How To Calibrate Your Oven (The Easy Way!)

Your range doesn’t stay in like-new condition forever, and from time to time it may need a bit of help to stay accurate. Learning how to calibrate your oven can potentially help with issues like too lengthy cook times and food that comes out undercooked or overdone, and it’s a fairly easy task you can take care of in a single afternoon.

In this guide, we’re walking you through how to calibrate your oven – whether gas or electric. Keep reading to learn how!

Safety First!

Whether your range is gas or electric, take care when working with your oven. Be mindful that the temperature can climb high enough to seriously injure you. Let all of your tools cool completely before handling them, and don’t do any diagnostic or repair work on your range if you aren’t confident that you can complete the job safely! Call a licensed repair technician for assistance if needed.

What You’ll Need To Calibrate Your Oven

Every oven is slightly different, and the exact methods for testing and calibrating them can vary. This tutorial includes some general guidelines that will apply to most popular range brands, but you should still consult your appliance owner’s manual for exact instructions and calibration settings if something isn’t working out for you!

Aside from that manual, you’ll just need a few tools:

• A quality thermometer. Those basic round oven thermometers generally aren’t that accurate, especially if you’ve had them for more than a year. Invest in a higher quality digital thermometer with a probe to get a more exact reading. It will make this job a lot easier.
• If you have an oven with a temperature control dial rather than a digital display, you’ll need a small screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers.
• If your oven is recalibrated by adjusting screws in the knob, rather than on the control panel, you will likely need a Phillips head screwdriver.

How To Calibrate Oven Temperature

We’re splitting this up into two different sets of instructions: testing a range with a fully digital display and testing a manual range – one that uses knobs to set the temperature.

Step One: Get Your Temperature Readings

Regardless of what type of range you’re working with, you’re going to want to start with reading the temperature. Here’s what to do:

1. If you don’t already have one of the racks in the middle of the oven, move it there now.
2. Set your thermometer’s probe as close to the center as possible.
3. Preheat your oven. Set it to 350°F (180°C) and let it warm up all the way.
4. Once your oven believes it has hit 350°, it will likely signal this with an indicator light or a beep. This can take anywhere from 12 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven. As soon as your range has signaled that it’s at temperature, check the thermometer and make note of the number.
   • For a temperature sensor with a probe, that should be as simple as checking the read out.
   • If you’re using a basic round thermometer, you may need to open the oven door to check the temperature. Do this quickly, as it can affect your reading if the door is open for too long.
5. Wait a few minutes and check the oven temperature again. Record about four or five temperatures, and then calculate their average.

If the average of all those temperatures is 350°F, your oven is already calibrated and you don’t need to make any adjustments! A variance of a few degrees isn’t a huge deal, either, but a difference of 5 or more degrees means you can probably do some calibrating, and massive differences of +/- 35 degrees could be a sign that there is something wrong with your range.

Again, be sure to consult your owner’s manual. It will contain information for your specific oven model, and whether or not an oven can be recalibrated or needs further troubleshooting.

Checking For Hot And Cold Spots

You can use this same method to check for hot and cold spots in your oven by using multiple thermostats at once!

Calibrating A Manual Control Oven Thermostat

Now that you have your temperature reading and know that your range needs to be recalibrated, we’ll take a look at how to calibrate a manual control oven – that’s an oven that uses knobs to adjust the temperature.

1. Remove the knob for the oven temperature. This should come away by hand with a firm pull.
2. Check the back of the knob, the temperature calibration may be right there in the form of two Phillips head screws. These locking screws will need to be loosened to move the dial plate and calibrate your oven.
3. If the calibration isn’t done on the knob itself, then it’s done by adjusting a set screw on the switch. Adjusting this will require a very thin, small flathead screwdriver.
4. The temperature calibration set screw is in the center of the shaft on your range’s control panel. Insert your screwdriver. If the screwdriver feels too tight, you’ll need a smaller size.
5. Steady the shaft with your needle-nose pliers and calibrate by turning the screw either clockwise or counterclockwise to increase or decrease the temperature offset. Even small turns can make a big difference, so start tiny – 1/8th inch turns at most.
6. Once you’ve made adjustments, re-test your oven’s temperature as you did before. Repeat this process until your range is calibrated correctly.

Calibrating An Oven With Electronic Controls

If your range has completely electronic controls, you’ll be using the keypad to recalibrate it. How you do this will depend on the make and model of your appliance, so consult that owner’s manual or the manufacturer’s website for exact instructions.

You can expect the process to involve pressing and holding one or two buttons and then using the up and down arrow keys to adjust the temperature. Beyond that, the steps will vary. Some brands require that you set the oven temperature to 500 to make adjustments, others need the temperature to be zero. Just remember to consult your manual!

Once you’ve finished calibrating your oven, you should test it again to make sure that the temperature is correct.

How to Check Your Oven’s Temperature Without a Thermometer

To properly calibrate your oven, it’s best to use a thermometer to get an exact temperature reading. However, if you don’t have a thermometer handy, and you just want to test your oven to see if it’s running too hot or too cold, there is a simple test you can do:

• Preheat your oven to 350°F.

• Meanwhile, line two baking pans or sheets with foil, or fold some foil up into two receptacles, then add about a spoonful of regular granulated sugar to each.

• Once the oven is heated, put one of those sugar holders into the oven and leave it for 15 minutes.

• After 15 minutes, remove the sugar, then turn your oven up to about 375°F. Let it come to temperature.

• Once heated, put the second sugar holder in the oven and allow it to sit for 15 minutes before removing.

If your oven is properly calibrated, the first sugar sample will still be whole and shouldn’t have browned too much, if at all. The sugar sample from the hotter setting should be browned and melted. If both sugar samples have melted, your oven is running too hot. If neither have melted, then it’s running too cool.

Troubleshooting: My Oven’s Temperature Is Way Off

When calibrating your oven’s temperature, you can potentially see a variance of about 10% either above or below what you’ve set, and that may not be an issue. However, if you’re having a lot of trouble getting the right temperature rating, if it’s taking a very long time to reach the appropriate temperature, or if the temperature is massively off, there may be an issue with your oven.

Here are some steps you can take to address big temperature differences (+/- 35 degrees):

• Ditch the aluminum foil. If you keep foil in the bottom of your oven for easier clean-up, get rid of it. Not only is it a safety hazard, but it can also throw off the temperature inside your oven in a big way. Try testing the temperature again once you’ve taken the aluminum foil out.
• Wait until your oven is completely cool, and then check the door gasket. This is a quick check you can do without any extra tools – examine the seal around the oven door. If it’s torn, punctured, or otherwise damaged, it can let heat escape, which will make it take much longer than it should for your oven to reach and maintain a proper temperature.
• Check out our other guides for diagnosing and fixing oven issues. We have tons of tutorials for troubleshooting ovens on our blog and  YouTube channel. Learn how to properly clean your oven the safe way. If you can’t calibrate your electric oven because it won’t program, we can help. If your gas oven igniter glows but won’t ignite, read this article to troubleshoot why. If you’re afraid to cook because you smell gas when you turn on your gas range, we can help with that too in this post. There’s a chance that your oven’s temperature sensor, thermostat, heating elements, temperature switch, or some other component is failing and needs to be replaced. No matter what the issue is, AppliancePartsPros.com can help you get back to cooking safely and accurately.

Wrapping Up

We hope this guide has helped you to achieve a more accurate oven temperature. If you’re still having issues or need additional assistance with one of your other home appliances, we’re happy to help! Check out AppliancePartsPros.com for more tips, tutorials, and genuine replacement parts. Our friendly staff is always on hand and happy to help you fix your appliances yourself!