The Perfect Glühwein Recipe – From an Actual German!
Looking to celebrate the holiday season with a hot drink to sip on? Mulled wine – called Glühwein in German – might be for you!
Traditionally made with red wine, mulled wine is deliciously sweet, a little tart, and quite fragrant with just the right amount of spices like cinnamon and cloves.
This classic alcoholic beverage is a staple Christmas Market drink across Germany, Europe, and beyond. Over the last few years, mulled white wine has also become quite popular.
With half of us being German – and having lived in Europe for years together – we have loads of experience with mulled wine.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit different German Christmas markets in numerous cities like Cologne, Aachen, Berlin, or Nuremberg.
That said, this German Christmas wine can also be found outside of Germany – we’ve had it in Prague and Edinburgh, too.
These days (back in North America), we’ve gotten into making it ourselves for family and friends and it’s always a hit.
Ingredients
To make this Glühwein recipe, here are the ingredients you’ll need:
- Red wine – Use a dry red wine with a decent quality, but doesn’t have to be anything fancy.
- Cinnamon sticks – Three cinnamon sticks to give the mulled wine its classic flavor.
- Oranges – Use organic oranges because the orange slices will simmer in the pot. Alternatively, peel the orange first.
- Cloves – Whole cloves to give the mulled wine its classic taste.
- Sugar – You can add more or less sugar to taste to suit your personal preference.
- Rum (optional) – Often an optional addition at Christmas markets.
- Cardamom (optional) – Optional To add more flavor; don’t add too much since it can be quite fragrant and make sure the seeds are still closed.
- Star anise (optional) – Can be tough to find but a great aaddition if you have it.
Recipe Tips
Before you rush to the wine cabinet to make this German mulled wine recipe, be sure to thoroughly read through these recipe tips so that you get the best festive outcome!
- If you want to up the booze content, you can add extra alcohol like rum or brandy.
- When it comes to choosing a red wine for mulled wine, we’d suggest a medium quality semi-dry to dry red wine because the flavor of the wine is what comes through in the drink regardless of how much sugar you add. You’ll taste very cheap wine – but don’t choose a high-end bottle either. When we make Glühwein a go-to for us is a Californian wine called “Smoking Loon” since we quite enjoy the taste. However, we’ve also made it with other red wines before and liked it just as much.
- Feel free to use the spices that you have, but we would definitely recommend using oranges, cinnamon sticks, and cloves at least.
- Try using organic oranges. This is because non-organic orange peels might have more pesticides or other chemicals in them. If you can’t or don’t want to buy organic oranges, peel them first.
- The mulled wine needs enough time to absorb the spice flavors – at least an hour, so plan ahead and don’t try to rush it.
- It’s important that the wine does not come to a boil. This would evaporate off some of the alcohol and change the strength/flavor of the drink.
How to Make Glühwein – Step by Step Instructions
Our recipe is for a classic German hot wine recipe made with red wine and classic spices.
You can follow along with the process photos to see exactly how we made it at each step in the recipe.
For the detailed, printable recipe card, you can scroll down to the bottom of this post!
Start by washing the oranges. Then cut them into slices. You can save a few slices for decoration.
Next, add the wine, cinnamon sticks, orange slices, cloves, sugar, rum (optional), star anise (optional), and cardamom (optional) to a pot.
Put on the lid and heat the mixture on low heat for about one hour.
It’s important that the wine doesn’t come to a boil as this will evaporate the alcohol. Check on the wine occasionally and give it a stir.
After one hour, try the mulled wine and add more sugar to taste (optional).
You can pour the wine through a sifter before serving to capture the spices and orange slices.
Alternatively, just be careful when ladling the mulled wine out of the pot.
You can serve the mulled wine with a couple of orange slices (fresh slices or the slices from inside the brewing pot) and a cinnamon stick in each mug for decoration. But this is definitely optional. Enjoy!
Storage Tips
If you have any leftover German mulled wine, it stores nicely in the fridge in the pot you simmered it in. Keep the oranges and spices in it but be sure to have a lid on it.
To reheat the mulled wine, you can put the pot back on the stove and reheat it on low heat until hot. Just remember not to boil the wine or else you’ll lose some of the alcohol content.
FAQ
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about Glühwein.
Glühwein is the German term for mulled wine. Mulled wine is a sweet alcoholic holiday beverage that is traditionally made from heated – but not boiled – red wine with different spices and citrus fruit like oranges. It is served hot and enjoyed at Christmas markets around Germany and abroad.
To make Glühwein, empty a bottle of red wine into a pot, add sugar and spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, and optional ones like cardamom and star anise. Heat everything for one hour on low heat but don’t bring it to a boil. Then add more sugar to taste and serve hot!
“Glühwein” is hard to say as an English speaker because the “ü” is a sound not readily heard or pronounced. To get close enough, you could say “Glue” (like what you use on paper) and vine (like a vine of grapes). So, literally it’s Glue-vine… but the ü is much more drawn out.
Related Recipes
If you loved this wonderful Glühwein to sip on and serve, you can check out these other popular German holiday drinks – perfect for any gathering!
- Mulled White Wine
- Kinderpunsch (Non-Alcoholic German Punch)
- Eierlikör
- Eierpunsch – Made from German Eierlikör!
German Mulled Wine (Glühwein)
Ingredients
- 1 bottle of dry red wine, 750 ml
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 2 organic oranges
- 5 cloves
- 3 tablespoons sugar, more to taste
- 2 tablespoons rum, optional
- 3 cardamom seeds, optional
- 2 star anise, whole, optional
Instructions
- Wash the oranges and cut them into slices. You can save a few slices for decoration.
- Add the wine, cinnamon sticks, orange slices, cloves, sugar, rum (optional), star anise (optional), and cardamom (optional) to a pot. Put on the lid and heat the mixture on low heat for about one hour. It’s important that the wine doesn’t come to a boil as this will evaporate the alcohol. Check on the wine occasionally and give it a stir.
- After one hour, try the mulled wine and add more sugar to taste (optional).
- Pour the wine through a sifter before serving to capture the spices and orange slices.
- Serve with the orange slice (fresh slices or the slices from inside the brewing pot) and enjoy!
Notes
- You can use different wines to make mulled wine. We would recommend a medium-quality dry red wine for this recipe. Don’t opt for the cheapest wine with lower quality – because you will taste the difference in quality. At the same time, don’t use a high end red wine, either.
- We recommend buying organic oranges. This is because orange peels might have pesticides or other chemicals in them. Otherwise, peel the orange first.
- It’s important that the wine does not come to a boil. This would evaporate off some of the alcohol and change the strength/flavor of the drink.
- You can definitely add different spices to mulled wine (as we noted above). The ones we mentioned are just the most traditional ones.
- You can also add additional alcohol (like rum or brandy) to the mulled wine. This is something you often see at Christmas Markets as an add-on to the “regular” mulled wine!
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
Last year we went to Germany and Prague for Christmas and it was so special. We wanted to recreate that feeling of walking around the Christmas markets with a mug of Gluhwein like we remember so we decided to make this! I made this today along with some lebkuchen I made from scratch. It was a delicious recipe that made me feel like we were back in Germany. Thank you!