What does medium heat actually mean on my hob?
Recipes say medium and hobs have numbers that mean nothing consistent — how to read heat from what the pan is doing instead of from the dial.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 6 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
On a nine-position hob, roughly: 1–2 keeps things warm, 2–3 is a bare simmer, 3–4 is a steady simmer and sweating onions, 4–6 is medium and where most cooking happens, 6–8 browns and sears, 8–9 boils water and stir-fries. But read the pan, not the dial — medium is butter that foams and subsides without browning fast.
Hob numbers are not a temperature scale and they are not comparable between hobs. A 6 on a powerful induction hob and a 6 on an old ceramic one are completely different amounts of heat, and gas is different again. The reliable version of the instruction is what you can see and hear in the pan.
Step by step
- Learn the bottom of the range: keeping warm.Roughly 1–2 of 9. Nothing visible, an occasional lazy bubble at most, the pan barely warm to a hand held above it. This is for holding something at temperature, melting chocolate over water and very slow reductions. Not for cooking anything.
- Learn low: a bare simmer.Roughly 2–3. One bubble breaking the surface every second or two. This is the right heat for stews, custards, rice, and anything with dairy or egg in it that will split or catch if pushed harder. Most people cook these things far too hot.
- Learn medium-low: a steady simmer and sweating.Roughly 3–4. Constant small bubbles and gentle movement in a liquid; onions in fat softening and going translucent without taking colour. This is the setting for building the base of most dishes.
- Learn medium properly, because most recipes mean it.Roughly 4–6. The test is butter: put a knob in the pan and it should foam, subside and stay pale yellow for a good while rather than browning within seconds. Food added sizzles steadily rather than violently. This is where the majority of pan cooking happens and where most people are not.
- Learn medium-high: browning and searing.Roughly 6–8. Oil shimmers and moves visibly in the pan. Food hisses loudly the instant it lands and starts colouring within a minute. This is for getting colour on meat and vegetables, and for anything you want browned rather than cooked through.
- Learn high, and what it is not for.8–9. Boiling water, stir-frying, and getting a pan up to temperature quickly. It is not a setting for cooking anything you then walk away from — at this heat a pan goes from right to burnt in under a minute, and oil approaches its smoke point.
- Read the pan, not the number.Water skittering across a dry pan in beads rather than boiling on the spot means it is hot enough to sear. Oil that shimmers is ready for food; oil that smokes has gone too far. Butter that browns instantly means the pan is above medium. These signs work on any hob in any kitchen.
Tips
- Induction responds instantly, gas within a second or two, ceramic and solid plates take a minute or more to change. On a slow hob, move the pan off the ring to drop the heat quickly rather than turning the dial and waiting.
- The pan matters as much as the setting. A thin pan on 4 has hot spots and a thick one on 4 does not, and a large pan on a small ring is hot in the middle and cool at the rim.
- Preheat on medium, not high, unless you specifically want a searing pan. Most sticking and most burnt garlic comes from a pan that was hotter than the recipe assumed.
- If a recipe's timing keeps beating you — onions golden in five minutes rather than twenty — you are cooking hotter than the author was. Trust the description over the number.
Questions people ask
What number is medium on a hob that goes to 9?
Around 4 to 6, but the honest answer is that it depends on the hob and the pan. Use the butter test: at medium, butter foams and subsides and stays pale for a while rather than browning in seconds.
Is medium heat the same on gas and induction?
No. Induction delivers far more power at the same relative setting and responds instantly, so the same numbered position is usually hotter and faster. Learn each hob by what the pan does, not by transferring numbers.
Why does my food burn on the outside and stay raw inside?
The heat is too high for the thickness of what you are cooking. Brown it at medium-high, then drop to medium or medium-low to cook it through, or finish it in the oven.