Easy DIY Dried Orange Potpourri

ByKaren Sloan

Learn how to make beautiful and fragrant dried orange potpourri. It’s great to set around your home in a pretty bowl or gift to friends and family!

Hi, friend! Today we are making dried orange potpourri. I know there are tons of recipes out there for making simmering stovetop potpourri, which is also amazing, but I wanted something that didn’t need the stove this time.

Making dried orange potpourri is very similar to making dried orange ornaments.

Things You’ll Need

  • Baking Sheet with Rack or parchment paper
  • Any combination of the following: Oranges, Cranberries, Apples, Cinnamon Sticks, Pinecones, Lemons, Rosemary, Star Anise, Whole Cloves, Amra Pods, Vanilla Bean, Star Flowers, Bay Leaves
  • Favorite Essential Oils/Fragrance Oils – I used these from Woolzies

How to make Dried Orange Potpourri

Dried Orange Potpourri in a jar with ribbon and a cinnamon stick

How to Make Dried Orange Potpourri

Total time: 1 day

  1. Slice and Dry Fruit

    Fruit slices on a baking sheet for making potpourri

    The first step is drying out your fruit. There are a number of ways you can do this. If you have a dehydrator, you can use that. Or you can use the oven. Heat the oven to 200 degrees and slice oranges about 1/4 inch thick. I made round slices and wedges for variation and interest. Cranberries take some extra time – see “How to Dry Cranberries” below. The apples and oranges took 4 hours to dry out completely.

  2. Mix Up Potpourri

    Dried Orange Potpourri with essential oils

    After your fruit is completely dried out, you can mix it with your other potpourri add-ins; such as pinecones, cinnamon sticks, star anise, whole cloves, Amra pods, star flowers, and more.

  3. Add in Scent

    Dried Orange Potpourri with essential oils

    Now just take your fragrance oil or favorite combination of essential oils and add it to your potpourri. I don’t think there is any right or wrong number of drops here. I like a stronger scent so I put as many drops in as it took to get the scent I wanted. I shook up the potpourri to disperse the scent throughout the application process. Don’t forget, the add-in items will have a scent of their own – like cinnamon sticks, cloves, etc. You can continue to refresh the scent as needed.

How to Dry Cranberries

I’ve seen a lot of tutorials online on how to dry cranberries. Since these are not going to be edible, I took the easiest route I could find, which was through AllRecipes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place cranberries on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Turn off the oven once it reaches the temperature and leave the cranberries in the oven overnight. This worked well for me. If you need additional oven time, you can add more the next day.

Scent Ideas for Potpourri

I thought it would be helpful to give you some ideas on what scents to add. You can buy fragrance oils that are already mixed with holiday scents, like this one. Or you can mix up your own combination.

For the Holidays, popular scents are the following:

  • Rosemary
  • Cloves
  • Peppermint
  • Ginger
  • Cedarwood
  • Balsam Fir
  • Orange
  • Cinnamon
  • Lemon

Gift to Friends and Family

These are perfect for gifting this holiday! Place a bit of the dried potpourri in a jar or clear cellophane bag and tie it up with some ribbon and add a sprig of rosemary. I would add a pretty label with the scents added so folks know what they are getting!

Dried Orange Potpourri in a jar with ribbon and a cinnamon stick
Dried Orange Potpourri in a jar with ribbon and a cinnamon stick

And that’s it, my friend! If you are making this for your own home, you can leave it in a beautiful bowl on a console or countertop.

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Easy DIY Dried Orange Potpourri