Convection Ovens

[The Eyes of Texas]

How much time does a convection oven save in cooking, and does the food come out as good or better as a conventional oven? ...We're having a home built and one of our ovens is going to be a convection, and I've never used one before.

 

[NickDanger]

It's about 33% faster. 40 minutes or so instead of 60.

The food is no better or worse. By compressing the times, you may have to watch it a little closer, but that's the only downside I can think of.

 

[brntorng]

Faster and more even cooking. You also need to adjust the temperature down about 25F from the recommended temperature, but I think most, if not all, modern ovens do that automatically. You probably won't see 33% faster if the temperature gets adjusted, but it will still be faster, maybe around 20% in my experience.

What convection ovens do is circulate the hot air so the food is constantly in contact with air at the set temperature. Without convection, the food will cool the air near it slowing down the cooking. While it's a pretty simple concept, I'm surprised by how many people think it's something more sophisticated or are completely baffled by it and revert to the standard oven. Use it, you'll love it for most things, but not all.

 

[TRRW#31]

Just so you know there is a difference in convection ovens. There are convection and true convection ovens. Standard convection ovens just have a fan circulating the air. True convection ovens have a heat coil around the fan that blow hot air as well, kind of like a clothes dryer. It cooks even more efficiently.

 

[THEU]

yea, my mom has a convection oven, but not a true convection oven... she thinks it was a total waste of money. She said it doesn't cook faster or more evenly that she can tell at all.
I want to say she has a GE, but I can't swear by it. Of course it may just be the specific model and/or brand she got, but she has thought it was a waste.

 

[NickDanger]

Ours is a FIVEStar and I'm glad we did our ovens in convection. They definitely work faster.

 

[LazyEngineer]

The oven also heats up MUCH quicker when the convection fan is on - in my experience. It also seems that things like roasted potatoes turn out crispier and better.

 

[HornBud]

No experience, but crispier pizza and other things is what I hear is a huge benny.

 

[The Eyes of Texas]

Thanks for the reponses...mine is going to be a GE, so I may end up with the 'no real benefit' model, which is Okay, because we're really happy to be getting 2 ovens...the convection bit was a bonus.

 

[brntorng]

Ours is a GE Profile gas convection oven and it works great.

 

[Rexy]

I have a convection oven in our RV - love it!

 

[Bevo Incognito]

In reply to:

---

---