Ina Garten Makes Her Favorite Breakfast In The Microwave

Ina Garten, or Barefoot Contessa, as her fans know her, is a legend in the culinary world. Not only has her TV show, "The Barefoot Contessa," remained one of the most popular shows on the Food Network since its start in 2002, but she's won prestigious awards from the Daytime Emmys and the James Beard Foundation, according to Taste of Home. And although there was a time when Garten dropped out of college and lived off of $5 a day in Paris with husband Jeffrey, the celebrity chef now spends her days at the couple's stunning Hamptons home (via Insider).

Garten is known for her aspirational food and home — on Barefoot Contessa, you'll often find her traipsing through her gardens to pick fresh ingredients for that night's dinner, or cooking up a storm out of her office, a rustic barn across the lawn from her house (via Oprah Daily). While the scene isn't exactly relatable, Garten's recipes are surprisingly doable for the average home chef, as she aims to teach people the unofficial cooking skills she has learned. As Garten told The New York Times, "I'm not a trained chef. I love cooking, but it is not easy."

It's understandable, then, that when Garten isn't filming, she's a fan of comforting recipes that are easy to make. And you may be surprised at just how simple her favorite breakfast is.

Who doesn't love a warm, cozy bowl of oatmeal on a chilly day? As Garten spends most of her time in her Hampton's house and office, we'd have to imagine she experiences plenty of cold mornings and her favorite breakfast for warming up couldn't be easier to make. Garten loves to make oatmeal with quick-cooking oats, water, salt, milk, and butter, topped off with a little maple syrup, she explains on Barefoot Contessa. For maximum convenience, she stays away from the stove. "I make my oatmeal in my microwave — it's so easy!" Garten declares.

You may not expect this from the culinary queen of the Hamptons, but Garten actually gets plenty of use out of her microwave. When she's not whipping up cozy bowls of oatmeal, her easy method for perfectly tempered chocolate involves popping the bowl in the microwave to heat the chocolate in increments. Not only that, but Garten's recipe for a bacon, egg, and cheddar sandwich involves microwaving eggs with cheese on top. And while aesthetic at-home popcorn machines have become all the rage, Kitchn shares that Garten loves microwave popcorn, specifically, Newman's Own Movie Theater Butter.

It makes sense that someone who spends their workdays whipping up delectable dishes would want to kick back and relax when not on the clock. And in Garten's case, that means digging into a comforting bowl of microwave oatmeal.