Measuring oven temperature

Profile picture for user Ilya Flyamer

Any ideas how to measure oven temperature to check how it matches the set values without an infrared thermometer, having only a regular food thermometer with a plastic body? Just curious if there are any options.

Throw in a cup of water let it heat, measure. Won't help with upper and lower set points (usually+/- 20 or so) but should give a pretty good idea. Enjoy!

Other options in place of oil are salt, sand, or glass beads. Salt or sand baths are used in chemistry labs for high temperature heating. We also had oven thermometers that contained vermiculite and later, glass beads, as a thermal sink.

Get a cheap thermocouple thermometer like this one. Sandwich the probe between two smallish flat pieces of metal or ovenware to stop it moving and give a bit of thermal mass for reading stability. Pass the probe wire through the door seal and observe.

Lance