Bosch Serie 4 Built in Electric Single Oven (HBS573BS0B) - Review

In partnership with AO.com

Although it will be quite a different Christmas for us all this year, a succulent roast turkey with all the glorious trimmings is still an inviting prospect and a meal worth getting right. Apart from having a fresh bird and the right ingredients, the cooking vessel and method is just as important. Before the big day, AO.com provided me with the Bosch Serie 4 HBS573BS0B Built In Electric Single Oven to test and review so let’s see how it performs with a few tester meals.

First of all, the oven is the industry standard size and was expertly fitted by AO.com and my old oven was conveniently taken away as well. It arrived during the delivery time slot stated and was a straightforward seamless process with Covid safety precautions in place.

Features & Design:

On first impressions, it is a sleek design with stainless steel panels, clear and easy to read dials, and a large triple glazed glass door for checking up on food without having to let out the heat. Designed to fit at eye level or under a worktop, there’s also a stylish red LED touchscreen display which is clear to read and the dials/touch screens are simple to navigate. A handy function is the Childproof Lock for keeping curious toddlers at bay. The accessories include two wire racks for holding ovenproof dishes, a universal pan for cooking as well as catching dripping liquids if used with the wire rack, and two narrow universal pans for cooking smaller dishes including frozen meals.

The oven itself is multifunctional with a variety of programmes and functions to choose from but the feature I was most excited about was the pyrolytic cleaning function. Although pyrolytic sounds like some sort of criminal act (!) it actually means it will heat the inside of the oven to 400 degrees celsius to burn any leftover grease to ash, which can then be wiped away from the bottom of the oven. An impressive feature that I think would be super useful for anyone that uses their oven on a daily basis like I do. More about this later.

I was also intrigued by the 3D Hot Air system which the oven utilises. This means hot air from the fan at the back circulates evenly around the whole oven so the cooking temperature is even and food on the top shelf will cook at the same temperature as food on the bottom shelf. This is a very useful feature which will allow you to batch bake and cook food like giant mounds of roast potatoes for instance, which I can confirm it cooks evenly to crispy perfection.

Usability & Performance:

Over the last few weeks, I have used the oven almost daily and have been impressed with the rapid time in which it heats up and how evenly food has been cooked. The Full-surface grill is also very impressive and cooking cheese on toast and bacon is quick and easy as the element heats up rapidly. Speaking of rapid, there’s also a Rapid Heating feature which you can use to shorten the preheat time of dishes if you’re in a particular hurry.

The 10 preset programmes are great for cooking classic dishes like leg of lamb, turkey, and pork joints to the optimum time and temperature. I used the programme to cook a whole chicken and just needed to enter the weight of the chicken and the oven set the correct time and temperature for cooking. The result was one of the most moist and juicy whole chickens I have ever cooked at home.

Pyrolytic Self-Cleaning:

After cooking the chicken, I noticed that the oven was now in need of a good clean and decided to try out the pyrolytic self-cleaning feature. There are 3 Cleaning Levels - lightly soiled, medium, and high - each with different cleaning times. After removing the trays and accessories, I chose medium and after a few seconds the oven door locked shut and set a timer for an hour and 30 minutes.

The kitchen definitely felt hotter during this period but of course I could stand the heat! As you can see from the before and after photos, the result was very impressive! The leftover ash was cleaned easily and there were only trace amounts of grease left which were removable with some lemon juice. I’m highly impressed with this feature and no longer have to spend precious time out of my weekend scrubbing and cleaning the oven.

Overall:

The Bosch Serie 4 Built In Electric Single Oven (HBS573BS0B) is overall a fantastic oven with useful features that will revolutionise the way you cook a variety of dishes. Food has consistently been cooked evenly and quickly and the 3D hot air system has worked perfectly to batch-cook food at the same time. The preset programmes are handy when needing to cook particular dishes to the optimum time and temperature. However, the Pyrolytic Self-Cleaning function is the biggest game-changer in my opinion. I’m relieved that this function is not a gimmick and genuinely works to clean the oven without any added elbow grease. I both loathe and detest cleaning ovens and thankfully won’t need to thanks to this impressive feature.

Above all else, the oven is simple to use without unnecessary functions and gimmicks that you won’t use and it does its intended job very well indeed. If you’re looking for an oven to give you a helping hand in 2021 then I definitely recommend this Bosch Serie 4 oven.

Wow your dinner guests with this built-in electric single oven from Bosch. As it’s multifunctional, it offers a range of cooking options to help you perfect every recipe. The clever 3D Hot Air system uses a fan to evenly distribute heat inside – so your meals will be thoroughly cooked, whichever shelf you place them on.

You’ll always know when your delicious dishes are ready thanks to the electronic timer, which will alert you when it’s time to dine. It’s a breeze to keep clean too, as the intelligent pyrolytic cleaning function will burn any leftover grease to ash, which can be easily wiped away. This model is designed to fit at eye level or under a worktop.

What feature do you like about this oven? Let me know in the comments below!

Her Favourite Food & Travel x

In collaboration with AO.com, all opinions are my own.