The Best Hot Homemade Wassail Recipe (2024)

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ByAnn Drake

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Fill your home with the scent of Christmas by making this homemade wassail recipe for family and friends in your slow cooker. Easy and delicious!

The Best Hot Homemade Wassail Recipe (1)

Here we come a-Wassailing
among the leaves so green.
Here we come a-wand’ring
so fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
and to you a Wassail too,
And God bless you and send
you a Happy New Year,
God send you a Happy New Year.

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What Is Wassail?

We’ve all heard this familiar Christmas carol, but have you ever wondered what exactly is a wassail or wassailing? It turns out that they are two very different things. A traditional wassail recipe is an apple cider based drink that is made spicy with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Even more flavor is added by including fresh fruit. This traditional holiday drink tastes very much like hot mulled cider.

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What Is Wassailing?

Wassailing is actually the centuries old, British custom of wandering around apple orchards singing to the trees, hoping all the while that the next harvest will be abundant, and that everyone will enjoy good health. This ritual eventually evolved into groups of people going from one home to the next, singing Christmas carols. Wassailing ceremonies typically take place on Twelfth Night (January 5th or 6th) depending on the tradition. Somewhere along the way, these small groups of people began carrying a bowl filled with wassail (the drink) to share with their neighbors.Traditionally, a wassail bowl was made from wood, and had a pedestal bottom.

Wassailing has enjoyed a revival in recent years, with families and communities bringing back the old customs as a way to connect with their cultural heritage, and celebrate the changing seasons.

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How To Make This Hot Drink

  • Add to a 4 quart slow cooker: cranberry juice, apple juice, orange juice, ginger beer, brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and fresh cranberries.
  • Stir until combined.
  • Thinly slice the orange and lemon.
  • Add orange slices and lemon slices to the slow cooker ingredients.
  • Cook on low for at least 2 hours before serving.

Helpful Tips

  • I tried to cut out as many calories from this recipe as I could. I used diet Ocean Spray cranberry juice, Trop50 orange juice, and diet ginger beer. Knowing it was a skinny 60 calories per serving made it even tastier and more enjoyable!
  • Other items that can be added/substituted: pineapple juice, lemon juice, apple slices, ground cinnamon, star anise, whole allspice berries, or any other fruit juices.
  • An added bonus to warming this delicious drink in a Crock-pot is that as it simmers, it makes your house smell wonderful.
  • If you don’t have a Crock-Pot, it works just as well to simmer the mixture on the stovetop in a large pot or stock pot, using medium-low heat.

Even if you don’t plan to go wassailing this holiday season, I enthusiastically recommend that you whip up a pot of this hot wassail recipe anyway! It’s a delicious and spicy treat that’s the perfect drinkfor Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day. Start a new family tradition by serving this warm drink at your holiday gatherings.It also makes a wonderfulcozy drink on a cold day!

More Festive Holiday Drinks

  • Crockpot Hot Chocolate
  • Cranberry Christmas co*cktail
  • Pomegranate + Lime Spritzer

Homemade Wassail Recipe

Fill your home with the scent of Christmas by making this homemade wassail recipe for family and friends in your slow cooker. Easy and delicious!

Rate this Recipe Print Recipe Pin Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Ann Drake

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cranberry juice
  • 2 cups apple juice or apple cider
  • 2 cups orange juice
  • 1 1/2 cups ginger beer or ginger ale
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves
  • 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

Instructions

  • Add to a 4 quart slow cooker: cranberry juice, apple juice, orange juice, ginger beer, brown sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and fresh cranberries.

  • Stir until combined.

  • Thinly slice the orange and lemon.

  • Add slices to slow cooker ingredients.

  • Cook on low for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes

I used Ocean Spray Diet Cranberry, Tropicana Trop50, diet ginger beer, and apple juice (no sugar added.) When calculated with these ingredients, a 10 oz. serving has 60 calories.

This recipe can be doubled if a larger slow cooker is used.

Nutrition

Serving: 10oz. | Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 14mg | Potassium: 407mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 268IU | Vitamin C: 72mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1mg

Like this recipe?Follow me at @onsuttonplace

If you make this recipe, and love it, please come back to leave a comment and a 5-star review. I would really appreciate it, and it would help me so much. Thank you!

The Best Hot Homemade Wassail Recipe (7)

The Best Hot Homemade Wassail Recipe (8)

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The Best Hot Homemade Wassail Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is wassail good for you? ›

Because wassail is made with fruit juices and spices such as cinnamon and ginger, it can be soothing for a cold, and may even be helpful in easing congestion.

What is wassail drink made of? ›

What is Wassail? Wassail is like the tastier sister to Apple Cider. Traditional wassail was made with hard liquor, apples, brandy, and other spices. This recipe is made with cloves, apples, cinnamon, lemon, orange, ginger, and nutmeg and is a nonalcoholic wassail recipe.

What culture is wassail from? ›

The text of the carol employs noun and verb forms of “wassail,” a word derived from the Old Norse ves heil and the Old English was hál and meaning “be in good health” or “be fortunate.” The phrase found first use as a simple greeting, but the Danish-speaking inhabitants of England seem to have turned was hail, and the ...

What is the wassail dispensed from a wassail bowl? ›

Wassail is a hot, mulled punch often associated with Yuletide, often drunk from a 'wassail bowl'. The earliest versions were warmed mead into which roasted crab apples were dropped and burst to create a drink called 'lambswool' drunk on Lammas day, still known in Shakespeare's time.

What is the most unhealthy drinks? ›

The 10 Unhealthiest Drinks
  • Naked Mighty Mango Juice, 57 grams of sugar. ...
  • Naked Blue Machine Juice, 55 grams. ...
  • Monster Emergy Drink, 54 grams.
  • AriZona Sweet Tea, 53 grams.
  • Naked Green Machine, 53 grams.
  • Starbucks Frappucino, 47 grams. ...
  • Mountain Dew, 46 grams.
  • Welch's Grape Juice, 44 grams.
Mar 18, 2024

What's the healthiest drink on the market? ›

Water is the best choice for quenching your thirst. Coffee and tea, without added sweeteners, are healthy choices, too.

What is in Trader Joe's wassail? ›

A sweetened blend of black currant, apple, and lemon juices, with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and orange peel, Trader Joe's Winter Wassail is a fruit punch whose flavors and aromas evoke the holidays. You can serve it chilled, over ice with bourbon; or warmed, in a big mug, with a cinnamon stick garnish.

What are the two types of wassailing? ›

The tradition of wassailing (also spelled wasselling) falls into two distinct categories: the house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail.

What's another name for wassail? ›

What is another word for wassail?
celebrationfestivity
bashmerrymaking
festivalrevelry
shindigfrolic
jubileeceremony
63 more rows

What religion is the wassail? ›

Wassailing is a Twelfth Night tradition with pagan roots and has been practised in Britain for centuries. Discover the celebration and its rituals, including sipping from a communal wassail bowl.

What is the smell of wassail? ›

Fragrance Description: A rich, spiced apple cider. This is one of our Fall favorites as well as Fan favorites. Wassail is an apple cider brewed with orange peels, nutmeg, cinnamon and clove around Christmas. Best Places to Use: Pairs well with any room you want to smell sweet and rich.

What does wassail stand for? ›

“Wassail” is the modern spelling of the old English phrase “waes hael” meaning “good health!” Shared as a salutation or toast, the proper response was “drink health!” and indeed, wassail is a drink, as well.

How to do a wassail? ›

And this is what you do
  1. Put on some music to create some Old Twelvey Night atmosphere.
  2. Soak a slice of toast in cider and hang it in the branches of your Wassail tree.
  3. Pour some cider around the roots of the tree.
  4. Chant the Wassail song.
  5. Make some loud noise with your pots and pans to scare away those evil spirits.
Jan 11, 2021

What does wassail mean in Old English? ›

Noun. Middle English wæs hæil, washayl, "a toast to someone's health," from early Norse ves heill "be well," from heill "healthy" — related to hail entry 3, hale entry 1.

What is a wassail cup? ›

Wassail bowls were traditionally turned from Lignum Vitea, a newly discovered timber from South America. The function of a wassail bowl is to hold wassail, a hot punch like beverage of which there are many recipes, most will contain amongst other ingredients, Wine, Ale, Ginger, Apples, Honey and beaten egg whites.

Is alcoholic apple cider good for you? ›

However, much like wine, cider is considered among the most healthful alcoholic options available. If taken in moderation, it can bestow many different health benefits: Nutrients: Freshly picked apples are used in cider production, so it's only natural that the product contains many nutrients.

Is cold apple cider good for you? ›

The polyphenols in the cider provide health benefits. While cider might not have the same concentration of polyphenols that whole apples have, these antioxidants can help to improve your health and lower your odds of certain conditions such as inflammation and cancer.

How many calories are in wassail? ›

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories60
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g0%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
38 more rows

What are the health benefits of mulled cider? ›

Health Benefits of Mulled Cider

Boosts Immunity: The apple juice in our mulled cider is chock-full of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant. Regular consumption of vitamin C can help to strengthen your immune system, making it more resilient against illnesses and infections.

References

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