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When would you recommend using the convection vs conventional oven? Is is a good idea to use for roasting vegetables?

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on April 23, 2024

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Nolan is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Janet Batchelder

When would you recommend using the convection vs conventional oven? Is is a good idea to use for roasting vegetables?

Answer

So I have an old oven. I don't have a convection setting to it, but I have an air fryer. And an air fryer is essentially a convection oven, only a much more miniature scale. And what is it good for? If I had a convection oven, I would use it to roast vegetables because I think that the circulating air would help to make them crispier and would give them that finish and color that you look for when you're caramelizing vegetables, uh, while roasting them. I don't know if I would bake with it. I checked with one of my friends last night. She uses her convection setting for vegetables and baked potatoes and such. But in terms of baking, she uses the, uh, oven setting, the, the conventional oven setting, shall we say, in terms of, uh, using your air fryer. Um, I roast potatoes in my air fryer because they come out super crispy on the outside and very, very moist on the inside. So essentially in a quick nutshell, that is the difference. And maybe someday I will, um, have a convection oven. Um, my oven is not that old, so, uh, we like to hold onto things in this, in our household.

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

Char Nolan is a serious crusader for plant-based education, armed with a degree in public health from Philadelphia’s Temple University. She teaches nutrition and plant-based cooking throughout Philadelphia, and in many underserved communities. Char holds a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell and completed Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Certification course in 2015. In 2019, Char completed post-graduate course work in social media marketing at the University of the Arts. When she is not cooking or teaching, she manages social media accounts for several plant-based influencers. Char prides herself on learning everything she knows about cooking from growing up in her grandparents’ Italian restaurant. Her favorite vegetables are Brussels sprouts and kale, of course. Char originally hails from Queens, NY, but has lived in Philadelphia most of her adult life. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.