Hi All. Has anyone roasted a turkey in their steam oven? There is much praise for it on the net, but not many directions! I am thinking it may be the key to winning the Thanksgiving Oven Chess game. I have a Miele Steam Convection. Thanks for any tips!

I've done lots of chickens in the steam oven and they were excellent. If the turkey will fit, i imagine it would be very good.

Oh good, someone with experience! Which oven do you have? Did the chicken skin come out crispy? Do you have a guess how long will a 14lb turkey take in the steam oven? I am going to spit it down the backbone to make it fit.

Sorry for all the questions, I am nervous the turkey won't be good and all will be disappointed.

A steamed bird sounds foul. (sorry couldn't resist)

Seriously though, I've never heard of a steam oven, tell me more, I'm curious!

Ok, we had a gaggenau combi convection/steam. I cooked chickens, probably never more than 2-4 lbs. And, oh, i also cooked a capon the same way. I think the capon was about 5kg. i'd put the chicken in the oven, turn it up to between 180 and 200, and use the combi convection steam bit. The convection part means you get crispy skin and speeds up the process, the steam means it is nice and tender.

I don't stuff the bird, usually pop an onion or a lemon in the cavity, salt and pepper inside and on the bird, maybe a little butter. For a big bird, the legs might get burnt, so you might need to cover them briefly.

I'm a very haphazard cook, but my chickens turn out pretty well. We no longer have the steam oven - our new apt just has a plain old convection oven, also fine.

If you're doing a turkey, you need to make sure it fits in the oven. The steam oven we had was smaller than the regular convection oven. You might look online for timing information. I think a 2-3 lb chicken takes around an hour, plus or minus. I just use a thermometer to check.


It's easy to do smallbirds, not sure about big ones. You also need to clean the oven after you're done, because the bird does sputter all over the place.

We cooked a turkey breast in the steam oven last year and a whole turkey in the convection oven. They came out equally tasty and juicy.

Thanks for your responses! I will probably cut it up before steam/roasting so it cooks faster. Your positive experiences give me confidence...

kristanez - the steam oven looks like regular oven, a little smaller in some cases, with a water container you fill that makes the inside of the oven very humid. you can control the humidity and the temperature so can use it like a regular oven or steam things like vegs. it is kinda neat, but has a learning curve b/c it really is a different way of doing it.

There's an article in the Nov 14 NY times, where Jaques Pepin describes a procedure to first steam and then roast a turkey. He uses a stockpot and the oven, but maybe you'd find it useful. I have a hard time linking to stuff on the ipad, maybe you can find it via google or something.

Did it last night, the turkey was extremely moist. 2 hrs 15 mins from start to table.

We have a Miele but any oven should have these settings. Ours is larger than some (the water container is in the top) so our turkey fit in, after minor surgery.

Our turkey was from Coop, 104chf, 7.5 kg (16+ lb)

1. Put a full size non-perforated pan at the lowest setting in the oven. Pour maybe 2 cups chicken broth in it.

2. Cut the backbone out of the turkey so you can lay it flat. The butcher can do it or you can use a heavy duty pair of kitchen scissors with the notch for cutting through bone. I ended up taking the thigh/legs off too (to break the joint, crush it on the counter and bend it backwards). I put the turkey and his parts in the full size perforated pan that came with the oven. I put the meat thermometer in the breast, although the leg joint would have worked too. I put some salt on the skin and tucked some thyme around him.

3. Set your oven like this:
400F (200C), 30% humidity, 25 mins
350F (176C), 60% humidity, core temp 170F (77C)
It takes about 1.5 hours to reach temp.

4. The skin was browned nicely, but we decided to make it a little browner so I set the oven to conventional heat at @375F and roasted it for about 15 mins. It pushed the temp up but was worth it for the skin lovers. Next time I will set the core temp to be 160, to make up for the 15 mins of skin roasting.

4. Take the turkey out, cover with foil, and let it rest for 30 mins, the temp will get to 180F (82C)

5. I am a simple gravy maker. I poured the roasting liquid in a large fry pan and reduced it by @ 1/2 (@10 mins) whisked together some cold water and arrowroot flour in a bowl, and slowly whisked that into the gravy and let it cook for a few mins. Some butter and salt and it was done.