Both are considered healthy ways to cook and often used interchangeably with other cooking methods, such as roasting and toasting.
Baking and broiling are cooking techniques that employ the dry heat of an oven.
Both are considered healthy ways to cook and often used interchangeably with other cooking methods, such as roasting and toasting. Yet, each yields different results and works best on specific types of foods.
This article examines the difference between broiling and baking, as well as which foods are better suited for each method.
Baking is a cooking method that surrounds foods with hot air to cook them indirectly. The term is typically reserved for foods without a stable structure that solidifies during the cooking process, such as cakes, bread, and muffins.
Foods are typically baked on the middle rack of the oven at temperatures up to 375℉ (190℃), which slowly cooks the inside of the food without burning its surface.
Roasting is similar to baking in that it cooks food by surrounding it with hot air.
That said, roasting is typically reserved for foods that have a solid structure before cooking — like meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables — and involves slightly higher temperatures than baking.
Moreover, foods typically remain uncovered during roasting, while they may be covered during baking.
Toasting is used to brown the outer surface of foods that don’t otherwise require cooking, such as baked bread or raw nuts.
You can toast foods by briefly placing them under a preheated broiler in the oven or exposing them to lower heat for a longer period. For instance, you can toast nuts by placing them on the middle rack of an oven set to a low cooking temperature.
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