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This easy homemade Christmas mincemeat recipe is richly spiced, full of fruit, laced with brandy, and made without meat. It’s the perfect vegetarian mincemeat filling for making into festive Christmas mince pies and tarts.
My grandmother on my mom’s side made mince pie every year at Christmas.
As a kid who was more familiar with apple, cherry, blueberry, coconut cream, and even lemon meringue pies, I was curious. One year when I was old enough to remember, I inhaled the heavily-spiced interior that looked like no other pie filling I’d ever seen. A ton of burning questions swirled through my head.
Why is it called mincemeat? Is there meat in mincemeat pie? And maybe, most importantly – what does mincemeat taste like?!
This dessert has quite the history. It used to contain meat!
In the 13th century, European Crusaders brought Middle Eastern spices and cooking methods back with them. The Christmastime dessert known as mincemeat initially contained meat as a way to preserve it, in addition to fruit and spices. However, since the early 20th century, meat has been commonly omitted from this dish.
Interestingly, in the past, mincemeat filling for Christmas was frequently made the year before! The layer of suet (fat that comes from cow or sheep) on top acted as a seal to help preserve it. Additionally, the flavor improved over time.
You can read more about mincemeat on Wikipedia.
Modern-day versions of mincemeat (without meat) remind me of fruitcake, but in pie filling form. It tastes like a richly spiced sweet fruit preserve that’s laced with the flavors of brandy and citrus.
What is Mincemeat Made Of?
Mincemeat is the filling used to make traditional mince pie, a classic English dish.
It typically contains fruit, warm spices (like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves), distilled spirits (such as brandy), and suet (which is the kidney fat from beef or lamb).
The ingredients are quite ordinary, but blend together to form something uniquely special – and so festive!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy. It’s just a matter of peeling and chopping apples, zesting and juicing an orange and a lemon, and measuring out the other ingredients.
- Quick! This homemade Christmas mincemeat recipe takes just 1 hour to make from start-to-finish. Of course you can leave it in the fridge for a few days to let the flavors marry, but that’s your call.
- Flavorful. With this recipe you’ll get the same lovely festive flavor blend that you’d get in classic mincemeat with meat.
Easy Homemade Mincemeat Recipe
If you’re looking for a homemade mincemeat recipe without meat, you’re in the right place! This recipe is easy for beginner cooks, so it’s a good one to make with your kids. And it whips up in just 1 hour from start-to-finish!
Recently, I’ve had multiple people email me because they can’t find jarred or bottled mincemeat (such as the None Such brand) at their grocery store. I looked into it, and supposedly there is a current mincemeat shortage here in the U.S. (during the Christmas 2024 holiday season). Not to worry! This easy recipe will teach you how to cook mincemeat, and it’s so delicious it just might become your family’s new Christmas favorite.
Also, I’ve come across the phrase “luxury mincemeat”, which includes more expensive ingredients, such as spices, dried fruit, nuts, alcohol, etc. Technically, this qualifies as a luxury mincemeat recipe, but you can make it quite affordably with economical dried fruit choices. Feel free to skip the golden raisins and dried cranberries (or currants), and use regular raisins if that’s what you have on hand. It’ll still be absolutely delicious!
Mincemeat Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
- Granny Smith apples – or another type of tart cooking apple
- Sweet red apple – such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Northern Spy
- Raisins and golden raisins (sultanas) – as they cook, these plump up and take on the flavor of the spices and other components
- Dried cranberries (or dried currants if you can find them) – these also rehydrate as the mincemeat cooks, and they add a pleasant sweet/tart flavor
- Fresh orange and lemon juice – adds a citrusy tang
- Apple cider – this is the liquid that our filling cooks in; you can substitute with apple juice
- Dark brown sugar – for sweetness; also adds rich notes of caramel-like molasses
- Slivered almonds – adds a hint of nutty crunch; be sure to finely chop them, and feel free to omit them if you have a nut allergy
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves – these warm spices marry together and infuse the filling with Christmasy flavor
- Salt – enhances the flavor of everything else
- Butter – for this vegetarian mincemeat, we use butter as the fat instead of suet (which is beef or lamb kidney fat)
- Orange and lemon zest – to bump up the citrusy flavor and aroma
- Brandy – a classic component of mincemeat; you can substitute with rum or amaretto if you like, or omit the alcohol
How to Make This Easy Mincemeat Recipe
- Peel, core, and chop the apples small.
- 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!
Pro Tip: Make This Filling Into Pies or Tarts
This recipe makes about 1 quart (4 cups) of mincemeat filling, which is enough for 1 (9-inch) mince pie or 16 mince tarts made in a regular-sized muffin pan.
Storage
In the fridge: Once it’s made, cool to room temperature and then store covered in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
In the freezer: Once it’s made, cool to room temperature and then transfer to freezer-safe containers or bags. Freeze for up to 6 months.
Variations
- Alcohol: You can omit the brandy (or go the other way, and add up to 1/2 cup). Or you can use dark rum or spiced rum instead.
- Vegan Mincemeat Filling: Use coconut oil instead of butter.
Tips For Success
- If you don’t have dark brown sugar on hand, you can add 2 tablespoons of molasses to 1 cup of granulated white sugar to make about 1 cup of dark brown sugar. So for the 1 1/4 cups of dark brown sugar that this recipe calls for, you’ll need 1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar + 2 1/2 tablespoons molasses.
- For mincemeat with candied citrus peel, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of finely chopped candied citrus peel (orange or lemon, or a mixture of both), and omit the fresh citrus zest.
- If you go heavy on the brandy and add 1/2 cup, cook the mixture a little longer to thicken it.
What is Mincemeat Used For?
You can use mincemeat pie filling to make mince tarts or pies, but it goes way beyond that! Here are a few more ideas for ways to eat mincemeat:
- Oatmeal topping
- Pancake, waffle, or French toast topping (gingerbread waffles topped with mincemeat are a beautiful Christmas brunch!)
- Crepe filling
- Cinnamon roll filling instead of the cinnamon mixture
- Layer cake filling
- Spread on toast or artisan bread instead of jam
- Made into muffins (I use this cranberry muffins recipe and substitute mincemeat filling for the cranberry sauce)
- On a cheese board or charcuterie board instead of jam or preserves
More Show-Stopping Christmas Desserts to Make
- Gingerbread Cake Roll – with brown sugar and rich spices, and a creamy maple cinnamon frosting
- Cranberry Cake – a gorgeous 4-layer cake with fluffy vanilla butter cake, cranberry sauce, and vanilla buttercream
- Pie Crust Cookies – flaky and rich with butter and cinnamon sugar
Let’s Connect
Did you make this recipe? Please rate it and leave a comment below. You can also tag @anediblemosaic on social media.
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Easy Mincemeat Recipe
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Ingredients
- 3 medium-sized Granny Smith apples peeled and chopped small (or another type of tart apple)
- 1 medium-sized sweet red apple peeled and chopped (such as Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Northern Spy)
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 3/4 cup golden raisins sultanas
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried currants
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice from 1 large orange
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 large lemon
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds very finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons brandy optional (or add up to 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- 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!
Notes
- Candied Citrus Peel: If desired, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of finely chopped candied citrus peel (orange or lemon, or a mixture of both), and omit the fresh citrus zest.
- Brandy: If you go heavy on the brandy and add 1/2 cup, cook the mixture a little longer to thicken it.
- Recipe Yield: This recipe makes about 1 quart (4 cups) of mincemeat filling, which is enough for 1 (9-inch) mince pie or 16 mince tarts made in a regular-sized muffin pan.
- Nutrition Information: If you’re eating the mincemeat on its own (and not making it into pie or tarts), 1/4 cup is the serving size.
- In the fridge: Once it’s made, cool to room temperature and then store covered in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
- In the freezer: Once it’s made, cool to room temperature and then transfer to freezer-safe containers or bags. Freeze for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
Free Bonus
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?
Michelle, My pleasure, I hope you enjoy it! :) When I use candied citrus peel instead of zest, I usually add it during the last couple minutes of cooking. I haven’t tried using a water bath to process this and I don’t have enough experience to know whether it’s safe to do so, but my gut instinct is telling me no because it’s lower in acidity.
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.
So much tastier than the bottles!
I have a question about the apple quantities. I’m cooking a batch and am concerned I used too much chopped apple. Apples come in so many sizes these days, could you give me a rough estimate of how many total cups of chopped apple to use for this recipe?
Julie, It’s about 4 cups of chopped apples in total, but don’t worry about it too much because this recipe has some leeway. I’ve also used up to 5-6-ish cups of chopped apple here and it turned out fine. The beauty of making it yourself is that you can always customize it if you feel like it needs a bit more of something due to an increased amount of apple.
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.
Thanks Faith. I’ll only need to store it for a month or two s it should be fine. Freezer space is at a premium closer to Christmas.
Instead of storing the completed mince meat in the fridge or freezer, can it be stored in sealed sterilized mason jars?
Jane, I’ve packed this in sterilized pint jars (leaving about 1 inch headspace) and processed it 10 pounds pressure for about 20 minutes, and then stored it in my pantry for a year.
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.
Thank you for this glorious recipe! I couldn’t find commercially made Mince filling for Christmas pies. Mince is my husband’s father’s favorite pie & we just had to make it for him. I had to sub pears for 4 of the 5 apples (family ate up my apples for a snack!!), lime juice for lemon juice (all out) and chopped pecans for almonds (didn’t have any). I will be making this again. It literally tastes like Christmas to me. My MIL was super impressed & said she will now be making this instead of buying the jarred stuff.
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!