Use the convection mode for things like: Roasting vegetables or meats. Because convection evaporates moisture, dishes like roast chicken, turkey or roasted potatoes are great with convection as it will help promote the golden crispy skin and surface.
Choose convection baking for things that require a longer roasting time and look better with even browning. Roasts, whole poultry, leg of lamb, and baked whole potatoes or sweet potatoes would fall in this category. Choose standard baking for things that taste better with a nicely browned exterior or a crispy texture.
Convection or Convection Bake are good options for chicken breasts with a moderate temperature of 325 - 335 degrees. The Convection Roast mode uses more concentrated heat from the top heating element which can be a little powerful for lean meats.
Any dish that says bake in the recipe, use bake. And dish that says when using convection then these times apply, use convection. Most current recipes are made well into convection ovens existing.
Bake is the lower heating element. Roast is probably lower and upper. Convection is the lower with the fan on for more uniform heat circulation. Convection mode is my go to mode for most types of baking (unless you really need that crust), because it does tend to bake more evenly.
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.
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.
This causes the heat inside the oven to be drier and more evenly distributed, so dishes cooked with convection will cook about 25 percent faster than those on your oven's conventional bake setting. In addition to saving time, this makes convection cooking slightly more energy-efficient.
Professional chefs swear by the advantages of convection ovens. That's because it cooks food slightly differently.
The Best Temperature for Baking Chicken, According to Chefs
Each of the chefs I spoke to told me the same thing—while there's a range of temperatures that will accomplish the task of baking a chicken, 400°F is practically foolproof, no matter the cut.
The Best Oven Temperature for Cooking Chicken
Many of Food Network Kitchen's baked chicken breast recipes call for a 375 degrees F oven. That's because chicken breast cooks through evenly and quickly at this temperature, making for tender, juicy results.
Place chicken breast-side up in a roasting pan or large ovenproof skillet. Stuff cavity with herbs and tie the legs together with kitchen twine. (If you don't have twine, leave the legs as they are.) Roast 50 minutes, then baste chicken with pan juices.
Tenting the chicken with aluminum foil for as long as you can is still your best bet for reducing splatter—I like cooking it with foil on top of the chicken for half of the cooking time and removing it for the second halve so the skin still gets crispy while reducing at least some of the splatter.
On the temperature front, the differences between roasting and baking are fairly cut and dry. Both roasting and baking involve cooking with dry, ambient heat, usually in an oven. Roasting temperatures are typically above 400 degrees Fahrenheit while baking temperatures are about 375 degrees and below.
To roast your dish, the convection roast will employ both stagnant and circulating hot air., which is what browns your food. If you're roasting beef, turkey, or chicken, this setting is ideal.
“If you're trying to get a crispy crust, or you want some caramelization, or you want a more even bake on your pastries, that's when most people will select the convection setting.”
What happens if you bake at 350 instead of 400? It's just going to take a little longer. From our conversion chart above, 350F instead of 400F will take 1.14 more time. So something that takes 30 minutes at 400F will take 34 minutes at 350F.
Overall, the convection oven setting is a great choice if you want a crisp, quick, product, but if you want your dish to maintain moisture or rise before it is finished baking, then stick with the conventional oven.
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.
A convection oven cooks by blowing hot air all around the food with a fan with a vent allowing the air to escape. If the foil blocks or gets too close to the fan or vent, the foil could get so hot that it ends up catching fire.
If you are looking for a foolproof method for roasting chicken breasts, look no further; convection is the key to juicy, flavorful meat.