Convection baking can result in brown or crispy dishes, which can be ideal for certain meats and pastries. It can also help evenly bake multiple dishes at once or layered pasta dishes. Conventional baking, on the other hand, is a slower process best used for unsolidified foods, like batter or dough.
Convection ovens can cook some dishes faster and help create crispy, caramelized and browned finishes through rapid air circulation. Many convection ovens function as traditional ovens until the convection setting is activated, providing the best of both.
Additionally, convection ovens tend to be more expensive than traditional ovens, which may not be feasible for some budgets. The fan motor may also require more energy, leading to higher electricity bills. The cons of convection cooking may include a learning curve, recipe adjustment, and higher cost.
As others have said, some dishes/baked goods can come out wrong in a convection oven, due to the air current and the drying effect it can also have. Most notably are things like Souffles or Macarons, where they need a slow, steady, even heat for them to slowly, and steadily rise.
If you want to crisp something up like chicken skin or get a nice charring effect on roasted veggies, you need to turn your oven up high to 450-550 F and use convection if you have it. If you have it, convection should be used for everything (except baking cakes).
To ensure that you achieve similar levels of crispiness as you would with an air fryer, use a perforated tray or basket to allow the hot air to circulate thoroughly on the entire food surface. If you don't have a perforated tray or basket, use a dark or nonstick tray with low sides, or an oven-safe cooling rack.
While both appliances use fans to circulate heat, many air fryers cook from the top down and do not have a bottom heating element. Convection ovens typically use the oven's main heating element, a fan and a third heating element on True Convection models to distribute heat throughout the oven cavity.
Some recipes will suggest regular bake or convection, but as a general rule, don't use the convection setting for delicate desserts and pastries such as custards, souffle, chiffon and angel food cakes, to name a few.
Disadvantages of Convection Ovens
Drier baked goods: Food also dries out faster in a convection oven, which is often not ideal for baked goods. With all these adjustments, the first time you make the dish with convection might require more active time and constant checking of the food.
Answer: The oven trays supplied with the Convection Steam Oven can be covered in aluminum foil. Any baking mode can be used. Never place foil or foil pans on the floor of the oven, or allow foil to touch the back wall of the oven as it will cause permanent damage.
Professional chefs swear by the advantages of convection ovens. That's because it cooks food slightly differently.
I prefer to cook this lasagna on convection bake since it is prepared in a very tall pan. It cooks more evenly.
Not Ideal for Convection
Delicate bakes like custards, flans, and soufflés may get disrupted by the circulating air. The debate over bread baking in convection ovens is still unresolved. While some advocate for its even browning, others argue it dries out the bread's interior.
As you are rolling out and topping your first pizza, switch your oven to broil. Right before you launch, swtich your oven back to bake or convection bake 500F. The idea is to get your Steel even hotter than 500 F for this thin crust bake. It really helps crisp up that bottom.
While air fryers are popular, the most expensive models can start to get a little pricey, which could undermine their status as a budget item. Taking to social media to share their opinions, many people have revealed that they reckon halogen ovens are the best option for frugal cooking.
Gas or electric convection ovens use fans to continuously circulate hot air throughout the oven, creating a more uniform temperature—no hot spots—that allows food to brown more evenly than in thermal ovens.
If your convection oven doesn't have an air fry setting, you can still get deliciously crispy results with a few adjustments. If you have one, use a convection oven with an air fry basket or a pan with low sides to help ensure air circulates around food while it cooks.
When you are using a convection oven, you would need to adjust the recipes. If you don't adjust the recipe correctly, you can end up with burnt or overcooked food. Baked foods such as bread, cookies, and cakes are most susceptible to this.
It's often recommended to use a conventional oven when baking cakes. The blown air of convection ovens may help cause lopsided results in foods like cake, souffles, custards and flans, while conventional ovens are often better at helping baked goods retain the moisture necessary in many recipes.
Convection is good for:
Roasting ham, turkey, roast-ready beef cuts, and similar meats. Roasting vegetables and potatoes for an extra crisp. Cookies and muffins—especially when you have a big batch to bake at once. Pies and pastry.
An oven set too high will scorch food quickly. Troubleshooting: Use an oven thermometer to check if the temperature inside matches what you've set it to. Fixing the Issue: If the temperatures don't align, recalibrate your oven. Calibration methods vary by model, so consult your oven's manual or a professional.
Both air fryers and convection ovens circulate hot air around your food, but the air inside an air fryer circulates faster because it is a smaller appliance with a smaller cooking area in which to circulate the air. The air fryer has a fan at the top of the appliance, with the food in the tray below it.
Ditch your air fryer and replace it with a countertop oven | CNN.
Microwaves typically cook food faster due to their direct heating method. In contrast, OTGs take longer, as they rely on convection heat, which is more suited for baking and roasting rather than rapid heating.
The quick answer is, an air fryer is a simply a smaller convection oven with a catchy name. There is no actual frying going on inside an air fryer—that's because an air fryer cooks food via convection baking. So air fryers are, in essence, convection ovens.