How Do I Check if My Oven Temperature is Correct?
Oven temperatures aren’t always accurate. Over time, wear and tear can impair the oven’s ability to maintain precise temperatures. Other factors can also interfere with the accuracy of your oven temperature, like overcrowding or frequently opening the door.
Investing in an oven thermometer is an easy way to gain a better understanding of your oven temperature. Plus, using it to adjust your dial to get a more accurate temperature will help you create better results. The benefits include:
- Ensuring food has your desired doneness, texture and finish
- Maintaining consistent results in your cooking
- Helping to ensure food is safely cooked
- Helping to diagnose oven issues through troubleshooting
- Perfecting temperature-critical cooking like baking
How do oven temperatures work?
Ovens work with a thermostat just like your home heating does. When the heat gets up to a certain temperature, it turns off. The temperature falls, until it gets to another set temperature, and then it turns back on.
The average temperature over time should match the one you set on your dial. If it doesn’t, you should adjust the dial accordingly when you cook.
How to check your oven temperature is correct
Digital oven thermometers are a great way to check your oven temperature. The ChefAlarm is best because it shows the maximum and minimum temperatures, which helps you find the average.
Here’s how to check your oven’s temperature with the ChefAlarm.
- Put an air probe into your oven on a grate clip. Set the oven temperature and let it preheat.
- Reset the max/min function on the ChefAlarm and wait a few minutes for the new min and max to appear, then work out the average of those two temperatures.
- If the temperature is higher than it should be, turn your oven down slightly next time you cook. If it’s lower, do the opposite.
5 Best oven thermometers
Best budget oven thermometer
Dials are a good budget thermometer for the oven. Simple and easy to use, they stand or hang from your oven shelf and show the temperature on a traditional analogue display. When purchasing an oven dial thermometer, it’s good to think about making sure it’s large enough for you to view clearly through your oven door. The ETI 55mm dial is perfect for this.
Best digital oven thermometer
Digital oven thermometers are a great step up from a traditional dial. With more precise and accurate temperatures and a screen that affixes to the outside of your oven for easy reading, it makes monitoring oven temperatures easy.
The ChefAlarm thermometer comes with a meat probe for monitoring the internal temperature of your meat as it cooks. However, there is the option to add an oven probe for tracking the oven temperature instead. Connect the oven probe to the ChefAlarm and attach the probe to your oven shelf using the clip provided. View the accurate temperature on the digital display, and you can even set high/low alarms to sound if the temperature rises or falls too much.
The max/min function makes it easy to calculate your average oven temperature during your cooks.
Best smart oven thermometer
Using a smart thermometer will allow you to view your oven temperature on a graph, and even have the average temperature calculated for you. You can also monitor your oven temperatures in real time from your phone or tablet. The thermometer will use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to send the readings to an app on your device so you can check your cook is on track from the comfort of your sofa.
The BlueDOT is perfect for this because it has all of the simplicity and ease of use as the regular DOT, but with the added benefit of Bluetooth connectivity. Simply download our free app and connect the BlueDOT to your device to start monitoring.
Best pizza oven thermometer
Pizza IR infrared pizza oven thermometer
Infrared thermometers provide instant readings without the need to physically touch hot surfaces. This is crucial for pizza ovens, where temperatures can reach extremely high levels. Infrared thermometers also allow users to measure temperatures at different points within the oven quickly, ensuring that pizzas are cooked to perfection with consistent heat distribution.
With readings up to 5500 °C and a red laser pointer for precise targeting, it’s easy to get accurate results with the Pizza IR infrared thermometer for pizza ovens.
Best thermometer for BBQ pit temperature
ThermaQ Blue Bluetooth Thermometer
Maintaining consistent temperatures in a BBQ pit is more challenging than in an oven. This is because of factors such as variations in fuel type, airflow, and outdoor environmental conditions.
Using an oven probe to monitor pit temperature makes it easier to adjust your airflow and keep temperature-critical cooks on track. Particularly low and slow cooks where a low temperature needs to be maintained over long periods.
The ThermaQ Blue thermometer has two channels for monitoring meat and pit temperatures simultaneously. Pair the thermometer with the free app to track the progress of your whole cook from up to 50 metres away and ensure perfect results.
Summary
There are a number of different types of thermometers available for measuring the temperature of your oven. Which one you go for depends on your budget and style of cooking.
A dial thermometer is a great budget choice for bakers and home cooks. For better precision and easier reading, a digital oven thermometer makes a great upgrade.
Smart thermometers allow monitoring from a distance using a smartphone app. These are a great choice for BBQ lovers, and a thermometer like the ThermaQ Blue is ideal because it includes a probe for meat temperatures, too.
An infrared thermometer is best for pizza ovens because of their high temperatures. The RayTemp 28 is great for this because it has a wide temperature range, and the laser helps correct placement for accurate measurements.
Explore the full range of ETI oven thermometers to find the best one for you.
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