Things You Should Never Do to Your Oven

Every home will have an oven well most of them at least. However, using an oven isn’t always as simple as it might first appear. Sure you might be rolling your eyes at that statement but it’s true! There are certain things you should never do with your oven and while some of these might be common sense others are a bit more complex.

Many people know how to safely use their oven to cook food but when it comes to maintaining it that is where many people make mistakes. But there are also many things people do with their oven that they don’t realise is actually a mistake.

These incorrect things can take many forms and they might not cause any noticeable harm right away. But over time they easily could which means you shouldn’t always think short term. When it comes to using your oven correctly you need to consider the long term implications for the thing you do.

Yes, this all might sound quite complicated but we can simplify things! In this article, we’ll be looking at all the things you should never do when using your oven! You might be surprised by how many of these bad habits you’re also guilty of. But once you know the dangers you’ll be sure not to do it again.

So, without further ado let’s begin our countdown.

Cook Frozen Food Without Thawing It First

While it’s true a lot of the mistakes people make when using their oven are to do with the maintenance there are some cooking mistakes you need to watch out for. One of the things you should never do is cook frozen food without thawing it out first.

Yes, it might save you time but it also will dramatically increase the risk of food poisoning. Some people opt to cook the food for longer to try and reduce the risk of this but that won’t always work. So, it’s best to actually take that extra time to let the frozen food thaw properly before putting it in the oven to cook.

Always Trusting The Thermostat

Yes, this might seem like strange advice but trust me when I say that oven thermostats are notoriously unreliable. You see most oven thermostats work by measuring the temperature at only one specific spot. In most ovens, this will be somewhere quite out of the way and not within the main cooking space of the oven.

This means that whatever temperature reading you get won’t be fully accurate. It might give you a rough idea of the temperature but in some cases, it could be out by quite a lot. This will make cooking food efficiently much more difficult so rather than trusting the oven thermostat you should buy a separate oven thermometer.

With this, you can read the temperature more directly from the main heat spots which will help you get a more accurate reading on the temperature. This will also help ensure your cooking is more even and balanced across all areas of the oven.

Touch The Heating Element

Never touch the heating element!

In electric ovens, you should never touch the heating element. Now everyone will know not to touch the heating element by hand of course but you need to be mindful of other things touching it when you put them in the oven.

The heating elements are incredibly hot and something coming into contact with them like a pot you’re putting in the oven could easily melt. So, be very careful when putting things in and taking them out of the oven. You always need to be mindful of the heating elements.

Not Cleaning The Oven Knobs/ Door Handles

Cleaning your oven is very important I don’t think that is an opinion many people will disagree with. Although how often the average person cleans their oven is likely going to vary greatly. But one mistake many of us make is that we don’t clean the oven knobs and handles.

It’s easy to forget these so it’s understandable that most people when cleaning the oven will focus on the main cooking compartment. However, you should never forget to clean these areas. Greasy or grimy oven knobs can make adjusting the temperature much more difficult.

And both the door handle and oven knobs can house germs so to ensure there is no risk of contaminating the food you are preparing they should be regularly cleaned. So, get into the habit of cleaning both the interior and exterior of the oven.

Leaving The Racks In During The Self Cleaning Process

One feature many people love with more modern ovens is the self-cleaning process. While not every oven will have these more modern, luxury appliances often will. A self-cleaning process works by heating up the oven to weaken and get rid of tough stains and grease.

Once the self-clean is done you’ll be able to easily and quickly wipe out the oven and everything should look clean. However, most oven racks aren’t designed to be cleaned in this way but many people make the mistake of leaving them in any way.

You should never do this unless the manufacturer superficially says the oven racks can be cleaned in this manner. The majority of oven racks will be discoloured if left in during the self-cleaning process and it can also damage and warp them in more extreme cases. So, you should never leave them in and stick to cleaning them the old-fashioned way.

Leave Mess To Pile Up

Okay, I’ve hinted about this enough so let’s finally tackle the problem head-on, shall we? Cleaning your oven is a job most people will put off and I’ am not passing judgement on that. Cleaning an oven is not really a job most people will enjoy and it can be dirty and messy work.

However, you should never let mess pile up in your oven. It might not seem like it but this can be a very serious hazard as it can lead to smoke and actually ignite in more serious cases potentially causing a lot of damage. Letting food waste and grime pile up is also very unhygienic and will usually affect the taste of any food you cook as well.

So, you should try to get into the habit of cleaning your oven regularly. This will help you avoid the dangers of a mess pile up but also help make the actual job of cleaning your oven much easier. If you clean your oven every week then you’ll likely never have to worry about stubborn stains and doing a total clean-up will be much quicker.

What Have We Learned?

So, that completes our look at all the things you should never do to your oven. How many of these are you already guilty of doing? While some might not cause problems right away over time they can and they will almost always impact your oven’s performance when cooking.

So, now you know all the things you should never do with your oven you can ensure it is always running at maximum efficiency. And by following our advice you can take advantage of much shorter cleaning, quicker tastier cooking and much more. An oven can be a very easy appliance to handle when you’re know how to use it properly.