Ground Vs Stick Cinnamon: The Best Use For Each Type

Cinnamon is one of the most popular and versatile spices in the world. Produced mainly in Indonesia and China, cinnamon has earned itself a place in different cuisines worldwide. It's a spice that gives your grains a depth of flavor or a perfect addition to a honey apple crumble cake, and there are so many ways that home cooks can incorporate this spice into their recipes. It's easy to be torn between choosing whole cinnamon sticks and ground cinnamon powder at the store, but despite being the same ingredient, these different forms vary in shelf life, potency, flavor, and can alter your recipe in a significant way.

Whole cinnamon sticks are great for steeping tea and infusing other liquids, such as soups and sauces, while ground cinnamon is suited for baked goods and sprinkling over foods. To learn more about when it is best to use ground cinnamon or stick cinnamon, we spoke with renowned chef, restaurateur, and TV personality Maneet Chauhan. By knowing the differences in how these cinnamon varieties behave in a dish, you can ensure that your recipe is as good as it can be.

As a chef, Maneet Chauhan uses cinnamon in many of her dishes. While she uses both ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, Chauhan often gravitates towards using cinnamon sticks because of the way the bark traps the flavor. If you properly extract the flavor from a stick of cinnamon, the result will lead to an enduring flavor in your dish. Part of the reason pho tastes better at restaurants is that many chefs allow the cinnamon sticks and other spices to infuse their flavors for several hours. "When you're using a cinnamon bark and you're steeping it properly and you're coaxing the flavor out of it, that flavor is long-lasting," says Chauhan.

On the other hand, ground cinnamon offers a more pungent flavor on initial impact. While this can be useful, it does mean that ground cinnamon will not last as long in your recipe. She explains, "Cinnamon powder, when you open it, you get the smell of the cinnamon... But as soon as you use it in whatever you're using it, the flavor goes away very fast because it's front flavor, it's not back-lasting flavor." Ground cinnamon powder gives you a lot of control over how strong or weak the cinnamon flavor is in your dish, which is why it's a key ingredient for making quick and easy cinnamon rolls or churros.

Both ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks serve a purpose in your kitchen, but by purchasing the latter, you can grind whole cinnamon into powder (no grater required). Most chefs will likely have both forms on hand. To make sure that you do not mistakenly use the wrong kind of cinnamon in your recipe, it's important to determine what kind of flavor impact you want your recipe to have. "If you want long-lasting flavor, use cinnamon bark. If you want just immediate flavor, use cinnamon powder," advises Maneet Chauhan.

Another mistake that chefs occasionally make with cinnamon is being afraid to use them both in combination. As Chauhan explains, "I think if cinnamon is your focal point of your dish, use it in combination." Whichever cinnamon-based recipe you have on your list to prepare, take time to consider what kind of longevity and impact you want cinnamon to have in your dish.