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During the summer, the heat can be brutal. The temperature outside can range anywhere from 90ºF to 100ºF and even hotter in some locations like Arizona. Making dinner is the last thing on your mind as it is too hot to even want to eat.
As you stand there, enjoying the breeze from the freezer, you realize that you have chicken that needs to be used soon.
Though summer is a great time for grilling, standing over an open flame in 100ºF heat is not appealing. The AC unit in your home is working overtime and it still doesn’t feel cool in the house.
Is there a way that you can cook the chicken without melting in the heat outside or heating the whole inside of your home? Could you use a toaster oven to cook the chicken?
You can use a toaster oven to bake chicken. While a toaster oven will not heat up your house as much as an oven will, the area around it will still become very warm. You can prepare your chicken as usual and then place it in the toaster oven.
Preheat the toaster oven to 375ºF. You will use the toaster oven much like you would your regular oven. Once the toaster oven is preheated, you can add the chicken. Since the toaster oven is a more compact space than the stove, cooking times will vary.
What may take 45 minutes in the oven may take 35-40 in the toaster oven. Be sure to check your chicken to ensure that it is not being overcooked and dried out.
Be sure to use only approved cooking trays when using the toaster oven. If you plan on using a glass dish, make sure your toaster oven manual says it is okay. Not all glass dishes hold up well in a toaster oven.
It is best to cook your chicken with the trays that come with the toaster oven. It’s also important to note that toaster ovens are much smaller than a normal oven (obviously) so you won’t be able to cook as much chicken at one time as you would in an oven.
To see the most popular toaster ovens just click here.
Can You Cook Raw Meat In The Toaster Oven?
When it comes to raw meat, you need to be careful how it’s handled and how it’s cooked. You never want to serve undercooked meat to your guests or eat it yourself. You do not want to be the reason someone ended up with food poisoning.
You may have the cleanest house and the cleanest kitchen, but if you serve undercooked meat, none of that matters.
If you have quite a few people coming over and not enough room in the oven, can you use the toaster oven to cook raw meat? Will the toaster oven thoroughly cook the meat or is it better to throw the meat on the grill?
Raw meat can be cooked in the toaster oven. If you have been marinating the chicken all day, you can place the raw, marinated chicken in the toaster oven and after about a half-hour enjoy the deliciously and thoroughly baked chicken.
The same goes for raw fish, beef, and pork. Any meat can be thoroughly cooked in the toaster oven if given the appropriate amount of time.
Is There Anything You Can’t Make In A Toaster Oven?
If you are trying to keep your house cool in the summer, not using the oven is a great way to reduce the heat. There are several different appliances that you can use that you might not even need an oven.
If you are wanting to boil pasta, you can use a hot plate to boil on. If you want to cook things raw, you can use the air fryer, crockpot, instant pot, or toaster oven. If you want to reheat your leftovers from the night before you can use a microwave, toaster oven, or an air fryer.
Is there any one appliance that can handle all the foods like the stove/oven? A microwave can’t handle certain foods and won’t cook raw meat thoroughly. A crockpot can do a lot but takes hours to do it. An air fryer works well, but you can’t make pasta.
Is there anything that you can’t make in a toaster oven?
Essentially, you can make any food in the toaster oven as long as you don’t want to boil or fry it.
While you may not be able to boil pasta, you can still create pasta bakes and bake them in the toaster oven. Microwaves may not be able to handle raw meat well, but the toaster oven will. Even air fryers have foods that don’t do well. Practically any food will cook well in the toaster oven.
While you may be able to cook practically any food in the toaster oven, there are a few things that you should never use in a toaster oven.
- Parchment paper, aluminum foil, paper towels, and paper plates should not be used in the toaster oven. These products are designed to withstand the high heat, however, if they were to touch a filament in the toaster oven, it could cause a fire.
- Plastics and styrofoam containers should never be placed in the toaster oven. Plastic and styrofoam are not designed to withstand high temperatures. While these might hold up well in the microwave, they will melt and possibly catch fire in the toaster oven.
- Glassware and coffee mugs are not the best options to bake things in the toaster oven. Glass dishes and coffee mugs can randomly shatter inside and outside the toaster oven. There are a few toaster oven companies that have released glass bakeware, but typically it is not a great idea to use any non-toaster oven branded glassware in the toaster oven.
What Can You Use A Toaster Oven For?
Every year, it feels as though they are rolling out a new appliance to make life in the kitchen easier. There’s the toaster for bread, microwaves for reheating, toaster ovens for baking, stovetops for boiling water and cooking, the oven for baking, the air fryer for a healthier version of deep-frying, and so on.
Can you use the toaster oven for more than just toasting and baking? Are there other functions a toaster oven can do?
Your toaster oven is more of an oven than it is a toaster. There are toaster ovens that have functions like roast, air fry, bake, and broil too.
There are some toaster ovens that are big enough to fit an entire turkey in which would free up your oven for other foods to bake during Thanksgiving. You can also bake a pizza in your toaster oven in just a few minutes.
Final Thoughts
If you find yourself without an oven or just not wanting to heat up the whole house, you can still make dinners in the toaster oven. You can cook up your favorite chicken recipe in the toaster oven too since it thoroughly cooks all meat.
