Holiday Simmer Pot Recipe

A cozy stovetop scent for winter sewing days, holiday hosting, and handmade gifting.

Some holiday recipes are for eating.

This one is for making your whole house smell like you’ve been baking cookies, decorating the tree, and living inside a cozy little mountain cabin all at the same time.

A holiday simmer pot is one of my favorite low-effort December tricks. You toss citrus, spices, cranberries, and a little greenery into a pot with water, let it simmer, and suddenly your kitchen smells like holiday magic without lighting a single candle.

It’s perfect for a winter sewing day, especially if you’re parked at your machine with a quilt in progress, a mug of something warm nearby, and the vague sense that maybe you should be wrapping gifts. Or folding laundry. Or doing literally anything else responsible.

But we’re sewing. Priorities.

This recipe was originally part of the Quiltbound Digital Advent Calendar, and it’s one of those tiny seasonal rituals that makes the whole day feel a little more festive. It also makes a beautiful handmade gift if you package the dry ingredients in a jar with a simple tag.

Holiday Simmer Pot Recipe

Prep time: 5 minutes
Simmer time: 2 to 3 hours
Makes: 1 simmer pot

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 cinnamon sticks, broken
• 1 tablespoon whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon whole allspice berries
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, sliced
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• 2 to 3 orange slices, fresh or dried
• 1 sprig rosemary or evergreen
• 3 cups water

Directions

Add all ingredients to a saucepan or slow cooker.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low.

Let it simmer for 2 to 3 hours, adding more water as needed so the ingredients do not dry out or burn.

Keep an eye on the pot while it simmers. The water can evaporate faster than you expect, especially if your house is dry or the heat is a little too high.

When you’re finished, turn off the heat, let everything cool, then strain out the liquid and compost or dispose of the simmered ingredients.

A Little Safety Note

Do not leave a simmer pot unattended.

I know. Very un-fun sentence. But simmer pots need water to stay safe, and the water can evaporate completely if you forget about it. Keep the heat low, check it often, and add more water whenever the level gets low.

Basically, treat it like a tiny cozy cauldron that still needs adult supervision.

Shortcut Version

Want the cozy scent without tracking down every single spice?

Use a mulling spice packet as your base. Something like a pre-made mulling spice mix can give you the cloves, allspice, citrus peel, and cinnamon notes without turning your pantry into a spice scavenger hunt.

Add a few extra cinnamon sticks, a sprig of rosemary or evergreen, and water. Done.

Your house will smell like you baked all day, even if your actual productive output was cutting three pieces of fabric and rearranging your project pile. Which counts.

Gift Jar Version

This simmer pot recipe also makes a really sweet handmade holiday gift.

To make it giftable, swap the fresh orange slices for dried orange slices and replace the fresh ginger with a sprinkle of ground ginger or a small piece of dried ginger.

Layer the ingredients in a clear mason jar or glass container. Add a lid, tie on twine or ribbon, and include a little tag with the simmering instructions.

For the tag, you can write:

Holiday Simmer Pot
Add contents to a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer. Add water as needed and do not leave unattended.

It’s simple, pretty, and useful. The holy trinity of handmade holiday gifts. Oops, I said I wasn’t doing a whole gifting spiral, but here we are.

Scent Combo Ideas

You can use this recipe as a starting point and play around with whatever you have on hand.

For a brighter citrus scent, add lemon slices or extra orange peel.

For a sweeter bakery scent, add a splash of vanilla extract once the pot is simmering.

For a woodsier scent, use rosemary, pine, fir, or cedar. Just make sure any greenery you use is clean, untreated, and safe to simmer.

For a stronger spice scent, add extra cinnamon sticks or cloves.

This is very much a “use what you have” kind of recipe, which is my favorite kind of holiday project because nobody needs one more errand in December.

Download the Printable Recipe Card

Print it, tuck it into your holiday recipe binder, or include it with a gift jar. It also makes a cute little fridge reminder for the next time your house needs to smell festive without requiring you to bake a single thing.

A Tiny Quiltbound Challenge

Make a simmer pot during your next holiday sewing session and snap a photo of your setup.

Bonus points if there’s fabric nearby, a half-wrapped gift in the background, or a project you absolutely swore you were going to finish before starting another one.

No judgment. We live here too.

Want More Cozy Holiday Projects?

This recipe was originally part of the Quiltbound Digital Advent Calendar, a December countdown filled with quick sewing projects, recipes, printables, and festive surprises for quilters.

Because sometimes the tiniest seasonal rituals are the ones that make everything feel a little more special, even if the sewing room is still covered in thread confetti.