Name: How to Make Ground Cinnamon
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 10 cinnamon sticks

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Making homemade ground cinnamon is super easy and quick. Not to mention, the flavor and aroma is much stronger than store bought spice.

A white spoon holding ground cinnamon, with more fresh cinnamon spilled from a jar in the background, evokes a scene similar to learning how to make ground cinnamon—highlighting the vibrant color and freshness of homemade spices.

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Before you start
What you’ll need
How to Make ground cinnamon
Tips
Storage and Make Ahead Instructions
Frequently Asked Questions
What to make with freshly ground cinnamon?
Recipe
Comments

Before you start

Use fresh cinnamon sticks. I recommend buying sticks at your local food co-op. That way you can smell them. If you can't smell cinnamon when sniffing the sticks, the cinnamon isn't going to be fragrant for your baked goods. They do sell cinnamon sticks at the grocery store in the baking aisle, but you're not going to be able to open a sealed jar to check freshness without buying it.
Break the sticks into smaller pieces 1st so they're easier to grind.
Make sure your spice grinder or your coffee grinder, whatever you're using is completely dry so that the cinnamon doesn't clump.
Work in small batches so the cinnamon grinds more evenly.
Let the cinnamon dust settle before taking the lid off the grinder. Freshly ground cinnamon creates a cloud of spice that doesn't need to be inhaled.

A black electric grinder filled with pieces of cinnamon sticks on a white surface with a striped cloth nearby, perfectly illustrating how to make ground cinnamon at home.

What you’ll need

5 to 10 cinnamon sticks
A coffee or spice grinder (I own and love this spice grinder)

How to Make ground cinnamon

Break the cinnamon sticks into about ½-inch pieces.
Place them in the grinder and grind for them for a few minutes or until fine.
Sift using a small fine mesh strainer to remove any chunks of cinnamon stick so you're left with a finer powder.
Use immediately or store in a glass jar or bottle in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months.

A metal measuring cup filled with cinnamon sticks rests on a white surface with a striped cloth nearby, perfect for illustrating how to make ground cinnamon at home.

Don't fill your spice grinder this full, it will be difficult to process. Use half as much.

If you need just a pinch

If you only need a tiny amount of fresh cinnamon powder, grate a cinnamon stick using a rasp grater like a Microplane instead of pulling out your spice grinder. Just mind your fingers. This works great if you just need a bit of fresh to garnish a drink or sprinkle over toast.

Tips

I prefer Vietnamese cinnamon, which I find at the Blue Hill Food Co-op, I'm not sure the sticks are sourced. I've also heard good things about Saigon Cinnamon Stick at Costco.
Any small coffee or spice grinder will work. The cinnamon sticks break down pretty easily.
These are decent spice storage jars and they come with a crap ton of labels and a funnel.
Cinnamon sticks come in varying sizes. So, keep in mind that this recipe calls for average sized cinnamon sticks. So if you have one of those chunky cinnamon sticks that are like double the size of all the other sticks, those should be considered 2-3 sticks each.

Top view of a jar of ground cinnamon, cinnamon sticks, an apple, and a spoon on a white surface—perfect for illustrating how to make ground cinnamon at home.

Storage and Make Ahead Instructions

Store real ground cinnamon or any spices in airtight jars in a cool, dark drawer or cupboard. The freezer is not your friend here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I use to grind cinnamon sticks?

There are a few ways: my favorite is a spice or coffee grinder but you can also use a powerful blender, an old school meat mallet with a resealable bag to contain the cinnamon you're manually pulverizing, a mortar and pestle and for just a small amount of spice, a rasp grater like a Microplane.

How much ground cinnamon can I get from a cinnamon stick?

One cinnamon stick yields ½ to 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

What to make with freshly ground cinnamon?

Freshly ground cinnamon works anywhere you would normally use ground cinnamon, but its flavor and aroma are especially noticeable in recipes where cinnamon plays a starring role. Try it in one of these recipes:

Snickerdoodles With Cake Mix

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cocktail

Cinnamon Star Cookies

Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

If this post was helpful, check out my resource library of baking tips.

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Recipe

Yield: 5 teaspoons

How to Make Ground Cinnamon

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Learn how to make ground cinnamon from cinnamon sticks in just a few minutes using a spice grinder. Freshly ground cinnamon is perfect for baking, coffee and homemade spice blends.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

10 cinnamon sticks

Instructions

Break the cinnamon sticks in half.
Grind them in batches, don't overfill the spice grinder.
Sift the cinnamon over a piece of wax paper to catch larger pieces
Grind remaining chunks.
Sift again.
Store.

Notes

The yield for cinnamon sticks is roughly ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon per stick. You may get a little more or less depending on the size of your sticks.

Make sure your grinder is completely dry so that your freshly ground cinnamon doesn't clump.

I use an electric grinder for this. A manual grinder may work but it will take longer.

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