I often do an entire broiler pan full of veggies, usually in the middle shelf, and haven't found an issue. (Electric wall oven).

What Bluestar range/oven do you have?

Getting ready to purchase appliances and was specifically thinking of switching from cooktop to a Bluestar range just to get the infrared broiler.

I have experience using an infrared broiler in a Viking 30" range and it was unbelievably powerful. Like Jerry said I would have had to go lower with vegetables or risk complete blackening so it almost sounds like something is wrong with yours unless the footprint of the broiler element is unusually small?

Hmmm I have the 30” RNB all gas range open burners with the infrared broiler. Perhaps I am misunderstanding how this thing works lol! I’ve never used a broiler at a great distance from the heat source so that’s a new concept. And yes as far as how small the footprint is it’s small as compared to any previous oven or range I’ve had. To be honest other than toasting bread I never ever use a broiler! The only reason I decided to utilize this one was due to the comments I read here .

a more complete “ recipe” from you Queen and Jerry would be helpful. Specifically timing for a tray of vegetables or as I was trying to unsuccessfully do brown eggplant slices brushed with olive oil in order to do individual stacked eggplant Parma... we love it and usually they are so easy and come out quickly browned with a custardy soft inside. These were tough and either charred or just soft with no browning whatsoever if they were on the outer edges of the tray.

please take pity on me😊. I want to love the broiler. Love the wok capabilities and we use it for that almost daily!! Thank you!

For asparagus you just brush some olive oil over the stalks, set the broiler to low, put the tray in the middle rack, set the timer to between seven and nine minutes (depends on the stalk size). The broiler works very quickly, so check at five until you get used to it. Eggplant does about the same, but it depends on how thick you slice it. For peppers, cut the peppers into quarters, place the skin side up. Broil till black, remove the skin. I haven't tried creme brûlée, not being a big egg fan, and more importantly not having any ramekins, but I imagine that's the one time you want to set the broiler to high.) The broiler puts out some serious heat, so you have to adjust your cooking.

I have a Blue Star 48" RNB. Didn't really think much about the broiler when I made the purchase, but now I use it ALL the time to the extent that I hardly use the grill. Most commonly 3 large chicken breasts (sometimes tandoori style!) on the top rack right under the broiler come out with an amazing crust at about 6-7 minutes per side. Also, after roasting or braising a cut of meat such as corned beef or lamb shank, I will put it under the broiler for a few minutes to get a nice char finish in the outside.

I do wish it had a larger footprint though.

The other comments here are interesting - and it makes sense that the further away from the broiler the wider the cooking area, though I had never thought of it that way.

Like HU, I was always under the impression that whatever I was cooking needed to be very close to the broiler??

Queen - I am going to try the pan of brussel sprouts because I love those. Approx how much time in total did you have them in?

Jerry, I like that asparagus recipe, will give that a shot too! (Though there is no high/low on the gas broiler, so just have to adjust distance.)

With the gas broiler, you only get on or off; you can't set power level.

But of course, you can vary distance from the broiler depending on desired area and power. Even at increased distance, it's still more powerful than what you'd get with more traditional broilers from other manufacturers.

And close distance works great for lots of foods that are not so large. I use it for toasted English muffins all the time. Place the muffins mere inches below the broiler and they'll be toasted beautifully within less than a minute (so keep watching carefully).

I have also made amazing roasted spatchcocked chicken the other night and used the broiler for part of the process. That worked better with more distance from the broiler.

Thank you! I appreciate all the responses. I would like more detail on doing chicken pieces/ halves etc. also thick cut steak and or chops? Start on griddle and finish in oven or?? Burgers ?

M how did you start the chicken and how long and finish and how long? What size bird? This is all new territory so I’m open for all ideas. Distance appears to = success. Definitely not like a typical broiler of old.

yes you have to watch your bagel CLOSELY!!! scrape scrape scrape lol! Thank you y’all are great

The chicken was an (almost) accident, actually.

I used the Serious Eats recipe for spatchcocked chicken. It's a great recipe. As long as you use a meat thermometer, you get amazingly juicy chicken and crispy skin.

The recipes asks you to preheat the oven to 500°F. That's kind of critical for this particular recipe. So, that's what I did. And then at the end, I turned on the broiler to preheat my big Fibrament baking stone some more. After 10 minutes, I put the chicken in the oven -- and forgot to turn off the broiler.

A while later, I hear the skin sizzling, which I hadn't quite expected that early during the process. I look into the oven and see that the skin is already pretty dark. Oops. I quickly turn off the broiler, lightly cover the chicken with aluminum foil and continue with the recipe.

In the end, it turns out amazing. Even though I front-loaded the browning process. Silly me.

pauls234 -- High on the broiler in our Bluestar electric wall oven means almost instant black. I'm not kidding, this thing is like a salamander.

The last time I made Brussels sprouts I used a new recipe, “Roasted Brussels sprouts with pancetta vinaigrette” from the Six Seasons Cookbook. I basically doubled the recipe, cut each spout in half and spread them as sparsely as I could on a full sheet pan lined with parchment. I heated up the oven as the recipe indicated (I think 400), roasted them that way for 5-10 mins, stirred them and then turned on the broiler and let them roast on the second rack from the top, pulling them out and stirring every 2mins or so until they were super crispy, even somewhat charred. Broiling maybe took 6-8 mins total. I tossed them in the vinaigrette then added some grated Parmesan cheese which wasn’t part of the recipe, but seemed sensible. They were insanely good, even as leftovers the next day. My kids loved them, and they aren’t usually huge Brussels sprouts eaters.

Thank you queen, can't wait to give it a shot this weekend!

Thank you everyone for the tips! I lowered the rack to the third rack down. Basted the tomatillos and the poblanos with olive oil and they charred beautifully. I appreciate all the suggestions and will definitely be trying the chicken. c

Hi all. I am waiting for my new RNB 30" range to be installed and am looking forward to using the infrared broiler. But in reading these posts I realized I probably should get new broiler pans -- I don't want something that will melt. Other than a cast-iron skillet, what pans would you recommend? Thanks.

I use stainless sheet pans and transfer food to a serving dish if I have guests or scoop into dinner plates.

You might be overthinking this problem. I regularly use my Nordic half sheet pan with a wire rack. Sometimes, I use my Lodge carbon steel skillet. And at other times, I roast directly on top of my Fibrament baking stone. I like the baking stone, but would probably buy a baking steel instead, if I had to do so again.

In other words, it's pretty easy and you can use whatever you happen to have access to.

I don't think you need anything special, I just use my nordic ware aluminum baking sheets.

As far as I know, any kind of ovenware will work. The ramekins used for cream brulee don't appear to be special.

Thanks for the prompt and helpful replies.