Simple Mulled Wine Recipe Slow Cooker (2024)

FAQs

Which wine is best for mulled wine? ›

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 as “jammy” or with “notes of vanilla.”

So, for recipes that use alcoholic ingredients, it's important to avoid over-pouring, as the alcohol will not burn off in the pot like it would in other cooking vessels. A slow cooker's lid will trap in that condensed alcohol and simply drop it back into the pot.

One important thing to remember when making your mulled wine – don't boil or heat it for too long! You'll cook off all the alcohol and be left with tasty but boozeless mulled grape juice.

Does the alcohol cook out when making mulled wine? In short, yes, some of the alcohol burns off when boiling mulled wine, but you should only be gently bringing up to the boil and simmering for around 15-30 minutes which isn't enough time to completely remove all alcohol traces.

Mulled Wine Ingredients:

Wine: No need to splurge on a pricey bottle — a mid-range bottle of dry red or white wine will do. (Or if you're making a big batch, this is a great recipe to break out a nicer boxed wine too!)

Mull Over One Of These Mulled Wine-Friendly Bottles: Of course any of these are delicious straight from the bottle too! Though the flavors of this wine are subtle, they are crisp and clean, with plentiful citrus and peach flavors.

Sorry to spoil the party, but here's the real deal: Simply heating alcohol, or any other cooking liquid, does not make it evaporate as quickly as a child's allowance in a candy store. The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol.

As mentioned before, slow cookers don't evaporate much liquid, so putting large glugs of wine or beer straight into to your crockpot is not a great idea.

You need to infuse the wine long enough with the spices to take on their flavour but DON'T ON ANY ACCOUNT LET THE MIXTURE BOIL as you'll be left with a bitter taste. Slow and low is the way to go. And it shouldn't be served piping hot, just comfortably - and comfortingly - warm.

How do you keep the alcohol in mulled wine? ›

Ainsley Harriott recommends mulling wines in a slow cooker and says two hours at low temperature gives excellent results and should retain most alcohol content.

The key to successfully heating up mulled wine is to take it up to a nice warm temperature without boiling it. Wine has a lower boiling point than water, and overheating it will cook off some of the alcohol, resulting in an unpleasant bitter flavour.

The best red wines for mulled wines taste bright and fresh, such as Grenache, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, fruit-forward Pinot Noir. Inexpensive Bordeaux is another great choice for mulled wine; in fact, claret was a traditional choice for British mulled wine in William Shakespeare's day.

Method. Put the red wine, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, lemon zest and sugar in a large pan. Cook on a low heat for 10 mins. Remove from the heat and cool, leaving to infuse for about 30 mins.

Pour one full bottle of wine into a large pot and submerge your spice bag in the wine. Add fresh orange juice and slices directly into the pot and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Don't let your wine come to a boil unless you want the alcohol to burn off.

It's essential to choose a red wine that strikes the right balance. You don't want something overly heavy that overpowers the spices, nor do you want it too light, as it might not hold up to the intense flavors of the spices. A medium-bodied red wine, such as a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, works well.

Ideally you want to use bigger and bolder red wines like Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah, or Cabernet, but any fruity red wine your family members are leaving around will do. I've used Pinot Noir before to success. Honestly, whatever red wine that you're stuck with and you don't want to drink, they'll work.

Red wines are traditionally used to make mulled wine, and while any red wine can work, sweet reds will give you a nice, sweet base, meaning less sugar added in later. If you use a dry red, keep in mind you may need to add more sugar than a recipe calls for.