My Electric Oven Burns Food

Burning your food is going to happen eventually, that’s just an eventuality when it comes to cooking. However, what do you do when the food comes out burnt even when you’ve followed the instructions carefully? Burning can happen when we don’t focus or make mistakes but it can also happen even when you’ve done everything correctly.

If your food is coming out of the oven burnt even when you’ve done everything right it means there’s a problem with oven itself. There’s a number of possible causes for this problem and knowing what to look for isn’t always easy.

Fixing this problem will also usually mean calling in a professional technician. But by knowing what to look for you will be able to ensure the repair is done more quickly and if you’re lucky you might be able to fix it yourself.

Is The Problem With The Oven?

Before you start examining the oven itself you should consider whether the problem is actually with the oven. Your baking trays could actually be causing the issue so try adjusting them.

You’d be surprised what a badly placed oven tray could cause. If your trays are old then they could also have lost their reflectiveness which can easily cause your food to burn.

So, make sure you examine your oven trays carefully and consider replacing them or cleaning them to see if it makes a difference. Remember every oven is different so you should test out different cooking methods and times to see how your food cooks.

Oven Calibration

A common cause for your oven to start burning food is the calibration, a badly calibrated oven is usually noticeable because of how it burns your food. If the edges of your food are burnt but the centre is still cooked then poor calibration is likely the reason.

So, how do you fix this? Well, that differs from oven to oven so check your manual to see how you can alter it and then try cooking some food again to see if the problem repeats itself. If you can’t figure out how to recalibrate it or have lost the manual then you should call in a professional electric oven repair technician.

Hot Spot Tests

If your oven calibration isn’t the problem then you will likely have a problem with the evenness of your cooking. There’s a variety of ways you can test your oven’s evenness one of the best ways to do this is to lay down some bread in an oven tray and seeing how evenly it cooks.

Make sure you place a tray in both the bake and broil sections of your oven so you can see if there’s any difference between them. If there’s uneven browning across the bread then identifying the problem area should be easy. However, fixing the problem will probably take the expertise of a professional electric oven repair engineer.

What Could Be Causing The Problem?

If you notice uneven browning during your test on either the bake or broil sections of your oven then the respective heating elements are probably the problem. If the problem is with just one of the elements then repairing or replacing it will solve the problem.

Elements burning out or the wiring becoming damaged over time can result in your getting burnt or unevenly cooked food. So, inspect the heating elements carefully to see if you notice any damage.

If the problem isn’t due to a defect or damage then it will likely be due to the temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is an internal component and can get damaged in a variety of ways, they can also simply just wear out over time.

You can attempt to reposition the sensor if it’s been knocked to see if that helps it work and if you have an ohm meter you can test it to see it’s working. However, in the majority of cases you will need to call in a professional technician to repair and replace it for you. Electric oven repair work must be carried out only by people who have the knowledge, skill and experience needed.