Ina Garten's Daily Breakfast Is Stunningly Simple

A close up of Ina Garten with a navy jacket and red lanyard against a plum background.

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, at least it is when your stomach is rumbling and grumbling at 7 a.m. The good news is it doesn’t need to be fancy. In fact, you might want to borrow a page from Ina Garten’s morning playbook. The Barefoot Contessa revealed on Amy Poehler’s podcast, “Good Hang,” that she has a couple of go-tos that she will eat year-in and year-out on a daily basis. Sometimes this breakfast is oatmeal made in the microwave, but currently, Garten is noshing on whole-grain toast with really good butter and a cup of coffee with milk.

When cookbook author says good butter, she means good butter, too. Garten’s spread of choice is a bougie butter made by a French cheese maker: Rodolphe Le Meunier Beurre de Baratte. It is churned using milk from Normandy cows and molded by hand before it gets a cute little cow-shaped stamp. But the real secret is that before churning gets underway, the milk rests for 24 hours, which allows it to quickly cultivate its flavor. It is creamy, salty, and perfectly smooth. This French butter is decadent and not for the budget-conscious. A 250-gram puck of Beurre de Baratte, aptly wrapped in golden foil, runs between $14 and $17.

Her butter is French

Toast, coffee, and butter on a table with a burlap napkin.

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Expensive French butter is not the only way to enjoy toast and coffee. Ina Garten shared on her own site that she reaches for Cabot butter, which is made in Vermont, for cooking. But it can be used for spreading, too. It costs around $7 a pound, which is much easier on the pocketbook. Garten also doesn’t skimp when it comes to her caffeine either. The store-bought is just fine chef doesn’t pop open any old brand of canned coffee. It has to be Dallis Brothers Coffee — the Ellis Island Blend. This 100-year-old coffee bean purveyor was started by two Russian brothers in New York and has been in demand ever since. It was acquired by New Jersey-based Lacas Coffee Company in 2013.

While whole-grain bread is Garten’s go-to for her coffee and toast, toast lovers can get creative. Slices of sourdough, cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel, or whatever you might have in your pantry for sandwich makings is a great way to add a little variety to this meal. Also, if you are not a fan of coffee, you can opt for the beverage Garten starts sipping on at 10:30 a.m. sharp: tea.