Difference Between Roast and Broil: Things You Need to Know Now

Roasting and broiling are both cooking techniques that are often used interchangeably, though they are quite different. Roasting is a dry-heat method of cooking, while broiling uses an open flame and cooks food in very high heat. However, both techniques can be used to cook a wide variety of foods and have their own specific benefits when it comes to taste, texture, and healthiness. Both methods of cooking happen to result in the most scrumptious and tender meats, birds, or fish in your oven. Though there is some distinction between the two, and we’re here to let you in on the things you need to know, about the difference between roasting and broiling, so listen close!

Table of Contents

• What is Roasting?
• What is Broiling?
• Roasting vs Broiling
• Which Foods are Good For Broiling?
• Which Foods are Best Roasted?
• How to Broil?
• How to Roast?
• Best Recipes for Broiling
  • Juicy Steak
  • Teriyaki Salmon
  • Beef & Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches
• Best Recipes for Roasting
  • Stuffed Lamb Leg with Green Beans
  • Roast Lamb Shoulder with Rice Pilaf
  • Roast Beef with Aubergine
• Roasting and Broiling
• FAQs

What is Roasting?

Roasting is a type of cooking method where your food is surrounded by hot dry air at temperatures exceeding 300 degrees Fahrenheit. With no steam involved, the food item is left uncovered, allowing its entire surface to receive equal blasts of heat making it brown from the outside and locking its natural juices on the inside, which will essentially create some impeccable flavours.

Roasting can be done in the open air, directly upon a heat source, as well as inside an oven that has a good ventilation system. Roasting is one of those methods where it is essential to cook using both low and high heat. Especially if you’re looking to roast your meats to perfection. To achieve this, however, you have to know how long each part should get roasted so that no part gets overcooked or undercooked while there are other parts that are getting cooked properly. If you roast only using low heat for a long period – 1 hour – then your meat will become juicy but since there won’t be any browning on its surface, the taste may not be quite what you’d hoped for!

If on the other hand, you’re using high temperatures instead, then your meat would dry out completely, because even though there’ll be some browning on the top layer of the meat, it doesn’t mean that they have affected the layers deep inside the meat. Rendering your final product charred, chewy and undercooked.

What is Broiling?

Broiling is similar to roasting, mainly due to the fact that it depends upon cooking the food item with heat that is conducted through the air. The main difference between the two processes, however, is how they utilise the heat source. While roasting uses radiant heat from above its surface, broiling involves heating from below which means that food sits directly over an intense source of infrared radiation. This results in a higher surface temperature than what you would get when roasting so it’s important not to leave any part of your food exposed for too long or else it will burn very quickly.

As air is a poor conductor of heat, broiling requires placing the food much closer to the heat than when roasting, because there isn’t enough time for any significant amount of radiant heat to reach deeper areas within the meat itself, due to its thickness. Moreover, air cannot roam freely through the thicker interiors fast enough, until thermal equilibrium materialises inside the food.

Roasting vs Broiling

The most dramatic difference between roasting and broiling is that with roasting, you begin with higher levels of heat, and then reduce it after the food browns and develops a crispy exterior. For instance, when roasting chicken or turkey, you’ll first cook them at 450°F for 15 minutes to sear the outside quickly; then reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue cooking until the centre of the meat is done. This method ensures more evenly cooked meat throughout while giving you an attractive golden-brown exterior. Roasting also works well for making prime rib, whole chickens or turkeys (with skin), potatoes, and other dense vegetables like carrots that need extra time at high temperatures before they become tender enough to eat.

Broiling involves flashing food quickly under very hot heat: close enough so that it sears but not so close that it burns. Most ovens have two heating elements, with one on top of the other, so broiling is accomplished by using only one element at a time rather than both simultaneously, like when roasting or baking pies in an oven. The other difference between broiling and roasting is that there’s no heat circulating around the food during broiling, as opposed to convection cooking methods used during roasting/baking techniques. The food tends to cook unevenly, usually a product of no supervision. It’s important to check up on your food while it’s broiling, to ensure that it doesn’t overcook or burn through!

Which Foods are Good For Broiling?

Broiling is ideal for certain cuts of foods, such as thin cuts of meat like steak or boneless chicken and fish. These foods will take less time to cook than other types of roasting methods. However, the added browning or searing can help add dimension and depth of flavour to these foods as well.

Any cut of meat that’s fatty, juicy, and less than 1½ inches thick is a great candidate for broiling. This includes steak, pork chops, and chicken breasts, boneless or bone-in. Ground meats that you’d normally cook on the grill, such as skewers, kabobs, and burgers are also good options for broiling. In fact, this method works extremely well with any food that needs to be cooked quickly at high temperatures.

Try to avoid larger cuts of meat such as whole birds or big fish that would take a while to cook; because their surface area won’t be able to brown properly under the intense heat of your broiler. The dark meat on poultry thighs will still become nicely browned by this method though since it’s much thinner than white meat thigh pieces.

Which Foods are Best Roasted?

Roasting is a great method to use for browning and caramelising the surface of foods, producing complex flavours and aromas. For example, if you’re roasting a cut of meat or vegetables, it will develop intense flavours, than if you were to grill it or bake it. Roasting is often the best way to cook whole chickens or other poultry parts because of their size and shape. However, individual pieces such as chicken breasts and drumsticks can also be roasted in an oven achieving excellent results. The key point here is that high-heat cooking methods such as roasting, are generally done with the rack positioned in the centre of an oven so that hot dry air can circulate around each pan evenly, allowing the food to cook quickly while preventing overcooking which will eventually create dryness in the meat or vegetables.

How to Broil?

As outlined previously, broiling is a quick-cooking method that relies on intense and direct heat. The purpose of broiling is to give your food a brown, caramelised, flavourful crust on the outside. It’s similar to grilling because it creates a fierce caramelisation of sugars on your meat directly on its surface. This can be achieved by cooking over high heat in an enclosed space (like an oven). You can make broiled steak, pork chops, and chicken breasts, and you’ll find that they are some of the most delicious meats you’ll ever taste! However, if done poorly they will emerge dry and charred.

The typical broiling temperature for meat is 500-550°F . The shorter the cooking time, the more tender the meat. When broiling bear in mind, that the action only happens from positioning your food as close to the top heating element as possible, as well as exposing it to intense direct heat, which will help your meat or vegetables to form a crispy crust, with slight charring. A similar result, though a lot less intense than what you’d get had you cooked over an open flame

How to Roast?

Roasting is a slow-cooking method that relies on medium, indirect heat to cook your food thoroughly on the inside. It’s ideal for large cuts of red meat, whole birds, and big, gutted fish, that normally take a while to cook, as well as fattier cuts like pork shoulder and duck breast.

Roasts are typically cooked at temperatures between 300°F to 350°F (140-180°C), with lower temperatures better for bigger meats that roast slower and higher temperatures for smaller meats that roast faster. The roasting time depends on the temperature of your oven. The lower it is set at when you place them in there, and where they’re placed within it, will determine how quickly they will cook through (and sometimes finish). The best way to tell if your roast is done is by using a meat thermometer.

Best Recipes for Broiling

Quick exposure to high temperatures is the perfect and easy method used for toasting or browning your food in less than five minutes. And the broiler doesn’t heat up your kitchen like an oven normally would. Though you must remember to keep a watchful eye because anything can happen! Here are some fantastic broiling recipes for you to try:

• Juicy Steak
• Teriyaki Salmon
• Beef & Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches

Juicy Steak

The best way to broil your steak is to start off with a hot pan or cast-iron skillet over high heat on the stovetop. You can also use an outdoor grill if you have one. This will help the meat sear in its juices before you put it in the oven! When it comes out of the oven, make sure that you don’t cut into it until it has sat for 5 minutes so all those tasty juices don’t spill out!

Teriyaki Salmon

Broiling your salmon for Teriyaki is a great way to cook this scrumptious fish. It’s quick and easy to do, especially when you’re entertaining guests who want something tasty without a lot of fuss. You can broil the fish with just about any type of marinade, rub or glaze you want, the results will always be delicious!

Beef & Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches

The best way to prepare these sandwiches is by broiling the beef in a broiler pan. Make sure the pan is hot and ready to cook the steak until medium-rare, which will take 4-5 minutes per side. Use a meat thermometer and make sure it reads 130 degrees before you take it off of the heat.

Best Recipes for Roasting

Switch out your usual Sunday roast dinners, with something exciting from the list below:

• Stuffed Lamb Leg with Green Beans
• Roast Lamb Shoulder with Rice Pilaf
• Roast Beef with Aubergine

Stuffed Lamb Leg with Green Beans

Before you begin, you want to make sure your oven is preheated. Meanwhile, rub your lamb with olive oil and sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper. Roast the lamb at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until it’s medium-well done. The beans can be cooked in the oven or on the stovetop with a bit of oil, garlic, onion, and lemon juice until they’re tender but not mushy.

Roast Lamb Shoulder with Rice Pilaf

This delicious combination of roasted meat paired with a light bowl of moist rice is the perfect treat to have for a Sunday dinner! The roasted lamb should have crispy skin and a pink centre. The temperature of the meat is what determines whether it is cooked through, not the colour.

Roast Beef with Aubergine

A classic combination for roasting beef is a good one. The pairing is nothing short of delicious and the flavours compliment each other perfectly. Roast beef with aubergine makes this already incredibly healthy vegetable, even healthier by reducing its fat content by up to 80%. This is due to the fact that aubergines absorb the fats from the meat during cooking, leaving you with less than half of what would have been there without them!

Roasting and Broiling

So now that you know the simple differences between roasting and broiling, you’ll find yourself gravitating between the two cooking techniques a lot more! Roasting meats or vegetables can be done in an oven or on a stovetop. However, broiling can only be done in an oven at very high temperatures, but remember to keep a close eye on it!

FAQs