The best toaster oven is a lot smaller than the average oven, but it's still capable of cooking entire meals without the lengthy pre-heat time. Toaster ovens are built like convection ovens, with fans that circulate air around your food as it cooks to evenly crisp up the surface of your fish, vegetables, or bread in minimal time. That's why many people report that the best toaster oven will cut down on the cooking time they are used to in a regular oven.
For many people, a toaster oven can be used to replace the best air fryers thanks to their in-built frying baskets. These will allow homemade fries and breaded meats to cook from all directions, with a crisp exterior that will mimic the texture of your favorite deep-fried foods.
We've ranked the best toaster ovens you can buy from Cuisinart, KitchenAid, Ninja, De'Longhi and Breville to help you find the right one for your kitchen. Perhaps you're short on kitchen space and need a mini cooker to help with homemade meals, or maybe you want the extra cooking space and convenience a toaster oven can bring to your life.
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 come in particularly helpful to those who enjoy artisanal breads which may not fit into a conventional toaster.
The best toaster oven 2022
Our top pick of the best toaster oven is the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven. It 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.
What we love
Controls are incredibly straightforward, and you can simply twist the dial to add or take away time from your cooking cycle. The Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven cooked very evenly in testing, and the air fryer basket was effective at making fries, chicken and other treats.
As for the oven, it's very fast to cook. We had nuggets in just 7 minutes, and oven pizza was complete in just 10.
Features
With 7 modes in total, the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is a winner for multi-functionality. It has a tray for roasting, a basket for air frying, and a baking pan that can be used for cake, cookies and more.
Homes & Gardens rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
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. It's also a top choice for those who live in apartments and may not have an oven to speak of.
What we love
For a start, Ninja has crammed 8 modes into the Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Digital Air Fry Oven: air fry, air roast, air broil, bake, bagel, toast, dehydrate, and keep warm. While it's never going to rival full-sized air fryers, it does still have the space for a 13 x 13 inch baking tray, and comes with two inserts for air frying and also baking.
Because it lifts up, it's easy to access the underside of the toaster oven to get an easyn and deep clean, which is great news for those who plan to use this as their main toaster oven.
It can also fit up to nine slices of toast (that's over twice as much as most of the best toasters we've tried) and up to 4 pounds of chicken wings.
Features
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.
It won't look quite as stylish on your countertop when it's leant against the backsplash, but for the convenience, it's totally worth it.
Homes & Gardens rated 4.5 out of 5 stars. Our Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 Flip Mini Oven review has more details
Breville's The Smart Oven Pro is the premium pick for those who want a toaster oven that does it all. It has an LCD display that shows pre-heat information, and nine modes.
What we love
The LCD display is easy to control, and because the capacity is on the medium side, it can cater to most families. Controls are intuitive too, with a button for frozen modes as well as one to activate the convection controls. While there is no specific toaster oven air fry mode, convection is a great way of achieving similar results.
Non-stick coats the internal cavity of this toaster oven, meaning it will be straightforward to clean.
Features
There are nine modes in total: Toast, Bagel, Bake, Roast, Broil, Pizza, Cookies, Reheat and Warm. You can toggle everything from the size of the pizza you're cooking to the darkness of your toast.
Included are a broiling rack, non-stick pizza pan, and enamel baking pan.
Known for its classic and quality designs, De'Longhi's toaster oven is no exception. It has seven cooking modes, although air frying is not one of them, and the slanted front is perfect for displaying your food while it is cooking.
What we love
The De'Longhi Livenza Countertop Oven is great for broiling because the top shelf fits nice and close to the top of the oven.
The controls come in the form of three dials, which will allow you to adjust the time, temperature, and function independently. A removable crumb-tray and non-stick interior makes the De'Longhi Livenza Countertop Oven very easy to clean, and the 0.8 cubic foot internal capacity is well laid out to make the most of all four shelves.
Features
The slanted front makes the De'Longhi Livenza Countertop Oven very easy to use. You will not have to bend to see your food when it cooks, which is also aided by the internal light. The controls are also intuitive for those who may be new to toaster ovens.
One of the most modern-looking toaster ovens comes from Ninja. The Ninja 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven has 10 times the power of a conventional convection oven, thanks to its 1800 watts of power.
What we love
The thoughtful design, for one. It's got two wire racks, two sheet pans, an air fryer basket, a roast tray and a drip tray, which will allow you to customize for any meal you may choose.
The display is touchscreen, which means you can control the Ninja 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven with ease.
Features
It has ten modes in total: Air Fry, Whole Roast, Air Roast, Bake, Dehydrate, Pizza, Broil, Toast, Bagel, and Reheat. The 12lbs capacity has enough space to cook two 12-inch pizzas at once, as well as a whole 12-lb turkey.
The KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven with Air Fry is smart to look at. It's got a matt black exterior and glossy steel door. The capacity is also pretty average, but there's plenty of space thanks to its nifty layout.
What we love
The controls are very easy to use. The dial on the front of the machine helps to pick a mode and then choose a time, up to 120 minutes.
It has an air fry basket which is very deep and means you won't have to turn your fries halfway through cooking. Preheat is speedy too: just four minutes.
Features
There are nine modes: Dehydrate, Proof, Bagel, Toast, Air Fry, Bake, Broil, Air Fry, and Keep Warm.
You choose these using a very easy dial, and then turn to the right side to choose the temperature and time, as well as optional convection cooking.
The Breville the Mini Smart Oven is the lastest addition to Breville's toaster oven lineup. It's half the size of its Smart Oven Pro, and still has modes for toast, bagels, baking, broiling, roasting, and pizza.
What we love
As with all Breville ovens, we love the look and high-quality design. The nonstick interior makes it easy to clean, and the rack can be set to 3 different positions inside the oven.
With an internal capacity of 0.5 cubic feet, the Breville the Mini Smart Oven can fit up to four slices of toast at a time or an 11-inch pizza.
Features
This toaster oven comes with one insert, a 10-inch baking pan. It's easy to choose your cooking mode using the dial on the front right hand side of the oven. There are also buttons to adjust time, temperature, select frozen cooking, and even add A Bit More to your cooking time once your mode is done.
The Bella Pro Series 6-Slice Toaster Oven is our best toaster oven under $100. Granted, it doesn't come in at much under, but this 0.8 cubic foot capacity toaster oven will be perfect for family use.
What we love
Pick from three different tray slots, which is perfect for cooking up a feast, and even adjust the brownness of your toast with the dial control.
The crumb tray collects everything that falls away from your food, which makes cleaning easy. You can also be rest assured that the 1800 watts of power will match toaster ovens twice the price.
Features
Modes include defrost, bake, pizza, toast, broil, reheat, warm, bagel and cookies. There is also a wire tray and bake pan.
The interior is not coated in non-stick, and there is no convection setting, but this toaster oven is a great budget pick.
The NuWave Bravo XL 30-Quart Convection Oven has an in-built temperature probe that will detect the internal temperature of your food and automatically adjust cooking timings to make sure every meal is cooked the the perfect level.
What we love
Unlike many of the best toaster ovens in our guide, the NuWave Bravo XL 30-Quart Convection Oven doesn't market itself as a toaster oven but rather as a convection oven. It's a countertop model that does have a mode for toasting and waffles though, so it's just as capable as any of the other models in our guide.
The automatic shut-off that comes with the temperature probe will mean that your meat will never be under or over-cooked, and your cakes will always be fluffy and moist.
Features
There are 12 cooking modes in total, including air frying, baking, broiling, roasting, toasting, grilling, dehydrating, reheating, defrosting, and a mode for waffles. There's even a setting for making yoghurt, which is usually something we'd expect to find in the best Instant Pot.
A few online users noted that despite the non-stick coating, they recommend covering the tray in foil because the coating was not the best quality.
What is the best toaster oven?
Our top pick of the best toaster oven is the Cuisinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven. It's the perfect size for most homes, and hits the right balance between price and quality.
Breville's The Smart Oven Pro is our premium pick, with its convenient controls and nine mode options.
For a toaster oven under $100, take a look at the Bella Pro Series 6-Slice Toaster Oven, and if you want the best toaster oven air fryer, our top pick is the Ninja 10-in-1 XL Pro Air Fry Oven.
How do I choose a good toaster oven?
Best 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.
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.
How did we pick the best toaster ovens?
We try our very best to review as many products as possible for our guides. In our guide to the best toaster oven we have reviewed a handful of the products, and you will know which have been reviewed from the Homes & Gardens rating underneath the product. We never award a rating or a badge to a product that's not been tested by a member of our team.
When choosing the other toaster ovens to include in our guide we took into account user reviews, the build material and look, and the number of settings. Other important things we noted were the cleaning instruction and the warranties, which are usually a good indicator of how long the brand will expect their product to last.
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