Betty Crocker BC-2958CR Review [year]
Whether you are hungry, in a hurry, or feeling too tired to get up and stand to the oven to prepare a snack, the BC-2958CR pizza oven is the perfect solution for you. It is the right fit for a quick meal. Whether you are craving a pizza or a frittata, this oven offers a quick and easy way to get your baking done on the fly.
I am Edward, and I have been into cooking since I was a kid. In 2014, I took a trip to Italy and no joke, I fell in love with pizza. Ever since I took that trip, I have ventured into the world of pizza making and have learned almost all about pizza. I am using that wealth of experience trying out new pizza-making methods out there. Thus, I would be happy to share my experience with you.
I have tried a lot of grilling and baking tools available in the market. Today I will review Betty Crocker BC-2958CR pizza oven which I have recently fallen in love with. Whether you are a professional or wannabe cook, you can use this tool easily and get the tastiest pizza ever. That said, this post contains all the details you need to make your buying decision, so jump in.
The Betty Crocker oven comes in a really simple package. There is an oven in the box. It comes fully assembled, so you do not have to worry about having any additional little pieces or screws to put in place. The oven comes with a cable attached, which is not the best feature. Make sure to handle it with care not to damage the cable.
In the box, you will also find an instruction manual on how to set up the oven, how to clean it, and how you can know when your pizza is ready. It is pretty awesome given how most other pizza-making equipment does not allow you to go back to your seat and wait for your pizza to be cooked. With this tool, you are free to do your things while pizza is being prepared.
Unlike most other cookers, the advantage of having the mobile oven comes in a single though. It means that the storage of the oven is pretty straightforward. Just fold the cable up and put the pizza maker away in a cupboard, or atop the kitchen counter away from your preferred working area.
This pizza maker also comes with a few recipes and meal ideas in the package. The meal plans have been made simple so that anyone with or without cooking experience can get a tasty snack ready in minutes.
The recipes would be handy if you do not know how to cook and still want to have an ideal homemade pizza. The recipe brochure also includes a bunch of new ideas for how to use this oven to make easy meals other than pizza. You can turn on the oven to make breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks for whatever occasion. For instance, you can make nachos on it, or cinnamon buns or you can even use it for baking that crispy croissant you have been craving all day.
The package that the oven comes in is pretty small. You can keep it in case you move and need to carry the oven. My oven came in a red box with a savory pizza on the side of it. The box stands upright and is not bigger than three boxes of pizza stacked side by side.
The BC-2958CR is a compact unit measuring 13.8 x 15.9 x 5 inches. If you can picture it, it’s only a bit larger than a stack of three pizzas. It can easily fit on your kitchen counter or in an average-sized cupboard.
If you have a microwave, you’ll find this unit much smaller. If you are using a camper van, then this can be used in one as well. A standard electrical outlet can power this oven sufficiently. It heats up fairly quickly, getting to maximum temperature in less than 15 minutes.
At its highest temperature, you can get a well-cooked pizza in about 15 minutes. You are probably wondering at this point why I am not mentioning the said maximum temperature? There is a simple explanation for it, and the oven has a self-regulating thermostat built-in.
The best part about this model is the fact that with every single use of the oven, I end up with an evenly cooked pizza. It browns out quite nice and to perfect color. All my raw ingredients are cooked pretty well. It gives you the feeling that someone used it a bunch of times and calibrated it to engineering and culinary perfection.
The oven has a dual heated system, both the bottom plate and the top are heated. This is provided to make your pizza cooked evenly on both sides. This has an advantage over ovens that use a rolling flame. With such a frame, you have to rotate pizza to get a uniform taste of your snack. Thus, this pizza-making tool saves you a bunch of time and effort during the cooking process.
The oven can bake flatbread as well and the dough. It was a pleasant surprise finding this out in practice. The nonstick surface on the bottom plate is the same as that of the top. The two plates are made of the same metal sheet as their half of the hinge. It is a sturdy design.
BC-2958CR pizza maker is pretty portable as it weighs just 6.36 pounds. Your backpack probably weighs more when it’s packed. You can easily take this equipment for your Sunday BBQ in the yard, just make sure you have a plug around. Although the tool is all-metal build, you don’t have to worry about your safety. The top of the oven does not get too hot, so you shouldn’t get any skin burns from this.
Two-color lights, green and red, are at the top of the oven. These are the Power On light and the Ready-to-Bake indicator. As you can see, the tool is easy to use, indeed! When you plug it in, the power-on indicator lights up. As long it is on, the oven is heating up, and once it gets to the optimum temperature that will give your pizza the perfect crust, the Ready-to-bake light comes on.
The BC-2958CR model can be used with your conventional kitchen utensils, too. You can use your wooden or metal spatula just fine with it. Using a plastic spatula is up to you, but the oven gets pretty hot, and it may just melt your spatula. You don’t need any specific additional equipment to work well with this product.
Unboxing Betty Crocker BC-2958CR Pizza Oven
Design and Features of the Betty Crocker BC-2958CR Pizza Oven
The oven is a circular shape, large enough for a 12-inch pizza to fit perfectly inside. It has a rectangular section at the back where the hinge is joining the top and bottom. It comes in red on Amazon. The shape of the oven is made so that your pizza gets an excellent distribution of heat and you end up with your cheese evenly melted onto the dough. As I use fresh ingredients most of the time, I can tell you; the oven cooks fresh meat and vegetables perfectly each time. I especially like that the top half of the oven is heated as well to provide even heat distribution. The oven has a nonstick metallic surface. This is designed to make it as easy as possible to lift the pizza crust off once it is cooked. Cleaning the BC-2958CR tool is convenient and easy. Just take a damp cloth to it and wipe it down. Make sure that first, you allow it to cool down for a while before wiping it down. Because of the nonstick surface, you will mostly be cleaning out just crumbs that have fallen off the crust. It is like cleaning up a sandwich toaster. Actually, it is the same. As I have mentioned, the oven comes with a cable attached to the back end of it under the hinge. The base of the oven has two sections, one platform at the back and two smaller stands at the front on each side. Before putting the oven away, it is advisable to tie the cable around the cord wrap at the back, so it does not take up too much space. The oven has a hand at the front, it is a floating handle, and the body of the oven curves into the handle providing a pleasing aesthetic look.Betty Crocker BC-2958CR Pizza Oven Specifications
| Product Dimensions | Item Weight | Shipping Weight | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13.8 x 15.9 x 5 inches | 6.36 pounds | 6.4 pounds | Betty Crocker |
How to Use the Betty Crocker BC-2958CR Pizza Maker
Despite all applications it can be used for, I have found myself using the BC-2958CR for homemade pizza most of the time. I occasionally indulge my cinnamon bun craving with this unit on weekends. But still, I make pizza almost every time with this product, and it comes crispy and tasty ten out of ten times. To use it to make a pizza, first, plug it into a power outlet. Allow it some time to heat up until the ready-to-bake light comes on. Once this light is on, you have a green light to put your snack in the oven. Be careful not to touch the hot metal plates. Remember, the tool fits any size pizza up to 12 inches. It takes about 10 – 15 minutes for this pizza to get ready. The time varies depending on whether you are using frozen pizza dough or not. You can use the oven for a flat crust pizza or with dough that rises. Make sure to add your fresh ingredients to the pizza before you close the oven. What is also remarkable, the cheese on top will not stick to the surface! You can use your normal kitchenware to take your food out without worrying about scratching the inner surface of the oven. After you are done preparing yourself a quick snack, unplug the oven and let it cool down before cleaning up. Once again, that great design comes into play here as the black surface loses heat very quickly so you won’t wait too long. Just wipe it down after and you are ready to go. This is a list of everything I love about the Betty Crocker pizza oven and a few things I would want to change:PROS:
- It is very light
- Small compact design
- Looks pretty cool, and it is not an eyesore in the kitchen
- Metallic surface
- Self-regulating thermostat
- The self-timing function works perfectly
- Easy to cook
- Easy to clean
- Storage is simple
- Can cook more goods besides pizza
- Energy-efficient.
CONS:
- Having a detachable cable would be nice
- The bottom side doesn’t have a handle, so you can’t manage larger snacks inside
- Different heat settings for different meals would be nice, too.
