Crockpot Apple Cider
This easy homemade crockpot apple cider recipe is packed full of sweet apples, oranges (cuties), cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves, and maple syrup. Serve this small batch of a classic hot drink on those cold fall nights or on Thanksgiving. Use your small slow cooker (1.5 qt) or triple the recipe and use your regular appliance. This simple from scratch recipe is healthy too using only natural sugar not brown sugar. Gluten free and dairy free recipes for the win this autumn!
Servings: 3
Calories:
Ingredients
- 2 apples cut into quarters*
- 1/2 orange or 1 cutie cut in half**
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 tsp whole cloves
- 3 cups water (or as much as you need to fill your crock pot)
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except maple syrup to a small crock pot (1.5 quart). Don’t worry about removing seeds or rough parts. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- After 4 hours on HIGH, turn off the crockpot. Using a mesh strainer, pour the contents of the crockpot in a small pot or medium sized bowl. Your strainer should have the cooked fruit and whole spices and the cider will then be in the small pot or bowl.
- With the back of a spoon or avocado masher/potato masher, press the cooked fruit against the strainer so maximum amount of apple cider goes into the pot.
- You can either leave the cider in the pot or bowl OR pour it back into the crockpot. Then stir in the 3 Tbsp maple syrup.
- Taste test! If you need more sweetener add it now. Otherwise, enjoy! Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat when ready to drink!
Notes
*The sweeter the apple the more delicious your end result. Feel free to throw in a Granny Smith with some Fuji or Honeycrisp apples, but I would not do solely Granny Smith as they are too tart.
**If you cut your orange in half and the peel is thick, remove the peel before adding it to the crock pot. However, if your orange peel is thin, feel free to leave it on the orange. A thick peel will add a bitter taste to your cider and no one wants that.
Inspired by this recipe: https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-apple-cider-recipe/
This recipe makes a small batch of cider, enough for 3 people. If you need more, use a larger slow cooker and triple the amount of apples, a whole orange, 1 extra cinnamon stick, and more water. Cook the same amount of time.