Ree Drummond’s Freezer Breakfast Panini Are the Ultimate ‘Pioneer Woman’ Make-Ahead Meal
Food Network star Ree Drummond knows about busy mornings. With her children and husband to feed, a ranch to operate, and her Pioneer Woman “empire” to run, she’s learned to get things done efficiently and smartly.
Her Freezer Breakfast Panini cleverly prove that as hectic as mornings can be, a warm, delicious and satisfying breakfast is all taken care of.
What goes into Ree Drummond’s Freezer Breakfast Panini
For this ultimate make-ahead breakfast, you’ll need salted butter, sliced sourdough bread, eggs, half and half, honey ham, mayonnaise, lime juice, hot sauce, canned whole green chiles, and Monterey Jack cheese.
You’ll also need a panini press. Find the full recipe on the Food Network site.
How to put Drummond’s panini together
Make sure your panini press is heated. Spread butter on one side of each bread piece. Place four pieces of bread at a time on the press buttered side down, topped with four more pieces of buttered bread, greased side up. Keep going until all of your buttered bread pieces are toasted.
Now it’s time to stir together the eggs, half-and-half, one teaspoon salt, and one-half teaspoon black pepper “until it’s nice and smooth,” Drummond says in the Food Network video for this recipe. Set the mixture aside.
The ham slices are caramelized in a pan in batches until all the meat has been warmed up to a golden color. Set the ham aside on a baking pan or plate.
In the same pan the ham was warmed in, scramble the egg mixture made earlier. Drummond notes that the eggs should be cooked “until just set” and put aside to completely cool.
The Food Network personality adds: “Every panini has to have a delicious spread.” This recipe’s secret sauce is mayonnaise and lime juice. Mix them together with salt and hot sauce in a small bowl.
Once each part of the panini has cooled, the sandwiches can be put together to prepare for freezing. Each toasted bread piece is spread with the mayonnaise mixture. One whole green chile is added, and then further topped with the ham and scrambled eggs. The eggs are then covered with two slices of the cheese and the other slice of bread.
Wrap each breakfast sandwich in foil. The mother of five says that to keep them from freezer burn, package them all into “two large resealable plastic bags.” They can be prepped for morning meals by removing them from the bag and baking each, still wrapped in tin foil, in a preheated 350-degree F oven for at least 20 minutes, or until they’re completely heated.
Reviewers loved Drummond’s breakfast sandwich concept but questioned her reheating process
Reviewers on FN’s site praised her actual morning panini’s flavor, especially its zingy sauce and addition of green chiles. Still, many had issues with the reheating instructions in the recipe.
“They do not heat in the time provided at the temperature provided. I have to microwave them to get the center thawed which makes the bread next to the pepper soggy,” noted one reviewer.
Another home cook stated, “I just pulled my first frozen one out of the oven (25 minutes at 350 degrees) and it is still frozen solid in the center.”
Here’s the takeaway from reviewers. You might want to double up on oven time. And the chiles. They “make the sandwich.”
