This is one of the easiest way to bring a festive fragrance into your home. Just add orange, warming spices, cranberry and some herbs into a pot of simmering water and you have an instant Christmas Potpourri!
What is stovetop potpourri?
Stovetop potpourri is a great way to add an instant fragrance to your home, whether it’s for Christmas or any other time of the year. It’s best to use slightly older saucepan that you don’t mind getting used for a long simmering. Add your chosen ingredients, such as orange slices, rosemary, fresh cranberry, cinnamon sticks and mixed spice to few cups of water and gently bring to boil and then reduce to simmer for the rest of the time.

Do you simmer your stovetop potpourri with or without a lid?
Good question! But no, you don’t want to have a lid on your saucepan, as the simmering produces steam which carries the fragrance.
How long does the stovetop potpourri last?
This depends on what you put in, but generally speaking you can keep the stovetop potpourri for 3-4 days. You only need to simmer it for few hours at a time to spread the fragrance in your home, but don’t leave it out simmering indefinitely, as this will increase humidity in your house. Make sure that the potpourri ingredients are always covered with water and you never boil the saucepan dry.
Can you re-use the stove top potpourri?
Yes, you can re-use it safely, just place the potpourri in the fridge when you are finished for the day (and the pot cools down). You can always add more orange slices, cinnamon and rosemary as you boil it the next day.
More Christmas Inspiration
- Christmas Trees Brownies Recipe >>
- Cranberry Body Sugar Scrub >>
- Melted Snowman Water Bottle Project (FREE printables) >>
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Hope this post inspires you and of course, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and add the hashtag #practicalfrugality so that I can see your post.
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Magdalena
Christmas Potpourri Recipe (made on the hob)
Equipment
- medium size pot
Materials
- 1 orange sliced
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or 3-4 cinnamon sticks
- 1 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice or nutmeg, cloves, corriander or star anise
- 3 cups water
Instructions
- Slice the orange in a thin slices
- Place all ingredients in a medium sized saucepan.
- Add 3 cups of water and bring to simmer.
- Let the Christmas potpourri simmer for as long as you needed, but make sure you are checking it often and adding more water as needed. (Don't let it to boil dry).
- When you don't need your Christmas Potpourri mix, you can leave it to dry and use it for the dry version of the potpourri.
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