How long should you preheat your oven before you bake something like a cake, etc?

Question

I know that most recipes tell people to preheat their ovens before they bake a cake, etc but they never say how long the oven should be preheated for. Only the cooking time is given and not the preheating time. If you leave the oven on too long it may get too hot. So how long do you preheat the oven?

Answer 1

Most ovens have an indicator light that shows when the temperature that you set it at is reached. At that point, it has reached the desired temperature, but it is not pre-heated. Give it another 10 minutes or so for the heat to spread through and be absorbed by all of the metal. When the entire oven gets up to the right temperature, you get more even cooking temperature throughout. If you throw something in too soon, it may get a blast of heat from the thermostat trying to adjust the oven temperature.

If you don't have any indication light, it would be safe to say about 30 minutes for most ovens, for most temperatures. Whenever you are going to cook something, turn the oven on as the first course of business before preparing or mixing anything, and you should be good to go.

If your thermostat works properly, you won't have to worry about your oven getting "too hot." If you are not sure about the oven temperature, and perhaps getting bad results when following a recipe, it may be time to get yourself an oven thermometer from the grocery store and check to see if the temperature on the oven dial is the same as the temperature in the oven.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Preheating depends on lots of things, like the type of oven you have (gas? electric?), the age of the appliance (older ones will take longer), the ambient temperature in your house, etc. And no, your oven will NOT become too hot if you leave it on for too long, assuming your oven is working properly; there's a thermostat that shuts it down when it reaches the target temperature. It will, however, make your kitchen warm, the longer you leave it on.

If you are baking...bread, cake, cookies, basically anything that contains flour...preheating is a necessity, not just a recommendation. Any oven has some indicator that the temperature has been reached, like a light or a "click".

For baking, wait until you see that light (or hear that click), and THEN let the oven heat for an additonal 10-15 minutes. Just because the thermometer inside the oven registers 375 degrees (or whatever), it doesn't mean that the heat has permeated the whole oven yet. When baking, the idea is to have a constant, steady temperature, so it's best to let the oven build up residual heat. That's also why you shouldn't open the oven door and "peek" at the food while it's cooking.

Answer 3

when you begin cooking, turn the oven on to the temperature listed in the recipe. the oven will not get any hotter the longer it is left at a certain temperature.
say you set the oven to 350. it will take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to heat up completely, and will stay at 350 degrees until you turn it off or adjust the temperature. you could theoretically leave the oven on for a whole day set at 350 and it will never get any hotter than 350.
one thing to note is that once the oven has reached the full temperature, every time you open the oven, it releases some of that temperature and takes about 3-5 minutes to return to the original (set) temperature. So you should try and avoid opening the oven a lot (only open as often as you need) and if adjustments to the food need to be made, pull the food out, close the oven and make your adjustments. don't leave the oven door open for more than a few seconds.

Answer 4

How To Preheat Oven

Answer 5

Oven's stop heating when they get to the set temperature. Ovens made within the last 10 years have a light on them which goes off when the oven gets the temperature that it's set for. With older ovens, if you put it on when you start to make the cake then it should be ready by the time you need it. For other things, its about 15 minutes. Hope this helps

Answer 6

I generally preheat it for 10-15 minutes. If you do a lot of baking I'd suggest you pick up an oven thermometer.

P.S. The thermostat prevents the oven from overheating.

Answer 7

Your oven should not get hotter than your temp setting. If you have an older stove just turn it on for 10 or 15 minutes prior to putting your stuff in the oven. I never bothered to preheat for meats just cakes and cookies.

Answer 8

10 min. is sufficient. Don't worry about the oven getting too hot. If you set your oven, for say 350 it won't go above that. Do you have an oven thermometer? They are inexpensive and very handy. Also do not open the door after you put your cake in. That lets the heat escape and can cause a fallen cake.
Happy Baking.

Answer 9

If your oven gets too hot when pre-heating, you are either setting it too high, or there is something wrong with your oven. Ovens have a thermostat and when the required temperature is reached the heating changes. (A thermostat is a bimetallic strip when the temperature is right it breaks the contact, when it drops, the strip touches the contact again, and the oven is heated back to correct temperature.) IF YOUR OVEN JUST KEEPS ON GOING UP IN TEMPERATURE THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG, get it checked out. No-one likes burnt food, and if temp is too high what normally happens is food is burnt on outside, and raw on inside...yuck!
Unless your oven is gas, there will be an indicator light. It goes out when the correct temperature is reached.
But if you have a true fan oven, there is no need to pre-heat.

Answer 10

Usually until the oven is at the desired temperature. Often indicated by a light going out near to the controls.

It won't get too hot because the thermostat will get the oven to the correct temperature that you have selected and keep it there.

Roughly 20 - 30 minutes depending on how good your oven is.