With the electric roaster oven, you can roast, slow cook, bake, steam, keep food warm as well as use it to serve your cooked food.
It frees up your big oven and helps to double the oven space in your kitchen.
You can use it to cook your brisket, ribs, pork stew, pork roast, roast beef, soup and more.
You can use it to warm your food or to finish cooking your ribs that you have browned in a pan on the stove.
You can bake cakes, pies or bread in your electric roaster oven.
The electric roaster oven makes great casseroles. The 18 quart roaster would be just perfect for a casserole potluck.
The electric roaster with buffet server insert would be great for serving warm food during large gatherings.
It would make a great gift for the hunters, gardeners or the passionate cook with its farm-to-table feature.
It is great for family gatherings, potluck dinners, church functions or festive get-togethers where large amount of food is served.
You’ll love the large electric roaster oven if you’re always holding parties, large gatherings or holiday dinners.
Electric Roaster Oven – Pros and Cons
Pros
- Versatile – can be used to roast, slow cook, bake, steam, keep food warm and serve
- Simple to use
- Can prepare gravy from pan drippings
- Cooks evenly – no need to rotate your meat
- Easy to clean with removable roasting pan and rack
- Adjustable temperature control
- Hand basting of the meat is not necessary – more hassle-free
- Food does not end up mushy like the food that is cooked in a slow cooker
- Portable
Cons
- It gets uncomfortably hot at the sides (Oven mitts and potholder is recommended)
- Not compact
- Can’t really get the perfect crispy skin of the cooked meat as like when done in the big oven
Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Your Electric Tabletop Roaster Oven
Oster 20-Quart Roaster Oven with Defrost and Self-Basting Lid
Preheat roaster oven to required temperature.
Place turkey/meat on a rack. Juices can then be collected in an oven liner underneath.
Lid should be kept on throughout the cooking process. This is to avoid temperature drop which will in turn prolong the cooking time.
Trick to getting a brown and crisp skin is not to open the lid during cooking.
Do not let any part of turkey touch the side of the roaster to prevent burning.
You can try rubbing the turkey skin with an olive oil herb butter blend.
This will help in getting your bird a more golden brown crispy skin too. Just rubbing plain butter alone helps too.
Another way to get the perfect crispy brown skin for your roast turkey – try cooking the last 20 – 30 minutes inside your hot conventional oven or broiler.
The roaster oven with self-basting lid does a good job at basting your turkey. The lid comes with grooves that catch the condensation and drops it back onto the food. This results in a moister bird.
After removing your cooked bird, let it sit for 30 minutes before carving. This allows for the juices to settle and you’ll get a more moist and juicy bird.
The commercial oven cooking bag can be used in the roaster oven but not the brown paper bag. Intense heat may cause the brown paper bag to ignite, causing a fire. Besides, the dye, glue and recycled materials used in the manufacture of the brown bags might give-off toxic fumes under high heat.
Place the oven-proof baking dish with the food ingredients on the rack. Place the rack at the bottom of the roaster oven. This ensures even heat distribution and easy cleaning of your roaster pan as food sticking to the pan makes a messy mess.
Using disposable baking pans would ensure an even easier clean-up.
Check out electric roaster ovens at Walmart
How To Cook Turkey In An Electric Roaster Oven
Oster 18-Quart Roaster Oven
Always read the manufacturer’s instructions that come with the roaster oven before starting.
The portable roaster oven is used in the same way as your big convection oven.
Preheat your roaster oven to 400°F or higher.
Rub exterior of turkey with browning sauce and butter.
Place turkey on the roasting rack, then put the rack on the roasting pan/liner (that comes with your roaster oven) inside the preheated roaster oven.
Turkey juices will collect on the roasting pan below.
If placing turkey on a baking pan, then place baking pan with turkey on the roasting rack and not on the included roasting pan.
You do not need to add water to the roasting pan.
Close the lid and cook for 30 minutes at this high temperature.
Lower temperature to 325 – 350°F and continue cooking.
Do not lift the lid to check on your bird. Doing so will result in a drop in the roaster temperature besides allowing the steam to escape. This will result in a drier bird.
Check your 20 pound bird after about 3 1/2 hours. ( Check your instruction booklet for the recommended turkey cooking times. It normally takes a shorter time than that recommended.)
The turkey is considered safely cooked when the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast is 165°F (USDA) when measured with the meat thermometer.
Related Post : Electric Turkey Fryer vs Propane
What Are The Differences Between The Roaster Oven And The Conventional Oven
The big oven has a larger cooking area and is heated up by gas or electric power. The food is surrounded by a lot more hot heat than that of the roaster oven.
The excess hot dry heat draws out moisture from the food. Resulting food, for example turkey, is drier compared to the bird in the roaster.
The smaller roaster oven has a side/bottom heating element and runs on electric power. It does not dry out the roasted food like the way a conventional oven does due to its smaller space and more efficient heating which result in a more moist environment.
Due to its smaller cooking capacity, the roaster oven heats up faster, cooks faster as well as uses less electricity.
The larger capacity oven means that you’ll have to manually flip your meat to ensure more even cooking.
The food in the roaster is placed on a rack which is slightly above the heat source. The smaller capacity ensures more even cooking without the need to flip your food.
The roaster oven with the lid makes use of the steam from the cooking to seal in the juices besides shortening the overall cooking time.
The roaster oven with self basting lid will recirculate the moisture inside the oven thus eliminating the need to manually baste your meat.
You’ll need to self-baste when using the conventional oven.
However, the larger conventional oven with its double layer racks allows for more food to be cooked at the same time.
The roaster with its removable pan and rack is also easier to clean.
The portable roaster oven is definitely more convenient to bring along elsewhere.