Do you own a countertop oven? Many people don’t yet own one because they don’t know what they would do with one. Countertop ovens used to be hated on because people weren’t sure what to do with them.
However, almost a third of all households now have a countertop oven.
We’ll take things to another level and let everyone who owns a countertop oven know how to take even more advantage of it and increase its efficiency with a few simple tricks.
If you’ve just got your first countertop oven and aren’t really confident with your skills, you have nothing to worry about. Better yet, this will help you gain more skills and become more confident operating your countertop oven!
8 Hacks That Will Help You Master Your Countertop Oven
Cook Just About Anything
Even though many people judge countertop ovens by the size, they misunderstand its abilities. An honest opinion after years of experience and practice is that you can cook just about anything with a countertop oven.
It might sound like a cliche, but it’s true. People even forget that a countertop oven can be used to toast a few slices of bread.
What else it can do, you wonder? It can cook anything from pizza, whole chicken, lasagna, pot roast, to even cookies and desserts.
Cookies
Baking cookies in a countertop oven is that simple that even your kids would be able to do it, yet sadly, a lot of people don’t know or they ignore the fact that cookies can be made using a countertop oven.
What’s even better is because countertop oven is so compact, there is no energy or heat loss at all, so even if you want to just make a few cookies – you can do it without doubting yourself in the back of your mind.
Best Potatoes You’ll Ever Taste
A lot of people enjoy the potatoes which are made in regular (traditional) ovens, and that’s fine. But wait until you try potatoes you make in a countertop oven.
The reason why potatoes turn out so fine in a countertop oven is the even heating it offers with an air that circulates through such compact interior space.
However, the secret which will improve your potatoes even further is to make the potatoes soft on the inside yet golden brown (& crispy) on the outside.
You can also add some cheese and onion, and the next thing you know is your guests will be calling you potato master.
Make Your Own Trail Mix
Trail mix is a mix of nuts which most healthy-conscious people like to do themselves, in order to stay away from the chemicals used in commercial packaging to preserve the nuts.
This leads us to a brilliant idea where you can use a cookie tray and a mixture of nuts and let it roast for a few minutes.
To improve your flavors further, you can experiment with any additional ingredients from salt to vanilla.
Super-Quick Defrosting
How many times did you come home from work only to realize you didn’t take your lunch ingredients out to defrost themselves?
If you own a countertop oven, you’ll never have to think about doing that again. Why? If you didn’t know, most of the countertop ovens (even your countertop oven) has a defrost function.
Therefore, if you combine such a compact oven, a special defrost function, and ingredients you need to defrost – you’ll get a super quick defrosting process.
Believe us, even if you aren’t using your countertop oven regularly, it’s worth having it for its defrost function. It even defrosts ingredients way better than the microwaves, so there’s no dilemma right there.
A Bit of Luxury
Melting chocolate isn’t as easy as it might seem, but thanks to countertop oven – you have a perfect kitchen appliance that will help you melt the chocolate the way you want without getting it burnt.
What’s even better yet is that your countertop oven can help you do the job without any mess at all.
We recommend using a small shallow heat-proof ceramic dish that you can put straight on the table after you’ve done melting the chocolate.
You can serve your guests a chocolate fondue and no one will ever know you made it just minutes ago in your countertop oven.
Baking Advantage
Everyone knows by now that a countertop oven uses an air that circulates evenly through the oven in order to offer a perfect bake.
What many people don’t know is that there is no better way to bake something than to use a countertop oven.
Whether you love baking your own bread, make sandwiches, or even a few tortillas, countertop oven will make sure they always come out of your oven perfectly fine.
Even if you aren’t a big fan of baking, you can start practicing and get yourself in a baking groove. We are sure everyone around you will appreciate it!
Toast Bread Instead
Everyone’s used to toasting bread inside a classic bread toaster, but why not help yourself with the countertop oven?
Some high-end countertop ovens might even come with a special function for bread toasting. While some people don’t like the results, others swear that they aren’t going back to a classic bread toaster ever again!
Well, it’s up to you to give it a try and play with the possibilities. But trust us when we say this – you won’t regret taking things a step further and investing a bit of your time in improving your skills with these hacks.
Conclusion
These are rather possibilities rather than hacks, but we like to call them hacks since not many people truly take the full advantage of their countertop ovens and that’s why we think this post will help a lot of people out there.
No matter if you’re a beginner or you’re an expert – these hacks will help you take your skills to another level and make the most out of your countertop oven.
If you have any additional tips, tricks, or “hacks” – we’d love to hear so feel free to leave a comment down below!
