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Mulled citrus cider – Slow cooker apple and cranberry cider with orange, lime, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and star of anise that tastes great, comes together quickly, and fills your house with the most amazing smell!
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Slow Cooker Citrus Apple Cider
If you love apple cider with a bit of a tart twist, this take is sure to be one of your new favorites. We’re adding cranberry juice, oranges, limes, apple cider, and a bit of apple juice as well as our own blend of mulling spices, for a warming cider the whole family loves.
This cider is great anytime you want something cozy to warm up with – but the clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon give it something special for the holidays – we love to make a big batch on Christmas, and sip it all day long while opening presents, sitting by the fire, and hanging out with the kids.
If you want to give this cider a bit of a kick, we’re also adding in information on what alcohol you can add to spike your cider as well.
We hope you love this citrus cider as much as we do!
How to Make Mulled Citrus Cider
This apple cider is super easy to make – it really is as simple as cut up some citrus, add it to a slow cooker with juice.
We are going to mix our own mulling spices for this recipe, but that just involves a couple of sticks of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg (grate your own nutmeg fresh for the best flavor!), cloves, a few star of anise, and a few cardamon pods.
- In a 6 quart (or larger) slow cooker, add apple cider, apple juice, cranberry juice, sliced oranges and limes, as well as mulling spices.
- Stir to mix.
- Place lid on slow cooker and simmer until fragrant.
- Remove citrus after 2 hours to prevent the pith from making cider too bitter – however cider can sit in slow cooker cooking all day – just make sure it doesn’t over reduce.
- Serve and enjoy!
Tips to Perfect Mulled Cider and FAQs
This cider is really simple to make – the biggest challenge is waiting patiently for it to simmer!
If you’d like to add alcohol to make this an adult cider, we reccomend adding up to an ounce (or an ounce and a half) of buttershots, spiced rum, rum, bourbon, whiskey, or fireball.
Personally, I like to add a spiced rum for the perfect Christmassy flavor!
You can also find our Traditional Gluehwein, Traditional French Vin Chaud (Mulled Wine), and Mulled Beer Recipe for a bit of a different, more grown up spin on this recipe.
We also have a Mulled Simple Syrup Recipe that is out of this world!
FAQs
You can set your slow cooker to high to quickly cook you cider in about an hour, but you’ll need to watch it to not over reduce, and turn it down once it is fragrant. Otherwise, we usually set it to low which will take about 2- 2 1/2 hours.
I recommend removing citrus from the slow cooker after two hours as the pith can make the cider overly bitter if it cooks too long. Most of the fruit’s flavor will have already given off into the cider by then, so removing won’t make you miss any of the citrus flavor.
You can absolutely use store-bought mulling spices, however, you will need to remove the spices from the recipe in place of store-bought spices. Go by package directions for quantity, since some have sugar added, so the amount you will need to add can vary wildly.
You can store mulled cider in the refrigerator in an airtight container, light a mason jar with a lid, for up to four days. Do not store any fruit you cooked with the cider as it will disintegrate and turn mushy.
What to Serve With Citrus Mulled Cider
We love serving cider with sweet festive treats like Slow Cooker Chocolate Peanut Clusters, Melted Snowman Cookies, The Best Easy Russian Tea Cakes, Easy Caramel Apple Spice Cake, – but it’s also delicious with Pan-Fried Pork Chops and other pork dishes, too!
For more of our festive favorites, please check out the following:
You can find the rest of our Christmas recipes and ideas here.
Mulled Citrus Cider Recipe
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Mulled Citrus Cider
Ingredients
- 1 large navel orange wax removed, sliced
- 2 limes wax removed, sliced
- 3-5 cinnamon sticks
- 3-6 star of anise
- 5 green cardamom pods
- 6 whole cloves
- ½ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ginger optional
- ½ gallon apple cider
- 2 cups cranberry juice
- 1 cup elderberry or white grape juice
Instructions
- In a 6 quart (or larger) slow cooker, add apple cider, apple juice, cranberry juice, sliced oranges and limes, as well as mulling spices.
- Stir to mix.
- Place lid on slow cooker and simmer until fragrant, about 2 hours on low, 1 hour on hot. Watch to be sure cider does not over reduce.
- Remove citrus after 2 hours to prevent the pith from making cider too bitter – however cider can sit in slow cooker cooking all day – just make sure it doesn't over reduce or burn.
- Serve and enjoy!
