This homemade mulling spice recipe will infuse your favorite beverages with the warm, fragrant essences of cinnamon, cloves, and citrus. You can whip up a batch of your own mulling spice mix in minutes and use them to make mulled wine, spiced apple cider, and more.
Over the holiday season, homemade mulling spices make a lovely holiday gifts for friends and neighbors. And the added bonus is that your home will smell amazing!
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What are mulling spices?
Mulling spices are a blend of aromatic warm spices used to infuse warm beverages, usually during the winter months. The most common mulling spices include cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and star anise, and ginger, along with citrus.
This mix of spices is perfect for adding depth, warmth, and a comforting aroma to drinks like hot apple cider, mulled wine, herbal tea or even non-alcoholic punches.
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Why make your own mulling spices?
So simple: This mulling spice blend takes just 5 minutes to put together and you're on your way to cozying up with your favorite warm mulled drink.
Customizable: It's easy to make this recipe your own. Just add or substitute different spices to get your favorite holiday flavor.
A perfect holiday gift: There's nothing better than a homemade gift from the kitchen, and this mulling spice mixture makes a perfect gift for for your hairdresser, neighbors, or co-workers. It's a lovely teacher gift or hostess gift, too, along with a bottle of wine or apple cider.
Ingredients for mulling spice blend
You will need to use whole spices for this recipe, not ground spices. Most of these spices can be found in your grocery store or on-line.
The ingredient quanities and full recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Cinnamon sticks
- Whole cloves
- Star anise
- Allspice berries
- Dried orange peel
- Crystallized ginger
How to make it
- Preheat oven at 200°F
- Wash and dry an orange. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the orange into strips.
- Place the orange peel on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peels are dry and starting to curl. Allow to cool.
- Place all ingredients in a resealable zip lock bag. Use a rolling pin or meat pounder to crush the spices up a bit, enough to break the cinnamon sticks.
- Mix well and store in an airtight container.
Tips and variations
- Spices: In addition to, or instead of any of the spices in the recipe, you can also use any aromatic spices. Some other great choices are cardamom pods, black peppercorns, juniper berries, or whole nutmeg. You can also use dried lemon peel or dried apples or pears, along with, or in place of the orange rind.
- Spice bags: Although you can put the mulling spices directly into the pot along with red wine or apple cider, you will need to strain the spices out before drinking. You can avoid this by using a tea ball or cloth spice bags, or by wrapping the spices in cheesecloth tied with string.
- Mix: Always mix the spice blend well before using. The smaller spices will quickly settle to the bottom of the mix.
- Wine: For mulling, use an inexpensive dry red wine, and choose a full bodied red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, or Malbec.
- Cider: For mulled hot cider, use fresh apple cider or unfiltered apple juice. You can add some brandy to make an alcoholic beverage, or some brown sugar to sweeten.
- Crock pot: To make a large batch of hot drinks for holiday gatherings, use a slow cooker on its low setting for mulling.
- Gifting: Homemade mulling spices makes a great gift idea. Package the blend in small jars and label them. Be sure to include a card with a mulled wine recipe or instructions for making a festive drink.
- Storage: Store in a sealed jar for up to one year.
How to use your homemade mulling spices
There are so many ways to use this homemade mulling spices recipe! Here are a few to try.
- Potpourri: This fragrant spice blend can make your whole house smell amazing.
- Chai tea: Use a tea ball to make a steaming cup of flavorful tea.
- Syrup: Make a simple syrup to add warm spice to cocktails and mocktails, or pour over pancakes, like I did with this gingerbread syrup.
- Baking: Grind this spice blend in a coffee or spice grinder and use it for apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice.
More homemade seasoning mix recipes
Try my Jerk Spice, Garam Masala, or Cajun Seasoning too!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating in the comments below and let us know how it turned out. Did you make any changes? We would love for you to share and your feedback is important! Thank you for visiting The Food Blog!
Recipe
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Homemade Mulling Spices
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ounces cinnamon sticks
- ¼ cup whole cloves
- ¼ cup star anise
- ¼ cup allspice berries
- ¼ cup crystallized ginger
- ¼ cup dried orange peel
Instructions
Dried Orange Peel
- Preheat oven at 200°F
- Wash and dry an orange. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the orange into strips.
- Place the orange peel on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peels are dry and starting to curl. Allow to cool.
Mulling Spices Blend
- Place all ingredients in a resealable zip lock bag. Use a rolling pin or meat pounder to crush the spices up a bit, enough to break the cinnamon sticks.
- Store in an airtight container.
To Make Mulled Wine or Cider
- Gently heat a bottle of red wine or apple cider in a pot, along with two tablespoons of mulling spice. You can put the spices directly into the pot, and strain the drinks into glasses. Or you can use cheesecloth or a tea ball.
- Heat just until the wine is barely simmering. Turn the heat to warm and let the spices steep for 10 minutes.
- Serve garnished with apple slices for cider, or orange slices for wine.
Notes
- Spices: In addition to, or instead of any of the spices in the recipe, you can also use any aromatic spices. Some other great choices are cardamom pods, black peppercorns, juniper berries, or whole nutmeg. You can also use dried lemon peel or dried apples or pears, along with, or in place of the orange rind.
- Spice bags: Although you can put the mulling spices directly into the pot along with red wine or apple cider, you will need to strain the spices out before drinking. You can avoid this by using a tea ball or cloth spice bags, or by wrapping the spices in cheesecloth tied with string.
- Mix: Always mix the spice blend well before using. The smaller spices will quickly settle to the bottom of the mix.
- Wine: For mulling, use an inexpensive dry red wine, and choose a full bodied red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, or Malbec.
- Cider: For mulled hot cider, use fresh apple cider or unfiltered apple juice. You can add some brandy to make an alcoholic beverage, or some brown sugar to sweeten.
- Crock pot: To make a large batch of hot drinks for holiday gatherings, use a slow cooker on its low setting for mulling.
- Gifting: Homemade mulling spices makes a great gift idea. Package the blend in small jars and label them. Be sure to include a card with a mulled wine recipe or instructions for making a festive drink.
- Storage: Store in a sealed jar for up to one year.
Amy Liu Dong
This sounds like a nice spice to make and I will try to add this to my favorite tea!
Dennis
Wow, what a delicious mulling blend. I made mulled red wine for a get-together and everyone loved it!
Colleen
Hi Dennis! This is great to hear. Thanks for commenting!
Chahinez
These spices together turned out so good!
Colleen
I love hearing this, Chahinez!
Alison Corey
This recipe is a taste sensation! The perfect blend of spices and ingredients creates a symphony of flavors. It's so tasty, I can't stop thinking about it
Colleen
Hi Alison, I'm so happy that you loved this spice blend. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Gianne
They add a delightful warmth and flavor to any hot drink. The combination of cinnamon, cloves, and citrus is simply magical. I can't recommend them enough!
Colleen
Hi Gianne. Yay! I'm so happy that you loved the spice combo. Thanks for your comment.
Jacque Hooper
This was such a fun and easy recipe that is perfect for the holidays! Easy, tasty and festive and will make a great gift idea!
Colleen
Hi Jacque! It's does make a nice gift. Enjoy!
Nathan
I'm absolutely loving this mulling blend, so comforting and the perfect balance of flavors! I added a but more orange peel to mine because I love that little bit of citrus zing. Thanks for sharing!
Colleen
Hi Nathan, I'm so happy that you're loving this blend. Thanks for commenting!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan
I have some orange peel in the oven right now. What a great idea to make our own blend. I am packing a few as a teacher's gift this year. Thanks for the wonderful idea.
Colleen
Hi Sandhya, you're very welcome! Enjoy!
Alexandra
This makes the most perfect gift for the festive season - I put it in nice jars and tied a lovely ribbon around it. I also tried some in a batch of mulled wine and it was lovely to enjoy whilst watching a Christmas movie.
Colleen
Hi Alexandra, this is lovely to hear! Thanks for your feedback.
veenaazmanov
Perfect to have it in my kitchen. Very interesting and need to check this out.
Sara Welch
Made a few batches of these today and it couldn't have been easier! Looking forward to giving these as gifts this year; it turned out delicious!
Colleen
Hi Sara, I'm glad you enjoyed making the mulling spice blend. They really are great for gifting.
Nikki
This is the ultimate in mulling spices mix. I can't wait to use this marvelous mix with wine and cider.
Holley
There's nothing like the warm and cozy spices of winter. These homemade mulling spices are just perfect!
Colleen
I'm so glad you are enjoying, Holley!
Carrie Robinson
What a great idea to make your own mulling spices! Jar them up with a pretty ribbon and a bottle of wine, and you have the perfect holiday hostess gift. 🙂
Anjali
I added your spice mix to mulled wine recently and it turned out amazing!! The wine was spiced perfectly, so warming and comforting!
Colleen
This is great to hear, Anjali! Enjoy!