Cooking With Solar

Cooking with solar energy has become much more uptown with the onset of solar cookers. Cook fabulous meals in a solar cooker.

Make old fashioned sun teas or let the sun cook your meals in a solar stove...naturally

Sunshine teas and dried foods are just the beginning of the sun's culinary skills.

Solar cookers are a great, green addition to your outdoor cooking tools.

They're easy to make (see video below for lots of ideas) or the books in the right column have instructions for making your own along with some great solar cooking recipes.

There are lots of ready made solar cookers on the market too. We like this super inexpensive Portable Solar Oven for camping and outdoor activities and it's a low cost way to introduce yourself and your family to the potential of cooking with solar energy.

Types of Solar Cookers

There are two different types of solar cookers (parabolic and hot box) and they use different methods to generate heat. A third method (hybrid) combines the 1st and 2nd to achieve a hybrid that can achieve a higher and more reliable temperature.

• Parabolic cookers ~ This type of cooker concentrates the heat of the sun using reflectors. A dark pot is placed in the center of a cone of reflective material or another reflector and as the sun strikes the reflective material the magnified heat rays are directed toward the pot.


• Hot Box cookers ~ The hot box method uses an insulated box with an interior painted black to absorb heat. A window covered with transparent material (oven bags, glass, etc.) lets the sun in and prevents the heat from escaping, making for a more "oven like" cooker. Food is placed in a dark, covered pot and the pot goes into the oven.


• Hybrid ~ Parabolic cookers experience significant heat loss due to the absence of insulation. Hot box cookers are limited by the amount of direct sunshine that can enter the oven through the window. Combining the best of parabolic and hot box techniques addresses many of the limitations of each and produces a more reliable cooker. Hybrid solar cookers are composed of the insulated box (hot box) with reflectors (parabolic) that magnify the temperature within the box.

Cooking with solar energy has all kinds of benefits for you and the environment.

Cooking Notes

As a rule of thumb, recipes that do well in a slow cooker will do very well in a solar cooker. Some models can even bake!

• No energy cost, the sun provides clean energy free of charge.
• Food will not burn although in some cases it will overcook..
• More flavour and nutrition are preserved when cooking with solar energy.
• Very little water is required when using a solar cooker.
• No fumes are emitted when solar cooking methods are used.
• Safe for use on boats and areas where fires are not permitted.
• No fire hazard.
• Useful in remote places like camping, boating or at the cottage.
• Cook your meals without overheating your living space.
• A solar cooker is relatively simple to make.

This video, entitled "Engineers Without Borders" shows a broad perspective of solar cookers designed for a competition. Have a Look.

Disadvantages of Cooking with Solar Energy

• A solar oven only works when the sun is shining. A UV index of 7 or higher results in the best success. If a cloud cover obscures the sun your meal could be delayed for hours..or it may not cook at all.


• Food safety issues can occur with some foods due to fluctuating temperatures on hazy or intermittently cloudy days or in areas where sunlight is restricted or inhibited. Food temperatures should not hover between 40 and 140 degrees Farenheit for long periods of time.


• Reliable cooking of full meals requires unlimited access to unrestricted sunshine for several hours. 5 to 6 hours ideally.


• Because meals must be cooked during the mid day, for several hours, using solar energy to cook weekday meals would be impractical for most families.


• Repositioning (angling oven toward the sun) is often required to ensure adequate cooking temperatures.

Solar Stove Safety Tips

• Use sunglasses whenever you open the solar oven, the reflected light can be very intense.


• Although the solar oven is safe for kids to use, much like using a microwave oven, the vessel and the food can be VERY HOT once the cooking has begun. Care must be taken when removing it from the oven.


• Just like when you use the regular oven, protect countertops and tabletops by placing pots on hot pads or other protective material.

In Conclusion

Without paying a penny for power you and even the kids, can cook deluxe meals.

Just assemble the uncooked food, spices and sauces in dark colored pots, cover with dark lids and place in the oven. Close the window, point it toward the sun and watch the temperature in the box begin to rise. How high depends on the clarity of your sun (no haze), your location on the earth, the time of year (winter less, summer more), the particular design of your solar cooker, etc..

Under ideal conditions oven temperatures can exceed 350 degrees F.

Check out our solar powered oven page for more solar cooking information and answers to some frequently asked questions.

Visitors to our Cooking With Solar page may also be interested in the following pages

Custom Search