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Purchasing an RV takes a tremendous amount of effort and money. You need to find several suitable options and narrow it down to one that fits your needs perfectly. However, while you’re searching for a new RV, many more questions may arise. One that is top of mind for many new RV owners is, Do RVs Have Ovens?
Although there are some exceptions as there are with everything, most RVs come with an oven already installed. The quality and size of the oven may vary, but almost all RVs have an oven. This will be extremely helpful if you plan on spending a lot of time on the road, especially if you want to eat more than chips and pop tarts on your trip. That being said, there’s a lot you need to learn about RV ovens because they aren’t always the same as the oven you have at home.
How Big Is an RV Oven?
The size of your RV oven is dependent on the size of your RV. Obviously, you won’t have as much space in smaller RVs, so smaller RVs will have smaller ovens. However, as a rule of thumb, you should assume that the oven in your RV will be smaller than a regular oven regardless of the size of your RV.
There is one exception where you might have a normal sized oven, and that’s if you own a Class A RV. Class As are very large and luxurious vehicles. They’re so large that they will often feature full sized kitchens will all the amenities you would ever need. As a result, you can expect ovens in Class A RVs to be as large as ovens at a regular home.
Conversely, Class B RVs are the smallest of the three major RV types. As a result, they are missing the most amenities compared to other RV types. If you have a Class B RV, you will still have an oven and a stovetop, but it won’t be as big as you’d like. Class Bs are the most likely to not have an RV oven. That’s because the slimmest RV ovens are 17 inches wide, which still might be too big for many Class Bs.
Class C RVs fall somewhere in the middle in terms of size. Generally, you will be able to fit an RV oven that is 17 or 18 inches wide in a Class C RV. However, you won’t be able to fit larger ovens in most situations.
Are RV Ovens Gas or Electric or Convection?
RV ovens come in all three types. However, most RV ovens are propane ovens. RV convection ovens are great options if you spend most of your time parked at the campground. They are smaller and function as microwaves as well.
Conversely, electric ovens are larger and more like regular ovens. They take up a lot of space and require more power to run than convection ovens.
How Much Propane Does an RV Oven Use?
All RV ovens run on propane. As a result, no matter your situation, you will need a healthy supply of propane so that you can keep cooking food on your trip. For an average sized RV oven, a gallon of propane will give you three hours of continuous use.
However, the efficiency and rate at which propane is used are affected by the size of the oven. Larger ovens will use up propane at a quicker rate.
An average sized over is 30,000 BTU (British Thermal Units). An oven of this size will use one third of a gallon of propane an hour. This means that it will take three hours to use a gallon of propane.
For a 20,000 BTU oven, the oven will use a quarter of a gallon of propane an hour. So, it will take four hours to use a gallon of propane for an oven of this size.
Finally, a 40,000 BTU oven will use propane much quicker than the smaller options. It will take roughly two and a half hours to use a gallon of propane for an oven of this size.
How Do You Bake in an RV Oven?
RV ovens aren’t as efficient as regular ovens that you have at home. As a result, you need to follow some instructions to optimize your cooking experience.
The first thing you need to do before you start cooking anything is to check the temperature of your oven. The temperature on the knob isn’t always accurate in RV ovens. So, you should take the temperature with a regular thermometer. If the temperature is off, you should adjust the knob to get the temperature you require.
Furthermore, you should always preheat the oven. You should do this at home as well, but you can get away with not doing it sometimes because it doesn’t take long for regular ovens to heat up. RV ovens take longer to heat up than normal, so you need to make sure you preheat.
Next, you should make sure that you turn whatever your baking to the other side about halfway through cooking. This is because propane ovens tend to cook unevenly. As a result, if you don’t turn over your dish, one side will end up scorched and the other undercooked.
Since heat distribution is an issue for most RV ovens, you should consider using a baking stone or tile. To use a baking stone effectively, place it on the top shelf while making sure that you don’t completely cover the ventilation holes. Then place your dish on the stone. This should help with heat distribution significantly.
Finally, you can adjust the rack depending on the amount of heat you need. Generally, an RV oven only comes with one rack, so you need to move it around. Place it closer to the bottom if you want less heat and closer to the top if you need more.
How Do I Know When My RV Oven is Pre Heated?
Unfortunately, RV ovens don’t have a buzzer or any indicator for when they’re done preheating. As a result, you need to assess that yourself. Generally, an RV oven will take around 10 minutes to preheat. That obviously depends on how hot you need the oven. The higher the temperature, the longer it will take to heat up. However, estimating the time isn’t a good idea. So, you’ll want to purchase a thermometer.
By purchasing a thermometer, you’ll be able to get an accurate reading of the temperature and know when it’s preheated. This is also helpful because the temperature knob on RV ovens aren’t always accurate. So, you’ll be able to adjust the temperature as needed if required.
How to Broil in an RV Gas Oven
After lighting the oven burner, turn the dial to broil. This will ensure that the flame provides significant heat to broil. Using the broiler is a great option for when it’s cold and wet outside. With the broiler, you can sear something and make a hot meal when it’s gross outside.
How Do You Cook Pizza in an RV Oven?
The first thing you need to remember before you start to cook a pizza in an RV oven is that RV ovens are very small. As a result, you’ll need to make sure that you don’t prepare a pizza that’s so big that it won’t fit in the oven. You also won’t be able to cook sides such as roasted vegetables in the oven at the same time. There’s only room for one item at a time.
Secondly, you need to preheat the oven and make sure that it’s preheated to the correct temperature. RV ovens take longer to preheat than normal, so you need to take the time to make sure that it reaches the correct temperature. Additionally, the temperature dial on RV ovens aren’t always accurate. As a result, you should use a thermometer to check the temperature instead of trusting the dial.
When you’ve prepared your pizza and preheated the oven you can place it in the oven and start cooking. It should take just as long to cook a pizza in an RV oven as it would in a regular oven. However, you will need to use your phone or watch to keep track of the time.
When the pizza is in the oven you need to make sure to rotate it as it’s cooking. Heat distribution is an issue with RV ovens and rotating the pizza will help ensure that the pizza is cooked evenly on each side.
Use a Small Pizza Stone in Your RV Oven
If you can, you should consider purchasing a small pizza stone for your RV oven. A pizza stone will help with heat distribution. It does this because pizza stones are very conductive of heat. As a result, the pizza stone will get very hot and cook the pizza quicker on all sides. However, you should make sure that you get a pizza stone that fits your oven as many can be quite large.
Tips for Cooking in an RV Oven
Cooking in an RV oven isn’t the same as cooking in your oven at home. There are several things you need to account for. Firstly, you should make sure that you get pans that fit. Most RV ovens are small, and as a result, regular sized pans are too large for an RV oven.
Secondly, you should always preheat before cooking anything in your oven. As we mentioned above, preheating takes longer in an RV oven. So, if you don’t take the time to preheat, you may notice that your food is undercooked.
Furthermore, you need to purchase an oven thermometer because the dial on RV ovens is notoriously unreliable. A thermometer will give you an accurate reading of the temperature. Keeping with the temperature theme, the outdoor temperature can affect the heat of the oven. When it’s cold outside it will take longer to heat up and when it’s hot it won’t take as long. You need to account for this when you’re cooking.
Additionally, you should always rotate your pans to ensure that your food is cooked evenly. Many RV ovens have a problem with heat distribution. So, to guarantee that your food is cooked entirely you need to rotate it halfway through. You should also raise the rack in the oven to help with heat distribution. Leaving the rack near the bottom of the oven will result in the bottom of your food getting burned.
Finally, you need to make sure that your RV is level when you’re cooking. If you fail to do this, many of your dishes will have a strange slant to them. To do this move your RV slightly regularly. If it stays in the same spot for too long it will start to sink into the ground and tilt slightly.
Baking Stone for an RV Oven
A baking stone, like a pizza stone, can help with baking most of your meals. Baking stones will help with heat distribution and they will speed up the cooking of your meals. However, you need to make sure that you’re careful about covering up the ventilation holes. If you cover up the ventilation holes you could start a fire, so be careful.
Cook the Best Meal You Can in Your RV Oven
After reading, we hope you have all the information you need about RV ovens. We know there’s a lot of information to absorb, but it should all be helpful. Cooking in an RV oven is significantly different from cooking at home, so you need to be prepared.
Although cooking in an RV oven is different from cooking at home, that doesn’t mean you can’t cook what you want. Anything you can cook at home you can cook in your RV. You just need to make sure that prepare correctly and you shouldn’t have any problems. With the information above, you should be adequately prepared!
Are you a new or experienced RV owner? Have you used an RV oven before? What’s your favorite meal to make while living in your RV? Let us know in the comments!
