Today’s toaster ovens are like Mini Me versions of full-size ovens, and they’re useful for so much more than making toast. They preheat in just a few minutes and can do everything from reheating leftovers to baking a cake. Larger toaster ovens can even roast a beautiful, golden-brown chicken.
After many hours of testing since 2015—making stacks and stacks of toast, mini pizza bagels, and cookies—we recommend the small Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven and the large Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven, depending on your space and needs.
Some toaster ovens (ones with convection technology, like our larger pick) can even work with air frying recipes, though that may require some adjustments. But if you’re looking to do a lot of air frying in your toaster oven, you may want to check out our separate guide to air fryer toaster ovens.
Our pick
This compact toaster oven was among the best at evenly toasting bread, baking cookies, and bringing frozen foods to life. It performed as well as or better than competitors that cost significantly more.
The Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven is best for people who want a machine just for toast or other small jobs, like preparing a handful of frozen snacks. Impressively, it made toast faster than any other model we’ve tried. It cooked food evenly and didn’t generate any hot spots that would cause inconsistent toasting—it was also one of the only models in this price range that could evenly crisp the skin on chicken thighs.
This oven takes up very little space on a counter, but it’s still large enough to fit four pieces of sandwich bread or a slice of leftover pizza. For accomplishing bigger tasks, consider getting one of our other picks, the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven or the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, each of which holds a 13-inch pizza or up to nine slices of bread.
Our pick
This Cuisinart model provides impressively even cooking, a whopping nine-slice toast capacity, a three-year warranty, and some useful accessories.
The large Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven TOB-260N1 has nearly all of the capabilities of a full-size oven. It delivers even heat to up to nine slices of sandwich bread, a 13-inch frozen pizza, or a whole roast chicken (whereas the Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven can fit only a handful of frozen snacks). The Cuisinart toaster oven’s three-year warranty is outstanding, as are its impressive accessories, which include a ceramic pizza stone. Like the Panasonic FlashXpress model, it was one of the fastest at preheating to 350 °F in our tests.
Since this model is so large (it measures roughly 20.5 by 13.25 by 11.25 inches), we recommend it for households with ample countertop space. And although it’s not marketed as such, it can also be used to air fry food (pod-shaped air fryers are simply mini convection ovens).
If you plan to air fry on the regular, you may want to consider getting our upgrade pick, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, which has a slightly more powerful fan.
Budget pick
This small, affordable oven is ideal for those who want something simple. It performed far better than the others we tested at this price level.
The inexpensive Hamilton Beach 4 Slice Toaster Oven toasted bread better than any other oven under $100. This no-frills model lacks many of the features included in our other picks—such as digital controls and preset cooking programs—but it heats evenly. The Hamilton Beach toaster oven’s humble size makes it ideal for kitchens with limited counter space, but it’s still large enough to fit four slices of bread.
It runs cooler than other models we tested, so you need to increase the temperature by about 25 degrees when baking or roasting. But that’s a forgivable drawback considering the low price.
Upgrade pick
This convection toaster oven has a slightly more powerful fan for air frying than the Cuisinart model, plus convenient markings on the door and the easiest-to-clean interior. It also has additional settings for proofing bread, slow cooking, and dehydrating.
If you plan to air fry often or don’t mind paying top dollar for a more polished overall experience, we’d recommend the snazzy Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro. This oven shares many of the same features as our main pick from Cuisinart, including a large oven capacity, two oven racks, and two convection fan speeds for more control over how you cook your food.
One of the main differences is that the Breville toaster oven’s fan is a bit more powerful and crisps up food faster. The oven also has just a slightly bigger cavity and comes with a few additional settings some people may find useful, including: proof, air fry, reheat, cookies, slow cook, and dehydrate.
However, if you don’t think you’d take advantage of these added features, you’ll probably be just as happy with the Cuisinart toaster oven, which costs much less.
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