How to Test Your Oven Temperature Without a Thermometer

photo by Dreamer in Ontario


- Ready In:
- 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 2
- Serves:
-
1
ingredients
- granulated sugar
- aluminum foil (optional)
directions
-
To test if your oven is running cold:
- Preheat oven to 375°. (186° C.).
- Place a small amount of granulated sugar in an oven-proof dish or on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.
- Place in oven for 15 minutes.
- If your oven is calibrated correctly, the sugar will melt.
- If your oven is running cold, the sugar will not melt.
-
To test if your oven is running hot:
- Preheat oven to 350°. (177° C.).
- Follow the same procedure as above.
- If your oven is calibrated correctly, the sugar will not melt (although it may brown a little).
- If your oven is running hot, the sugar will melt.
- Note: ovens do not maintain a constant temperature, but cycle above and below it, so it is possible that the sugar may melt at 350° if your oven is correctly calibrated but has an extreme cycle (15° F, 8° C.).
Questions & Replies

Reviews
-
It really works!! Knew my oven was a little off so started with the test for running hot and the sugar melted. Then just for fun did the test for running cold and the sugar burnt. So what I knew before has now been proven my oven is running a little on the hot side. But given the age of my oven guessing I would be a little hot about still having to work also. Thanks so much for the post.
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Thank you! I have a new RV oven, and it is my first ever gas oven. Something seemed really wrong the first time I cooked a frozen pizza. A new oven thermometer says that the oven is running 56° cold. So what do I trust? This is a pretty meaningful test and has let me know that the $6 gadget is calibrated properly and this $900 appliance is not.
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