What Is A Toaster Oven’s Temperature?

Last updated on August 18th, 2022 at 02:53 pm

A toaster oven is essentially a small oven that can be placed on your countertop. These little ovens can be really convenient. They fit on your countertop and can be put away when not in use. 

With toaster ovens you can do so much more than simply toast your bread. You can bake small meals, cookies, cakes, breads, and so much more. Pizzas are also often cooked in toaster ovens. 

These ovens are smaller than a conventional oven so you will not be able to fit the same amount of food into it as you would your regular oven but you can cook in it just the same as you would a conventional oven. 

Your batches of cookies will be smaller than they would in a conventional oven. The size of a pizza that you can fit into your toaster oven depends on the size of your toaster oven. 

Many stores sell smaller sheet pans, cupcake pans, casserole dishes, and cookie sheets that are intended for use in a toaster oven. These smaller baking pans are the perfect size for a toaster oven and they can be pretty cute too. 

My kids like when they get pies that are made in individual pie tins. They also really like to have individual pot pies made in ramekins. 

When my daughter was learning how to cook, she was not as intimidated by a toaster oven as she was by the conventional oven. She first started to make her own pizzas, biscuits, and even brownies in the toaster oven. 

Since a toaster oven can cook much of the same foods that a conventional oven can, you might be curious as to what temperature a toaster oven can reach. 

The temperature of a toaster oven can be anywhere from 150 degrees Fahrenheit all the way to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Toaster ovens that reach up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit are referred to as broiler ovens or quick ovens. 

What temperature you need to set your toaster oven on will depend on what it is that you are cooking. To know the exact temperature check the manual for your toaster oven and it will say what temp and time you should cook things like meat, bread, desserts, and more. 

In general a toaster oven and normal oven will cook things at or near the same temperature and will need to be cooked for approximately the same time in both appliances. Again, you should refer to your toaster oven’s manual to see whether you should adjust the time and temp for your model or not. 

Is A Toaster Oven Hotter Than A Regular Oven?

Most toaster ovens will reach temperatures of 450 degrees Fahrenheit. However, some toaster ovens can even reach up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Toaster ovens do not get hotter than a conventional oven and actually a normal oven can get a bit hotter (although not much) than a toaster oven can, Conventional ovens can reach temperatures of 550 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Toaster ovens do not use as much energy as a conventional oven. A toaster oven only costs about 3 cents an hour to operate while a gas oven will cost 7 cents an hour to run, and an electric oven will cost 16 cents an hour. 

As you can see a toaster oven is more energy efficient than a conventional oven. 

During the warmer months you will likely want to use a toaster oven instead of a conventional oven because the toaster oven does not get as hot as a regular oven. Also when you use a conventional oven to cook or bake you are going to be heating up your kitchen. A toaster oven will not radiate its heat into your house which will save you some money on your AC bill. 

It will be more comfortable to cook in the summer months with a toaster oven.

Can You Use A Toaster Oven As An Oven?

A toaster oven is a handy little appliance to have. It fits nicely on your countertop and will not heat up your kitchen in the way that a conventional oven will. 

You can certainly use a toaster oven in place of a regular oven. Though a toaster oven is smaller than a conventional oven it does function the same as one. 

A toaster oven reaches nearly the same temperature as a normal oven but will not heat up your house in the same way that a conventional oven will. Toaster ovens are also more affordable than a conventional oven. 

The average cost of a toaster oven ranges from 50 to 150 dollars, and you can find some even cheaper than that. I have seen toaster ovens for as little as 20 dollars. 

A conventional oven can range between 500 dollars and 2000 dollars. Conventional ovens can certainly cost more than 2000 dollars. 

Conventional ovens need to be installed while a toaster oven simply needs to be pulled out of the box, set on the counter, and then plugged into the outlet. 

The amount of food that you can cook in a toaster oven will be smaller than the amount that you can fit into a conventional oven but it will cook the same.

Can I Bake A Cake In A Toaster Oven?

Many cakes will bake at a temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Toaster ovens can reach up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit on most models. So reaching the temperature that a cake needs to in a toaster oven is not an issue

You can bake a cake in a toaster oven, however it will need to be a smaller cake or pan since the toaster oven will be so much smaller than a normal oven is. 

Toaster ovens preheat faster than a conventional oven so you won’t have to wait as long to get your cake into the oven. 

Any cake recipe can be baked in a toaster oven. You simply need to make sure that your cake pan will fit into your toaster oven before filling it with batter. You will also only be able to bake one layer at a time in a toaster oven. 

A 6-cavity cupcake pan will fit nicely in a toaster oven as well. You can either make a smaller batch of cake batter or bake your cupcakes in separate batches. 

When you are baking in a toaster oven you will want to rotate your cake half way through the baking process. Since toaster ovens are smaller than conventional ovens, whatever you bake in it will be closer to the heating elements. Because the cake you will be baking will be closer to the heating elements you will want to be aware of where the hot spots are in your toaster oven. 

Cakes can burn fairly easily which is why you will want to rotate your cake halfway through the baking process. 

You will not be able to fit large cakes into a toaster oven. If you are wanting to make something like an angel food cake or a Bundt cake you will either want to use a conventional oven or you will want to find a smaller size pan that you can fit into your toaster oven. 

Some cooks recommend lowering the temperature that you will be baking your cake on by 25 degrees Fahrenheit when cooking in a toaster oven to avoid burning it. If your recipe calls for you to bake the cake at 350 degrees then you will want to bake your cake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, then cook it at the same amount of time. 

If you are using a smaller cake pan you might want to check on your cake before the timer buzzes since smaller cakes will not take as long to cook. 

You can always add extra time if it is not quite finished yet. 

It’s important to note that you cannot use parchment paper in a toaster oven because of the close proximity of the heating coils to the baking rack. If you try to use parchment paper in a toaster oven you will run a risk of starting a fire.