What Can You Cook In A Halogen Oven?

The easy answer to this question is pretty much anything you can cook in a regular oven, but better! Cooking in a regular oven, it’s easy to overcook food and dry it out. In a microwave, many things come out soggy.

Using a halogen oven, however, food cooks to perfection, crispy on the outside yet moist and tasty on the inside. Halogen ovens use infrared energy to allow the food to cook without losing moisture. This gives much tastier and flavour-filled food that’s never too dry and always a pleasure to eat.

Don’t run away with the idea that a halogen oven will turn you into a Michelin star chef because it won’t. What it will do is take the cooking skills you do have to a whole next level. In no time at all, you’ll get the hang of this innovative way of cooking and produce your best meals ever.

Table of Contents

What Foods Can You Cook In A Halogen Oven?

Here’s a short list of foods that can be cooked using halogen technology, as you will see, halogen ovens are not just for reheating leftovers. They are so much more than that.

Cooking Beef In A Halogen Oven

To roast a joint of beef to perfection will take around 75 minutes per Kilo. Obviously, you’ll have to play with timings a bit to get it the way you like it (rare, medium, well done etc.)

Steaks

Steaks are another one of those personal choice meats, some like them almost raw, others like them nearly incinerated. However you like your steak, the halogen oven can cook it perfectly. You can even chargrill the outside if that’s how you like it.

Cooking Pork In The Halogen Oven

Joints of pork can be cooked with a crunchy crackling while remaining moist and succulent inside.

Bacon

If you’ve ever cooked bacon in a microwave, you’ll know how disappointing it can be. Especially if you like it crispy, that’s not a problem in a halogen oven. Perfect bacon every time.

Cooking Chicken In A Halogen Oven

A halogen oven can cook a full chicken with ease and you can have the outside browned the way you like it without drying the meat out.

Burgers And Hot Dogs

Both of these come out perfectly cooked in a halogen oven and as the flavour is sealed in, they taste so much better.

Pizzas

Cooking pizzas in a microwave is always a disappointment, using a halogen oven, however, cooks perfect pizza every time.

Frozen Foods

From freezer to halogen oven, to plate. That describes the simplicity of using a halogen oven to cook frozen foods. Often no need to thaw first, unless it’s a joint of meat.

Reheating Leftovers

Often leftovers become very dry and inedible when reheated in a conventional oven. Or wet and soggy in a microwave, but in a halogen oven leftovers reheat perfectly.

How Long Does It Take To Cook Food In A Halogen Oven?

Cooking food in a halogen oven can save you a large amount of time. Plus a halogen oven cooks food properly, you don’t get burnt, dried out food or wet, soggy food. As a guide to timings, we’ve compiled an easy to follow chart for your convenience.

Food	Weight	Cooking Time (mins)	Temperature	Position
Jacket Potato	Medium Sized	25-40	200-250C	Low Rack
Roast Potatoes	4	45-60	175C	Low Rack
Steak Medium Rare	5-8 oz	8-10	250C	Low Rack
Roast Beef	1 Kg	Rare 30-40, Medium 45-50, Well Done 55-60	175C	Low Rack
Chicken	Medium	60-90	200C	Low Rack
Sausages	4	10	120-150C	Low Rack
Chips	1 Portion	10	200C	High Rack
Poached Eggs	2	5-6	175C	Low Rack
Soft Boiled Eggs	2	4-5	200C	Low Rack
Omelette	1	10-12	175C	Low Rack
Fish Steak	1	10-12	200C	Low Rack
Crab	1	10-13	140-160C	Low Rack
Bread	Small Loaf	8-10	120-140C	Low Rack
Vegetables	Portion	15-20	200C	Low Rack

This is just a short guide, it’s best to consult your manufacturers’ handbook for full instructions.

Simple Recipes For cooking In Halogen Ovens

Here are a few easy to cook recipes for cooking great food in a halogen oven. These recipes can be adapted for cooking other foods.

Pork Chops And Roast Potatoes

Parboil potatoes for 5 minutes, then brush with oil to help them go brown and crispy, roast for 60 minutes at 200C on the low rack. Cook pork chops on the high rack for 10 minutes at 200C then turn and cook for a further 10 minutes at 200C. Check the meat is piping hot and cooked all through and serve.

Roast Lamb, Roast Potatoes And Vegetables

Parboil the potatoes and vegetables for 5 minutes lightly cover the potatoes in oil to help brown and crispen.
Place the half leg of lamb on the low rack, cook at 220C for 10 minutes, then turn the lamb over, add the potatoes and vegetables, and cook for another 10 minutes at 220C.
Turn the lamb and vegetables, adjust heat to 180C and cook for 50 minutes.
Check the meat is done, remove from the oven, turn the vegetables and cook for another 20-30 minutes.
Serve and enjoy.

Homemade Chips

First, preheat the halogen oven at 250C for 6 minutes.
Peel and slice the potatoes into chips.
Place the chips onto a non-stick baking tray, make sure to spread them out evenly.
Lightly cover the chips in oil.
Put the pan on the high rack and cook at 200C for 10 minutes.
Turn chips and cook for 5 minutes at 180C
Serve and enjoy

Toad In The Hole

Put 125g of plain flour, 1 teaspoon of salt into a large bowl.
Make a well in the middle and add 3 eggs (yolks and egg whites)
Pour in 100ml of milk and mix until smooth, add a further 75 MLS of milk and mix until a smooth, runny paste
Place 8 sausages in a small roasting tin, add 4 tablespoons spoons of oil
put on the low rack cook at 200C for 10 minutes.
Pour the batter mixture over the sausages, make sure the oil is sizzling hot before adding the batter.
Cook at 200C for 30-40 minutes until the batter rises and is a golden brown colour.

Roast Potatoes In Goose Fat

Peel 2lbs of potatoes cut into roast potato size pieces, and parboil for 5 minutes.
Put 2 tablespoons of goose fat into a roasting tray, place on the high rack heat for 5 minutes at 220C
Add parboiled, drained potatoes, cook for 10 minutes at 220C
Turn the potatoes and cook for a further 10 minutes at 220C
Then serve.

Roast Chicken

This is for a 1.5 Kg Chicken
Remove giblets and neck of the chicken, and wash the chicken thoroughly.
Place chicken on the low rack and cook for 40 minutes at 180C
Turn chicken over and cook for a further 15 minutes at 180C

Roast Pork Joint

Place a 1 Kg joint of pork in foil lightly brush with oil, wrap the foil around the joint securely.
Put on the low rack, cook for 60 minutes at 175-180C
Open the foil, turn the joint and cook for a further 70 minutes at 175-180C
Remove from the oven and allow it to stand for 10 minutes and serve.

Baked Plaice

Wrap a plaice fillet in foil, place on high rack and cook for 12-15 minutes at 200C

Root Vegetable Crisps

Peel and thinly slice 1 carrot, 1 sweet potato, 1 parsnip, and 1 raw beetroot
Coat in a mixture of 2 teaspoons of oil, garlic salt, mixed herbs and black pepper.
Place on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Place on high rack and cook at 190C for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Rice

Use the formula of twice as much water to rice.
Place in a glass bowl, cook at 180-200C for 20 minutes,
Stir every 5 minutes or so to ensure even cooking.

6 Rules For Perfectly Cooked Food In A Halogen Oven

If you follow these rules, you’ll have perfectly cooked meals every time when using a halogen oven whatever you cook.

#1 Always Allow Air To Circulate

Whatever you cook in a halogen oven always remember, the hot air has to reach all around the food. Heat has to pass above and below the food for even cooking. Always use the lower rack (if possible) to allow room for heat circulation to ensure the whole meal gets cooked evenly.

#2 Never Try To Fit Too Much In The Halogen Oven

As halogen ovens are smaller than conventional ovens, and as you need to allow even distribution of heat, be sure your meal will fit in the oven with enough space for air circulation.

#3 Follow Instructions But Adapt For The Halogen Oven

Most foods have a cooking guide for ovens, fan assisted ovens and so on. When cooking in a halogen oven, follow instructions for a fan assisted oven but lower the temperature by around 20 degrees C and adjust cooking times downwards.

#4 Give Yourself Enough Space To Work Safely

Part of the appeal of a halogen oven is its compact size, but be aware that when you remove your cooked food from the oven, it will be extremely hot. Remember, once cooking is finished you’ll have to remove the lid, and this will be hot. Allocate some space to safely put the lid down when serving up food.

#5 Exercise Caution When Removing The Lid

Halogen ovens create intense heat, as you remove the lid extremely hot steam will escape. Be aware of this and always remove the lid carefully to avoid any nasty accidents.

#6 Be Careful If Using Aluminium Foil

If you decide to use aluminium cooking foil to cover your food in the halogen oven, be sure it fits securely to your cooking container. The fan that distributes the heat around the halogen oven is very powerful and if the foil is not secure, it can break free and could possibly cause damage to your oven.

Cooking With A Halogen Oven Bonus Tips

When cooking sausages or other fatty foods, put water in the bottom of the oven, this allows the grease to float on the water making it easier to clean the oven after use.

When cooking beef for example don’t add salt, salt will remove the moisture from the meat. Making it too dry, adding pepper is fine as a seasoning but only add salt after cooking.

When cooking large joints of meat it’s best to securely cover with aluminium foil to prevent burning the outside of the meat.

When cooking jacket potatoes, it’s hard to tell if the inside is fully cooked. An easy way to tell is to stick a fork into the potato, if the fork meets resistance before reaching the middle of the potato it’s not quite done. Allow another 5 minutes and try again, from a different part of the potato.

If you go in at the same point as before it’s possible to get a false reading. A new access point allows an accurate test.

When cooking chips, don’t just start them and forget them until the time has elapsed. Check on them regularly to make sure they reach their golden colour and don’t get a burnt brown colour. This is especially important if using frozen chips.

If you cook with rice a lot, it’s worth investing in an easy cook rice dish. These dishes are specially designed for use in a halogen oven. They have a hole in the middle of the dish to allow even distribution of heat.