Hamilton Beach32229 22-Quart Roaster Oven, Stainless Steel (Discontinued)

This is going to have to be a long review...so bear with me. First and foremost this is a large roaster. Most are 18 quart. This one is 22 quart. The reason I wanted a roaster so large? Small turkeys (sub 20lb) have a low meat to bone ratio. Once your get over 20lbs you get a LOT more meat. No one eats the bone so why pay for bone? You can freeze the leftover meat and have turkey without having to cook another one - for a long time. :-)As roasters go, this one is well made. I like the stainless sides and all porcelain insert and interior. The lid is 'nice' and fully functional, but if I could make a suggestion to Hamilton Beach it would be design the lid underside with some other material. After a single use it is permanently stained and oxidized. I guess it doesn't really hurt anything BUT, it kept the turkey smell no matter how or how many times we cleaned it. Other roasters aren't any better.The rack that goes in the black porcelain insert works very well. I was able to lift the turkey out of the roaster with it and place it on the cutting tray without problem. First, of course since the roaster was cooking the turkey in another room, I lifted the insert out and carried it to the kitchen counter where I sat it on one of two adjacent white plastic cutting boards The other one was for the "cutting tray".Actual measured dimensions:EXTERNAL: The longest side of the insert (which extends out over the base) is 22". The handles on the base each extend almost an inch beyond that for a total length just shy of 24". The width of the insert (slightly wider than the base) is 15.25" with the temperature control knob sticking out exactly 1" beyond that for a total width of 16.25" However, the 2 foot long cord come out of the center of the other side so you would need a minimum of 16.5" for storage. Also for storage, you can flip the lid upside down for a total storage height of 8.5". With the lid right side up the total height is 12.25" including the lid handle. The lid itself is actually 4" but sits in a 0.25" recess lip in the insert. That lip is important because it prevents juices from "escaping" (running out over the edge).INTERNAL: How much room there is for a large turkey is determined by the Inside length and width of the insert. Length is 17.25" and the inside width is 11.75". Of course with large birds the 'head' matters as well. The lid adds 2.25" to the 6.25" of height in the insert for a total space of 8.5" for the height of the bird. In other words, you can comfortably fit a 16"L x 11"W x 8"H turkey in this roaster. I cooked a 23 lb turkey for Christmas and there was plenty of room. Should be able to fit at least a 25lb and probably a 26 lb turkey in this roaster. Is that great or what?!!!And yes, of course, you use either ALL cotton string or stainless wire to tie the birds legs and wings to keep them from falling against the wall and burning.Most of our experience was cooking turkeys in an oven. We were having company and needed the oven space for cooking other things. So this was a first. I called my son and my sister who have both used roasters for cooking turkeys for years to find out what the temperatures and times should be. WELL! Talk about two totally different sets of numbers! So, I just used a little common sense and boiled down all their numbers to what I thought made sense. I'm telling you this because the instructions for cooking a turkey that came with the roaster are all wrong. It says you can cook a 20 lb turkey in 2 to 3 hrs at 325°. No way. It would NOT be adequately cooked!Preheat for 15 minutes at 400°F.Put in the turkey and cook for 45 minutes at 400°F. The turkey is thawed but cold so you need to jump start the cooking process.Then drop the temperature to 340°F for the remaining cooking time.Now, I inserted three small dial cooking thermometers into the bird at 3 hours. One inserted in the meat behind the thigh, one in the breast meat and one in the filling that went right into the center. That's the same time I coated the bird with butter for browning. Then at 3 1/2 hours I checked the thermometers and coated the bird with butter a second time. turkey label 3.5 hrs 4 hrsstuffing 165°F 170°F 180°Fbreast 170°F 175°F 185°Fbehind thigh 180°F 160°F* 180°F* Behind the thigh is always the most difficult to get up to temperature.I did notice that throughout the cooking process the turkey was being constantly basted by the steam condensing and dripping from the lid all over the turkey!Bottom line is that we cooked a 23 lb turkey in 4 hrs flat! Then I turned it down to 200°F to hold it until our company arrived (late) almost an hour later. The bird was perfect. It was tender, juicy, AND perfectly browned! And you can see from the temps at 4hrs it was thoroughly and properly cooked. This roaster did a great job! I should have taken a picture of it.

I'll admit to being skeptical: I've cooked the Thanksgiving turkey in a bag in the regular oven for all of my adult life, and I know how that works. So to trust a new appliance and not use a roasting bag took a leap of faith.This was the best turkey I'd ever hard. Seriously.It's super easy. Just prep the bird like you'd normally do. About 10 minutes before you're ready to put it in, take out the insert pan and pre-heat the roaster to its highest setting (which is 450). Put the bird on the wire rack (lifting handles UP), and put it in the insert pan. When that 10 minutes is up, put the insert pan with the turkey in it into the roaster, cover, and let cook for 30 minutes at 450.After 30 minutes, turn the temp down to 325 and relax. Do NOT open the lid until you hit the earliest time the bird should be ready. (In my case, a 16 lbs stuffed bird should take from 3-3/4 to 4-1/4 hours, so I checked it at 3-3/4.)Fall-apart tender, juicy breast meat. Perfect!It does NOT get that dark golden brown you would in the oven (it still looks amazing, though!), so if you want that, you probably want to take it out and broil it in the oven for that. But the taste... to die for.Cleanup is great, and I know I'll find all kinds of other uses for this during the year. Highly recommended!

I must preface this review. I have been an Amazon customer for many years, and recently became a Prime customer. I have never written a review. I didn't feel anything that I had purchased really needed a review... Until this.This is amazing. I bought this to help increase my oven space for my next Thanksgiving, as trying to roast a turkey and bake stuffing, potatoes, biscuits, and green beans in the same conventional oven is a little overwhelming, even for the new powerful has oven we have.I went ahead and did a test run on a whole roasted chicken to compare times, juiciness, and overall see how the product would work. As the title of the review suggests, I am very impressed with the roaster. My chicken turned out incredible. Slightly browned on the outside, super, super juicy on the inside. Cooking time is about the same, slightly less.Some tips:-If cooking a turkey or a chicken, brush the outside with some melted butter. It'll help the skin brown and crisp.-If using a thermometer meant to stay in the meat and have the temp unit outside, be aware the lid won't be flush. I used some tinfoil wrapped on the edge to keep the heat in.-The lid and the outside of the machine get HOT. I have a pair of Ov-Gloves that work wonders.-The roasting pan that comes inside is large and can be used for large soups/stews and turkeys. If you are cooking something smaller, definitely use a 10x14 or 9x13 pan (I use glass Pyrex and they work wonders.Overall this is a really good produce and a perfect size. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

The roaster oven worked great for our 22 lb Thanksgiving turkey, which was stuffed. However, it took about 60 minutes longer than the directions said it would for a stuffed bird. I used the browning sauce recipe included with the oven and the turkey looked perfect. It was moist and delicious! However, I did not expect the outside to heat up as much as it did and burned my hand when I touched it. I put a Post-It note on the cupboard above the roaster warning others not to touch!!I have since used the roaster to steam about 12 lb of King Crab legs. I improvised a large enough colander from a disposable turkey roasting pan and set it on a rack I had that fit the roaster perfectly. I added 1 qt of water after preheating the roaster to 450 F, then piled in the crab legs. They were done perfectly in about 15 minutes. What an easy way to get this job done!The roaster looks great and cleans easily -- once it has cooled.All in all a great investment that has freed up my oven for other foods I make for our big family parties. I am very happy with this purchase.

This is an excellent roaster if you follow the instructions with it. It works great and is a snap to clean. We bought it so we could have roast beef or a turkey at the lake in our trailer. The oven is quite small in the trailer so this is the perfect machine for us. The price was very reasonable and we received the roaster very quick. The shipping was not cheap, but the roaster itself is a great buy.

I was looking for a Housewarming Gift for my daughter and son-in-law ... tried to find one locally, but all I could find is 16 or 18 Qt. Mine is 22 Qt and I knew that anything smaller would not work for the huge turkeys, etc we make for Family get-togethers. They love it!!! They also use it as a buffet server, as they entertain a lot. I also take mine along in the RV - so handy to have.

I use this to make bone broth. I have this oven going continuously for about 2 days and I find that it loses very little moisture like my crock pots did. I like how I can adjust the temperature more accurately than just low and high and I feel safe letting my broth simmer over night. Clean up is very easy. This is the perfect size if you want to make a dish to feed a lot of people.

Excellent!

excellent