To rest macarons or not to rest? Or…Option C, the oven drying method! Oven drying your macarons saves you time and produces beautiful macaron shell results without the sometimes lengthy process of resting until they form a dry skin. Oven drying can also be the answer if the oven you use and the environment you live in doesn’t work well with no rest recipes.

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So What is Oven Drying?

Oven drying is essentially baking macarons at a lower temperature than usual until the surface dries enough to not crack/volcano once baked, and then bringing the oven back up to the normal temperature for the remainder of the baking time. For bakers who live in humid areas, this method can be key in avoiding the unwanted issues that come with resting macarons and absorbing the moisture in the environment.

Oven drying is not a new concept, but to be honest I’ve always struggled with getting it to work because my oven is PSYCHO and fluctuates like crazy if I try to change the temp or open and close the doors too much mid baking. If that sounds familiar to your oven situation, take heart, because I’ve found a way to fight crazy with crazy!

First things first, let’s talk about the normal method of oven drying before we get into my hack for fluctuating ovens. After doing some research, the average oven drying method seems to include…

Traditional Oven Drying Method for Macarons

1. Preheat oven to ~200 degrees F
2. Prepare macarons as usual, and bake in oven for ~4 minutes. (Some bakers prop open the door during this step)
3. Set oven to normal temperature, and bake for the remaining time as usual.

Method Testing

In previous tests, I tried both propping the door open and leaving it closed for the few minutes of oven drying, but I always ran into issues when I tried to raise the temperature back up to finish baking the shells once they were dry. My oven would fluctuate 25-40 degrees past the desired temperature very effectively driving me insane and ruining my shells.

Like most things in baking, some times you have to roll with the punches and compensate where you can, so one day I made one small change that ended up being the key to avoiding the drastic fluctuation.

Heres what made it work.

Instead of raising the temperature after the initial oven drying, I simply closed the door, and allowed my crazy oven to do it’s think and fluctuate upward. I realized that my oven consistently would rise about 25 degrees once I closed the door, and would hover there for the majority of the bake time, so I ended up moving towards the following method.

Important Note: All of these tests and precision with temperatures isn’t possible without an oven thermometer! Make sure to grab one or two of these to keep in your oven at all times so you know exactly what’s happening inside. I’ve linked the oven thermometer’s I use below.

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How to Oven Dry Macaron Shells (Oven Fluctuation Compensation Method)

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (Normal Macaron Baking Temp-Average amount of fluctuation when attempting traditional oven drying method=New Starting temp)
2. Prepare macarons and pipe as usual
3. Put macarons straight into the oven on the center rack, and prop oven door open with wooden spatula
4. Allow macarons to bake at the lower temperature until feet begin to form (6 minutes or so)
5. Close the oven door, and allow oven to fluctuate higher for the remainder of the bake time (12 minutes)
6. Keep an eye on the temperature, and once it starts to level out at a number lower than your normal baking temp (300 for me), raise the temperature only 5 degrees every few minutes until it levels out at the desired temperature.
7. Bake as usual until macarons are finished.

That’s it! Such a small shift to not raise the temperature, but it was just enough to compensate for the massive fluctuation I knew was going to happen. Knowing your oven and knowing how to adjust to it is SUCH a major key when baking macarons, and oven drying is no exception.

Next, let’s take a look at the results comparing Oven Dried Macarons Vs Traditional Rested Macarons. Can you guess which is which?

The macarons on the left are the oven dried, and the macarons on the right are the rested shells. The oven dried shells had a higher level of shine and overall smoothness. Other than that, there was virtually no difference when it came to appearance of feet and the amount of fullness on the interior.

If anything, I’m thrilled this worked to be able to pop my first tray of shells directly into the oven to move the process along and save time! Have you ever tried this method? If not, feel free to give either the traditional oven drying method a try, or if you have a crazy oven like me, try the fluctuation compensation method! You’ll thank yourself for doing the tests when you’re able to save tons of time skipping the resting process.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope this is helpful and can solve a problem for someone else having the same issues I had with my oven! Happy baking.

Looking for a macaron recipe to get you started? Head over to my Basic French Macaron Recipe for a detailed run down on the process along with my go to recipe.