Lauren Sakiyama
Cold, frosty evenings call for warm, boozy beverages. But there’s no need to venture out—let your slow cooker play bartender instead! With these seven variations of slow cooker mulled wine, you can sip your way to warmth from the comfort of your couch.
Cooking up a batch of mulled wine might be the easiest thing you do this winter. It’s just a matter of picking out a bottle or two, raiding your spice drawer, and then plugging in your Crock-Pot. Not only does it require minimal mixology skills, but it’s also a sure way to make your house smell incredible! It’s hard not to salivate when the aroma of allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and sweet orange are wafting through your halls.
There are many variations on this classic beverage. Some recipes, like Wassail or the German Glühwein, are traditional, while others, like honey mulled white wines or the pineapple-spiked varieties, are a bit more modern.
Regardless of which you choose, we promise the resulting mug will warm up even the chilliest of winter evenings and deliver some satisfying seasonal spice.
So, plug in that Crock-Pot, and mull over some of our favorite mulled wine recipes:
- Classic Holiday Mulled Wine: Traditional around Christmas and the new year, this mulled wine is also delicious because you give it a warm, lengthy soak with festive spices. The allspice, cinnamon, and cloves pair wonderfully with the heavy, fruit-filled flavors of wine.
Get the Recipe: Delicious Table’s Christmas Mulled Wine
- Cranberry-Orange Mulled Wine: Fresh citrus is always a welcome winter treat, and, of course, cranberries are synonymous with the season—they’re the perfect pair! This recipe calls for both fresh cranberries, as well as a few glugs of cranberry juice, to make sure you get the full fruit flavor in every sip.
Get the Recipe: Wine and Glue’s Cranberry-Orange Mulled Wine
- Wassail Wine: This Anglo-Saxon tradition involved drinking a mix of ale, curdled cream, and roasted apples from a pewter or silver punch bowl. Legend has it that drinking such a beverage from such a container is a surefire way to gain good health. We’re not sure about drinking curdled cream with our ale, but we love this version. It subs wine and brandy for the more traditional ingredients.
Get the Recipe: Completely Delicious’ Boozy Hot Wassail
- Caramel Apple Infused Mulled Wine: This is what happens when spiked apple cider meets a bottle of dry red wine and falls in love. Of course, the addition of a fruity port or Brandy doesn’t hurt. What makes this recipe extra special, though, is caramel sauce. We’re not sure if that makes this more of a dessert than a beverage, but we don’t mind either way.
Get the Recipe: elle talk’s Caramel Apple Mulled Wine
- Pineapple Mulled Wine: For those who want to venture outside the usual winter flavors, perhaps this tropical take will do the job. Pineapple and red wine would be a little strange, but paired with white, it makes a ton of sense. For this recipe, you use ginger, orange, and sweet Moscato to complement the bright flavors of pineapple.
Get the Recipe: Rachel Ray Every Day’s Pineapple Mulled Punch
- Glühwein (traditional German mulled wine): Glühwein directly translates to “glow wine” in English. We like to think a glass or two of this gives everyone a sort of seasonal glow. And with this recipe’s addition of rum to an already booze-laced beverage, that glow is more a promise than a wish.
Get the Recipe: The Edgy Veg’s Glühwein
- Honey-Apple White Mulled Wine: Apples and honey have long been a classic pairing, and they come together beautifully in this mulled white wine recipe. For your friends who just don’t do red, this is a great seasonal alternative. It’s warm and cozy, but won’t turn your lips and teeth red, and, sometimes, that’s all you really want!
Get the Recipe: Fit Slow Cooker Queen’s Honey-Apple White Mulled Wine
