A very serious question.

[Nickwinkle]

Is there anyone here that has been able to cook oven chips in the given time on the packet? 18 minutes? Really?! Try 45 MINIMUM.

Also, those '5 minute' pasta and sauces - anyone actually made these in 5 minutes??

I'm so curious over where the hell they get these ridiculous times from.

Feel free to add more. These are the small things that keep me up at night xD

A recipe for bake in the oven risotto....18 mins!!! No way....more like 1hr! Risotto us meant to be al dente but after 18 mins it's still raw!

I was with you when I thought you meant 25/30 mins instead of 15, but if it’s seriously taking 1.5 hours I think you might have an oven problem. Can you check with an oven thermometer or something?

I do find if you use two trays and spread them out they cook a lot faster.

I don't use pasta sauces from jar but, as an infrequent treat, I'll have one of those packet Mac and cheeses because I'm a savage and they're my guilty pleasure. Judge me for I do not care 🤣

or those just-add-water cheesy noodle things in a flat packet? Nice student memories and I want some now 🙄😂

I'd have thought you were exaggerating, if it wasn't for the fact that my DD has one of those ovens. Everything takes twice as long as it does in mine. It would drive me nuts.

15 minute meal recipes are rarely that though.

Especially the ones where the ingredients are something like 'one large onion, finely chopped; 4 tomatoes, skinned, deseedef and chopped'; 2 garlic cubes, crushed' etc. So it might take 15 mins once you've done the 20 mins of prep they haven't accounted for

Wait... Bake in the oven risotto?!

Yep! Those things. With '5 minutes' stamped across the front... The liars 🤣 best guilty pleasure.

Preheat the oven

I think you need to buy an oven thermometer to check your oven temperature. My oven is old but certainly doesn't take 45 mins to cook frozen chips. Also make sure that they are in a single layer.

Air fryer is a game changer for oven chips. Perfect every time and only takes 20mins.

Oven chips generally take about 20 mins in our oven, give or take and depending on the brand and type. But sometimes they already look brown before I put them in and end up burnt on the outside after 10 minutes and inedible on the inside.

I have an air fryer and, despite everyone saying oven chips are both quicker and better cooked in it, my experience has been very disappointing. The ones made from scratch though, are perfect done in the air fryer. But sometimes oven chips are just so blooming handy.

Oven chips always take bloody forever - unless they are the "fries" version which burn immediately. We used to have a nanny who didn't eat frozen stuff herself & if chips were on the menu when she was at work would serve the chips after they had been carefully cooked according to packet instructions - no end of complaints about raw chips 😂 (not to her, it was never mentioned as could not bring myself to start going on about ruddy oven chips)

You have to stick a fork in and give them quite a violent stir after they have been boiling for a minute but mine only take 4 mins.I don’t understand any of these posts, how can pasta take longer than 8 minutes, it would be a soggy mess. I get that ovens may not get to the temperature they are supposed to but it is obvious whether your hob in boiling water.

🤨

Ohhh those pesky fries are banned in this house. Always overcooked or burned at the edges and soggy/raw in the middle. Point blank refuse to cook them!

Okay so conclusions:

• oven chips are shit irrelevant
• my oven is also shit

Any recommendations on what ovens are the best?

Not used oven chips since I bought an airfryer, but never had problems - just pre-heated both oven & baking tray.

Just a thought, are you following the fan-oven instructions, but using a non-fan?

I agree. The oven chips we get take 35 mins!

I do the fork thing. They stay firmly curled up and crunchy for aaaagggesss. Abs it was a new packet, too.