Best Halogen Oven

There is more than you would think when considering purchasing a halogen oven. As with most things in life not all halogen ovens are created equal. To understand how to choose the best halogen oven it is helpful to understand how they work. Essentially most halogen ovens are designed in the same way just like most conventional ovens are designed in a similar fashion. A halogen oven is a self-contained cooking unit that is mains powered, they may vary in size but the two most common sizes are a 12 litre oven, this is considered a standard sized halogen oven, another popular size is a 7 litre halogen oven this oven known as a mini halogen oven and has become very popular with people who own caravans and motorhomes. The reasons being they are a small easy to clean oven for use in caravans. The base of a halogen oven is a Perspex or glass bowl and has a halogen lamp integrated into the lid. The lamp varies in power with top ovens running at 1400 watts and less powerful ovens running at 1000-1100 watts. Most halogen ovens also are fan assisted which is very good for cooking food as everything is cooked equally. Another function that has proved to be popular with consumers is the ability for the halogen oven to clean itself, known as its self-cleaning function.

Ok so now you know what a halogen oven is the next question most people ask is what I can cook in it. This is one of the advantages of the halogen oven you can pretty much cook anything you like in it. The halogen oven will bake, steam, grill, defrost, roast and fry which gives it a clear advantage in terms of versatility when compare to a regular conventional oven. This is a list of possible foods you can cook in a halogen oven; the list is design to give you example of what is possible and by no means is it an exhaustive list. Fish, chicken, meat, vegetables, toast, cakes, cookies, rice, pasta, ready meals, pizzas. As you can see there are a lot of options when cooking with a halogen oven. Another benefit of cooking with a halogen oven is the speed in which food cooks. A whole chicken, not frozen, can be cooked in a quick 40mins.

To Summarise

There are a few disadvantages to using halogen ovens that have been uncovered so far. The first is that it cannot be recommended that you cook soup in a halogen oven, due to the fan assisted cooking it causes the soup or any other water foods to swirl. Another point to take note of is that although most foods cook quicker, some vegetables take longer to cook in a halogen oven meaning it can take a little trial and error when first getting use to cooking with the halogen oven. Some people with very large families may also find the halogen oven to be too small for their needs.

Although it was found to have a few flaws overall the halogen oven performed very well and has some very distinct advantages over both a microwave oven and a conventional oven.

Halogen ovens cook quicker, which saves you time. They are easy to clean and cheaper to run than a conventional oven due to reduced cooking times which means they save you energy. Another benefit of cooking with a halogen cooker is that is you like to watch what you eat it is easy to cook healthily as any fats that are produced form at the base of the glass cooking pot where they can be easily discarded.