Simmer pots are a simple way to add freshness to your home any time of the year and are a great addition during the fall season. We love adding lavender, peppermint, or pine into our simple simmer pot recipes because they are abundant in our area.

Simmer pots are a great way to use extra fruit pieces or herbs that might be “past their prime” yet still deliver a wonderful scent for your home. Let’s explore some of the awesome benefits of simmer pots and some simple simmer pot recipes you can use in your home.

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What is a Simmer Pot?

A simmer pot is a simple way to add a wonderful scent to your home using a variety of natural ingredients. Fill a stove top pot with water and add in your scent-filled items like spices, herbs, citrus peels, or essential oils. Turn on your stove burner to a low setting allowing the ingredients to simmer. Then enjoy the scents that fill your home.

A close-up of dried chamomile flowers ideal for tea brewing and herbal remedies.

We particularly love simmer pots as they are an awesome alternative to candles or artificially scented air fresheners. Although you still need to use heat, you don’t need a continuously open burning flame. The ingredients can be adapted to whatever ingredients you have on hand!

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What Are The Benefits of a Simmer Pot Recipe?

Simmer pots offer multiple benefits including:

Naturally scented: We love that simmer pot recipes often involve no chemicals. Some people may choose fragrance oils to enhance the scents of their simmer pots, but we love that we can use natural ingredients found throughout our property.
Cost-effective and eco-friendly: Simmer pots are very economical and eco-friendly as you can use scraps from your home or your property. You can use apple peels, lemon peels, orange peels, lime peels, etc. for fruit scents. You can use pine branches or pine cones for a woodsy scent. Go ahead and use rose petals or lavender buds for a floral scent.
Customizable: We love that you can mix and match ingredients based on your preferences or the current season. No more worrying about not enjoying a specific scent. Just customize your simmer pot recipe for you and your family’s enjoyment.
Humidifying: During those winter months when the furnace is running, the environment often dries out. As the water evaporates from your simmer pot, it adds moisture to the air, which may be helpful.
Therapeutic: Although simmer pots themselves are not necessarily therapeutic, the ingredients in the simmer pot recipe may be calming. Other ingredients may have stress-reducing properties, too.
Inspiration: By using your creativity in crafting simmer pot recipes, you may be inspired to use spices and herbs into your cooking and baking. I know that when we have apples in our simmer pot recipe, our children begin wanting homemade applesauce with cinnamon!

How to Use Lavender in Your Simmer Pot Recipe

Choosing Your Lavender

Unlike a culinary item, simmer pot recipes do not call for culinary lavender. Your options are great as you can choose a culinary lavender, or a more common hybrid variety like Phenomenal Lavender that produces a larger amount of oil. Dried lavender buds are the most common, however, you can still use fresh lavender in your simmer pot.

Benefits of Lavender in Your Simmer Pot Recipe

Lavender has so many health benefits and it is no surprise that so many people love it, too. As always, please discuss any changes in your health care routine with your medical provider. Please review our disclaimer.

1. Stress Relief and Anxiety Reduction

One of the most well-known benefits of lavender is its calming properties. The International Clinical Journal of Pediatric Dentistry found that inhaling lavender essential oil or the topical application of lavender essential oil can significantly reduce anxiety levels for people of all ages before a dental procedure. We are always looking for healthier options for our family and will keep this in mind for the future!

A golden teapot elegantly pours hot water into a glass pitcher on a wooden table.

Just a few drops in a diffuser or a quick whiff from the bottle can help to put you at ease. Hint: we love creating a stress relieving drink as a “lavender latte.”

2. Better Sleep

Because who wouldn’t love to have some dreamy nights? Yes, sign me up! We know that toddlers (or any children) running around can certainly add to sleep challenges. Guess what? Lavender might be your new best friend.

Research shows that lavender may improve sleep quality and increase the duration of deep REM sleep. The same research indicates lavender is a great natural remedy for insomnia. Sprinkling a few drops of lavender essential oil on your pillow or using a lavender-infused sleep spray (from Abundantly Blessed Farm, of course) can help you drift off to dreamland more easily.

3. Mood Booster

The scent of lavender has been linked to increased serotonin levels, which may enhance mood and promote feelings of happiness. You don’t have to take it from us, but we tend to have better moods when we are enjoying some lavender lemon cookies made with culinary lavender!

4. Skin Healing

Lavender is an amazing herb with antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties making it a great choice for treating minor burns, insect bites, and even acne. A few drops of diluted lavender essential oil, or infused as a lavender oil can soothe irritation and promote healing. Plus, it smells divine—who knew skincare could be so luxurious?

5. Headache Relief

Have a headache? Lavender to the rescue! Studies have shown that lavender oil can help alleviate pain and reduce tension. We have found some headache and tension relief when adding a few drops of lavender essential oil to our bathwater.

How to Make a Stove Top Simmer Pot

Basic Ingredients

Medium Saucepan Pot
4 Cups Water
Fresh herbs, spices, and fruits (Simmer Pot Recipe Blends are below)
Adjust the ingredient quantities based on your pot size and scent preferences

Step-by-Step Instructions

Choose a pot.
Add approximately 4 cups of water to your medium-sized pot.
Add your ingredients.
Place on the stovetop on low heat.
Simmer for as long as you prefer or remove from heat and enjoy the scent.
Add additional water as needed to prevent ingredients from drying out.

Simmer Pot Safety Tips

Always monitor the pot to prevent it from drying out.
Keep the heat low to prevent the water from boiling.

Overhead shot of a cup with a blend of dried herbal tea leaves and flowers.

Simmer Pot Recipe Blends

Apple Spice – Apple, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ginger, Allspice, Cloves
Orange Cinnamon – Orange, Cinnamon, Clove, Allspice, Cardamom, Star Anise, Bay Leaf
Maple Syrup – Sugared Maple, Apple, Pie Spice, Cinnamon
Cranberry Orange – Cranberry, Orange, Cinnamon, Cloves, Bay Leaf
Vanilla Bean Coffee – Coffee, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Allspice, Vanilla Bean
Peppermint and Warm Vanilla – Peppermint, Orange, Peppermint Sugar, Vanilla Bean, Eucalyptus
Masala Chai – Candied Ginger, Cardamom, Peppercorn, Star Anise, Fennel, Clove
Lemon and Grapefruit – Natural Lemon Peels, Grapefruit peels with essential oils, bay leaves
Blood Orange – Natural Blood Orange, Calendula.
Apple Cranberry – natural oranges, apples and lemon peels with essential oils, cinnamon, bay leaves, cranberries,
Hibiscus Cherry – Hibiscus Flowers, Ginger, Cherry Wood, Cacao Nibs, Strawberries, Cherries
Mullein fighter- Mullein, Apple, Black Peppercorns, Juniper Berries, Cinnamon, Clove
Cedar Peppermint – Cedar, Chamomile, Lemon, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage
Irish Fresh – Red Clover, Irish Moss, Spearmint, Bamboo, Star Anise, Allspice Berries, Pineapple
Cinnamon Coffee- Burdock Root, Ginger, Coffee, Cacao, Nettle, Cinnamon, Birch Bark
Lemon Calm – Lemon Grass, Butterfly Pea Flower, Lemon Balm, Sage, Cloves, Cinnamon, Lemon
Orange Cardamom – Orange, Star Anise, Dandelion, Mugwort, Clove, Jasmine, Caradmom
Lavender Pine – Lavender, Pine, Peppermint, Sage
Lavender Mint – Peppermint, Lavender
Lavender Vanilla – Lavender, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Clove

Hands carefully selecting fresh green tea leaves in a traditional bamboo basket.

Conclusion

We love inviting wonderful aromas in our home by crafting unique simmer pot recipes in our home. These are great to use in the warmer seasons and the cooler seasons throughout the year. Simmer pot recipes are customizable, cost-effective, and a likely healthier alternative to chemically laden candles and air fresheners.

You will love creating unique scents to make your home smell heavenly and your children will enjoy being crafty with you.

Tell us below how you use simmer pots in your home.