You’ve become used to using roasting bags in your conventional and convection oven or crockpot liner bags in your crockpot. You love the convenience. It’s sheer bliss when you are able to pull the pan out of the oven, and all of the mess is inside of the bag. But now you’re wondering, does that ease translate to everything in your kitchen?
Can you use roasting bags in a halogen oven? Maybe. If your halogen oven is a full-sized wall oven, then yes. If, on the other hand, it is a countertop version, then the answer is no. Cooking bags are only intended to be used in full-sized ovens – not counter-top ovens, whether they be halogen, convection, microwave, roaster, toaster, or otherwise. Using an oven bag in an oven that the manufacturer considers to be too small puts you in danger of melting the bag onto your food, or worse, starting a kitchen fire.
Let’s learn more about your halogen oven, how you can safely use it, and some of its benefits.
How Halogen Ovens Work
Do you remember your childhood and yearning for that Easy-Bake Oven™? Well, that was a miniature, primitive version of a halogen oven. But they have come a long way and today’s halogen oven isn’t your inefficient plastic childhood toy no more.
Whereas standard cooking practices use conduction or convection to heat your food, your halogen oven uses infrared heat. Similar to a microwave, it relies on a radiation process (as in heat was radiating off of the sidewalk – not harmful radiation) to transfer the infrared heat to cook the food.
As the infrared energy penetrates the food, the food molecules vibrate, produce heat, and thereby, cook your meal. Because the radiation heat absorbs through the food to the molecular level, food doesn’t take as long to cook.
Benefits of Halogen Ovens
You might be thinking, “Well, if I can’t use a roasting bag in your countertop halogen, why have one at all?” Before you go there, let’s look at a couple of reasons as to why halogen ovens are beneficial:
You don’t need to preheat your oven because the elements heat nearly instantaneously.
Do you ever forget to turn your conventional oven on ahead of time, and then when you’re ready to put your food in the oven to cook, you have to wait another ten minutes or so? You don’t run into that issue with your halogen oven.
You save time.
Halogen ovens cook as fast as a microwave, but you don’t have to worry about the uneven cooking and hot spots you get from your microwave.
You get the benefit of the time saver, and you get the even cooking you would get in a conventional oven.
You don’t have to defrost first.
Due to the effectiveness of the cooking method, you can take your meal straight from the freezer and put it directly in your halogen oven with excellent results.
You save money.
Since you don’t have to spend time preheating your oven, and because your halogen oven cooks so much faster than your conventional oven, you save money on electricity. In some cases, your halogen oven may use up to 20% less electricity than your conventional oven. Over time, those savings could add up.
Halogen ovens also tend to cost less than some of the other alternative countertop oven cooking methods.
You save space.
If you live in a place with a small kitchen area, you know that space is at a premium. If you’re in an efficiency or studio apartment that may not have a full-sized oven, a countertop halogen oven will take up less space than a countertop conventional or convection oven will.
They’re quick to clean.
One reviewer told of an experiment she performed during which she wanted to roast a chicken and vegetables and then immediately after a cook a bread pudding. Once her dinner was finished cooking, she emptied out the juices from the chicken and immediately paced the pudding in the oven.
She was adamant there was no transfer of smell or taste of the chicken to the pudding and that after the second dish was finished, the oven components – dish and racks – were a breeze to clean.
No burning.
Because the halogen oven uses hot air to cook your food, you won’t need to worry about burning your food or setting off the smoke alarm. It’s true, you may overcook, and potentially dry out your food, but it won’t burn.
Countertop Halogen Ovens
Most people who have halogen ovens have countertop halogen ovens meant to make cooking meals faster and more convenient. Here are some examples of top-selling countertop halogen ovens and their features:
As of the writing of this article, this model costs about $70 and offers three different cooking methods: an air fryer, a toaster, and a convection process.
It has temperature options that range from 200 – 450 degrees Fahrenheit. This model comes with two stainless steel cooking racks that let you have three different layers of cooking for efficient meal prep. This model will take about a 14-inch square of space on your countertop.
This model is just over a foot square and costs about $75. The Sharper Image has adjustable temperature settings, a 60-minute timer, two stainless steel cooking racks, and stay-cool handles to keep you from burning yourself should you transfer the appliance to a different location while it’s hot.
This version comes with a 12-quart bowl that includes a 5-quart extender ring – thus getting it to the 17-quart capacity. If you prefer Celsius temperatures, this is the model for you.
It heats to between 125 – 250 degrees Celsius and has a 60-minute timer. You’ll need about a 14-inch square space on your countertop for this model, which currently sells for about $58.
There are tons of options on the market. These are simply a few that have four-plus star ratings out of a possible five. There are also some higher-end countertop options that sell for over $150.
Cuisine Possibilities with a Halogen Oven
It’s interesting to learn, but you really aren’t limited as to what you cook in your countertop halogen oven.
Although the cooking process is much faster than a conventional oven, you can still use your countertop oven for baking cakes or cookies, roasting poultry or vegetables, or to simply make some toast.
There are plenty of cookbooks available to help you learn how to use your new tool since this is a very different cooking method than you may have grown up using. Here are a couple of examples:
For about $16, you can learn how to cook everything from soups to desserts. This option even includes some suggested weekly menu plans to help you get started.
Even though they went a little long with their title, this $14 cookbook shares tricks and tips for baking, grilling, roasting, steaming, and many other cooking methods.
So, Where Do You Go from Here?
Even though you shouldn’t plan on using roasting bags in your counter-top halogen oven, you can rest assured that you will be able to perfectly roast your meat and/or vegetables without one.
Halogen oven owners also swear by the easy clean-up process of their countertop halogen ovens, so you probably won’t even miss those oven roasting bags while you’re cleaning up after your quickly made gourmet delights.
Bon Appetit!