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This Mulled Wine is a holiday favorite. It’s your favorite red wine spiked with brandy and simmered with citrus, maple syrup, and warm spices.
Easy Stovetop Mulled Wine Recipe
Looking for the perfect drink to serve at your next holiday party? Look no further! This Mulled Wine is just what you need.
This 10-minute recipe whips up the best boozy, cozy, crowd-pleasing beverage. Mulled wine is so quick and easy to make at home. The warming spices, heady red wine, and kick of brandy makes this a delicious drink to enjoy this holiday season.
What is Mulled Wine?
Mulled wine is a warm, spiced alcoholic beverage. It’s made with red wine that’s simmered with whole spices and citrus to add delicious layers of flavor.
This mulled wine is taken up a notch with a splash of brandy and a hint of maple syrup!
Ingredients Needed:
- Fruit – you’ll need 2 oranges and 2 lemons, both cut into thick slices.
- Maple Syrup – to give the drink a little bit of warm sweetness.
- Whole Spices – our mulled wine spices include cinnamon sticks, cloves, and star anise.
- Red Wine – use a mid-range wine. We don’t want anything cheap, but we also don’t want anything too expensive.
- Brandy – a little bit of brandy adds a delicious warmth to the drink.
- Garnishes – I love to serve the mulled wine in mugs garnished with fresh cranberries, a cinnamon stick, and star anise. It tastes so good and looks pretty too!
How to Make Mulled Wine
This simple mulled wine recipe comes together in a total of 10 minutes!
- Combine: In a pan, combine orange and lemon slices, maple syrup, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes or until the mix is reduced to a syrup, then add the rest of the wine, brandy, and star anise.
- Simmer: Reduce the heat, then simmer until warmed through.
- Add cranberries and serve: Remove the wine from the heat, add in cranberries, then serve in mugs garnished with a cinnamon stick and star anise.
What is the Best Wine for Mulled Wine?
The best red wine to use for Mulled Wine is a full-bodied red. We recommend Merlot, Shiraz, or Malbec – but any you have should work pretty well!
How Alcoholic is Mulled Wine?
About as alcoholic as the wine you use as well as the brandy you add. So, pretty alcoholic. Enjoy responsibly!
Additionally, warm drinks supposedly hit your bloodstream faster, so keep that in mind as you sip.
Tips and Notes
- Use a mid-range wine. You want something that you would be happy to serve without any spices or sweeteners at a dinner party, but not something super expensive since adding the spices will change the notes of the wine.
- Use a heavy-based pan.
- Whole spices only!
- Don’t boil all of it. Once you add the rest of the red wine and the brandy, heat on low. Do not bring to a boil or you’ll burn off the alcohol.
- Why make a syrup first? Boiling just a little bit of wine with the spices creates a really good flavor base without burning off all the alcohol in the drink. That’s why we add the rest of the wine and the brandy after.
- Serve with garnishes. I love to serve the mulled wine in mugs garnished with fresh cranberries, a cinnamon stick, and star anise. It tastes so good and looks pretty too!
How to Store
This mulled wine can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
It can be reheated a number of times, but make sure it never comes to a boil or, again, you’ll cook off the alcohol.
More Holiday Beverages You’ll Love
Mulled Wine
Ingredients
- 2 oranges thickly sliced
- 2 lemons thickly sliced
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 sticks cinnamon
- 6 cloves
- 2 bottles red wine Use a full-bodied red, like Merlot, Shiraz, or Malbec
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 2 star anise
- 1 cup cranberries
Instructions
- Put the sliced oranges and lemons, maple syrup, cinnamon sticks and cloves into a heavy-based pan add a splash of red wine and bring to the boil for 5 minutes or until the wine has reduced to a thick and fragrant syrup.
- Add the rest of the wine to the pan along with the brandy and star anise. Reduce the heat to low and heat for approximately 5-10 minutes or until the wine has warmed through. Do not bring to the boil.
- Remove from the heat, add the cranberries and ladle into mugs.
- Serve with a cinnamon stick and star anise.
Notes
- Mulled wine is so quick and easy to make at home. The warming spices, heady red wine and kick of brandy make this a delicious drink to enjoy this holiday season.
- The best red wine to use for Mulled Wine is a full bodied red. We recommend Merlot, Shiraz or Malbec.
- You should use wine you would be happy to serve to guests at a dinner party so this is not the time to use a cheaper wine and expect it to taste good. Nor should you use anything super expensive because when you add the spices you will change the notes of the wine. A mid-range wine is perfect.
- The reason we cook the spices with the sugar and a splash of wine is to get a really good base flavor without burning off any of the alcohol.
- When you add the red wine and brandy do not bring them to the boil or you’ll burn off the alcohol.
- This Mulled Wine can be reheated a number of times but never to the point of boiling.
- You can leave the brandy out or substitute it with something like bourbon or cointreau.
- Storage: Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
thank you, a fun thing to have during the holidays, I like this version using brandy, I’d used sherry before I think, or none other than wine, either way, much appreciated!
I thought mulled wine was some sort of sangria but it is actually much more elaborated! Can’t wait to try this 🙂