INGREDIENTS
- 5 gala apples (about 2 pounds) ends removed and sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 navel orange peeled and cut into wedges
- 3/4 cup whole cranberries
- 5 cinnamon sticks
- 6 cups water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all of the ingredients to a slow cooker and stir.
- Cook on high for 4 hours.
- Turn off the slow cooker. Mash up the ingredients — I use a potato masher.
- Strain out the liquid using a sieve, cheese cloth, or a nut milk bag. Discard the fruit solids.
- Serve with cinnamon sticks.
Apples are in season! Here in Massachusetts, September is prime time for picking apples at local orchards. A lot of varieties are grown here including honey crisp, gala, fuji, and golden delicious. My favorite kind is the gala apple — colorful on the outside, has a crisp texture, pleasantly sweet, and keeps well. Yesterday I picked up a huge bag of gala apples at the market so I’m looking forward to using them in my cooking this fall (like I did last year with this cinnamon apple yam bake).
Apple season always gets me excited about 2 things in particular: hot apple cider and apple cider donuts. ? I have lots of great memories in the past few years of visiting local Massachusetts farms, going on hayrides, and of course warming my gloved hands with a mug of hot apple cider and having one or two (or a bag) of apple cider donuts.
That leads me to this apple cider recipe. I’ve picked the slow cooker as the vessel of choice; apple cider deserves time to develop its flavors and the slow cooker allows you to do that but also be hands-off. All you need to do is toss in apples, an orange, cranberries, cinnamon sticks, and water. Let it cook on high for 4 hours and then strain out the solids.
My favorite part about this recipe? The fact that you don’t need any processed ingredients to make this at home. No store-bought juices nor added sugar. It’s simple and it tastes amazing. ? This recipe will make 6 cups of apple cider, which you can drink right away and refrigerate any leftovers.
I couldn’t find organic apples, so I peeled mine to make sure my drink wasn’t full of wax from the skin. Hopefully that doesn’t make it lose too much flavor! Super excited to try this, it smells so good already and I’m only 30 minutes in.
I hope it turns out well for you! And Happy Thanksgiving 🦃
I’ve made this a few times in the crock pot before and it’s amazing and makes my house smell so good! I want to make a big batch, probably triple the recipe. I would need to make it on the stove in my large pot. How would you recommend cooking on the stove instead of crock pot?
I make this every year for Christmas, and my family loves it!
How would you recommend heating the cider up after refrigerating it? Our family is expecting a lot of people and would like to make more ahead of time.
You can heat it up using a pot on the stovetop by bringing it to a simmer.
This looks so yummy! I’m planning on putting ginger and nutmeg in the cider instead of cinnamon (due to severe allergies). I’m wondering what do you recommend on how much I should put in?
Hi Sam! I would start with 1/2 teaspoon each. You can add more later to taste as needed 🙂
Thank you!
Did you try adding clove and nutmeg as mentioned in a previous comment? If so, how much did you add and did you like the addition?
I haven’t added cloves and nutmeg. Start with a small amount, like 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.
Hi. I love this recipe and i would like to try it but i don’t have a slow cooker. It’s hard for me to resist with anything that has cinnamon. Can i use a regular pot to make it?. Please i need help 🤗
Yes, a regular pot or dutch oven would work here.
I have made this twice this week for holiday get-togethers and it was a hit! I did add cloves, nutmeg and allspice in addition to the cinnamon and loved it with this addition. This is going to my must make holiday drinks.
Awesome, glad to hear that! Next time I’ll have to try adding cloves, nutmeg, and allspice as well 🙂