Heating Frozen Dinners with Steam

Anything your traditional oven can do, the Anova Precision Oven can do better — and faster. Yes, that even includes frozen dinners like lasagna, casseroles, and other dense entrées. As a general guideline, most frozen dinners can be cooked in the Anova Precision Oven at 350ºF (177ºC) with 100% steam until they reach 165ºF (74ºC). The cook time will depend on the size, density, and contents of your dish but single-serve frozen dinners usually take about 25 to 30 minutes, while larger, family-style casseroles and lasagnas need closer to an hour. While you’re figuring out the proper cook times for your favorite frozen dinners, use the included Food Probe to determine how long each dish takes to reach temperature. You probably won’t be able to get the probe into a frozen-solid lasagna so plan to carefully insert it into the center of your meal about 15 or 20 minutes into the cook. And make sure you’re really in the center, because if you take the probe all the way to the bottom of the dish, you’ll get a higher reading and take your dinner out of the oven too soon. Notes: If your frozen meal has a plastic cover that you’re supposed to leave on in the microwave or traditional oven, you can remove it. Those serve to help steam the food so it won’t dry out, but cooking in the Anova Precision Oven with full steam will accomplish the same thing. It might get a little browner on top, but when it comes to casseroles and baked pasta dishes, that’s a good thing! This method also works for homemade casseroles that have been made ahead and frozen.