Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Cider with a homemade caramel sauce is a fun and easy holiday drink the whole family will love!
I say YES, yes, yes to all slow cooker recipes! It’s my favorite kitchen appliance this time of year 🙂 Some of my favorite Slow Cooker recipes include:
- Slow Cooker Creamy Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup
- Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs
- Slow Cooker Lasagna
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
If you’ve ever made homemade apple cider, or hot wassail, you know it’s worth it just for how amazing it makes your house smell! That sweet apple cinnamon smell is enough to make anyones mouth water.
I’ve made slow cooker apple cider before, but this time I wanted to make it into Caramel Apple Cider. Have you ever had Starbuck’s Caramel Apple Cider? It’s amazing, and that’s what inspired this recipe. A warm, sweet, caramel-y cider drink topped with fresh whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. This recipe is spot-on and couldn’t be easier to make from home!
Consider trying these holiday drinks:
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Recipe
Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Cider
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 medium apples (I used red and green)
- 1 whole orange
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 whole clove
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 8 cups water
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup Homemade Caramel Sauce or store-bought
Instructions
- Wash apples and orange. Chop apples into quarters (you can leave the stems/seeds etc.) Add them to the slow cooker along with the whole orange.
- Add water, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, clove and allspice. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for for 3-4 hours. (If you notice the orange spit open at any point during cooking, remove it from the pot so it doesn't make the cider bitter. This has never happened to me, but it can happen.)
- One hour before the mixture is done cooking, mash the apples with a potato masher. Replace lid and continue cooking 1 more hour.
- Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the contents into a large heat-proof pitcher.
- Stir in brown sugar and caramel sauce and stir to dissolve. Serve warm with fresh whipped cream and caramel sauce drizzled on top.
- Refrigerate leftovers for 5-6 days. Rewarm to serve.
Nutrition
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I doubled up on the spices & it wasn’t too bad. I was making this to be used in a wassail recipe, but if I were making it for a stand-alone cider recipe, I’d do the same of doubling the spices, but I’d also add more apples & whole cloves to increase the flavors all around to reduce that watered-down flavor that it seems to have, as I was still picking up on that a little bit when I tasted it even with all of the additional spices. I really wanted to like this & give it more than 3 stars, but I can’t get past that watered-down flavor, nor the fact that I had to alter the recipe by doubling the spices in order to try to prevent that flavor.
I so badly wanted to love this recipe!! Incredibly watered down flavor. Tasted exactly like a keurig apple cider pod…which is not a compliment. I followed the recipe perfectly too, always a disappointment when it does turn out.
I an SO glad that I read your comment before making this, & grateful that you posted it. Due to your input, I doubled up on the spices & it wasn’t too bad. I was making this to be used in a wassail recipe, but if I were making it for a stand-alone cider recipe, I’d do the same of doubling the spices, but I’d also add more apples & whole cloves to increase the flavors all around to reduce that watered-down flavor that you had mentioned, as I was still picking up on that a little bit when I tasted it.
I now make this for the winter holidays as a “treat.” Delicious!
Would you suggest just adding orange zest if you aren’t going to actively watch the cider? I’d hate to waste a whole batch over a split orange
No, I would not add orange zest. Just skip the orange and in the end if you think it needs a punch of flavor add juice from a fresh squeezed orange or add a couple Tablespoons orange juice.
Can you still eat the orange after? I hate to waste food.
This is funny. I just read you’re presently living in St Louis. That’s where I lived for ten glorious years before temporarily relocating to Layton. I was then demanded in TN so I returned to Ladue, sold my house and everything else and I’ve been here, in limbo, for a very long time. It’s sad.
Can I use ground clove? What amount would you suggest? I can hardly wait to cook this tomorrow!
Sure! I’d use about 1/2 tsp ground clove 🙂
I’m originally from the Midwest, but I moved to Greece this summer. Not only have I been missing the fall colors, but I’ve been missing a lot of the traditional fall sweets! Not that the Greek sweets aren’t bad (can’t beat freshly made baklava!), but there’s something about apple desserts in October and November that just remind me of home. So today I made your cider recipe as well as a pan of fresh caramel apple crisp. Your cider was the perfect companion and totally hit the spot! I’m looking forward to enjoying throughout the rest of the weekend! Thanks for a taste from home during a heavy day in Europe.
If I want plain apple cider, can I simply leave out the caramel?
Yes! You may want to add a little additional brown sugar, to sweeten it to your liking 🙂