To rest macarons or not to rest? Or…Option C which is what we’ll talk about today…how to oven dry macarons! This macaron oven drying method saves you time and produces beautiful macaron shell results without the sometimes lengthy process of resting until they form a dry skin. Learning how to oven dry macarons 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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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.

If you want to do a bit of troubleshooting for oven fluctuation, here’s an article to check out!

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.

Rubbermaid Commercial Products Stainless Steel Monitoring Thermometer, Safe for Inside Oven/Grill/Smoker, 60-580°F Range, Easy to Read Food Thermometer For Food Resturant/Home Cooking

• FOOD SAFETY: Thermometer displays true oven temperature instantly to ensure safe food preparation

Check Price

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 would happen. Knowing your oven and knowing how to adjust to it is SUCH a major key when baking macarons. 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 in the feet’s appearance and the fullness on the interior.

If anything, I’m thrilled this worked to pop my first tray of shells directly into the oven to 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.

If you’re looking for the GOLDMINE of macaron resources, join the waitlist for my upcoming Online Macaron Course!