover my crock pot with the lid and set it on high so it will get warm quickly. Once the water gets hot I remove the lid and just let it run.
You will need to periodically check the water level and refill as it steams off. In true Britt fashion I have forgotten to turn this off at night and woke up to very dark fruit. But it was still wet, not burned on, no real safety risk, and best part…it still smelled good!
If you want it to smell stronger, you can just keep adding fruit or spices by the day. I typically don’t add anymore fruit due to the size of my crock pot. The cinnamon and cloves just weren’t cutting it this time and wanted them to be more fragrant. So, I added in another cinnamon stick or two and about 5 or 6 more cloves.
Now, let’s not be gross and grow mold here. I turn mine off at night and cover, then plug in again the next day for a couple of days. But this is fresh fruit and will get nasty if you let it sit for too long. Just use your judgement there!
Now enjoy your home that is perfectly primed and smelling good for the months of November and December. And at least if the kids wreck the rest of the home, or you are buried in fun holiday extras, it will still smell like you have it all together! And during the holidays, that’s a win in my book!
Holiday Simmer Pot – Festive Fragrant Home the Easy Way
Equipment
- Small to Medium Crock Pot I use a 2qt crock pot
Ingredients
- 1 Large Apple (or 1-2 small apples)
- 1 Large Orange (or 2-3 small oranges)
- ½-1 cup Fresh Cranberries
- 10-15 Whole Cloves
- 3-5 Cinnamon Sticks
- Water
Instructions
- Cut your desired amount of apples and oranges into slices.
- Put the cut fruit, cranberries, and desired amount of cloves and cinnamon sticks into your crock pot.
- If you are using a larger crock pot than 2qt, you will want to double the amount of ingredients.
- Fill your crock pot to the top with water.
- Turn on high to warm the fruit, spices, and water until hot and fragrant.
- Remove the lid and keep on low for as long as you want the smell in your home.
- Refill with water when it gets low. I run my pot for 3 days at least. Turn off at night.
- Add in more spices or ingredients, if needed, for stronger smell on later days.
- Enjoy!
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