Best Portable Roaster Ovens For Turkeys, Hams, Roasts And Slow Cooks

One of the big challenges of cooking for a crowd at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Buffet dinners is oven space.  Depending on the size of your turkey or ham, it might use up the entire oven leaving no room for casseroles and side dishes.  That restricts your side-dish recipes to only things that can be prepared on your stove top, or warmed up in your microwave.

Even without the addition of a turkey or big ham, pot luck dinners also pose problems because your guests will arrive with dishes that need to be oven warmed or heated. Yes, you might have a microwave, but it often over-heats and rubberizes the food, basically ruining it.

Portable Roaster Ovens to the rescue.

One of the biggest advantages of a portable roaster oven is that they free up oven space and are useful for much more than you might originally guess. In addition to turkeys and hams you can cook  pork or beef roasts of all sizes. The big surprise is that many of the portable roasters can also be used as a large volume slow cooker.

In A Hurry? Here’s Our Top Picks

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Top 3 Portable Roaster Ovens

There is nothing more frustrating than having a small oven filled with a turkey.  Yes, you can stuff a few potatoes and carrots and maybe some stuffing in the bottom of the roasting pan, but what about the casseroles your sister and Auntie Mable brought?

Today we are going to look at some of the best portable roaster ovens available, and a totally different alternative.

Oster Roaster Oven with Self-Basting Lid – Our TOP Pick

If you have a large gathering planned, one of the biggest concerns you will have is the SIZE of your turkey. This roaster tops them all by accommodating a huge 26 pound turkey. What’s even more amazing is that it will be cooked to perfection in less than four hours.  A big juicy, 26 pound turkey with a beautiful crisp skin!

The self-basting lid is amazing. It will save you the time and effort of having to pull the turkey out of the oven every 30 minutes or so.  You’ll end up with a moist, juicy turkey or ham without any work. And talking about work … instead of having to pour the turkey juices out of a roasting pan and into a stove top pot to make gravy, you can make and simmer your gravy right in the roaster!

It is one of the most spacious roasters there is. You can easily cook a 20 pound turkey and add five pounds of potatoes or carrots along with it.

So far, we’ve been talking turkey … the roaster is also great for any other kind of roast there is — brisket, ribs, pulled pork to name a few.  It can also be used as a slow cooker — stews, chilies and soups can be slow cooked to perfection. With its 22 quart capacity, you can cook some pretty huge batches of goodies.

What we love:

• The huge capacity roaster.  A 26 pound roast or a 22 quart slow-cooker capacity.
• Self-basting. What a time saver!
• Gravy making. Saves both time and frees up a stove top element for other goodies

What we don’t like:

• Even empty, the weight of the unit is just over 17 pounds … put a 20 pound roast in it and you’ll need some muscle to move it.
• Some customers complained that the outside temperature of the unit was HOT.

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Oster Smoker Roaster Oven, 16-Quart

The Oster Smoker Roaster Oven has a 16 quart capacity which translates to a 20 pound roast.

The bonus feature of this portable roaster oven is the ability to use it as an outdoor smoker. There are pockets built into the sides of the roaster for your wood chips. Depending on how long your cooking time, you may have to replenish the wood chips.

It’s important to note that you should NOT do any smoking indoors, so a smoked Christmas turkey is out of the question for most of the country.  Thinking about using your garage?  DON’T DO IT.  Toxic gasses can accumulate without you knowing it.

In addition to turkey, ham and other cuts of meat you can use the roaster as a slow cooker.

What we love:

• The smoker with built in wood chip pockets.
• Customers simply RAVE about their smoked meat results.
• Fire engine RED.

What we don’t like:

• Loads of complaints about the electrical cord being EXTREMELY short.
• If you are using this “just” as a roaster, the price is high.  If you use it as a smoker it’s a bargain.
• Smallest capacity of our top 3 roasters.

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Rival Roaster Oven, 18-Quart

The Rival Roaster Oven will cook a 22 pound turkey and can slow cook about 15 quarts of stews or soups … which is about 30 x 2 cup servings.

The lightest of the three roasters, a few customers mentioned transporting it to pot lucks in other locations. And while it does not have a self-basting lid, the rounded dome essentially “acts” like a self-baster.

In addition to using it as a slow cooker, you can also bake cakes and cookies in it.

What we like:

• This is a medium sized roaster with the capacity to roast a 22 pound roast.
• Easy to clean.
• Ability to accommodate 9 x 13 inch pans.

What we don’t like:

• White … you either love it or hate it.
• Customer complaints about the SHORT electrical cord.

Perhaps You Should Also Consider …

Though this post is about portable roaster ovens … we want to point out another alternative.  It definitely is NOT portable, but it will roast chickens, warm pizzas, bake bread and heat casseroles.

It too will free up space in your regular oven, and the surprising thing is that many reviewers said they like it BETTER than their regular oven.

Hamilton Beach 31103Da Countertop Convection & Rotisserie Convection Oven

If you have a kitchen with a large enough counter,  this countertop oven could be the solution to many of your oven space problems.  Many people actually use this as their everyday oven, saving energy by using it “instead” of their regular oven.

From pizza, muffins and cakes to tenderloin roasts, rotisserie chicken and 20 pound turkeys — this versatile countertop convection oven will do it all.  It will heat two 9 x 12″ casseroles at different temperatures and bake a loaf of artisan bread. The only thing it doesn’t do is slow cooker duty.

What we love:

• You can use this YEAR ROUND, not just turkey season.
• Convection oven
• Self-basting rotisserie
• Easy to clean.
• Ability to accommodate TWO 9 x 13 inch pans.

What we don’t like:

• Counter space HOG.  You need a permanent space.
• Won’t accommodate a turkey or roasts over 10 pounds.
• Some reviewers complained about how hot it gets (it IS an oven, so ???)

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Check out these fabulous sugar free holiday buffet recipes.