Make your home smell amazing with these wonderful simmer pot recipes for all seasons.
What is a Simmer Pot?
A simmer pot is essentially a pot of fresh ingredients that are brought to a boil in water, and then reduced to a simmer to provide wonderful aromatics throughout your home. Simmer pots can be created with warm/cozy smells or fresh/lively smells. Essentially, you would be making a sort of herbal tea out of natural ingredients, but mainly just for the aroma.
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Benefits of Simmer Pots
Simmer pots have advantages over other methods of home fragrances. Simmer pots do not contain chemicals like candles, waxes, and air freshers do. They provide a natural solution to making your home smell wonderful.
Dependent on the ingredients used, simmer pots can provide aroma therapy uses such as relaxation, focus, and stress relief. You could also add essential oils such as eucalyptus to provide a natural relief for congestion. Additionally, simmer pots also provide a way to increase the humidity in the home. During the winter/cold months especially, our homes can become very dry. Simmer pots provide a beautiful smell along with increased humidity to help with illness, dry skin, and dry sinuses (which can be painful).
How to Make a Simmer Pot
In order to create a simmer pot, you will need to use fresh or dried ingredients mixed in a pot of water. You can use a Dutch oven, 8 quart or larger pot, or a slow cooker. You will fill the pot about 3/4 way with water and then add your desired ingredients. Bring the ingredients to a boil (on high in a crock pot), and then reduce the heat to a low simmer.
Add water about every hour while the pot is on, as the water will evaporate while the pot simmers. You can use a simmer pot for between 4 days to 1 week dependent on the ingredients used, just turn it off at night, place a lid on, and turn it back on in the morning after removing the lid.
The recipes I have provided below are loose recipes, and you can add or decrease the ingredient amounts as desired.
How to Discard of Simmer Pot Ingredients
Once you have completed use of your simmer pot, the disposal of ingredients is simple. Use a skimmer/strainer spoon to remove the added ingredients, and discard the remaining water either down the drain or toilet.
Pro Tip: You can dry oranges, lemons and limes by slicing them thin, and baking them in the oven at 175° for about 6 hours. They will last much longer this way, and will provide a beautiful scent, decoration, or drink garnish.
Simmer Pot Recipes
Holiday Season Simmer Pot Recipe
- 1 Orange Sliced
- 2 Cups Cranberries
- 1 T Peppercorns
- 1 T Whole Cloves
- 1 T Vanilla Extract
- 5 Bay Leaves
- 1/4 C Brown Sugar
- 1 Sprig Rosemary
- 6 Cinnamon Sticks
- (Optional) Small Cedar Branch
Apple Spice Simmer Pot Recipe
- 2 Apples (peels only or sliced in rounds through the core)
- 5 Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 Cardamom Pods
- 1 tsp Whole Cloves
- 1 T Vanilla Extract
Fall Simmer Pot Recipe
- 1 Orange sliced
- 5 Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 Star Anise
- 1 T Whole Cloves
Limoncello Simmer Pot Recipe
- 3 Lemons Sliced
- 1/4 C Brown Sugar
- 1/2 C Granulated Sugar
- 6 Marshmallows
- 1 T Vanilla Extract
Lemon, Lavender, Mint Simmer Pot Recipe
- 2 Lemons Sliced
- 4 Sprigs Dried Lavender
- 2 Sprigs Mint Leaves
- 1 Tbsp Peppercorns
Citrus & Herb Simmer Pot Recipe
- 1 Lemon Sliced
- 1 Lime Sliced
- 1 Orange Sliced
- 1 Sprig Rosemary
- 2 Sprigs Thyme
- 1 Sprig Sage
- 1 T Peppercorns
Almond Coconut Simmer Pot Recipe
- 1 T Almond Extract
- 1/2 C Coconut Flakes
- 1 T Vanilla Extract
- 2 T Honey
Refreshing Simmer Pot Recipe
- 3 Limes sliced
- 2 Sprigs Mint Leaves
- 1″ Ginger chunked
- 1 tsp Peppercorns
Summer Simmer Pot Recipe
- 2 Lemons Sliced
- 1 Grouping Lemongrass
- 2 Sprigs Thyme
- 1 T Peppercorns
Warm/Cozy Simmer Pot Recipe
- 2 Apples (sliced in rounds through the core)
- 3-5 Cinnamon Sticks
- 1 T Whole Cloves
- 5-6 Sprigs Rosemary
- 1 T Peppercorns
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I used simmer pot recipes like these when we were trying to sell our old house. It made the house smell so homey and inviting!
That’s a great idea!
Such wonderful combinations of scents! A simmer pot makes the season extra special! Thanks for all the great ideas!
Thank you so much, and I agree. I appreciate you stopping by!
[…] Wonderful Simmer Pot Recipes | Make Your Home Smell Amazing […]
I’ve never tried simmer pot recipes before so thanks for all suggested scents! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty.
Thanks for visiting! Simmer pots are wonderful for giving your home an cozy smell and feeling, especially while keeping the humidity a little more comfortable during the dry winter months.
I’m trying one of these today. Thanks for sharing!
This is by far the best smell during the holidays! Visiting from Ultimate link-up party
It truly is!
Hello Lyndsey, this is one of my features for SSPS #289! Thank you for sharing with us, we appreciate it!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the feature!
[…] 10 Wonderful Simmer Pot Recipes from Perfectly […]