But you’re thinking “Cinnamon toast? Really?” And “Who needs a recipe for that?” Right?
Well, I thought the same thing when I first saw a recipe for cinnamon toast on Ree Drummond’s blog probably 10 years back.
I had grown up throwing some cinnamon and sugar on buttered toast and calling it a day.
But something about the mechanics of Ree’s recipe intrigued me, so I made it. And whoa! I Never. Looked. Back.
I was rambling through the pantry the other day searching for something to make for a quick and easy breakfast for Jack and me when the loaf of bread caught my eye and I thought, “Cinnamon toast!”
Now my recipe has evolved a bit over the years, but chances are you have everything you’ll need to make this right at home already in the pantry and fridge.
The trick here that makes this so different than any other cinnamon toast is you make a paste of sorts with the softened butter, cinnamon, sugar, and a pinch of salt. That paste gets spread over the bread and baked. It’s important to get that buttery goodness all the way to the edges of the bread because after we bake it for a while to allow that butter to melt down into the bread, we’re also going to broil it for a bit. Getting that butter covering everything helps to keep the bread from burning under the broiler. Broiling it gets that sugar all caramelized and bubbly and crunchy – almost like the torched sugar topping on creme brûlée.
So you’ve got that buttery soaked bread that gets super crispy on the bottom topped with the crispy, crunchy sugar topping, and that savory cinnamon… it really is a game changer. I never thought cinnamon toast could be so exciting, but trust me when I say this is honestly the Best Cinnamon Toast Ever.
Recipe Card
Best Cinnamon Toast Ever
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, well softened
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 4 slices bread
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a small bowl, combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. You'll need the butter to be pretty soft to get it all combined.
- Spread the mixture evenly over one side of each of the 4 pieces of bread, being sure to cover all the way up to the edges of the bread. It's going to seem like a lot, but trust me.
- Place the bread on a baking sheet and bake it in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Next turn the broiler on and broil the toast until it is deep golden brown and the sugar is bubbling. I usually stand right at the oven with the door cracked so I can watch it best and prevent it from burning.
- Slice in halves, if desired, and serve.
Notes
Please note:
If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Made this for my client this morning. Simple and quick. I think I cooked it a little too long but it’s still very tasty. I’ll probably make it again.
Looks great! Now I’m wanting some!
My mom used to make this as a treat, we were poor, but this was heaven
Nothing like those childhood memories!
Oh my goodness, where has this cinnamon toast recipe been all my life? So delicious, the sugar kind of caramelizes in the oven and then on broil it becomes a hardened crust. Sooooo good. Make it now!
HA! Thanks, Yvette! Glad you enjoyed it!
I made this today and it was perfection! Wouldn’t change a thing. 😋
Thanks so much, Becky! So glad you enjoyed it!
So good on homemade bread, the best ever.
Yes! Love it!
Mahvelous, dahling! Always look forward to getting recipes from you. Keep up the outstanding cooking!
Thanks, Esther!
I’m about to try that for breakfast this morning yummy 😋 sounds delicious 🤤 i always had it how my school made it and they really couldn’t get it right it was always to soggy and loaded with butter 🧈 and and sugar you couldn’t taste the cinnamon
Hope you love this version, Amanda!
Delicious
Thanks!
I loved this recipe! It was a fresh take on plain cinnamon toast. I left it in the oven for 3 extra minutes rather than broiling and it still turned out golden brown and perfect!
Fantastic!
So I’m at the broiling stage of this right now… about 5 mins ago my roommate yelled to me from his bedroom: “I can smell what it is you’re doing in there!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied. We had spoke about cinnamon toast a few days back, which was the latest in a series of food topics that have come up recently where I tell him I’m great at a certain dish. He is intrigued, yet he scoffs slightly, no doubt due to his distinguished foodie status, coupled with a well-traversed palette, lol. He’s now 0 for 2, his last defeat by way of my secret pork chops.
You’d think there were only one real way to make cinnamon toast, right?? Haha… so does he. So thank you ever so much for allowing me a new delicious way to keep my heavyweight title!!
LOL! Love this comment so much! Hope this made it 0 for 3!
You heated up an entire oven for four slices of bread?
Oh man, your bills must be through the roof!
You can always make more. 🙂
(You can use a toaster-oven if you want to save electricity. Plus it preheats in a two minutes.)
What brand of bread do you use?
Nothing special – just whatever we have on hand. Normally, that’s Wonderbread.
Thank you!
Sounds scrumptious! Do you move the cookie sheet to the top tray in the oven when you set on Broil and do you use Low Broil or High?
It’s completely up to you. I normally just leave it on the center rack to have less chance of it burning. I broil on high and just watch it very closely, but you can do it on low as well.
Believe it or not, we would butter the bread slices then lay a slice craft individual cheese on bread, then sprinkle the sugar and at last dash it with the cinnamon. Pop into the oven until it bubbles.
I’ve never heard of that combination. Interesting! The cheese has such a mild flavor, I bet it just gave it a creaminess.
I was craving a good cinnamon toast for breakfast and I just made this recipe this morning it turned out DELICIOUS!! True Cinnamon toast ! Thank you !!! ????????????????
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!
Maybe it’s because I’ve never tried it this way but I didn’t really enjoy it at all. I usually just toast my bread in the toaster, butter it while it’s still hot and sprinkle brown sugar and the slightest pinch of cinnamon. The way the oven cooks the sugar changes the taste completely and I found my bread too dry and I loaded the butter mixture on. I even gave it the benefit of the doubt and tried again with shorter time on bake and more mixture bit it made it even worse ???? I was hoping this was the holy grail of all cinnamon toast and I ended up broken hearted lol ????
Ugh! Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out as you expected.
Maybe try it with melting the butter first? The first time I made this I overheated the butter and it melted so I kind of basted it on the bread but it turned out great.
That’s a good idea!
This gives it a whole different yummy flavor. Been doing this for a long time but when I get lazy I just put it in the toaster and put butter, cinnamon and sugar on it a lot faster. I think I will try it with vanilla that someone mentioned in the comments when I broil it.
this
The method really does make a huge difference!
Stacy, you are the BEST!!!
Ha! Thanks, Phyl!!
I’ve been making cinnamon toast this way for 30+ years, so delicious! And now, it’s even easier in the air fryer! Just love me some cinnamon toast, thank you for getting it out there so everyone can try it! Adore your recipes and blog so very much, bless you!
So good.. the added time under the broiler really made it special. Thank You!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Def reccomend!!! Muy delicioso!!!!????
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it!!
I just made this for my teenage kids this morning on brioche bread. They said it was fabulous!! And I didn’t need to broil after baking; the top was nicely done. This will now be by permanent way of making it. Thanks very much.
So glad to hear they enjoyed it!
This new (to me) recipe definitely sounds worth a try or ten. Is there any reason not to line the cookie sheet with parchment paper?
Not at all. Go right ahead! Hope you enjoy!
Won’t parchment burn under the broiler ,?
Great point! Sometimes seeing these comments in one long list takes them out of context and I didn’t think about that. I would certainly not recommend using parchment!
Turned out great!!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Alan!
Delicious! Tastes just like the cinnamon toast my mom made for me as a kid….instant nostalgia in every bite!
Ha! Love hearing that!
WOW This is so good even with a few modifications for those who have diabetes. I used 4 slices of sprouted grain multi grain bread, and I also substituted the sugar for the stevia equivalent. I appreciate how easy it was to make and modify for special needs. New family favorite.
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it. And I’m so excited to hear the stevia worked! Thanks for letting me know!
Meh…
So how do you make it better? Always looking for new ideas. This recipe is the one I use.
Wow, that was good and literally is the Best Cinnamon Toast ever!
So glad that you enjoyed it!!!
Just be sure to toast the other side before you spread the cinnamon/butter mix on the top side.
I’ve never done that before, but mine is always nice and toasty on the other side as well. Did you bake the toast on a silicone mat or parchment paper or something other than directly on the pan?
This sounds like what my mom made for us when I was young except she made the cinnamon sugar mix in a small cast iron skillet. Melted the butter, added the other ingredients, stirred until well blended and then spooned on to the bread and toasted in the oven. It was amazing. Haven’t done it that way in a long time.
That sounds SO good!
This is the perfect cinnamon toast and is the comfort food we all need right now. Thank you!!
Thanks, Colleen! I couldn’t agree more!
Throw a lil brown sugar in the mix and whoa!!
Yum!
Awesome idea!
This was SO GOOD! Like most others in the comments, I always just buttered bread, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and put it under the broiler, which is how I was taught in HomeEc. I wish this is how we would’ve been taught. This is so much better, like 100 times better. To the one reviewer, it is TOTALLY worth another dirty bowl. It is crunchy and chewy with that carmelized taste. Yummy! I will be making this again many times. Thank you.
Right? I think it’s worth dirtying another bowl, too! I’ll never make cinnamon toast any other way again. So glad you enjoyed it!!
I just spread the butter , sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon. Place on a cookie sheet and broil until bubbly and brown. No need to dirty up another bowl..
I always did it that way too. This, to me, is WAY better and totally work dirtying up a small bowl.
made this and its amazing…I used texas toast bread in stead of regular bread. great sweet snack!!!! Thank you
Great idea! Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good! I grew up eating cinnamon toast like so many others. My mother just spread butter on bread, sprinkled some sugar and cinnamon over it and toasted it under the broiler – I’m 66 and we didn’t have a counter top toaster oven . I graduated to keeping sugar & cinnamon mix on hand to make for my kids. I like your method better – more even & baking first makes it crunchier. Since I’m the only one that eats it I just mixed up the ingredients and keep in refrigerator. I have to say that it must be made with white bread!
Thanks for the memories!
What a great idea! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Do you put it on both sides of the bread?
No, just one side of each piece of bread.
Will try this out tomorrow for breakfast. Toast and cinnamon… two of my favourite things!
Hope you enjoy it!
This is how my mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother made it! And you’re right! It is so good! Thanks for reminding me of something I need to make soon!
Those folks knew what they were doing! 🙂
Omgosh. Made it and eating it now for dinner. Yummy. Thanks
So glad it turned out great for you!
My mother made that for us when I was very young – it wasn’t for everyday – but weekends or holidays. Since it was soft on the back side, for some reason, we called it “Greasy Toast” and we Loved it! I saw Ree make this on her show a while ago and she begged viewers to never again sprinkle cinnamon sugar on buttered toast!
It’s so good, right!?!?
This does not sound like ordinary cinnamon toast! Yummy!
It is SO. GOOD!
My Mom used to make it like that when we were kids. She would then put the toast in a bowl, and pour over a bit of warm milk. It was so good!
Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal has always reminded me of it. MMMMM, the memories of childhood.
Yum! That sounds amazing!!
This is the way my momma made it! I hadn’t thought about it in years. Definitely making for breakfast tomorrow! Thanks for sharing!????
Hope you enjoy it and that it brings back happy memories!!
We made this in my home ec class in 7th grade over 50 years ago. Glad to see it making a comeback!
The best things always come back around, right? 🙂
That is the way I do it, too. I also add a bit of vanilla extract. Sometimes< I add a pinch of nutmeg. Great cinnamon toast!
Yum! Yum!
Just made for dinner desert. Absolutely fantastic although I didn’t use broiler still wonderful. First slice almost gone.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it!!