Mulled Apple Cider
This homemade mulled apple cider is made from scratch with fresh apples and warm spices, simmered low and slow on the stove or in a slow cooker. It makes your whole kitchen smell like fall and is perfect for holiday gatherings!
Servings: 8 cups
Calories: 164kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 10 large apples cored and sliced, a mix of sweet and tart
- 10 cups (2.4 L) water
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons (25 to 50 g) brown sugar to taste, or another sweetener
- 3 cinnamon sticks or 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice
- ½ Tablespoon ground allspice
- 3 slices fresh ginger smashed, or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 Tablespoon whole cloves or ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
- Add the sliced apples, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, ginger, and cloves to a large pot. Stir well and cover with a lid.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove the lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook at a bare simmer for 3 hours, until the apples are very soft and breaking down.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, uncovered, for 1 hour.
- Pour the cider through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing the apples to release their juice. Set the apple pulp aside.
- Strain the cider a second time through cheesecloth for the smoothest texture.
- Taste and stir in more sugar if you like. Serve warm, or pour into bottles or mason jars with lids and refrigerate.
Notes
- For a sweeter cider, use Gala, Fuji, or Red Delicious apples. For a more tart cider, use Pink Lady or McIntosh. A mix of both gives the best flavor.
- Keep the cider at a gentle simmer, since a hard boil can make it taste bitter.
- Mash the apples with a potato masher near the end of cooking, or press them well while straining, to get the most juice.
- To make it in a slow cooker, cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4 hours, mashing the apples in the last 45 minutes, then strain.
- For a quicker version, skip the apples and water and simmer 10 cups (2.4 L) of raw, unfiltered apple cider with the same spices for 30 to 45 minutes, then strain.
- Store the cider covered in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or freeze it for up to a year.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 164kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Trans Fat: 0.001g | Sodium: 20mg | Potassium: 322mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 158IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1mg
