RV Convection Microwave – Do they work? Can you really bake in one?

I’m not going to lie I was a bit confused and slightly intimidated by our RV convection microwave. Don’t get me wrong I totally understood the microwave part… put food in, press microwave, select cook time and ‘TA-DA!’ hot food in no time, but the button that read BAKE and with three round removal racks inside got me a bit confused.

My first attempt to use the convection-cooking feature, to make brownies, was definitely a bit “cowboy.” I didn’t bother to read the owners manual and I thought how much different from an oven could it be. So I mixed up my brownie batter, poured it in my Pyrex glass dish, removed all the additional metal racks, pressed bake, set time and let it go. Let’s just say my brownies did not come out well. The bottom never cooked and the top burned – so first trail… let’s just pretend it never happened.

For my next baking attempt, and right in time for fall, I made some delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes. This time I actually read the manual and figured out a few tricks of my own. Good thing they came out well because I brought them over as a party favor to meet our new friends Marc and Julie (also full time bloggers from RVlove.com). We got to chatting about these amazing pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting 🙂 (here is the recipe here -> Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for anyone that would like to make them) and realized that many RV owners don’t use their RV convection microwave for baking because of the big question, “do they really work?”

I wanted to write this article, and make a fun video, showing that it works and you can actually make really good food (or cupcakes in my case). Please find my tips to using a Samsung Convection Microwave below and hopefully it will show that you can; one, use your own RV Convection Microwave and two, save you from a failed first attempt like me.

Kala’s Tips to using a RV Convection Microwave for Baking –

• Use the metal racks. Depending on what you are making (i.e. the height of the pan/dish) you will use the small, medium or high rack. This allows hot air to circulate around your food and cook it evenly (for the cupcakes I used the medium rack).

• Set your oven temperature 25 degrees higher than what the receipt calls for. I personally found this helps the cooking time stay consistence with a regular oven. Since the RV convection microwave is smaller than a regular oven once you open the door to put the food in a lot of the heat escapes. Having the extra 25 degrees allows your food to stay at the correct temperature and cook in the allotted time.

• Allow your convection microwave to fully pre-heat. This is probably a good rule of thumb any time you are baking but putting your food in a hot oven helps it cook evenly and in the time stated for the receipt.

• When using a rectangular pan don’t forget to shut off the turntable option. Let’s just say I almost had a big lemon chicken mess because I left the turntable on, placed a rectangle pan of chicken on the medium circular rake and closed the door. The pan hit the side of the microwave and almost fell over. You can also invest in some round oven safe dishes (pie dishes or silicone options are great too).

• Not sure about something. Check your owner’s manual. OK, this seems pretty obvious but I was amazed at the number of settings within our Samsung Convection Microwave. For example, you can bake, broil, roast and there is even a new feature call “SLIM FRY.” The ‘slim fry’ technology allows you to cook crispy food without hot oil. This was especially great for us since we are trying to cook healthier meals.

Overall, do RV convection ovens work? Yes! Can you bake in them? Yes! And yes, the food comes out good!  ~Well the last part could depend on the chef 😉 

Please share! I would love to hear about any additional tips or how your first convection oven experience went. AND… if the food tasted delicious, please share your receipts too. I would love to try them!