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 good smell!

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

How to Make Slow Cooker Citrus Apple Cider

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!

Mulled Citrus Cider Ingredients

This apple cider is easy to make – it 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 involves a couple of sticks of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg (grate your own nutmeg fresh for the best flavor!), cloves, a few star anise, and a few cardamom pods.

Steps to Make Slow Cooker Mulled Cider with Citrus

Once you gather your ingredients, we will use the following process:

Cook in Slow Cooker

Add all ingredients to slow cooker, stir well to mix. Cook on low for two hours or high for one hour. Remvoe citrus slices when they look cooked down, to prevent from getting bitter.

Serve & Enjoy!

Serve with fresh citrus slices, and a cinnamon stick if desired.

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 – make sure it doesn't over reduce.
Serve and enjoy!

Kitchen notes

This cider is 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, we like to add a spiced rum for the solid 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!

A few answers

What temperature do we set our slow cooker at for cider?

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.

How long do we leave fruit in cider to cook?

We 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.

Can we use store-bought mulling spices?

You can 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.

How long does mulled cider last?

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.

Serve it with

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 good 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.

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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

Method

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 – make sure it doesn't over reduce or burn.
Serve and enjoy!