How do I cook without an oven?

A broken oven, a rented kitchen or a small space is a common constraint. Almost all savoury oven cooking has a direct hob or countertop equivalent, and the results are frequently just as good.

What you'll need

• Hob and pans with lids
• Air fryer (optional)
• Microwave (optional)
• Grill (optional)

Step by step

1. Replace roasting with a covered pan on the hob.A heavy pan with a lid on low heat cooks a chicken or a joint perfectly well. Brown it first, then cook covered with a little liquid.
2. Use an air fryer for anything you want crisp.Chips, roast potatoes, chicken pieces, vegetables. It is a small convection oven and it handles most crisp-textured oven jobs directly.
3. Use the grill for browning and finishing.Gratins, melting cheese, finishing a frittata, browning the top of anything. Most grills work independently of the main oven.
4. Braise instead of casseroling.Exactly the same dish on a hob at a bare simmer with a tight lid. It is what the oven was doing anyway, just more evenly.
5. Use the microwave properly rather than dismissively.It steams vegetables and cooks potatoes excellently. Combine with a pan or grill to brown afterwards for a much better result.
6. Cook one-pan meals on the hob.Stews, curries, risottos, pasta dishes, frittatas, stir-fries. Most everyday cooking never needed an oven.
7. Steam things you would have baked.Steamed puddings, dumplings and some cakes work well steamed. It is an older method that suits a hob entirely.
8. Accept that some baking must wait.Bread, most cakes and pastry genuinely need an oven. A pan-baked flatbread or a stovetop cake is possible but different.

Tips

• A heavy pan with a well-fitting lid is the most useful piece of equipment when you have no oven. It replaces the majority of oven cooking.
• An air fryer is a genuinely good substitute for a small household and uses far less energy than heating a full oven.
• A stovetop cake in a covered heavy pan over very low heat works better than it sounds, though it does not brown on top.

Common mistakes

• Assuming nothing can be cooked without an oven — Most everyday savoury cooking is hob-based anyway. Roasting, casseroling and gratinating all have direct hob and grill equivalents.
• Using a pan without a lid to replace an oven — The lid is what creates the enclosed environment the oven provided. Without it the food dries out rather than cooking through.
• Trying to bake bread or cake without an oven and expecting the same result — These genuinely need enclosed dry heat. Stovetop versions are possible but they are a different product.

Questions people ask