What do I set my oven to?
Convert any recipe to your own oven: fan, fan-forced, convection, conventional, gas mark, Celsius and Fahrenheit, with the bake time to match.
Free. No signup needed.The short answer
180 C conventional is 160 C in a fan or fan-forced oven, gas mark 4, 350 F, or 325 F on a US convection oven. Take 20 C off any conventional Celsius temperature, or 25 F off any conventional Fahrenheit one. Tell the converter what the recipe says and what oven you have, and it gives you the one number to set.
What do I set my oven to?
BakerInbox
The recipe says
Set your fan oven to
160 C
20 C below the recipe.
If your recipe says 180 C conventional, set a fan or fan-forced oven to 160 C, a conventional oven to 180 C, a US oven to 350 F (325 F on convection), or gas mark 4.
Fan / fan-forced
160 C
20 C below conventional, the UK, Irish and Australian rule.
US convection
325 F
25 F below conventional, the US and Canadian rule.
Conventional
180 C
350 F. No fan, top and bottom elements.
Gas mark
4
Moderate. Exactly on the scale.
Bake time
Safer for cakes
160 C for 30 min
Drop the temperature, keep the recipe time. Anything that has to rise wants this one.
Faster, for roasting
180 C for 23 min
Keep the temperature, cut the time by a quarter. Better for meat and vegetables than for baking.
Either way, look at it from 23 min. Doing both at once is how a cake comes out raw in the middle.
What are you baking?
Tap one to load its usual temperature and time. Guidance, not a recipe.
A fan moves hot air, so it cooks faster than a conventional oven at the same dial setting. The UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand all handle that by dropping 20 C. The US and Canada drop 25 F, which is a smaller number but lands within about 3 C of the same place, so both rules agree in practice. Gas marks are a published scale rather than a formula, so a temperature between two marks shows the closest one.
Oven sorted. BakerInbox keeps the orders, quotes, and bake list in one place.
Start free trialOven temperature charts
| Gas mark | Conventional | Fan / fan-forced | Fahrenheit | US convection | Recipes call it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 180 C | 160 C | 350 F | 325 F | Moderate |
| 5 | 190 C | 170 C | 375 F | 350 F | Moderately hot |
| 6 | 200 C | 180 C | 400 F | 375 F | Fairly hot |
| 3 | 170 C | 150 C | 325 F | 300 F | Warm |
| 7 | 220 C | 200 C | 425 F | 400 F | Hot |
| 2 | 150 C | 130 C | 300 F | 275 F | Cool |
| 1 | 140 C | 120 C | 275 F | 250 F | Cool |
| 8 | 230 C | 210 C | 450 F | 425 F | Very hot |
| 9 | 240 C | 220 C | 475 F | 450 F | Very hot |
| 1/2 | 120 C | 100 C | 250 F | 225 F | Very cool |
| 1/4 | 110 C | 90 C | 225 F | 200 F | Very cool |
Gas marks are a published scale of oven settings, not a formula, so a temperature between two marks has no exact mark. Fan and fan-forced run 20 C below conventional, the rule used in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. US convection drops 25 F instead, which is the smaller adjustment but lands within about 3 C of the same place.
Fahrenheit to Celsius, the baking range
| Fahrenheit | Conventional | Fan / fan-forced | US convection | Gas mark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 275 F | 140 C | 120 C | 250 F | 1 |
| 300 F | 150 C | 130 C | 275 F | 2 |
| 325 F | 170 C | 150 C | 300 F | 3 |
| 350 F | 180 C | 160 C | 325 F | 4 |
| 375 F | 190 C | 170 C | 350 F | 5 |
| 400 F | 200 C | 180 C | 375 F | 6 |
| 425 F | 220 C | 200 C | 400 F | 7 |
| 450 F | 230 C | 210 C | 425 F | 8 |
| 475 F | 240 C | 220 C | 450 F | 9 |
These are the paired settings recipes print, not raw arithmetic. 350 F is 177 C to the degree, and every UK oven dial and recipe rounds it to 180 C.
The same oven, four names
| Where | An oven with a fan | Recipes are written in | Gas marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK & Ireland | fan oven | Celsius | Yes |
| US & Canada | convection oven | Fahrenheit | No |
| Australia & NZ | fan-forced oven | Celsius | No |
Fan, fan-forced, fan-assisted, fan bake and convection all describe the same thing: a fan at the back of the oven moving the hot air around. Only the word changes.
Temperatures by what you are baking
| Baking | Conventional | Fan | Fahrenheit | Gas | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cakes | 180 C | 160 C | 350 F | 4 | 25 to 35 |
| Cupcakes | 190 C | 170 C | 375 F | 5 | 18 to 22 |
| Cookies & biscuits | 190 C | 170 C | 375 F | 5 | 10 to 14 |
| Bread | 220 C | 200 C | 425 F | 7 | 25 to 40 |
| Meringue | 110 C | 90 C | 225 F | 1/4 | 90 to 120 |
Starting points, not recipes. Tin size, depth and how full it is all move the time, so check from three quarters of the way through.
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How oven conversion works
A fan oven runs 20 C below a conventional one, and a US convection oven runs 25 F below. Gas marks are a published scale rather than a formula, so a temperature between two marks has a closest mark, not an exact one.
Fan versus conventional
A fan oven runs 20 C below a conventional one
A common UK baking convention is to set a fan oven 20 C below a conventional oven. A recipe written for 180 C conventional would use 160 C fan. Check the recipe and your oven instructions first: if the recipe already gives a fan setting, do not reduce it again. An unlabelled temperature alone does not tell you which oven mode the author intended.
The two rules
The UK drops 20 C, the US drops 25 F, and both are right
The common UK adjustment is 20 C; many US instructions use 25 F, which is about 14 C. Those adjustments are different rules, not exact unit conversions. Published oven charts also round their dial settings. Follow the adjustment given by your recipe or appliance rather than combining both rules. The converter shows the customary settings alongside one another.
Gas marks
The gas scale is a table, not a formula
Gas marks do not convert with arithmetic. They are a published set of oven settings, and the steps between them are uneven: gas 3 to 4 is 10 C, gas 6 to 7 is 20 C. That is why a temperature between two marks has no exact gas mark, and the honest answer is the closest one. Gas marks are a British and Irish scale, so an American or Australian recipe will never print one. The chart below is the full scale, and it is the part worth printing.
Bake time
Drop the temperature or cut the time, not both
There are two correct ways to bake a conventional recipe in a fan oven, and recipes rarely say which they assumed. Drop the temperature by 20 C and keep the time, which is the safer choice for anything that rises. Or keep the temperature and cut the time by about a quarter, which suits roasting better than baking. Doing both is how a cake comes out raw in the middle. For the actual number of minutes, the cake baking time calculator works it out from your tin size and batter depth as well as your oven. If you are also changing the quantity, the recipe scaler works out the new amounts first, then set the oven from here.
Cakes especially
Fan ovens dry the outside of a cake
Moving air sets the crust before the centre has risen, so a fan oven can give a cake a pale, dry edge and a domed top. Dropping the 20 C fixes most of it. For a deep cake, drop a further 10 C and bake longer. Bake time also changes with the tin, so if you have swapped tins check the tin conversion calculator and how much batter that tin takes before you set the oven. Baking to sell rather than to eat? The cake pricing calculator puts a number on the oven time as well as the ingredients.
FAQ
Common questions
What is 180 C in a fan oven?
160 C. A fan oven runs 20 C below a conventional one for the same result, so a recipe written for 180 C conventional means 160 C fan. That is also gas mark 4, 350 F, and 325 F on a US convection oven.
What is 350 F in Celsius, and in a fan oven?
350 F is 176.7 C mathematically. Conventional oven charts commonly round it to 180 C, with 160 C fan and gas mark 4. US convection instructions often use 325 F. Follow your recipe and appliance instructions, especially if a fan setting is already given.
What is gas mark 4 in a fan oven?
160 C. Gas mark 4 is 180 C conventional, and a fan oven runs 20 C below that. Gas mark 4 is also 350 F. Gas mark 6 is 200 C conventional, so 180 C fan.
What is the difference between a convection oven and a fan oven?
Nothing. They are the same appliance under different names: a fan at the back of the oven moving the hot air around so it cooks faster and more evenly. The UK and Ireland say fan or fan-assisted, the US and Canada say convection, Australia and New Zealand say fan-forced, and New Zealand also says fan bake.
What does fan-forced mean on an oven?
It is the Australian and New Zealand name for a fan oven, and it means the oven has a fan behind a heating element that pushes hot air through the whole cavity. Set it about 20 C below whatever a conventional recipe asks for.
Should I change the temperature or the time for a fan oven?
One or the other, never both. Drop the temperature by 20 C and keep the recipe time, which is the safer choice for cakes and anything that rises. Or keep the temperature and cut the time by about a quarter, which suits roasting. Either way, start checking about three quarters of the way through.
What is 200 C in a fan oven?
180 C fan, which is gas mark 6 and 400 F conventional. This is the one that catches people out, because 180 is a fan setting here and a conventional setting in the first question above.
What is 140 C in a fan oven?
120 C fan, gas mark 1, 275 F. This is the low, slow setting a rich fruit cake is baked at, which is why it turns up on Christmas cake recipes.
Why does my American recipe say to reduce by 25 F, not 20 C?
They are different adjustments: 25 F is about 14 C, not 20 C. Follow the reduction specified by your recipe or oven manufacturer, and check whether the appliance already performs convection conversion automatically. Do not apply both reductions.
What are 325, 375, 400, 425 and 450 F in Celsius and in a fan oven?
325 F is 170 C conventional and 150 C fan. 375 F is 190 C and 170 C fan. 400 F is 200 C and 180 C fan. 425 F is 220 C and 200 C fan. 450 F is 230 C and 210 C fan. Those are the published oven settings rather than the raw arithmetic, which is why they land on round numbers, and they are gas marks 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in order.
How do I convert a gas oven to an electric fan oven?
Find the gas mark in the chart below and read across to the fan column. Gas mark 4 is 160 C fan, gas 6 is 180 C fan, and gas 7 is 200 C fan. Going the other way, 200 C on an electric fan oven is gas mark 7, not gas 6, because the fan setting is already 20 C below conventional.
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