Preheating the oven - is that really necessary?

In almost every cookbook you will be asked to preheat the oven for many dishes. But does preheating really make sense? This practical tip tells you if and when you should preheat the oven in the future.

Why preheat the oven?

We recommend preheating the oven in many cooking recipes and with almost all ready meals. But is it really necessary to preheat the oven?

• Each oven takes a different amount of time to reach the desired temperature. This makes it difficult for numerous manufacturers to specify a specific baking or cooking time in the recipe or on the preparation instructions.
• A preparation time can only be specified very precisely at a constant temperature. In order to be able to determine the preparation time as precisely as possible, we recommend that you preheat the oven on recipes or food packaging.
• CHIP electricity comparison: We will find your top tariff

Advantages when preheating the oven

• For some dishes, it is advisable to preheat the oven. Whenever a surface needs to be crispy, not preheating can affect the taste. While a crust only forms above a certain temperature, the actual dish is exposed to the slowly increasing temperature. This can cause the dish to take on a different taste.
• If you preheat the oven, you can be sure that you are getting the best possible taste experience.

Disadvantages when preheating the oven

• If you preheat the oven, it will generally take longer for your dish to finish. This is because the product is thawed and cooked while it is heating up.
• Doing without preheating saves electricity and energy.

Conclusion: Preheat if uncertain

Omitting the preheating will of course save electricity and possibly money. For some dishes, however, you should definitely not do without preheating:

• for example with cakes, soufflé, meat or fish. Because it is particularly important here to apply heat evenly.
• The best way to avoid pre-heating is with ready meals. But here too there is a risk that the dish is already cooked but not yet crisp on the surface.
• If you want to save electricity when baking and cooking, you should turn off the oven before the end of the cooking time. The heat stays in the oven for a while, but it is not reheated. Here you hardly have to expect a loss of taste.
• Tip: A comparison of electricity providers can save you several € 100 a year. So before you push a fish into the tube without preheating, first check your electricity tariff using our CHIP comparison calculator.

Better save electricity elsewhere in the household. In another practical tip, we will explain how you can save electricity costs. So that you don't have to clean the oven for a long time after baking, we show you the advantages and disadvantages of pyrolysis - the self-cleaning of ovens.