Cooking Without All the Smoke

I would clean the oven out, it sounds like something in the past has spilled onto the bottom and is burning when you use the oven. My mom made some chicken in my oven over mothers day and a bunch of the juices leaked out and I had to scrub it out after the next time I went to cook and had the smoke problem.

Sounds like no one else gets it! I do (at least as far as chicken is concerned). When you roast chicken, the grease pops, hits the top of the oven, and creates smoke. I solved it by buying a roasting oven at Target. I love it. It roasts the chicken or turkey perfectly and creates no smoke because the lid isn't hot (or at least not hot enough to create smoke).

Hmmm...three things come to mind. Either your oven runs hot. And this would be easy to check with a thermometer. Maybe you are setting it for 350 and it's actually hitting 400?? So while the meat is cooking, the juices and brine are burning. The other thing that comes to mind is possibly using the wrong pans. Maybe the juices are spilling over. Or are you using a pan that's older and damaged? I recently baked something in the oven and got a little smoky/ burning smell. The pan was the right size and I couldn't figure out the problem. When I was scrubbing it later I noticed tiny pinholes in it...I guess it had aged over the years. The other possibility is that your oven just needs a good cleaning. Maybe it's debris on the bottom burning. If all else fails...I know lots of people who cook their meat in a crock pot. :) GL!

You should never have smoke when using your oven, unless you're using the broiler; and then the smoke is minimal.

The first thing that comes to mind is something has spilled in the oven and is now burning off. So be sure the oven is clean.

Do you have an electric oven? The next thought is that you may be placing the food to close to the top eletrical unit.

Another thought, are you cooking the meats at the correct temperature? Most meats are cooked at 375 or less. Some receipes may have you start at a higher temp and then lower it.

Are you using the correct size baking dish to prevent juices from overflowing?

Does this only occur with meats or other foods also? If all foods than you may want to have a repair man take a look at the oven.

First step would be to make sure you're oven is clean, then the second step would be to check what temperature you're cooking things at. I never cook anything over 350 degrees, unless the recipe says otherwise (some cookies call for 375 or 400) but I usually bake it at 350 or 375 for a longer time frame. It's really only another two or three minutes extra baking time. If it's something like a beef roast or chicken that you're roasting, try putting it in a casserole dish and cook at 275 and let it cook all day. Good luck!

When you're cooking--are you keeping a liquid in the bottom of your pan? I always line my pans with foil before I put anything in, then add my meat and then other ingredients...Then I fold the foil over and seal everything in.

Have you spilled something in the bottom of your oven that just needs to be cleaned out? It doesn't take much to make a lot of smoke for several cook cycles.

Other than that...I think we need a little more information. What temperature is the oven at? What kind of marinade did you use? Have you checked the temperature of the oven? Make sure it is heating accurately...mine is off by about 23 degrees (of course it is also nearly 20 years old).

Don't resort to box meals...you can do this!

you need some oven cleaner....or some are self cleaning you just need to put it in that mode and maybe hang out in the backyard for a while till its done!!

There's one easy answer - try a Spanek vertical roaster.
You cook the chicken (or turkey, etc) upright vertically while it stands in a pan with about 1/4 water. The skin comes out crispy all over, and the meat is juicy and it's impossible to over cook it. I tried this over 15 years ago and it was so easy and so good I'll never cook a bird another way again.
http://spanek.com/roaster/roasters.php

Sounds like you need to clean your oven.
When you cook your foods the grease most likely "pops" over the side of the pans and causes a greasy buildup in the bottom of your oven. So it doesn't matter what you cook or what temp. you cook on, when you turn the oven on the smoke starts pouring out. Cleaning your oven should help tremendously.
Then once it's cleaned you could put foil in the bottom of the oven when you cook a meat and it will catch all the grease splatters and then you just pull it out and throw away when you're done.
Good job cooking for the family!

Have you tried beer can chicken? Put a whole chicken on a can of beer that is about 1/3 of the way full. Pop it on your outdoor grill (on low) with a couple of sweet or russet potatoes wrapped in foil and you have dinner in about 1-1.5 hours. You can google the beer can chicken for more details.

my first guess is that something bubbled over in your oven and keeps burning each time you're baking. Check for anything that may have spilled and clean it up. If there's nothing spilled and it's just your dishes that you're baking that are smoking I suggest using more moisture in your cooking, it will also make it all more tender. (such as adding chicken broth or cream of chicken soup to the pan of chicken) You can lock in more moisture just by adding foil to the top of the pan. hope these help :) Oh! one more thing- have you ever tried a crock pot to cook your meats??? I LOVE my crockpot. you set it up in the AM or afternoon, then just leave it until it's done :) Easiest thing ever! you can find crockpots at DI all the time- or they're about $40 bucks give or take depending on the size and quality.

I agree with most of what the other moms have said, but I have one more suggestion for when you roast chicken or turkey or meat in general. Reynolds makes oven bags to help keep your meat juicier. I'll be honest, I bought them with intentions of using it, but we have a big roasting pan w/lid so that's what we use for our turkey. Also, have you thought about your crockpot. They are nice little helpers, too.

Hey there, a couple of thoughts come to mind. Your oven may have some food on the burners so try cleaning your oven out. Also if stuff is splattering over have you tried covering it with foil. I also have to for some of my reciepes have had to put an old cookie sheet on the bottom shelf and then the dish on the shelf above. Good luck and happy baking.

Well, where there's fire there will often be some smoke - and that's what kitchen fans are for. But your kitchen seems to be overdoing it. I'll make a suggestion that may insult you, but it's like when I have trouble with my computer and call my service guy and he asks, "First of all, is your computer plugged in??!" The suggestion is this: clean your oven thoroughly. Then clean the burners and drip pans on your stove while you're at it. Grease and guck accumulates without our even really noticing. That stuff can make smoke, so maybe there's a little too much of it hanging around. Once everything's clean, if you're still having trouble with smoke, you may want to call a repair professional to check it out.

why are you getting smoke in the oven? i make all my meats in the oven and i never have smoke, i guess more info from you would be helpful

Hi there,

Not sure if someone suggested this or not, but if my oven isn't clean I will get smoke from whatever has been "cooking" on the floor of the oven. Make sure you clean it really well and when making things that drip I use foil under it so it spills on the foil & not the oven. Cook away!!

Hi J.,
The only thing I can recommend is to make sure your oven is clean. There may be drippings from previous meals on the heat rods or the bottom where you might not see it. The only time my oven smokes like what you've described is when it's dirty. Best wishes, L.

My suggestions:
Clean your oven.

Get better fans if cleaning your oven doesn't work - I mean the fan/vent built into your stove/oven.

sounds to me like your oven needs a cleaning. probably oil or old food has dripped to the bottom and will never stop smoking until you get it out of there.