lemons and oranges for potpourri

9 Homemade Air Freshener Stove Top Potpourri Recipes!

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I love adding fragrance to my house… especially by baking but I don’t always have time to whip up an apple pie!  This is a super easy way to make your home smell amazing! Often people will rely on potpurri or spray to attempt to make the house smell better. Why do that when you can make your own homemade air freshener?

I’ve included a list of great combinations I’ve tried… use what you have on hand.  Herbs, fruit such as lemon or oranges, and spices such as vanilla or cinnamon can make for an amazing fragrance without using chemicals and artificial ingredients.

Not only do these smell great but you can use scraps (apple peels, orange peels, the end bits of ginger etc) instead of throwing them away.  Save them all up in a Ziploc bag in the freezer until you have enough!  If you have a really large area to fragrance, you can adjust the amount of ingredients in the pot!

Get creative, bits of pine, different extracts, the possibilities are endless!   I’d LOVE to hear some of your own combinations!

Instructions

Stove Top
Add 2-3 cups of water to a small sauce pan and desired ingredients.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Do not let water evaporate (you can add more if needed).
Slow Cooker
Many readers have suggested using a small slow cooker for this! Just place the same ingredients into your slow cooker and let it sit on low all day!

Fragrances

 

Citrus
1 Orange, Sliced
1 Lemon, Sliced
Cranberry Bliss
1 orange
½ lemon
1 cup cranberries
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cloves

Apple Pie
2 Apples, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
1 lemon slice
dash of vanilla extract
Vanilla Spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves

Holiday Love
2 cinnamon stick
2 sprigs pine
2 drops peppermint extract

Gingerbread Man
10 slices ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla

Rich Spice
2 Cinnamon Sticks
½ tablespoon Whole Cloves
1 Whole Nutmeg
Lemon Rosemary
1 Lemon Sliced
3 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
1 Cinnamon Stick

Minted Lime
2 Limes, Sliced
2 Sprigs Fresh Mint
½ teaspoon Peppermint extract (optional)

 

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About the author

Holly Nilsson is the creator of Spend With Pennies, where she creates easy, comforting recipes made for real life. With a passion for nostalgic flavors and simplified techniques, Holly helps busy home cooks create delicious meals that always work. She is also the author of “Everyday Comfort,” which promises to inspire even more hearty, home-cooked meals.
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Comments

  1. I am happy I found this page. I stumbled on stove top pot-pouri accidentally. I had some lemons in my fridge that were quite old and also had some lavender blossoms that had been around a long time. I cut the lemons into quarters and threw a small handful of lavender blossoms in my instant pot. I use the sous vide setting and set it for several hours and kept checking the water level. It made my house smell wonderful all day long. I also found the next day that lemon and chamomile tea were a great combination. But I’m looking for more combinations and you have given me Inspiration.

    Reply

  3. Hi Holly. I just wrote a new blog post about the topic of stovetop air potpourri and I featured one of your recipes in it.

    I chose your “gingerbread man” recipe as #2 on my list of favorite recipes.

    Thanks!

    Reply

  4. I have one on my stove as I read this! It’s Vanilla, cinnamon and cloves :) I was thinking of adding a bit of ground coffee to it…

    Reply

    1. Mmmm…I love the smell of coffee. Let us know how it turns out for you Michelle!

      Reply

  8. Funny you should post this today. I made cinnamon iced tea before I left for dinner out with friends. I left it on the stove to cool and came home to a place that had a lovely cinnamon scent. I’ll have to try some of your other varieties.

    Reply

    1. I don’t know a lot about canning but hopefully someone here can help you! What a neat idea, I would LOVE to get one as a gift for sure!

      Reply

      1. If you want to “can” these, I’d put dry ingredients that will still be fragrant when you boil them in a pretty bag – cinnamon sticks, dried oranges and cranberries, etc., You can buy vanilla powder or try putting essential oils on dry ingredients as a substitute for the extracts. For example, put lemon oil on rosemary for the lemon rosemary potpourri. While the dried ingredients are a potpourri themselves, boiling them will bring out even more of their fragrance. :)

      2. What an amazing idea Gail! I think next year I’m going to play with getting some of these packaged up as gifts.

    2. I would think you could just put the ingredients in a jar and make a tag with instructions (fill jar with water, shake well, pour into small crockpot or a small saucepan and keep on low) and put a pretty bow on it.

      Reply