Microwave Oven vs OTG
Baking is a beautiful combination of art and science. There is nothing we love more than seeing a cake and wishing that we knew how to make it. We’ve seen many cooking videos and seen people baking cakes at home. To bake cakes, you need an OTG, and a regular microwave cannot do the job. In many people’s minds, this would lead to the million-dollar question – what is the difference between an OTG and a microwave oven? Let’s unravel this mystery.
Microwave Oven
Electromagnetic waves are used to cook and heat food in microwave ovens. Using a magnetron, microwaves are created inside microwave ovens. The microwaves are reflected by the metal inside the oven and then absorbed by the food. As a result of the absorbed energy, the water molecules in the food vibrate, producing heat.
Food inside a microwave is heated and cooked evenly from all sides by rotating a turntable. A household microwave has a capacity ranging from 15-35 liters or more and should be chosen based on its size.
Convection microwaves make it possible to perform some more functions than their basic counterparts, such as reheating, defrosting, and cooking.
Features of a Microwave Oven:
Microwave ovens are great for reheating food and cooking food instantly. My microwave is perfect for this. It is possible to reheat leftovers quickly before discarding them!
Microwave ovens proudly carry this “instant” cooking/baking tag. Whether it’s instant idlis, instant dhoklas, instant cakes, instant mug pizzas, instant mac ‘n’ cheese, instant omelette or whatever else!
OTG – Oven Toaster Grillers
This compact oven is ideal for baking, toasting, and grilling, and is a compact model of the traditional oven. It features advanced heating technology and delivers the best results when baking.
While cooking, there is the option to switch on either or both of the two heating coils on an OTG. During the cooking process, the coils dissipate heat that evenly cooks the food. An OTG takes more time to cook due to the heating coils taking some time to heat up.
OTGs are considered one of the best appliances for baking cakes since they maintain moisture while giving an even brown crust. Baking food in an OTG usually uses both heating coils, while grilling and toasting food uses only the upper coil. The sizes of OTGs range from 10 to 50 litres, depending on the size of your family.
Features of a OTG
It’s like the heart and soul of baking. This instrument was designed specifically for baking, toasting, broiling, and grilling food. You can grill food and make kebabs in the oven using the rotisserie function.
Furthermore, an OTG is believed to bake cakes perfectly.
OTGs can be used to bake cakes, cookies, muffins, pizza, bread, sourdough, tarts, rotisseries, baked fish/chicken, vegetables, kebabs, baked snacks like samosas, cutlets, etc.
Key Differences between Microwave and OTG Oven
Microwave ovens and OTGs can both be very helpful when heating food or baking cookies and cakes. The difference between an OTG and a microwave oven can easily be understood based on your usage. Knowing these differences will enable you to choose the right appliance for your kitchen based on your needs.
| Microwave Oven | OTG Oven | |
| Heating By | Food particles oscillate due to electromagnetic waves | Electric coils |
| Heat Distribution | More even | Less even |
| Heating time | Quick (At most 5 minutes) | Relatively slow (About 15 minutes) |
| Power consumption | High | Low |
| Auto-cook functionality | Available | Not Available |
| Price | Expensive | Economical |
| Metal vessels | Microwaves should not be used with metal | OTG can use metal |
| Container options | Glass, silicone and ceramic but not metal | Ceramic, glass, metal, or silicone |
| Weight | Heavy | Lightweight |
| Best for | Simple baking and defrosting | Baking, toasting, grilling |
| Best Product | IFB 30 L Microwave Oven | Morphy Richards Rotisserie OTG |
Technology Difference
OTG stands for Oven, Toaster, and Griller. It works by heating up the compartment inside with nickel/chromium coils and circulating the heat evenly – simulating an actual charcoal oven. As heat is generated based on the coil’s temperature, preheating and baking usually take time.
Microwave ovens, on the other hand, use electromagnetic waves to generate heat by absorbing them into the food inside. The electromagnetic waves range between 300 MHz and 300GHz – which falls in the middle of the radio wave spectrum and the infrared spectrum. Due to its electric nature, microwave ovens heat up food instantly, taking very little time to preheat. Furthermore, it does not come with a pre-installed fan due to the food’s ability to absorb heat. In addition, it comes with a turn-table to ensure that the food is heated evenly from all sides.
Why you should buy a Microwave Oven?
- Ideal for reheating food.
- Instantly cooks food in minutes.
- Fermentation of certain types of food is possible with microwave.
- With specific modes, it can be used to proof bread dough.
- Features exclusive defrost modes.
- It is good for occasional baking.
Why you should buy an OTG?
- Suitable for frequent baking.
- It can be used to make kebabs.
- Exclusive broiling modes.
- Suitable for baking/grilling larger quantities than M/W
- Power consumption is lower than that of a microwave oven.
- Lower temperatures can be used to thaw food.
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