Because of their built-in fans, toaster ovens often use the same technology that you’ll find in convection ovens. This fan keeps hot air circulating for quicker cooking times and more evenly crisped surfaces on your roasted vegetables or even a simple oven pizza. Best of all, they often feature dedicated settings to cook a wide variety of meals, including dehydrating slices of fruit (ideal for homemade summer garnishes) or broiling the top of your mac and cheese for a bubbly brown top. A toaster oven can even be used to replace the best air fryers thanks to their in-built frying baskets. I’ve ranked the best toaster ovens you can buy from Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Ninja and more to help you find the right one for your kitchen. Of course, toaster ovens were primarily designed to replace the best toasters, and some of them even come with modes for bagels and fully adjustable brownness settings to cook multiple slices at once. This will prove particularly helpful to those who enjoy artisanal bread which may not fit into a conventional toaster.
Best toaster oven deals
The best toaster ovens 2023, according to our experts
Why we love it Save $200 on the Tovala Steam + Air Fry Smart Oven, when you order at least 6 weeks of meals within your first 6 months. This gorgeous toaster oven has a good capacity, allowing for a 12-inch pizza, a 9 x 13 inch pan (with no handles), or up to 6 slices of toast. The oven has a built-in WiFi, and the SmartHQ App means can monitor and control the oven from your cell phone. The app makes it easy to adjust the oven temperature, change the cooking time, and stop the cooking cycle. You can even do this with voice command, but if you don’t want to use an app you can also control it manually. It made a delicious baked salmon and a homemade pizza with perfectly melted mozzarella. It broiled tender, juicy chicken and gooey chocolate chip cookies. Good to know While it held up well on test, the capacity may be a little small for bigger families. Why we love it The KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven with Air Fry is a beautiful appliance, with a sleek matte black exterior and glossy steel door. It’s intuitive to use thanks to a simple dial on the front of the machine,whic helps to pick a mode and then choose a time, up to 120 minutes. We found the bright LED display easy to read, and simple enough to toggle back and forth between the remaining cooking time and minutes. There’s an incredible range of modes: dehydrate, proof, bagel, toast, air fry, bake, broil, air fry, and keep warm, reaching temperature in just four minutes. Our expert reviewer Jaclyn especially appreciated the proofing function, which is a welcome addition for keen bakers. Every setting delivered consistent results, and the air fry basket is a stand out addition. It’s very deep and cleverly designed so that you won’t have to flip food half-way through. It turned out delicious, thick-cut fries, perfect tater tots, and even fried chicken. Jaclyn was full of praise for this oven, going as far as to say that it could replace an oven for feeding small families. Though it’s compact enough to fit on a countertop, it has a fantastic capacity, with enough space for a sheet cake, a 12-inch pizza pan, or up to 2 full-size chickens. If you’re looking to cut costs and save space, this toaster oven can replace a toaster, air fryer and dehydrator all in one appliance. Good to know When operating, the handle remains cool to the touch, but the sides of the oven get very hot. Toasting is this oven’s weakest function - the heating element is only on one side, so it can cook batches of toast unevenly, and the highest heat setting is overkill, burning one of the slices of toast on test. The grill of the air basket is also a little untidy, spilling crumbs into the body of the machine. Jaclyn’s full KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven with Air Fry review has more details Why we love it Wolf Gourmet comes with a hefty price tag, so it’s no wonder that the Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven is among the very best of the toaster ovens we tested for this guide. Expert tester Terri says it’s “the very best countertop oven that money can buy”, and it’s her go-to toaster oven. Settings include bake, roast, broil, toast/bagel, and there is also a proof setting which will work well in lieu of the best bread makers. Terri has been using this oven since 2020 without any issues, and if the five-year warranty is anything to go by, this toaster oven is built to last. This countertop oven allows you to toggle its convection setting, meaning you can turn it off for toasting or braising. The temperature probe is also easy to use, and we found that you can top up on timings to add some extra char to your steaks without compromising on how juicy it is on the inside. Good to know Other ovens on this list have more features and smart capabilities, such as being controlled by an app or by voice control. There’s also no avoiding that the price puts it out of reach for some readers. That said, if you can swing it, this well-built machine is every bit as luxe as you could imagine. It’s the benchmark of toaster ovens. Our full Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven Review has more details Why we love it The Fotile ChefCubii has four main functions: it can steam, bake, air fry, and dehydrate. However, it goes much, much further than this, with a whopping 40 different preset menu functions. This means you can effortlessly proof bread dough or cook rice, make tacos, make egg tarts, cook BBQ ribs and dozens of other meals besides. This made it easy to cook - rather than needed to know anything about steaming or dehydrating, just pick one of the presets and get cooking. They’re even printed on the interior of the door so you don’t have to pull out the manual to find out which number to scroll to. These presets helped our expert tester Terri to cook juicy, tender pork chops and perfect cookies. Yet despite all these features, the stand out function is the steam cooking. It’s one of the healthiest ways to cook, leaving food juicy and tender, without the need for added oil. The ChefCubii utilizes a portable water tank/drip tray that slides into the bottom of the oven, and there’s an indicator for when it needs to be refilled. It made delicious steamed shrimp. What’s more, the sleek, glossy white finish is also a welcome change to the sea of stainless steel. Thanks to a self-cleaning mode, it’s also incredibly simple to clean. Good to know Terri’s only complaint is that the door is made of two layers of tempered glass and one layer of low E glass, which seal very tightly, but these make the door difficult to open. Fotile explained that the ChefCubii is designed with a damping setup on the door (in the corners, metal hinges) for added compression and to make sure the unit is seamlessly closed up, but this meant that Terri needed to hold the top of the oven with one hand to stabilize and pull open the door with the other hand. Terri’s full Fotile ChefCubii Countertop Oven review goes into more detail Why we love it Unlike some other ovens on the list, the Tovala Smart Oven isn’t just a toaster oven. It’s main feature is a menu of oven-ready meals from a range of world cuisines - everything from Italian to Indian to Indonesian. Our expert reviewer Terri Williams found that these healthy meals were delicious - so delicious, in fact, that she would “pay money in a restaurant” for them, which is remarkable for what’s essentially a TV dinner. Thanks to the app handling the temperature and timer, every single meal on test was “ridiculously easy to prepare” - the only way it would be easier would be “hiring a chef”. If you don’t want the ready meals, the usual cooking functions are all excellent, and Terri particularly liked the steam function. What’s more, the Tovala is compatible with popular brands like Pillsbury, Eggo, Kashi, Amy’s, Annie’s, and Totino’s - just scan the barcode and the Tovala will cook waffles and pizza rolls to perfection. This oven takes up way less space than other toaster ovens on our list, so it’s a good option if you’re working with a smaller kitchen. Good to know Terri found that there’s a “hefty” ongoing cost. Prices start at $9.99 per meal, which is very expensive for home cooking. If you’re cooking for a family, that’s a lot of $10 meals, and the portions are quite small. You also need a smartphone and a good WiFi connection for this toaster oven to work, so if you’re old-school and don’t have either of these, or if your WiFi’s slow or your cellphone is out of charge, you won’t be able to use this oven. Terri’s full Tovala Smart Oven review explains more Why we love it By far the best feature of this toaster oven is its safety. While you should never do this, it’s completely safe to touch even at its top temperatures, which is a fantastic safety feature if you have kids. It has 12 modes - Toast, Bagel, Bake, Roast, Broil, Pizza, Cooking, Reheat, Dehydrate, Keep Warm, Defrost, and Bread Proof, and these are easy to select thanks to an LCD screen control panel and dials, and uses a combination of touchscreen buttons and control dials. Another ingenious feature that Terri loved is the step cook function, so you can program two back-to-back cycles. For example, you can set the oven to defrost and then automatically start the roast function, or set the oven to bake and then set “keep warm” as the second cycle if you need a minute to cook your sides. It also has an alert if you don’t open the door, so if you forget you’ve got some cookies baking you’ll be reminded to take them out. Speaking of which, Terri’s cookies were well cooked, with a crisp crunch balanced by indulgent, melted chocolate, and pork chops were tender and juicy. Good to know The Performance Cool Touch Toaster Oven doesn’t have an air fryer feature. A decade ago this wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s becoming an industry standard, one found in every model featured above. To be fair, there is another version that includes the air fryer, but it lacks the keep-cool sides. Terri’s full Calphalon Cool Touch Toaster Oven review explains more Why we love it The Instant Omni Plus is a highly versatile air fryer toaster oven for those looking for a multi-functional countertop appliance. Whether toasting, air frying or simply reheating, the Instant Omni Plus cooks superb and tasty results. Its features include air frying, broiling, baking, roasting dehydrating, reheating, toasting, warming, convection, and a unique rotisserie feature. It easily fed a group of four and comes with a variety of trays to best match what you’re cooking. To minimize clean-up, the mesh air fryer basket sits directly on top of the enamel baking sheet to keep anything from dripping onto the heating elements. There’s also a wire oven rack for toasting or using your own cooking vessels within the oven. And all the accessories are dishwasher safe. We particularly like the large LED touchscreen that makes it easy to see cooking progress, time and temperature. The oven utilizes a golden quartz infrared heating system that also cooks food about 25 percent faster, which does present a bit of a learning curve, but leaves you with faster meal prep once you get the hang of it. Good to know The rotisserie feature is unique and created one of the best chickens we’ve ever made, but it was a much messier process than anticipated. We struggled to fit a four-pound chicken and had to pin it down so that it could rotate. What’s more, the attachments to use the rotisserie feature are sharp and bulky, making it difficult to figure out proper storage, especially since it’s unlikely the average user will make rotisserie daily. A little storage bag would have been a nice add-on. The pre-heating took a little longer than the other toaster ovens on test, and we found that the handle gets a little warm, so is best opened with a mitt. Jaclyn’s full Instant Omni Plus review goes into more detail. Why we love it If you live in a small home and want something to speed up meal times without taking an entire counter’s worth of space, the Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Digital Air Fry Oven is designed just for you with a special space-saving Flip-Up design. It has eight modes: air fry, air roast, air broil, bake, bagel, toast, dehydrate and keep warm. While it can’t rival full-sized air fryers, it still has the space for a 13 x 13in baking tray, and it comes with two inserts for air frying and baking. It can also fit up to nine slices of toast and up to 4 pounds of chicken wings. The flip-away design is distinctive and great for those with small homes, and it also has a pull-out crumb tray to make sure it’s clean for day-to-day use. Because it lifts up, it’s easy to access the underside of the toaster oven to get an easy and deep clean, which is great news for those who plan to use this as their main toaster oven. It makes fantastic toast and bagels - everything came out even, with some slight marks from the wire rack on one side of the toast. Good to know It doesn’t look quite as stylish on a countertop compared to other toaster ovens. It also has a more narrow cooking height than other machines, so keep that in mind if you plan to cook bulky food items like a whole chicken. Our full Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Flip Mini Oven review has more details Why we love it The Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven has a mid-size capacity that allows you to adjust the temperature, timer, and settings. You can air fry, bake, convection broil, warm, and more. The controls are incredibly straightforward, and you can simply twist the dial to add or take away time from your cooking cycle. Our expert tester Helen McCue found that the Cuisinart TOA-60 cooked fast, with finished nuggets in just 7 minutes, and an oven pizza in just 10. This is a great alternative to a conventional oven, as we were able to cook an entire chicken which came out crisp and delicious. It also baked delicious muffins, but note that a standard muffin tin is too wide for this compact appliance. Good to know Because it operates with a dial, we found that it’s tricky to find the exact temperature when turning it compared to other smart toaster ovens that use an app. Fries weren’t as crisp as those from an air fryer, and battered fish was a little dry. Toast also needed turning halfway through cooking to reach an even level of brownness. Our full Cuisinart TOA-60 Air Fryer Toaster Oven review has more details
How we choose and review the best toaster ovens
Where to buy the the best toaster oven
We’ve reviewed every single toaster oven in our guide to help you find the best. We take our testing incredibly seriously and never award a rating or a badge to a product that’s not been tested by a member of our team. Our best toaster oven page is one of the many pages we update with regular reviews of leading market choices, so this page will be sure to change as we add more of our testing results. For more insight into our testing process, our review guidelines go into more information. Our review panel includes:
What should I look out for in a toaster oven?
For one thing, you should consider the space you have available. While the best toaster ovens are excellent stand-ins for a regular oven, they do require counter space. We included the dimensions to make that consideration a little easier. Another design element would be dial controls versus buttons, and the inclusion of a digital display. Some may feature a combination of both to operate. Digital displays typically help you identify the exact settings a bit easier, but may drive up the price of your toaster oven, and can make the experience more sophisticated, though you will find yourself with more control. As for features, we recommend a toaster oven air fryer. That’s not just because we’re air fryer lovers, but convection technology will mean that your food will cook faster, and you’ll end up with more options when it comes to mealtimes. Other functions like Steam cooking seems to be growing as an offering in toaster oven designs as well.
How a toaster oven works
The basic function of a toaster oven is a grill to cook toast and bagels. It’s a larger surface with more capacity than a toaster, so you can cook up to eight slices at once, or thick-cut artisan breads like homemade sourdough. However, modern toaster ovens have multiple functions. Our tests have found toaster ovens that can bake, dehydrate, air fry, and much else besides, including cook an entire rotisserie chicken.
Is a toaster oven the same as an air fryer?
They’re two different appliances. The basic difference is that an air fryer is an appliance that circulates hot air around food to cook it, where an a toaster oven toasts bread. However, the best toaster ovens and air fryers have multiple functions - though toaster ovens tend to have many, many more.
Are toaster oven air fryers good?
The very best air fryers air fry better than most toaster ovens, so if you’re after perfect, healthy fries, some toaster ovens might not cut it. However, many air fryers just can’t compete with the best toaster ovens for functionality, and the best toaster ovens featured above are more than a match for air fryers, making delicious fries and baked salmon. If you’re pushed for space, a toaster oven is a great option that can save you buying lots of different appliances. There’s almost no limit on the appliances that can be replaced with the right toaster oven - you can get a dehydrator, air fryer, steamer, broiler, microwave and toaster all in one appliance, saving you money and space on your countertop.
Do I need a toaster oven if I have an oven?
It depends on your space and what you’re trying to cook. A traditional oven can roast and bake just fine, but a toaster oven offers quicker cooking, as well as multiple specialist functions like toasting, steaming rice, and in one of the above toaster ovens, spinning an entire rotisserie chicken. Lots of buyers do away with ovens in RVs or cabins and easily make do with a good toaster oven, so it depends on your kitchen setup.
Can a toaster oven replace a microwave oven?
If it has a microwave function, absolutely. Even if not, the basic principle of heating food is the same, so classic microwave dinners like pizza rolls can turn out even better in a toaster oven.
Can I bake in a toaster oven?
This is an easy answer - you can absolutely bake in a toaster oven. Our expert tests trialled cookies, muffins and sheet cakes, and you can even use some toaster ovens to proof a loaf.
