Holiday Potpourri Simmer Pot – 🎄🍊🍋 Just a few ingredients simmering together will make your house smell BETTER than any holiday scented candle! Either your STOVETOP or SLOW COOKER are fine. It’s super EASY and the wonderful scent lasts all day long to perfume your home and puts everyone in the holiday spirit!
Easy Holiday Potpourri Simmer Pot Recipe
Although I don’t tend to brave actual stores too much anymore for holiday shopping and am Team Online shopping. But when I do venture out, one thing I love is how everything smells so good.
With this easy holiday simmer pot recipe, it’s like having the best holiday scented candle wafting through every room of your house. Without the high price tag – candles have gotten crazy expensive!
The ingredients in the simmer pot are likely things that you have on hand if you just prepared a Thanksgiving or holiday meal such as cranberries, lemons, oranges, and rosemary sprigs, and need to be used up anyway. If you need more Thanksgiving leftovers recipes, I’ve got plenty of those too.
So you may as well toss them into a large stockpot or your Crock-Pot, cover with water, and let it simmer away! It couldn’t be easier! It just makes your home smell so good!
Simmer Pot Ingredients
Here are the building blocks for your Christmas simmer pot recipe. See below for substitutions ideas.
- Cranberries -Fresh cranberries are my preference but frozen cranberries are fine
- Orange slices
- Lemon sliced
- Cinnamon sticks
- Fresh rosemary sprigs
- Whole cloves
- Vanilla extract
- Water
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make a Christmas Stovetop Potpourri
- Place all ingredients in a large stockpot or high-sided sauce pan.
- Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil uncovered.
- Then reduce the heat to low, until it’s just simmering.
- Add additional water as needed.
How to Make a Simmer Pot in a Slow Cooker
- Add all the ingredients to your slow cooker. Any size ranging from a 4 to 8-quart slow cooker is fine.
- Cover and slow cook on HIGH for 1 hour.
- Crack the lid (or remove it) and allow the steam to release throughout the day. I keep mine on HIGH but you can reduce to LOW heat, if desired depending on your slow cooker and how much steam is releasing.
- Add additional water, if necessary, throughout the day.
Can I Make Ingredients Substitutions in my Christmas Simmer Pot?
Of course! This is intended to be both a good-smelling and very flexible recipe based on what you have on hand to make your whole house smell great during the holiday season.
You can substitute or try:
- a couple teaspoons of ground cinnamon for the cinnamon sticks*
- ground cloves for the fresh cloves*
- dried rosemary for the fresh sprigs*
- evergreen sprigs are a nice addition for a woodsy and very Christmas-ey aroma (if you have a fresh Christmas tree, and you think it could work, snip off a tiny bit and put the clippings right in)
- bay leaves
- fresh ginger or a couple teaspoons of ground ginger
- fresh or ground nutmeg
- orange juice or apple cider instead of or in addition to water
- add sliced apples or pears
- try some star anise
- essential oils such as lemon, orange, rosemary, or whatever you have your collection that sounds like it could be a nice addition
*Note that fresh, whole ingredients or spices will likely be more aromatic than dried or ground ingredients in my opinion. But if all you have are dried or ground ingredients on hand, go for it.
Simmer Pot FAQs
I do not advise this. When the time has come to say goodbye to your simmer pot, pour the liquid down your drain and toss the other ingredients in the trash.
You can simmer for 6-8 hours. Your house will likely be very well scented though after 2-3 hours or so, and you may have had enough, and can just turn your slow cooker off or your stove (very important!).
Technically, yes, this will likely be fine. For example, if you decide that you want to save the ingredients and just keep them in your slow cooker or stockpot, and try again the next day, it’ll likely be fine, although re-used ingredients won’t be as aromatic. And you should discard everything for good when you’re done.
Some slow cookers run warmer than others. If your water is evaporating too quickly throughout the day, turn the slow cooker from high to LOW. Some have a keep WARM setting, which you can also experiment with.
Yes, but it’s very time-sensitive. If you want to fill up something like large mason jar with all the ingredients already in it, tie a festive ribbon and put on some cute gift tags and gift it, you can. Although I would assemble your gift no more than 24 hours before you intend to gift it. And tell the recipient to use it right away. After all we are dealing with fresh citrus and other perishable ingredients.
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Stovetop – Add all ingredients to the pot, cover with water, bring to a boil uncovered over high heat, and once boiling, reduce the heat to low so that it just barely simmers enough to create steam which is what creates the aroma. Tips – Make sure to remember to turn off your stove if you’re leaving the house. I also like to place this on a back burner that’s far from anyone’s hands who may be in and out of the kitchen since it’ll be there for hours. If the water level drops, add additional water, as needed.
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Slow Cooker – Add all ingredients to your slow cooker insert, place the lid on top, and slow cook on HIGH heat for 1 hour. Crack the lid (or remove it completely if you want the steam to escape more rapidly), turn the heat to LOW and let it simmer for 6-8 hours, or as desired. Tips – The keep WARM setting may also be useful, all slow cookers vary, so you’ll need to be the judge if it’s warm enough, or if low is better. If the water level drops, add additional water, as needed.
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Discard – Discard the liquid and ingredients after you’re done with your simmer pot. Do not consume them.
Can I recycle or reuse the ingredients? Potentially, you can get away with saving the ingredients in your pot or Crockpot overnight, and simmering again the next day. Although it won’t be as aromatic the second time.
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