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21 DIY Solar Ovens-Utilize Sun Energy To Cook Your Food

A DIY solar oven will allow you to capture the heat generated by the sun to cook food. A solar oven is eco-friendly, uses renewable energy as its heat source and does not cost you anything to use. You can have a hot, homemade meal wherever your off-grid adventure may lead. Fishing, camping, hunting or hiking, create an efficient and useful sun oven to take along with you for hot meal preparation.

1- Pizza Box Solar Oven

Use this simple recycling idea to create a DIY solar oven from a used pizza box by homesciencetools. The heat of the sun can be trapped inside the cardboard pizza box and used to heat food. This oven design costs virtually nothing to build. You may also like to check out diy pizza oven.

DIY solar oven
Pizza Box Solar Oven, Image via: homesciencetools

2- Breadbox Design

This diy solar cooker design by motherearthnews uses a simple breadbox design to create a large, efficient oven powered by the sun. There’s a box inside a box, along with a couple of other components, that will transfer heat and cook the food placed inside.

solar cooker design
Breadbox solar cooker design, Image via: motherearthnews

3- Big Box DIY Solar Oven

These instructions will show you how to build a homemade solar cooker by instructables that is capable of cooking a large quantity of food at once. Great for use on a family camping trip where there will be a lot of hungry mouths to feed at once.

homemade solar cooker
Big Box DIY Solar Oven, Image via: instructables

4- Windshield Protector

Use this unique idea to transform a reflective windshield protector into a portable DIY solar cooker by solarcooking.wikia. Just one item can serve a dual purpose by protecting the interior of your car from the sun and harness the power of the sun to cook dinner for you.

DIY solar cooker
Windshield Protector solar cooker, Image via: solarcooking.wikia

5- No Turn DIY Solar Oven

Create this no-turn homemade solar oven like in this youtube video with real wood, glass, and mirrors for high heat cooking without gas or electricity.

This YouTube video will show you how to build this advanced large-capacity solar oven so you can cook several food items at the same time. The glass top and front provide maximum sun exposure so food will cook evenly and quickly.

The solar oven has a rectangular shape and low top so all the heat from the sun is concentrated around the cooking utensils. No wasted heat means higher interior heat and faster cooking time.

Ideal for cooking for a large family, this DIY solar oven would be a great addition to an off-grid homestead or outdoor kitchen.

6- DIY Solar Cooker

This is a great little solar cooker DIY project on youtube that will enable you to have a hot and nutritious lunch in the middle of the workday.

Small enough to carry with you to the job site yet large enough to cook a satisfying meal for you. Watch this YouTube video for all the easy steps of preparing this solar cooker and get ready to enjoy a hot lunch.

Place all the lunch ingredients, like rice and vegetables, in a stainless steel bowl, then place the bowl inside of the solar cooker at mid-morning and your hot, fresh lunch will be ready at noon.

When you have finished eating lunch, prepare supper in the stainless steel bowl and place it in the solar cooker so another fresh, hot meal will be ready for you at the end of the workday.

7- Cheap Solar Oven

This diy solar oven design by chelseagreen is attractive and highly functional. It’s also cheap to build. You can build this solar cooker for around $5 and it will last weeks (longer if it doesn’t get wet). This is a great design to use as a slow cooker for a family dinner when spending the day outdoors. Place prepared raw food inside solar oven in the morning, enjoy the day, return to the oven in the evening to find a hot and ready meal to feed your family. You may also like to check out smokehouse plans.

Cheap DIY Solar Oven
Cheap Solar Oven, Image via: chelseagreen

8- Low Cost Homemade Solar Oven

Learn how to build a solar oven with these detailed instructions by treehugger. This oven is attractive and reflective inside and out and will cook food without using fossil food.  Low cost, high efficiency, great for off-grid living.

homemade solar oven
Low Cost Homemade Solar Oven, Image via: treehugger

9- Hot-Box Solar Oven

This hot-box diy solar oven is built from scrap lumber and created to reach a high internal temperature. When the need for high heat is needed, this homemade solar oven design by popularmechanics is the one you need to build. Great for bread baking or oven roasting.

Hot-Box Oven
Hot-Box Solar Oven, Image via: popularmechanics

10- Cardboard Box Oven

Hard to imagine how a cardboard box can be transformed into a cooking vessel but these detailed instructions by popularmechanics will show you how to do just that. This cardboard solar oven is made cheaply and quickly in 5 easy steps.

Cardboard Box Oven
Cardboard Box Oven, Image via: popularmechanics

11- Homemade Solar Cooker

Minimum effort, maximum cooking power. This simple box cooker by solarcooking.fandom is easy to build, cooks food efficiently and saves money on the utility bill. Great for use at home or anywhere an outdoor adventure may lead. You may also like to check out diy grill station.

homemade solar Cooker
Homemade Solar Cooker, Image via: solarcooking.fandom

12- Wooden Box Cooker

Build to last, these easy to follow instructions will show you how to build an inexpensive wooden box cooker by that uses solar power to cook a variety of food. The wood construction of this solar oven ensures it will last for years and save you money on the utility bill.

Woden Box Cooker
Wooden Box Cooker

13- Recycled Cardboard Box

A cardboard box is the main component of this DIY solar oven by thecrafttrain. The interior of the cardboard box is covered with aluminum foil to catch the sun’s rays and reflect them inside the box. A sheet of black construction paper captures and absorbs the heat soothes the interior of the box gets hot.

The internal heat is not as hot as a conventional oven but it does get hot enough to cook food. An inverted glass bowl over the food keeps the heat concentrated around the food and keeps all the flying insects off the food as it cooks. You can bake cupcakes or bread, or simmer beans and rice in this cardboard solar oven.

Follow the detailed instructions of these free plans so you can learn how to recycle a cardboard box into a functional cheap solar oven.

Recycled Cardboard Box
Recycled Cardboard Box, Image via: thecrafttrain

14- Styrofoam Box Solar Oven

A recycled Styrofoam box works great as the base of a solar oven DIY project. An old Styrofoam box that was used as a packing box or ice chest is ideal to recycle into a DIY solar oven like in this idea by instructables.

Use these detailed instructions that contain both written and pictorial instructions to make the building project very easy so you learn how to make a solar oven. This DIY oven is large and will reach up to 120 degrees F on a sunny day. That’s hot enough to cook pasta, rice, chicken, potatoes, and much more.

Cooking in a solar oven is a slow process but it’s very simple. Place the food in the pots, then place the pots inside of the solar oven and go about your day. By the end of the day or by mid-day, depending on the food being cooked, your meal will be ready and waiting for you.

This is great for days when you don’t have the time to stay close to the stove and tend to the food as it cooks. Prepare it in the morning and it will be ready by the evening. You may also like to check out homemade wood burning stoves.

Styrofoam Box Solar Oven
Styrofoam Box Solar Oven, Image via: instructables

15- Copenhagen Solar Cooker

This style of DIY solar oven by rimstar.org is lightweight, portable, and easy to build. The Copenhagen solar cooker is constructed with easy to move sides so you will be able to adjust the oven to capture the most intense rays of the sun.

A Copenhagen solar cooker enables you to cook year-round and maximizes the sun’s rays for efficient cooking. This is a great little oven to carry along with you on hiking and camping trips. You will be able to cook food anywhere and any time of year when you follow these detailed instructions and build a Copenhagen solar oven for yourself.

Copenhagen Solar Cooker
Copenhagen Solar Cooker, Image via: rimstar.org

16- Solar Box Cooker

Learn how to make a solar oven like this one by solarcooking.fandom that is cheap and efficient with these free building plans. A couple of cardboard boxes can be transformed into a sun powered oven that keeps the heat contained around the pot for even and fast cooking.

This oven is easy to carry with you and assemble on-site since it does not use glass as a building component. A clear, heavy duty oven cooking bag is used as the top panel to let the sun penetrate inside the oven.

The oven cooking bags are cheap and lightweight so a spare bag is easy to fold up and place in a backpack. No worry about broken glass but the plastic oven bag won’t last as long as glass. Use these solar cooker DIY plans today to create a sustainable and free way to cook food.

how to make a solar oven
Solar Box Cooker, Image via: solarcooking.fandom

17- S’mores Solar Oven

Who doesn’t love delicious gooey S’mores? The treat is as much fun to make as it is to eat. Traditionally, S’mores are made over a camp fire but not everyone enjoys camping or lives in a location where they can build an outdoor fire. This easy to build homemade solar oven by hgtv will solve the problem.

This is a great DIY project to do with children and can be done on a balcony, patio, or even in a local park. Recycled items can be used to build this kid friendly solar oven.

Teach children how to build a solar oven, how to use the sustainable power of the sun, and how to cook S’mores with these easy-to-follow instructions. .You may also like to check out diy rocket stove.

S’mores Solar Oven
S’mores Solar Oven, Image via: hgtv

18- Simple Solar Cooker

If you want to teach your children about solar energy, or if you want to learn more about it yourself, consider building this DIY solar oven on youtube. This detailed YouTube video will show you how it’s done.

This cheap solar oven will cook food without the use of electricity, gas, wood, or coal, the sun does all the cooking. Solar energy is free, sustainable, and readily available wherever you are. Gather the kids together and build this simple solar cooker, then cook one of their favorite foods inside the new cooker. They will be amazed at how well the sun cooks food. This would make a great science project for school and by cooking the teacher’s favorite food, the child might get extra credit.

19- High Heat DIY Solar Oven

This DIY solar oven is created to deliver high heat for fast, efficient cooking outdoors. This solar oven will reach up to 400 degrees F on a sunny summer day and can cook bread as fast as a conventional oven.

This solar oven on youtube is also unique because there is no glue, silicone, plastic, or paint used in the building process. Only natural components like wood, glass, and porcelain are used to create a solar oven that will maximize the sun’s rays to create high internal temperature.

Also, when using only natural components, the food will not have a funny after taste or odd aroma. Watch this YouTube video to discover how to build this high heat DIY solar oven.

20- Sun Powered Oven

Reduce the usage of gas or electricity in your home by building a DIY solar oven outdoors like this one by motherearthnews and cook with the sun.

Solar energy is a free and renewable source of energy that can be used to cook dinner every night if you have a homemade solar oven. You can even cook in a solar oven during the winter months, as long as the sun is shining brightly.

You don’t need a kitchen to cook good food, you can cook anywhere outdoors with a sun powered oven. This cooking method is free, efficient, and the oven won’t heat the kitchen on a hot summer day so it will reduce the usage of the air conditioning unit.

Sun Powered Oven
Sun Powered Oven, Image via: motherearthnews

21- Kid’s S’mores Oven

This DIY project is perfect for kids to build and to use. They can amaze their friends by cooking S’mores for them in this unique kid’s S’mores oven.

The solar oven is easy to build and uses a recycled cardboard box as the main component of the oven. Kids can color and decorate the exterior of this DIY solar oven by desertchica to make it personal.

DIY solar oven
Kid’s S’mores Oven, Image via: desertchica

Ending Note!

Use these soler oven plans to cook food when you live offgrid or on camping to utilize the free energy of sun. These diy solar ovens are simple and cheap to builld. Hope you like our round up of above solar oven plans.

About Farhan Ahsan

My name is Farhan Ahsan,I am web enthusiast, writer and blogger. I always strive to be passionate about my work. I started my work at the beginning of 2007 by engaging myself with detail reading and exchanging information with others. Since then things and times have changed, but one thing remains the same and that is my passion for helping and educating people, building a successful blog and delivering quality content to the readers. I always love to write about gardening, sustainable life, off grid living and homestead farming.

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