This homemade Christmas stovetop potpourri recipe is a festive all-natural holiday air freshener! See how to make an aromatic Christmas simmer pot with oranges, cranberries, cinnamon and warming spices.

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Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

This Christmas stovetop potpourri recipe needs to be on your holiday craft project list! My Christmas simmer pot uses fresh fruits and spices to create an all-natural air freshener that will make your house smell like Christmas – completely without artificial, potentially harmful fragrances.

Make this stove top potpourri with oranges and cinnamon and enjoy natural Christmas smells wafting through your home. This simmer potpourri will not only evokes the festive spirit, but also freshen and clean the air.

Add this easy Christmas simmer pot recipe to your holiday list. It’s not holiday season without the scent of cinnamon and oranges, right?!

Christmas scents: What are good holiday scents?

Who doesn’t love the smells of Christmas?! But how do you make your house smell Christmassy? When I think of Christmas scents the warm aroma of gingerbread and freshly baked cookies, roasting chestnuts, delicious oranges, homemade cranberry sauce and the wonderful smell of the Christmas tree come to mind.

When creating a stovetop potpourri recipe for the holidays, we try to incorporate materials that represent these holiday scents, like citrus fruits, cinnamon and other spices, conifer twigs or needles. Fresh cranberries create a sweet and fruity aroma that is very festive. Crystallised ginger chunks and vanilla beans give the homemade potpourri a smell similar to fresh gingerbread – delicious stove top scents!

What are your favourite holiday smells? Let me know and leave a comment below!

Christmas stove top potpourri ingredients

A Christmas stovetop potpourri is a wonderful DIY holiday home fragrance idea. Thankfully, this simmering potpourri recipe is quick and easy, and only utilizes easy-to-find, natural materials.

Here’s are the ingredients we need for this simmering potpourri recipe:

fresh oranges slices and/or lemon slices
fresh cranberries
conifer twigs (e.g. pine, spruce, fir)
cinnamon sticks
crystallized ginger, fresh ginger or dried gingerroot
vanilla beans
star anise
clove buds
cardamom pods

You can order the spices either online or find them in the spice aisle at your local supermarket. Of course, it’s totally possible to swap and switch stovetop potpourri ingredients and use what you have at hand.

Homemade potpourri with essential oils

Since we’re on the topic, I also want to talk about Christmas scents essential oils and answer the questions Can you use essential oils in stovetop potpourri recipes? Yes, you can use essential oils in a simmer potpourri. I love For a festive homemade potpourri, choose essential oils from the following groups:

spice essential oils: cinnamon bark, anise, clove, ginger, vanilla oleoresin
woodsy essential oils: pine, balsam fir, cedarwood, spruce, cypress
citrus essential oils: orange, lemon, mandarin
herb essential oils: peppermint, spearmint
others: frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, wintergreen

It’s best to limit yourself to 1 to 2 essential oils. Start by adding drops and add gradually more until you like the intensity, but don’t exceed 25 drops total. Using too much essential oils can cause headaches. If you have cats or dogs, skip the essential oils.

How to scent a holiday Christmas simmer pot with extracts and spice mixes

Essential oils aren’t the only way to add fragrance to stove simmer recipes. The flavour extracts in your kitchen cupboard are excellent ingredients for how to make a stovetop potpourri smell stronger and even more festive.

Extracts are often more affordable than essential oils, and you can use them for baking holiday cookies, too. Use aromas that are Christmassy and that you like. Be creative, mix and match to create your own holiday fragrance profile.

Here are my favourite extracts to use in a Christmas stovetop potpourri recipe:

Spices mixes are a third way to scent your homemade potpourri, for example, gingerbread spice or pumpkin pie spice.

How to make Christmas potpourri: How do you boil a potpourri?

Making a Christmas simmer pot is super simple and hands-off! The only thing you have to do after setting up the simmering potpourri recipe is occasionally checking to add more water.

Let me show you how to make Christmas stovetop potpourri in a saucepan:

Cut the oranges into slices or wedges.
Fill a pot or saucepan half full with water.
Add the orange slices and other ingredients.
Optionally, also add essential oils or flavour extracts.
Bring the stove top potpourri to a mild simmer.
Cook on low flame and replenish the water as necessary.

Christmas crockpot potpourri

Another method to enjoy a stove simmer recipe is a crockpot potpourri. Now, how do you make a Christmas crockpot potpourri? The instructions for how to make a holiday crockpot potpourri are super simple:

First gather your ingredients.
Then fill your crockpot or slow cooker with water until half full.
Simmer on the lowest setting and replenish water as needed.

How long does Christmas potpourri last?

How long your Christmas potpourri lasts will depend on the cooking time. The cranberries are going to pop after a while, and the orange flesh will dissolve into the water, too.

In case you cooked the simmer pot only for a short time, say less than 1 hour, you probably can use the homemade simmer pot recipe a second time.

Can a simmer pot be reused?

If, however, the holiday stovetop simmering potpourri recipe has boiled for a couple of hours the fruits and some spices will be mushy and I don’t recommend heating the liquid potpourri again.

After taking the stovetop air freshener off the heat, let it cool on the counter – the simmer pot ingredients will continue to deodorize your home.

Dry potpourri recipe and stovetop potpourri gift

For an easy holiday DIY gift project, check out my stovetop potpourri gift ideas. These 6 dried potpourri recipes are made with dry ingredients, so they have a much longer shelf than this homemade Christmas stovetop potpourri with oranges and cinnamon. This DIY includes packaging ideas for potpourri jars and free printable stovetop potpourri gift labels.

And for more simple simmer pot recipes, check out my fall stovetop potpourri with apples. This apple cinnamon simmer pot is wonderful for the holiday season, throughout winter and as a Thanksgiving potpourri recipe.

Holiday Simmering Potpourri Recipe

Yield: 1 Christmas stovetop potpourri

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Difficulty: easy

Materials

1 orange, cut into slices
2 cups / 200 g / 7 oz fresh cranberries
2 -3 conifer twigs (pine, fir, spruce, cedar)
6 cinnamon sticks
2 chunks crystallised ginger (can sub for fresh/dried ginger)
8 anise stars
2 vanilla beans
1 tbsp cloves
1 tbsp cardamom pods
2 – 3 cups / 500 – 750 ml fresh water
10 – 20 drops essential oils (optional)
1 tbsp flavour extract (vanilla, almond, rum, peppermint)

Instructions

Stove Top Method

Cut the orange into slices or wedges.
Fill a pot or saucepan half full with water.
Add the orange slices and other ingredients.
Optionally, also add essential oils or flavour extracts.
Bring the stove top potpourri to a mild simmer.
Cook on low flame and replenish the water as needed.

Crockpot/Slow Cooker Potpourri

Cut the oranges into slices or wedges and add to a slow cooker or crockpot.
Add other ingredients and cover with 2 to 3 cups water.
Let simmer on low throughout the day.
Check occasionally and top up with water when necessary.

Notes

How long does Christmas potpourri last? Can a simmer pot be reused?

How long your Christmas potpourri lasts will depend on the cooking time. The cranberries are going to pop after a while, and the orange flesh will dissolve into the water, too.

In case you cooked the simmer pot only for a short time, say less than 1 hour, you probably can use the homemade simmer pot recipe a second time.

If, however, the holiday stovetop simmering potpourri recipe has boiled for a couple of hours the fruits and some spices will be mushy and I don’t recommend heating the liquid potpourri again.

After taking the stovetop air freshener off the heat, let it cool on the counter – the simmer pot ingredients will continue to deodorize your home.

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Irena xx