Using your home oven properly for baking macarons can help to avoid hollow, lopsided, browned or cracked shells. This post will go over different ways to set your home oven for baking colorful macarons.
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I wrote this post on correctly using your home oven for baking macarons because I found that there wasn't much information about how to use your home oven properly when baking macarons. Unlike spacious and sturdy commercial grade ovens with even heat distribution, home ovens can be temperamental and seem to need a lot of coddling.
For any home baker, it's very important to know their own oven well in order to achieve success with any recipe, even my Best Macaron Recipe will only get you so far in achieving perfect macarons if you don't know how to adjust your oven properly for baking macarons. You will need to experiment under different baking conditions like rack position, temperature and bake time to find the optimal conditions for successful baking. When you learn to trust your oven, it will love you back ♥
When I started making macarons, I was more concerned about feet development and just making sure that the macarons actually looked like macarons. Needless to say, I was not too picky back then. But as I baked more of them, I realized that all the faults like hollow shells, crispy over baked bodies etc. would actually manifest itself in its outer appearance. In other words, you are essentially showing the world all your macaron's faults just by its visual presentation. I started to demand more perfection from these little sweet treats.
Even when you follow a macaron recipe religiously, you can still end up with ugly or underdeveloped macarons simply because you used your oven incorrectly (READ: Macaron Troubleshooting Guide). Almost all the recipes I've come across only instructs to bake at a certain time and temperature on the middle rack. It drove me crazy when I ended up with overly brown or under cooked macarons. It led me to experiment with my oven in order to get my macarons just right.
Average Baking Time & Temperature for Macarons
I'm not claiming to have the exact solution for you because all ovens are different. Every baker should know their own oven well. This post highlights the different ways to adjust your own oven to perfect the baking process. You may need to use a combination of these adjustments to achieve the results you want depending on your own situation.
All of the scenarios below are in reference to the average baking time, temperature and rack position of the two methods below:
♥ FRENCH Method: 320 F for 12-14 minutes on the middle rack ♥
♥ ITALIAN Method: 260 F for 20-22 minutes on the middle rack ♥
Oven Adjustment Methods
Baking Time and Temperature
Macarons can be over baked/under baked and feet development can be overdeveloped/underdeveloped if the baking time or temperature is not well aligned. For over baked shells or over developed feet, the temperature is probably too high causing it to bake too quickly. You will also find that feet which develop quickly and outwards are also victims of over folding and overly hot oven temperatures. The high heat forces the feet to develop much too quickly and it has nowhere to go except up and out. On the other hand, under baked shells and under developed feet (not a lack of feet due to wrong folding techniques, just underdeveloped), cannot fully reach their full potential when the oven temperature is not high enough.
Learn to adjust the temperatures in your oven. To compensate for adjusted temperatures, you will also need to readjust the baking time and vice versa. For temperature increases, baking time should be decreased. For temperature decreases, baking time should be increased. However, baking at lower temperatures may sometimes result in an undercooked shell and baking at higher temperatures may cause shells to brown. If that is the case, try adjusting the rack position as outlined in the next section.
Baking Time and Temperature Relationship
Macaron Baking Time and Temperature Relationship
↑ Increase temperature - ↓ decrease time
↓ Decrease temperature - ↑ increase time
As a starting point, for every 25 F increase or decrease, compensate with a 2-3 minutes change in baking time in the inverse direction.
Some Recommended Baking Temperature and Times
350 F for 10 minutes - suitable for spacious large ovens
325 F for 12-14 minutes - standard starting point for my recipe
300 F for 16-18 minutes
275 F for 18-20 minutes - suitable for smaller ovens with small compartments
These temperatures are for conventional ovens without convection setting. Usually, it is recommended to decrease the temperature by 25 F when using the convection setting.
Rack Position
The middle rack is often the "default" position in any oven. It's ideal for most foods since it allows the hot air to circulate evenly around the food, resulting in balanced heat distribution. Most recipes recommend that you bake your macarons on the middle shelf. However, you may need to adjust this depending on where your heat source is coming from and your own individual problems.
Browning of shell top due to broiler's heat source from the TOP of the oven without convection fan: If the tops of your macarons are browning too fast before the centre is fully cooked, try moving your macarons to a lower rack until the feets develop. Then, place an empty tray on the rack above the shells to shield them from the heat.
Shells browning on bottom due to heat source from the exposed bake element at the BOTTOM of the oven without convection fan: If your macarons are browning on the bottom before the centre is fully cooked, try moving the macarons to a higher rack. If that alone doesn't help, you can try adding an extra tray immediately below the current tray to prevent it from heating up too quickly.
Convection vs. True Convection
A regular convection oven features a fan which helps to distributes the air around the oven. A "true convection" (a.k.a European convection or third-element convection) utilizes an additional heating element behind the fan to blow heated air to your dish. This method produces more even heat distribution and better baking results.
Using the convection fan
I have become a recent convert to the convection fan since I have found that the temperature remains consistent throughout the baking process with only a 5 degree variance. The fan helps to distribute heat more evenly throughout the oven cavity so you may even be able to bake several trays at once. The heat reaching your macarons may be increased and you may need to decrease the temperature or baking time. As a starting point, it is usually recommended to decrease the temperature by 25 F when using the convection setting.
On the flip side, some bakers may find that their convection fan is a little too strong and causes the macaron shells to become lopsided. You can consider turning on convection cooking during the latter part of the baking period since your shells will already be stronger at that point than when they were wet. If that doesn't help, you may need to skip using the fan altogether.
Having said all that, a convection fan is not necessary when using your home oven for baking macarons. It is a nice added bonus to keep the heat distributing evenly and consistently. You can still achieve this by using other baking tweaks and the proper heat conducting kitchen tools which will be outlined below.
Hot-Preheat Method
If you're still having trouble using a slow and consistent temperature method, try the hot-preheat method. Increase the oven temperature 50 degrees more than the usual baking temperature during the preheat. Once it has reached that temperature and you're ready to bake, turn it down to the regular baking temperature once you place your trays inside. You will need to compensate for this increase in temperature by baking it a shorter amount of time.
This method allows your shells to develop feet from the exposure to the initial high heat but lets them finish off at a lower temperature to avoid browning and over baking. You'll need to be careful of this though as home ovens can cycle hot and cold before it ever reaches your desired temperature so adjusting the temperature mid-way in the baking process may not really change the temperature as you'd hope it would. Read this post on finding a consistent oven temperature.
Reduce Oven Moisture
In Pierre Herme's Macarons book, he advises to open the oven door near the end of the baking time after the feet have developed to let out the steam. Personally, I have never had to do this. I rarely open the oven or turn my trays because I prefer to keep the oven door closed so the heat remains consistent but if this is an area of concern for you, you can also keep the oven door ajar for the whole or for a duration of the baking time by propping a wooden spoon in between the door. You will need to compensate for the loss in heat by increasing the oven temperature.
Good Oven Practices for Baking Macarons
Always Pre-Heat Oven and Use an Oven Thermometer
Always Pre-heat your oven to the correct temperature before placing your trays inside. Place an external oven thermometer inside the oven to ensure that the temperature is correct. Many bakers assume that their ovens are at the correct temperature when in fact, it has increased or decreased during the baking process without their knowledge.
You don't need a fancy thermometer, just a simple hanging one like this one will do. I like that it is small and saves space because it can be hooked on the upper tray. Did you know that the temperature during the initial period of pre-heating is the most unstable? Read my other post on Maintaining a Consistent Oven Temperature.
Identify Hot Spots in Your Oven:
If you are getting uneven results from the same tray of macarons - some are browner than others or some are under baked - you may be facing an issue of hot spots in your oven. You'll need to avoid placing macarons in those areas and rotate your tray throughout the baking time to achieve more even heat distribution.
A great way to identify the hot spots in your oven is to bake several slices of white bread on a tray until it turns brown. You can then see if they have all browned at the same pace or if some are browner than the others.
Bake One Batch at a Time:
I do not recommend baking several trays at once until you have already found the optimal conditions in your oven to bake a perfect batch. Until then, it would be difficult for you to determine why your macarons did not bake successfully. When you bake several batches at once in a small home oven, sometimes heat cannot be evenly distributed to all the shells at the same time. Also, if you are baking on different racks, you would be forcing your macarons to be closer to or further away from a heat source than you'd like. Although not advised for new macaron bakers, if baking several batches at once, try to: alternate the trays midway into the baking time or bake 2 trays on the same rack instead of on different racks. If you have a true convection oven, baking several trays may be easier with the convection setting.
Avoid Hollows
Hollow macaron shells are a result of a combination of poor batter preparation and not enough heat distribution during baking. To combat the latter, use good heat conducting equipment and increase the temperature or baking time.
Check that your baking pan is conducting enough heat to your macaron shells to help it rise. I like using these rimless aluminized steel ones because it conducts heat evenly and allows for good airflow. It is also very sturdy and doesn't buckle easily, preventing lopsided macarons.
A way to encourage heat transfer from the pan to the macarons is to use parchment paper or Teflon sheets instead of silicone mats. I like silicone mats because they keep the macaron shapes from spreading. I only use Silpat branded ones because they are guaranteed to be made from food-grade materials and they conduct heat well.
Lastly, to maintain a consistent temperature inside the oven, try keeping a pizza stone inside the oven on a lower rack from the macarons. I wrote a whole guide on How to Prevent Hollow Macarons if you're interested in reading more about this.
Summary of Macaron Troubleshoots Due to Oven Conditions
(Complete macaron troubleshooting here):
• Shell top is browning:
- move further away from heat source
- decrease temperature, increase time
- shield macarons with empty tray on rack above
• Shell bottom is browning:
- move further away from heat source
- decrease temperature, increase time
- add double pan on bottom
• Shell is undercooked or feet is under-developed:
- move closer to heat source
- increase baking time
- increase temperature
• Shell is overcooked/dry or feet is over-developed:
- let macaron mature 24 hours or more after filling
- brush same flavoured syrup or milk on bottom of shells
- next time, turn down heat or move away from heat source
- stop whipping egg whites once it reaches stiff peaks
• Shell is lopsided:
- avoid using convection fan if thats the culprit
- avoid using fans the blow directly onto macarons while waiting for skin to develop
-use the range hood fan instead to dry out piped macarons
- consider using a silpat mat instead of parchment paper
- incorrect piping techniques
• Inconsistency in the same batch:
- identify hot spots in your oven
- bake only one tray at a time until you find the optimal baking time/temperature
- for trays baked on different racks, alternate the trays midway into the baking time
- ensure batter is fully incorporated before piping
I hope this post on how to correctly use your home oven for baking macarons. Let me know how yours went.
Happy Baking to You!
XOXO, Mimi
Note: This post was originally published on October 1st, 2014.
Karen says
Hi Mimi! Your blog, tutorials and troubleshooting has helped me so much! I've finally gotten the shells/macronage down to a system after 5-6 months of testing of doing the French method. I recently got a true convection oven (Woohoo! Thank goodness for mega sales and looking in the right place at the right time! LOL!) Anywho, my convection setting won't go lower than 275F. They bake perfectly inside and out at that temperature but the color starts to dull/fade around the 11 minute mark even though the shells are still slightly soft. 15 minutes is the perfect baking time I've found for my oven. I tried the regular baking mode this morning at 250F for 30 minutes but I noticed that the Americolor (turquoise) started to get splotchy around the 16-18 minute mark. Now, in the oven, I use the lowest shelf and that works the best. The fan is in the back and the top heating element doesn't come on since the convection has it's own heating element. If I leave the door slightly open, the heat on either setting does not come back on. I have to manually open the door for about 30 seconds 2 minutes before baking is complete which is after I turn the tray around. So I finally decided to bother you with this and see if you have any ideas on what I can do to keep it from fading (in the convection mode) and getting blotchy (in the regular oven mode). Thanks !!!!!!!!
Mimi says
Hmm... very hard to say since I can't see exactly what is happening inside your oven. I think a bit of fading is very normal for any oven. Actually, I find when it's too vibrant, the shell is often undercooked. I don't think there's anything wrong with having to open your oven near the end. Home ovens can be temperamental and we have to adjust accordingly:)
xo
Mimi
Karen says
I agree. Home ovens are temperamental. I'm still getting used to this new one. But the slight tan color drives me batty since it happens at 275F when they are about 90% baked and that is after I turned the tray around. Hmm.
Chris Christou says
This is so so so so so helpful, thank you so much.
I struggle with light coloured macarons as they go brown, this page has been a big help.
Thanks Mimi
Mimi says
Thank you so much for your feedback Chris. I'm so happy to hear that!
Xo
Mimi
Flor says
Hello Mimi, your website is beautiful! I've made macarons 3 different times, and I've been correcting some mistakes ( was over-mixed, over-whisked, browned), I just made the 3rd batch and something weird happened. I use a true convection oven (didnt use the convection function though) and only applied heat from the bottom, one tray in the middle) at 300F for 14 minutes. The feet began to form beautifully, and the macarons were rising, yet mid-bake the shells began to wrinkle (and deflated). I finished baking them and the shells were indeed, wrinkled and the macarons felt chewy, soft and sticked a little bit to the paper. I let them dry 40 minutes before putting them in the oven, however I cant tell if they were dry enough. Can you help me? Xoxo
Mimi says
Thanks so much Flor
you may have overbeaten your meringue
xoxo
Mimi
Lana says
Hi Mimi,
Thanks a lot for the information and your kind answers. Do you pipe all your macarons at once and then wait for them to bake one-by-one? I wonder if the second sheet, waiting 15-20 minutes longer, will turn out differently... would be happy if you could share your experiences!
Mimi says
Hi Lana,
I bake them one tray at a time after piping all of them. The tops do come out blotchy if you wait too long but I find a one to two hour wait is okay for me.
XOXO
Mimi
Aya says
Hi Mimi! My macarons look fine but turn out hollow on top! I tried your method of turning it to about 320 degrees for 11 minutes, and that made a perfect macaron on the inside, but the outside was browned! I then tried to lower the temperature to around 305 and baked for 12 minutes, but they still turned out hollow. I put a pan above the one I was baking, and the colors lighter than the batter color. I know that's normal, but the bottoms are still browning more than I want them to. My only solution is to overbake them for 20 minutes at 275, make them hard and chewy, and let them mature for 2 days. Any advice?
Mimi says
it sounds like your first temperature at 320 is good for the inside of the macaron. you can try using that temperature but placing the tray lower or higher so it's farther away from the heating element. the last method of maturing them longer is fine as well.
Xoxo
Mimi
Elena says
Hi Mimi! First of all, I want to say thank you so much for sharing your macaron's experience. I found a lot of information and troubleshooting. I fixed all problems, but my range is died, and I use my friend's range.
I have to buy new one, but I don't know wich one(((( Could you recommended me wich range is good? What model do you use? Thank you so much for your help!
XOXO Elena
Mimi says
Hi Elena,
Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to hear about your range. At the same time, it must be nice to have an opportunity to purchase a new oven. I am using a Fridigaire Gallery Dual oven with "True"/European Convection.
XOXO,
Mimi
Jules says
Hi Mimi!! Love your blog and IG! I've been making macs for like two years for fun and you were the first blog I ever read! My macs look pretty and all but for some reason I'm still struggling with hollows. I recently realized it could be my oven temperature but I have never tried baking lower than 280 f on convection (Italian method). I've been following step by step with whipping the meringue til it's stiff and folding to the proper consistency. I have been baking them at 295-300 but I find that it's too hot and the tops are browning too fast. Is there a reason you bake them at a low temperature? Should I whip my meringues less? Thanks for the help :):)
Mimi says
I would try your current batter at all different temps before adjusting your meringue so you know where to pinpoint your problem first. you might want to put them on a lower rack first and see from there. If your batter is good, a higher temp always helps or bake them longer at lower heat.
XOXO
Mimi
Daffodileifa says
Hi Mimi
Thank you for giving us some pointer with the oven though I still found a bit difficulty using my oven to bake the macaron since the majority of my macaron come out hollow even though it look really good on the outside.
My oven is deck oven with top and bottom heat with no fan, can I still use the temp you say or do I need to lower the heat or take it higher? I use italian meringue method. The first time I bake the macaron in 325 F, some become hollow but it was a bit brown 🙁 I try to lower the heat and it still become hollow even though it is not really brown anymore. So can u suggest what should I do with it? Should I lower the heat and bake longer? Anyway I use silpat, and it is kinda hard to determine whether the shell is completely baked or not, though I try the method some blogger using by try to push the shell a bit and if the feet is not moving then it is set. Unfortunately it still come out hollow so I dont know anymore 🙁
Mimi says
It would be best to take up this issue with the original recipe writer of your Italian recipe to make sure you are using his/her recipe correctly. Good Luck!
XOXO,
Mimi
Nina F says
Hi Mimi!
I've read this post several times (so grateful for it!) as I consistently get frustrated with my inconsistent oven. I have an oven that likes to go +/- 50F degrees set temperature. It drives me nuts having to open and close the door. Ex: 325F would keep it's temp until I opened it to put the macs in, then it would drop to less than 300F. I'd increase it to 330F to give it more heat, then it'll jump right to 350F or more. Another batch, I would also set the temp to 340F and once I put the macs in, the temp would go down to 310F, then somehow go above 350F within 20 seconds without me changing the setting. It's driving me insane! It does not have a fan by the way. So, I bought a countertop oven (Black and Decker Extra Wide Digital Toaster Convection Oven) and it only varied -10F degrees and never exceeded it's set temperature. This was the first time I've ever had completely full macs with a hard shell (hooray!). Unfortunately, every single mac of the same batch came out differently. Only 1 looked perfect (back left corner); the front corners erupted and cracked from the top with no feet and not full, majority were lopsided and full , and a few had awkwardly cracked feet, instead of the delicate bubbles, but still full. I'm assuming it's the countertop oven's fan? Please help! Any suggestions on a really good countertop oven? I know the Waring Pros are great, but that's just way to expensive for me at the moment :\ I'd buy that next oven in a heart beat! Thank you so much in advance! This would put an end to my miserable macs!
<3
Nina
Mimi says
Hi, I'm glad you found yourself a new oven that's a bit more consistent. I'm not quite sure which counter top oven would work well for you. If you want to keep trying with your smaller oven, you might need to adjust your heat level a bit since the heat reaching your macs might be a bit more intense in a smaller space. Hope you find a solution to this 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
marilyn sachitano says
Please help me figure out why my macarons baked on silpat have no bottom. I like using parchment paper, but the macaron is usually "wrinkled" a little. Is there a "good" parchment paper to use?
Thank you for all the tips.
Marilyn
Mimi says
Macaron Troubleshooting
This guide will really help you. It addresses those issues
XOXO
Mimi
Glenda says
I just want to say 'Thank you' so much for for making a dedicated website mainly on how to make macarons along with how to learn to achieve the perfect texture of the cookie. This helps out someone like me so much who loves macarons. Thank you again. I appreciate all the work you did in posting them because when I would comment on different pages on IG that make macarons, they simply just ignore or do not want to give any advise as well as recipes they use.
Mimi says
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me this message Glenda. After spending hours on writing these posts, I'm happy you found them useful. It really makes my day 🙂
XOXO,
Mimi
Jm says
Hi Mimi, thanks a lot for sharing these to us! <3
My problem: I keep having brown shells. 🙁
I just want to ask the best method to test what temp works for my oven. I have thought of one. Like put a batch of 4 shells only on each varied temp and time until I get the right result. Is this ok? Any other idea to get to know my oven more? Cos I've been wasting the ingredients. :/ Thanks!
Andrea says
Hi, I'm learning to make macaroon using italian method now. But the problem I'm having is my macaroon are always hollow. I'm using convection oven.. baking temp is 125 degrees Celsius for 24 min. I open the oven door for a few seconds at 12 min. And how to see if the meringue is already stiff peak?
Mimi says
Hi Andrea,
It's best to ask these very specific questions to the original recipe writer. They will be the best source to help you pinpoint what exactly you should do to make their recipe a success 🙂
XoXo
Mimi
Connie says
Dear Mimi, can't wait to share more pictures of my macarons made with your recipe! I just wanted to ask you one quick question- do you think the bottoms browning too quickly has anything to do with the color of the baking sheets? (mine are black) I think I read somewhere that dark baking sheets radiates more heat and therefore cooks food quicker.
Jess says
Hey Mimi, where is the best place to store macarons?
Mimi says
I would always store them in the fridge in an airtight container.
XOXO
Mimi