homemade mincemeat

Make your own mincemeat this Christmas – and not just for mince pies. Try it in Chelsea buns or sweet samosas. You could also give jars of it away as gifts

10-minute mincemeat

apples

light muscovado sugar

orange

lemon

cinnamon

nutmeg

allspice

mixed dried fruit

brandy

grated unsalted butter

½ tbsp ground almonds

Put the peeled and grated Bramley apples, light muscovado sugar and the zest and juice of the orange and lemon into a large bowl with the ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, allspice, mixed dried fruit and brandy. Stir in the grated unsalted butter or shredded suet and ground almonds. Transfer to jars or containers. Keep in the fridge, unopened, for up to three months or in the freezer for up to six months.

Try making your mincemeat well in advance of Christmas to give the flavours maximum time to mature

Traditional mincemeat

raisins

currants

lemon, juice of ½

shredded suet

dark brown sugar

chopped mixed peel

nutmeg,

Bramley apple, peeled and grated

Soak the raisins and currants in the brandy and lemon juice for 1 hr until plumped up, then drain and set the brandy aside. Mix all the ingredients together in the order given, then pour in the brandy when everything else is well mixed. Spoon and press into sterilised jars, to exclude any air (the easiest way to sterilise jars is to run them through a dishwasher on its hottest setting). Cover and leave for at least a fortnight. Will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months.

This easy mincemeat filling recipe is full of traditional Christmas flavor: warm spices, fresh and dried fruit, a lacing of brandy, and a pop of citrus. Once you learn how to make mincemeat, the store-bought pie filling might become a thing of the past!

Easy Mincemeat Recipe

sweet red apple

golden raisins (sultanas)

dried cranberries (or dried currants)

orange juice (from 1 large orange)

lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)

apple cider

dark brown sugar (lightly packed)

almonds

ginger

cloves

salt

unsalted butter

brandy (optional (or add up to 1/2 cup))

Add the chopped apple, raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, orange juice, lemon juice, apple cider, brown sugar, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, salt, and butter to a medium-large pot over medium heat.

Once boiling, cover the pot, turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After that, remove the lid and continue cooking uncovered until the mixture has turned dark and is thickened, about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove from the heat and stir in the orange zest, lemon zest, and brandy.

You can eat it now, but it’s even better after the flavors have blended for a couple days!

Thank you for this recipe! I am planning to make a couple of jars to use for tarts next Christmas. If I use candied citrus peel, do I add it with everything else and cook it all together, or do I add it afterwards as you do with the zest? Also, I saw that you pressure can yours; would a water bath work, as you would do for jam?

When there are no jars of MM on the shelves and mince pie is a tradition going back to the 50’s, you have to make your own. This recipe was easy and tasty even better than the jar.

Tasty but I doubled the amount of nutmeg and cloves. I don't know how more cinnamon that I added but I've heard that its hard to add too much cinnamon. 
After these minor adjustments, it was great.

Thank you so much!  This was a life saver for me. I made a special cake for my 80 year old brother as a Christmas gift. And you need to use mincemeat in the recipe. This year mincemeat is really high for a 16 oz. jar. And I called and looked everywhere for mincemeat and could not find it. So  I decided to look at my Chromebook and found this recipe and it turned out awesome.   I did change a couple things but not many because of my budget.  But it still turns out great. Thank you

You have saved the holidays. After a lot of searching, I finally came across this recipe. After reading the reviews, I decided that this was the one I would try. This is so much better than the jar filling that most of us can no longer buy in our local grocery stores. I just made my second double batch. It fills the house with the smell of the holidays. I think my husband wants to get some vanilla ice cream and use this as a topping.

This is FABULOUS!  Better than the Nonesuch rum and brandy that I have used in my fruitcake since the 1970s.

My oranges wouldn’t zest properly, so I added a slug of Cointreau, and it was divine.

Will definitely make again, and share as gifts.  This double batch is going into my fruitcakes.

Thank you so much for this recipe.

This is a wonderful recipe and I love the flavour. However, it took much longer to cook than what the recipe indicated. The first 1/2 hour of cooking was fine but it took another 45 min for it to darken and thicken up. I ended up having to turn up the heat in order to reach the desired consistency.

Can't find mincemeat in the grocery stores, and my husband loves mincemeat.  Found your recipe made it and it's delicious. We will have a mince meat pie for Christmas!  Oh yeah my husband said it was better than store bought

Thank goodness for this recipe.  I have hunted for weeks for a jarred mincemeat and none of the local stores or online have it.  Finally a grocer said it doesn't sell any more, so they are not ordering any.

Mincemeat is a family tradition for over 100 years, I know.  Thank you for saving our Christmas!

Couldn’t find mincemeat in the stores so thought I’ll make my own. I left out the lemon juice, added orange extract, left out the almonds (family allergies), added a few chopped dates, and upped the cinnamon to 2 teaspoons and doubled the cloves a s well. DELICIOUS! I’ll never buy again!!

This is delicious - a great alternative to the commercial versions of mincemeat. I plan to use this as a filling for hand pies to serve during the holidays. I was so glad to find this recipe!

Mincemeat is a big part of my Christmas past, so I am especially grateful for an easy way to be able to make it when I am so busy! And as usual, your photography is nothing short of exquisite!

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Top 3 homemade mincemeat recipes from across the web

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10-minute mincemeat

Traditional mincemeat

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The most viewed homemade mincemeat recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine