Ree Drummond Makes Her Favorite Cinnamon Toast Without A Toaster

Ree Drummond, also known as The Pioneer Woman, has some seriously strong opinions on cinnamon toast. She wrote a veritable dissertation on the subject for her website, in which she covered multiple methods of making this popular breakfast. Drummond is known for making surprising moves in the kitchen – she cuts eggs with a cooling rack, for example, and even her potato salad has some unexpected ingredients – so it should come as no surprise that her cinnamon toast recipe is a little different than you've probably seen before, and she makes it very clear that she really, really does not approve of making cinnamon toast with a toaster.

The toaster is tempting: You pop your bread in and it's done in a jiffy, then spread a little butter, sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar, and boom, you're done. However, Drummond argues that this method produces "the worst cinnamon toast on earth" because of a few key factors. First of all, spreading the butter at the last minute gives it little time to soak into the bread. Furthermore, the raw cinnamon and sugar offer little in the way of flavor. She much prefers to use the oven.

Ree Drummond's favorite way to make cinnamon toast is a bit more elaborate than you're probably used to. She begins by mixing cinnamon and sugar directly into some softened butter until it creates a uniform paste. She also adds a secret ingredient to elevate the flavor: a splash of vanilla extract. After spreading the cinnamon-sugar-vanilla butter on each slice of bread, she bakes the toast for around 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit before switching to the oven's broiler setting. It should only broil briefly (think seconds, not minutes), but this extra step helps the sugar caramelize for a richer flavor.

If you want to make things a little quicker, Drummond recommended an alternative method on Instagram that can save time. You can skip the vanilla and spread plain softened butter directly onto slices of bread. Then, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the buttered bread. This version bakes for just five minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, but gets a full two to three minutes under the broiler. Meanwhile, the celebrity chef demonstrated a slightly different technique on TikTok, dipping each slice of bread in melted butter before liberally applying the cinnamon sugar.

Drummond's method is also effective for making a large batch of cinnamon toast. Just line all the slices of bread up in a pan and scatter the cinnamon sugar over the whole batch at once. Then, place your tray of bread in the oven and follow the same bake/broil technique as before.