“What temperature is medium heat?” is still a mystery for many people, no matter how long they have been cooking. As you are reading this post, you might also be confused.
For example, let’s say you once cooked a perfect steak at medium heat at home. However, the very next time when you tried to make it again at your friend’s house, it turned out entirely different.
Well, you should know that different stoves might have different ranges of temperatures.
Below find out about the medium heat of different kitchen tools such as coals grills, gas stoves, electric stoves, smokers, etc and more!
What Temperature Is Medium Heat?
Medium heat is ideal to cook all the way through, or to pre-heat some kitchen tools to cook at higher temperatures later.
It must be high enough so that the food like fried potatoes can be beautifully brown for several minutes. Meanwhile, the heat must also be low enough not to burn things in the pan.
So, how hot is medium heat?
Generally, medium temperature is somewhere between 300° F to 400° F (equivalent to 149° C to 204° C)
This range varies from grills to stoves, and to other kitchen tools.
Medium Heat on A Grill
Temperature is the key of every grilling or smoking techniques. It varies for different types of meat (barbecue, lamb, or poultry.)
For example, you want to grill some steaks. If the heat is too high, then the outside gets burnt before it has been cooked well on the inside.
As words from experts, most types of beef requires the grill surface temperature to be at medium heat of 300 to 400 °F.
Most modern grill now has a built-in digital thermometer, allowing you to read the heat zone at a glance.
If there is no thermometer in the package, you can buy one. Just preheat the grill for a while and put the thermometer in the center.
Leave it there for 5 minutes and then, check the result. If the temperature falls into ideal points as suggested above, you can start your BBQ party right away!
Medium Heat on An Electric Stove
An electric stove has several numbers on its shell. So, many people just think:
“Isn’t it easy to turn on the medium heat by adjusting the knob to the halfway between the maximum and the minimum settings?
For example, the stove features various heat levels from 1 to 10. Then, 5 is the medium heat.”
Theoretically, it is true. However, the heat might be inaccurately calibrated over time because of the stove’s age or wears in functionalities.
Moreover, levels of heat vary by brand. You had better check the manual guide carefully.
That time, 4 to 6 might be medium heat.
Otherwise, you can wave your hand over the stove for a while. Remember to keep a safe distance of 2 or 3 inches.
If you feel the warmth and can leave your hand there for around 5 seconds, then the heat is medium.
Medium Heat on Gas Stove
Gas stoves often feature a wider range of temperatures compared to the electric ones. The maximum heat can go as high as 550 degrees F while the self-cleaning process can push the temperature up to 999.86 degrees F.
As a result, the medium temperature falls between 225 to around 500 degrees F.
Most of the affordable gas stoves have neither a thermometer nor digital screen, so you cannot know the exact temperature you are working on.
If you want to turn on the medium heat, then place the knob between the OFF and the MAX point.
Occasionally, the color of the flame can tell you something.
The weak fire like candle means the temperature is low. The blue one indicates average temp and above. The yellow flame means the temperature is extremely high.
Medium Heat on A Griddle
Griddle is helpful to prepare a quick and well-cooked breakfast. Since the cooking surface is evenly heated, it is ideal to make some pancakes, French toast, eggs, brisket, or smoked bacon.
But remember to cook at the medium heat to keep stable heat on point.
The favorable temperature, both of the internal doneness and of outer caramelization, is from 350 degrees F for eggs; hot dogs; muffins; toast to 375 degrees F for burgers; steak; crêpes.
To measure the heat exactly, you had better use a surface Thermal pen.
Medium Heat on An Electric Skillet
Another kitchen appliance is the electric skillet, which is an interesting combination of the cooking and frying pans.
Rather than the heat from the stove, the skillet runs on electricity to generate an even heat on both faces. Based on the cooking purpose, the heat level will be set in advance.
The medium heat on an electric skillet is around 350 degrees F, which is suitable for deep-frying.
To do so, it comes with responsive temperature control. It is often a remote showing all the temperature gauge, so you can track and adjust the desired heat as wanted.
What Temperature Is Medium-High Heat?
Medium-high heat is about 375 °F to 450 °F (190° C – 232° C) and is between medium and high heat temperatures. It is a good choice for various grilling types as direct grilling, indirect grilling, smoke-roasting, and salt slab grilling.
Some suitable foods with this medium-high heat include planked fish, frying eggs, chicken pieces, and giant vegetables, and some oils as peanut, soybean or corn oil.
Medium-high heat on a stove
I want to list for you some range of medium-high heat for a stove as below:
- A cool oven set at 200 °F (90 °C)
- A slow oven will have temperature from 300-325 °F (150-160 °C)
- A hot oven has a temperature set to 400-450 °F (200-230 °C).
Medium-high heat on a grill
Medium-high heat on a grill is the temperature between 375°F to 450°F. It is a sensible heat for some kinds of foods like vegetables, burgers, poultry, seafood.
Medium-high heat on a griddle
The medium-high heat on a griddle is about 350 degrees F. If you want to bake corn tortillas on a griddle, you do not need to cook these for a long time, just about 20-40 seconds per side.
Medium-high heat on an electric stove
The medium heat temperature of an electric stove is from 4 to 5, and the high heat temperature is 7 to 8.
So, medium-high heat temperature is often from 5 to 8. About 9 to high is the highest temperature, and it can burn your pan and food.
What Temperature Is Medium-low Heat
Medium-low heat is the temperature between low and medium heat settings, frequently between 275 and 300 degrees.
This is the best heat for barbecue and some indirect grilling, especially as a pork shoulder. This temperature setting will provide you perfect meat while still retaining its natural juices.
Medium-low heat on a stove
As usual, medium-low is about 2-3 in your stove’s knob. Most stove tops are not linear. Your job is to find the aligned number at medium-low temperature by your eye with “not boiling but more than a simmer.”
Medium-low heat on a grill
Medium-low heat on a grill is typically between 275 and 300 degrees. This is an ideal temperature for your foods to keep to perfection.
Medium-low heat on an electric stove
As usual, electric stoves frequently have six or nine knobs. If you have a nine knobs electric stove, medium-low heat is typically between the numbers 3 and 4. It will be about 290 °F to 320 °F.
If on your electric stove, you have only six knobs, the level of 2 and 3 is precisely in medium-low heat.
What food uses Medium Heat?
Medium heat is a key in cooking with many types of meat and other ingredients that take a longer time to cook.
Thicker cuts of steak have still kept the taste, but did not dry out. The bone-in chicken will be more juicy and flavorful with cooking at medium heat.
Added to that, poultry pieces, fish, and large vegetables also get the best taste at this temperature.
Why is the Temperature the Key in Cooking?
Temperature is considered a key in cooking because it helps our food be cooked to be eaten safely without any problem to our health.
Without a heat treatment process, many types of foods are inedible. So, cooking is caused by physical and chemical changes to food to make them more delicious and safer by using different heat levels.
The temperature needs to be controlled during every stage of storage, preparation, cooking, and service.
Food should be stored in the fridge or freezer in the storage and preparation to keep them fresh and away from developing bacteria that exist everywhere in nature.
In excellent condition, bacteria can grow rapidly and increase in numbers that cause illness and poisoning food.
In cooking, the food needs to be cooked at the right temperature to kill bacteria and cook food. Raw meat and poultry are often processed at a temperature no lower than 325 °F in the oven.
When you cook with some other meat like pork, beef, lamb, veal steaks, chops, all of them should be on heat until the internal temperature is about 145 °F by using a food thermometer.
Some recipes must be reheated until the internal temperature of 165°F for at least fifteen seconds to kill all bacteria and ensure your food is hot before serving.
Therefore, using suitable temperatures in each process as handling, cooking, and storing foods is a good defense that helps us to enjoy our food safely with all nutrients with away some foodborne illnesses.
A Brief Recap to Take-away
To answer the question “What temperature is medium heat on cooking?”, I have to say that there is no exact figure.
The temperature depends on a wide range of things: the brand, materials, and ages of the kitchen appliances; the recipes; and so on. However, it will not go any higher than 400 degrees F.
You can give the tools some trials and take note of the medium heat. Or, search around the manual documents to know recommended temperatures by the manufacturers.
