Mulled wine is unbelievably easy to make, even on a weeknight, and fills your home with holiday fragrance. You might even have all of the ingredients at home! If so, you’re just fifteen minutes away from mulled wine.
How to Make the Best Mulled Wine
Follow the foolproof recipe below, and your mulled wine will turn out perfectly every time. Here are some key tips:
Choose your wine carefully. Use an affordable bottle of Merlot, Zinfandel or Garnacha. You’ll find more wine details in the ingredients section below.
Heat gently. Resist the urge to crank up the heat on your mulled wine! If your wine is steaming, it’s hot enough. Wine is delicate. Heat it too long or too high, and eventually your wine will taste too spicy, syrupy and almost raisin-like, and the alcohol will evaporate over time.
Go easy on the spices. You might be surprised by how few spices we’re adding, but they are potent. Upon first sip, you might think, “This doesn’t taste spicy enough,” but I promise you’ll change your mind with your second glass.
Mulled Wine Ingredients
Red Wine
Wine forms the backbone of this recipe, so naturally, your wine selection is important. Some red wines that you might enjoy at room temperature will not taste so nice when heated. Do not use expensive wine for mulled wine, since we’re adding so much to it. Just choose a quality wine (say, 10 to 20 dollars per bottle) and select the varietal carefully.
The best red wine to use for mulled wine is Merlot, Zinfandel or Garnacha (also called Grenache). These wines are dark, fruity and full bodied, which means they can support all of the flavors we’ll be adding. Look for labels that describe the wine with “notes of vanilla.”
Avoid red wines that are high in tannins, like Cabernet Sauvignon. Also avoid very light red wines, like Pinot Noir, because they don’t offer enough body to carry the spices.
Whole Spices
We’ll need whole cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. Whole spices, rather than ground, are absolutely key to mulled wine.
Maple Syrup or Honey
Alcohol flavor becomes harsher when heated, so we’ll balance out the flavors which just a tablespoon or two of real maple syrup or honey.
To make mulled wine look even more festive, I love to throw a handful of fresh cranberries into the pot before serving. You might also like to serve individual servings with additional orange rounds or half-moons, cinnamon sticks and/or star anise.
Some Tips
Cook the mulled wine in a medium heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or stainless steel pot. Dutch ovens are great because they retain heat well and just look so pretty when you’re serving straight out of the pot.
Or, warm your mulled wine in a slow cooker. Simply combine all of the ingredients, cover, and cook on low heat until the wine is steaming hot (about 30 minutes to 1 hour). Once it’s sufficiently warmed up, reduce the heat to “warm” or the lowest possible setting so it doesn’t get too spicy.
Serve your mulled wine with a ladle. In a pinch, you can use a heatproof measuring cup to scoop. Place a dark tea towel on a plate to give your guests somewhere to place the ladle when it’s not in use.
Lastly, serve your wine in mugs. Glass mugs are fun because you can see the mulled wine inside.
This mulled wine is lovely on its own before meals or after dinner.
Here are a few snacks that would pair well with it: Cranberry Crostini, Naturally Sweetened Candied Pecans, Peanut Butter Oat Cookies, Stovetop Popcorn.
Find more great recipes in our foodie forum Potluck Kitchen
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