Fahrenheit And Celsius Calculator [+ Free Printable]

Depending on where you live in the world, you are probably pretty accustomed to the temperate range of your oven and of your local recipes. You know what temperature to bake your lasagna at and how many degrees your tilapia needs.

What happens when you pick up a recipe book from the other side of the world and you find a baking temperature range in Celcius? Or, similarly, you see a beautiful slow cook ribs recipe written up with a Fahrenheit temperature? I’ve got you covered.

Luckily these two temperature types can be converted pretty simply, and you can be on your merry way to the next step in the recipe. With quick access to answers nowadays, there’s not too much stopping us home cooks and bakers!

So, how do you convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa? Here’s all you need to know. I’ve included a simple calculator chart for you to work with.

What is the difference between Fahrenheit and Celsius?

When you’re reading or working with Celsius, keep in mind that 0°C is the freezing point for water, and the boiling point is 100°C.

Swapping across to Fahrenheit, the boiling point for water is 32°F, and the boiling point for water is 212°F.

These two temperature range measurements are used in different countries. The United States, Liberia, and the Cayman Islands are accustomed to using Fahrenheit.

Other parts of the world use Celsius, generally wherever the Metric system is used, so that includes the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and most of the world, really.

Fahrenheit and Celsius conversion in the kitchen

When it comes to baking and cooking, it’s important that you know what you’re doing. Baking a cake 10 degrees too high or low can impact its outcome.

If you’re roasting a chicken in an oven that’s set at a temperature that’s too low, you are likely to end up with an undercooked chicken.

You see my point here; you need to know the exact temperature you’re putting that tasty piece of fish or that precious birthday cake.

Here is a basic roundup of the different terms you might hear relating to oven temperatures, firstly.

• A hot or fast oven often describes an oven range of between 450 and 500°F. The equivalent here is Celsius is 230 – 260.
• A moderate oven can be set at around 180 to 190°F which means 350 to 375 °C. This is the most common range for cooking meats and vegetables.
• A slow oven is usually set at 300 – 325°F which equals 150 to 160°C.
• A cool oven temperature range can be set at around 200°F or 90°C.

Here’s a more detailed chart for this:

Celsius Conventional	Fahrenheit Fan	Fahrenheit	Described as
120	100	250	Super slow
150	130	300	Slow
160	140	325	Moderately slow
180	160	350	Moderate
190	170	375	Moderately hot
230	180	400	Hot
250	210	450	Very hot
260	230	500	Super hot

The calculation to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius is: subtract 32 from the temperature listed as Fahrenheit, multiply the answer by 5 and then divide that by 9. You can then round off the answer to getting the temperature in Celsius.

To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, you need to multiply the Celsius by 9, divide that by 5 and then add 32 to the answer.

Caramelization via Fahrenheit and Celsius

It’s interesting and important as a cook and baker to note that caramelization occurs at 240°F or 107°C. Basically, what happens here is that the sugars and protein in your ingredients begin to break down and react as the oven gets hotter.

This is what gives a roast chicken its crispy skin or a cookie its crunch. This and the fat coming out of the mixture gives golden color and rich flavor.

The result of caramelization is what gives your sweet or savory item its lovely brown color, and it contributes to the flavor of the dish.

In the olden days, pre-electric and gas ovens, people would know that their bread or food was cooked through in their rudimentary ovens based on color and smell alone.

Why the need for both Fahrenheit and Celsius?

Well, until the sixties, most of the world functioned with Fahrenheit under the Imperial system until a more efficient system was developed – the metric system.

With the metric system came the inclusion of Celsius as a way to measure temperature.

For many reasons, the US decided not to switch to the new system, as with a couple of other countries.

Flexibility in cooking temperature ranges

The general rule is that baking is not as flexible when it comes to oven temperature as savory dishes are. For example, cooking a hamburger patty at 170°C as opposed to 190°C isn’t going to make a major difference.

If you applied that same principle to baking a sponge cake, however, you’d have a bit of a problem.

It’s likely that the cake would burn on the outside or appear cooked on the exterior at least but be absolutely raw in the middle.

The moral of the story here is that while you might be happy to wing it with your baked potato’s oven temperature, it’s not a great idea for your cheesecake!

FAQs

Wrapping it up

It’s actually fascinating to learn about the different systems and about how to convert from one to the other.

I hope this article has armed you with how to switch and convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice versa and has given you a set of tools and information to make you feel more confident when using foreign or older recipes.

Enjoy scouring recipe books and Pinterest for new recipes to try out, safe in the knowledge that you can very easily switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit when you need to.

Happy cooking and baking!