Oven Temperature Converter

Common oven temperatures

The formula

Fahrenheit and Celsius are two linear scales; the fan adjustment is a fixed offset on the conventional temperature, and every oven figure is rounded to the nearest 5 degrees:

°C = (°F − 32) × 5/9      °F = °C × 9/5 + 32
fan = conventional − 25 °F  (≈ −15 °C)
displayed = rounded to the nearest 5°

Worked example: 350 °F conventional is 175 °C (the exact 176.7 rounds to 175). In a fan oven, set 350 − 25 = 325 °F, or 160 °C.

Rounding to 5° is deliberate. Oven dials don’t resolve single degrees, and a real home oven’s temperature swings 15–25° as the heating element cycles — so a conversion to the exact degree would be false precision.

How to use the oven temperature converter

Enter the temperature, pick the unit your recipe uses (Fahrenheit by default, or Celsius), and read it in the other scale. Tick the fan / convection box and you also get the lower temperature to actually dial in. Every oven figure is rounded to the nearest 5 degrees, because that’s the finest a real oven dial and thermostat work to.

The reason for the fan setting is that a convection oven moves air, and moving air transfers heat to food faster than still air. So a fan oven set to a given number browns and cooks as if it were hotter — which means a recipe written for a conventional oven will run fast and dark if you set the same number on a fan oven. The fix is a fixed reduction: drop the conventional temperature by about 25 °F (15 °C). That’s exactly what the fan column shows.

But don’t fan everything. The same moving air that’s a gift for roasting vegetables, crisping skin, and baking several trays at once is rough on delicate bakes. Custards, cheesecakes, soufflés, meringues, and tall sponge cakes prefer gentle, still heat; the draft can crack tops, dry edges, and bake a cake lopsided. For those, use the conventional setting (often labeled “bake” rather than “convection bake”) at the unreduced temperature.

Finally, don’t chase single degrees. Conversions like 356 °F land on 355 here on purpose — oven dials don’t do single degrees, and a home oven’s real temperature swings 15–25 degrees as the element cycles on and off. If precise temperature matters for your baking, a cheap oven thermometer tells you more than any conversion can, because most ovens don’t actually hold the number on the dial.

Frequently asked questions