Mulled Wine Recipe
- Preparation 5 min
- Cooking 15 min
- Servings 6
- Freezing I do not suggest
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🍷 The mulled wine that warms everybody up!
My neighbors found it absolutely delicious, and I get why! A bottle of good red wine, apple cider, maple syrup, cranberries, orange zest and whole spices, warmed gently until it steams. The smell of cinnamon and orange filling the house is already the holidays. And it’s ready in 20 minutes!
⛸️ For skating night or après-ski
Picture showing up at the rink with a thermos of mulled wine. It’s a seriously good idea! On Christmas Eve, on a skating night, after a day on the slopes or for a Christmas market at home, it’s THE drink that puts a smile on everyone’s face. My Christmas punch is for the table. This one is for outside, in the cold, with your mittens wrapped around the mug.
🍎 Why apple cider
Apple cider gives mulled wine deeper flavors and a nice twist on the classic recipe. With maple syrup and cranberries, it tastes like a Quebec winter. The spices do the rest: cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom.
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🍷 Use a wine you love
It’s not true that mulled wine should be made with any cheap wine. Use a wine you like to drink, one with flavor that isn’t too full-bodied. Good wine doesn’t mean a $50 bottle: a Merlot, Syrah or Côtes du Rhône you love works perfectly. If the wine tastes good cold, it’ll taste even better hot with the spices.
🔥 Hot, but never boiling
Mulled wine doesn’t need to boil, it just needs to be really hot. Keep the heat at medium-low and stop when the wine is steaming and tiny bubbles show up around the edge. If it boils, it loses its aroma and the spices turn bitter. Same thing when you reheat it: gently, and never let it boil.
🥃 Rum or cognac
Both work great and the result is very similar, so use whichever one you have. Add it off the heat, at the very end, to keep its aroma. It’s optional: without it, the mulled wine is already full of flavor. With it, it warms you up even more on the coldest nights.
🧺 Remove the spices
Strain the mulled wine before serving so nobody bites into a clove or a cardamom pod. The cranberries stay mostly whole during cooking: put them back in the wine, they look great in the mugs. Keep a cinnamon stick and an orange slice for each mug. It looks beautiful on the table, and even better in pictures.
⛸️ Taking it outside
Skating night, après-ski, a Christmas market in the backyard: pour the mulled wine piping hot into a thermos. Keep the orange slices and cinnamon sticks separate, and add them to the mugs once you get there. Glass mugs or ceramic mugs, both are perfect. What matters is being able to hold them with both hands to warm up!
📅 Make-ahead prep
Before your guests arrive, peel the orange zest in wide strips, slice the orange rounds for garnish and measure the spices into a small bowl. Store everything in the fridge in labeled containers, along with the cranberries. When everyone shows up, it all goes into the saucepan, and the house starts smelling like cinnamon while you’re taking coats. The rum or cognac always waits until the end, off the heat.
❄️ Storage
Remove the spices, let it cool, then keep the mulled wine in a closed container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. Reheat it gently in a saucepan without boiling, and add a fresh orange slice when serving. I do not suggest freezing it.
✅ What to serve with my mulled wine recipe
Serve it with my baked brie with beer-caramelized pears or my melting camembert with fine herbs, it’s the perfect pair. For a cold holiday drink, try my Christmas punch recipe or the best homemade red wine sangria.
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Ingrédients
- 1 bottle (750 ml) red wine, not too full-bodied (Merlot, Syrah or Côtes du Rhône)
- ½ cup (125 ml) hard apple cider
- ¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup
- ¼ cup (60 ml, 30 g) fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 orange, zest peeled in wide strips, plus slices for garnish
- 2 cinnamon sticks, plus more for garnish
- 2 star anise
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) dark rum or cognac (optional)
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Preparation
- In a medium saucepan, combine the wine, cider, maple syrup, cranberries, orange zest, cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom. Stir.
- Heat over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until the wine is very hot and steaming. Do not let it boil.
- Remove from the heat and add the rum or cognac. Taste and add a little more maple syrup if needed.
- Pour through a strainer to remove the spices and zest. Put the cranberries back in the wine.
- Ladle into mugs. Garnish with an orange slice, a cinnamon stick and a few cranberries.
Mulled wine is red wine warmed gently with spices, citrus and a sweetener. This one adds apple cider, maple syrup and cranberries, and it’s served hot.
Hot, in a mug you can hold with both hands, garnished with an orange slice and a cinnamon stick. It’s perfect outside on a cold night.
Yes. Remove the spices, let it cool and keep it in the fridge. Reheat it gently in a saucepan without boiling.
A red wine you enjoy, with flavor but not too full-bodied, like a Merlot, Syrah or Côtes du Rhône. It doesn’t need to be expensive.
No. It should be very hot and steaming, never boiling, or it loses its aroma and the spices turn bitter.
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