The 6 best toaster ovens for baking, toasting, and even air frying

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Chocolate-chip cookies baking, juicy chicken roasting, and bread toasting are some of the best examples of home cooking. While you can make these treats in a standard oven, the best toaster ovens do it faster without taking up much space or overheating your kitchen. Many top toaster ovens can also air fry, making them true multicooking masterpieces.

To find the best toaster oven, we consulted two experts and tested nine units for temperature consistency and accuracy, preheating and cooking speed, and ease of use. Our top pick is the Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven; it cooks evenly and quickly while offering dehydration and air fryer capabilities. We suggest the Black+Decker Crisp 'N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven as a budget option; it's $210 cheaper but doesn't cook as quickly.

Learn more about how Insider Reviews tests and researches kitchen products.

Our picks for the best toaster ovens

Best overall: Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven - See at Amazon

Best budget: Black+Decker Crisp 'N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven - See at Walmart

Best air fryer: Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Fry Oven - See at Amazon

Best large-capacity: Breville Smart Oven - See at Amazon

Best small: Hamilton Beach Countertop Toaster Oven - See at Amazon

Best versatile: Anova Precision Oven - See at Anova

Best overall

While the Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven (Model TOA-65) has air frying capabilities, our objective tests focused on its toaster oven performance. In these tests, the Cuisinart did the best overall.

It took less than five minutes to set up and features an easy-to-read backlit digital display. You navigate through its many different functions by turning a knob and pressing it to select the setting and adjust the time and temp.

The Cuisinart toaster oven was one of the best toaster ovens for making pizza, chicken, and cookies. It heated a frozen pizza in under six minutes, and the cheese, crust, and pepperoni were evenly cooked. Using the convection cooking function, the chicken reached a safe internal temperature in 52 minutes. The skin was a beautiful golden brown and tasted outstanding. The meat was moist and flavorful. The cookies were evenly cooked in about 12 minutes, significantly faster than the average 13 minutes and 45 seconds.

When we ran the Cuisinart Digital AirFryer Toaster Oven for two hours at 350 degrees, we noticed the temperature only varied by four degrees. However, the display said it was preheated when our thermometer read 270. It continued to heat up and reached 350 after eight minutes. The average temperature during the test was 314, well below 350.

The Cuisinart toaster oven fell short of perfection in two other categories. We used the presets to toast six slices of bread, but after a blazing-fast toasting speed of under three minutes, the top was lighter than the medium shading we set it to. The bottom was uneven, with the center almost burned, and the edges barely toasted. If I used this toaster oven for regular toasting, I'd likely up the time and flip the bread halfway through.

By our measurements, the Cuisinart was slower than average to preheat to 350. However, it quickly reached 425, making it ideal for frozen pizza. As an air fryer toaster oven, the Cuisinart is taller and narrower than a traditional toaster oven. Yet, it will still fit under most cupboard installations.

Best budget

Despite costing less than a third of the price of most models in our guide, the Black+Decker Crisp 'N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven (Model TO3217SS) held its own in our tests. It has intuitive, no-nonsense analog knob controls, a roomy interior, and convection cooking/air frying. Another nice touch is the "stay on" option on the timer, which makes it so you don't have to add more time during longer cooks.

The Black+Decker toaster oven has one of the most accurate thermostats. At 347 degrees, it came close to reaching a 350-degree average during our two-hour test. However, the temperature varied by 13 degrees, putting it in the middle of the pack.

It was consistently one of the fastest to preheat. The oven reached 350 degrees in under four minutes, and reaching 425 only took about a minute more.

The Black+Decker Crisp 'N Bake Air Fry Toaster Oven excelled at making cookies and frozen pizza. Each batch took about 14 minutes to bake, which was fair, but the results were even and delicious. The story was the same with frozen pizza: the cooking time was average, but the pizza was excellent. The chicken was also great: flavorful, juicy, and evenly cooked. However, finishing it took nearly an hour and a half, making it one of the slowest models.

The Black+Decker oven's toasting was subpar. It toasted six slices of bread in three-and-a-half minutes, which was average, but the results weren't very even. The top of the toast was close to consistent, but it was noticeably less done near the front, and the bottom was much less toasted than the top.

Best air fryer

More and more toaster ovens come with air frying capabilities, so I tested 22 units for our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens. The testing differed slightly from this guide because I focused more on the air frying capabilities and less on how well it toasted. The Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Fry Oven (DT201) came out on top in our testing.

The $230 Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air Fryer Oven stands out with its consistent performance and thoughtful design. The handle integrates the controls, maximizing space for the expansive front window. Combined with the interior lighting, monitoring your food's progress is easy.

During the temperature variance test, the Ninja oven was only half a degree off on average from the 350-degree target. It also showed minimal temperature fluctuation.

The cooking performance was also great. It roasted a chicken perfectly in 70 minutes. French fries and pizza were ready in average time and cooked evenly, including even fry crispiness. The biggest drawback was the longer preheat times, taking eight minutes to reach 350 degrees and nine minutes to get to 400.

The DT201 has a second wire rack, so you can cook two pizzas at once in its spacious interior. It has a full selection of presets, including dehydration. An optional version with a built-in probe thermometer is available.

Best large-capacity

Along with our best versatile toaster oven pick below, the Breville Smart Oven (Model BOV800XL) was one of two models that could toast nine slices of bread at once, and it did a good job of it. Plus, it can hold a 12.5-inch pizza. This is impressive, considering the exterior dimensions aren't inordinately large.

Like our top pick, the Breville Smart Oven has a backlit digital display with separate knobs for quickly adjusting the function, temperature, and time. It also has sub-functions that adjust the cooking time and heat based on the size of the pizza you are baking or the slices of toast you're toasting. Plus, the Smart Oven features convection cooking/air frying.

The oven excelled at chicken and cookies. Roasting a whole chicken took a little more than an hour, and it was the best-tasting and most evenly cooked of all the birds in our tests. We baked a dozen cookies in the roomy Breville Smart Oven using the Cookie function, which utilized 350-degree convection cooking. The cookies came out evenly baked in 14 minutes, which was average.

The oven also cooked pizza evenly, but it took 17 minutes, which was longer than all but one of the models. It was also one of the slowest ovens to preheat. We couldn't get it to preheat to 425 degrees. It maxed out at 387. This was a consistent problem. Our temperature variance test showed an average temp of 292 despite setting the controls to 350. Because of this, we'd recommend utilizing an oven thermometer to find your target temperature setting.

On the plus side, the Breville toaster oven held its temperature consistently, only wavering by four degrees over two hours.

Best small

The Hamilton Beach Countertop Toaster Oven (model 31401) was the smallest toaster oven we tested, yet it still did a good job of cooking evenly. Due to its compact interior, it was one of the fastest to preheat in all of our tests. At $55, it's roughly the same price as our budget pick.

The Hamilton Beach toaster oven is easy to use, controlled by three temperature, time, and function dials. While the timer runs for 30 minutes, you can keep the oven on without using the timer. This came in handy when roasting a chicken, which took nearly two hours, half an hour longer than any other model. Pizza and cookies took about 5 and 4 minutes longer, respectively, than the other ovens.

The Hamilton Beach was only average in the temperature variance test. While the oven temp varied by just 6.3 degrees over the two-hour test, it stayed about 30 degrees below the 350-degree set point.

Despite the longer cooking times, the food tasted excellent. The pizza and cookies were evenly cooked, and the chicken was juicy. Toasting was fast and even, but you must flip the bread midway to get even coloration. If you're looking for a compact option, this is the best toaster oven.

Best versatile

The Anova Precision Oven is the first toaster oven that offers sous vide, in addition to air frying/convection cooking. While most sous vide devices require vacuum sealing, the Precision Oven cooks your food without additional packaging.

I cooked several steaks and pork ribs using the sous-vide function and found it worked as well as, if not better than, an immersion circulator. I especially liked that the oven comes with a probe thermometer that plugs into the unit to monitor the internal temperature of the meat while it cooked, which you can't do with vacuum-sealed meat in an immersion circulator.

The touch buttons on the oven handle aren't as responsive as I would like, and adjusting the temp one degree at a time using the up and down buttons is a hassle. So, I mainly used the Anova Oven app (available for iOS and Android), which allows you to key in your preferred temp and time. Or, you can automate the cooking process. The app features hundreds of recipes. Once, I used the app to preheat the oven as I waited in line at the store to pay for a frozen pizza so I could pop it in when I got home.

This feature is vital since the Anova Culinary Precision Oven was one of the slowest to preheat. It takes about 10 minutes to heat to 350 degrees and 17 minutes to reach 425.

Also, while it has a relatively accurate setpoint, the temperature varied by 16 degrees during our two-hour test, which was more than most models.

The Anova Precision Oven also took a long time to toast. We used the toast preset, which involved a little steam to keep the bread from drying out. However, the process took longer than other models, and the toast was still underdone.

It did much better on the other cooking tasks. The Anova oven fits a dozen cookies, and they baked quickly and evenly. We had the same experience with pizza: fast and even cooking. But, the oven excelled at roasting a whole chicken. It completed the task in under an hour. The skin was crispy and flavorful, and the meat was moist and delicious. I particularly liked that the thermometer lets me monitor the internal temperature of the chicken in the app.

How we test toaster ovens

I tested all of the toaster ovens in this guide. The most important factors to consider when looking for the best toaster ovens are ease of use, temperature accuracy and consistency, and how quickly it preheats.

Here are the main attributes we look for and how we test them:

Ease of use: I evaluate the ease of use in several ways. First, I look at how intuitive the functions are. I could get all but the Anova up and running without instructions. I see how easy it is to clean each, if there's a removable crumb tray, if there are a few rack positions for different types of cooking, and if the timer allows you to run the unit for extended periods. I also looked for helpful functions like smart connectivity, convection/air fry cooking, and steam.

Temperature variance: When you set a toaster oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, you want it to reach and stay that temperature. I set each unit to 350 degrees and took digital temperature readings every 15 minutes for two hours to assess this. Then, I looked at the average and range of the temperatures. The median temperature of all the models was about 336 degrees, and the median range was 9.7 degrees.

Preheating: One of the main benefits of a toaster oven is that it preheats faster than a standard oven; thus, you can enjoy your meal faster. I timed how quickly each oven reached 350 and 425 degrees, repeating each test several times to see which models preheated fastest. Most models reached 350 in under six minutes, and half of the units had trouble even achieving a reading of 425 degrees.

Cooking performance: I put each toaster oven through four cooking tests:

• Toasting bread: I evaluated how many Hillbilly Old Fashioned Bread slices each model held. Then, I set the controls to toast the bread to a medium shade. I looked at how long and how evenly each toasted.
• Frozen Pizza: In addition to evaluating how large of a pizza each unit can fit, I timed how long it took to bake the pizza and how even it turned out. I used Kirkland Signature Pepperoni Pizza in all but two of the toaster ovens. The Hamilton Beach and Panasonic models couldn't fit the 10.5-inch pizza, so I used Totino's Party Pizzas in those models instead.
• Whole chicken: I cooked a whole chicken (between 3.5 and 4.5 pounds) according to the recipe in "Toaster Oven Takeover." I used the ThermoWorks Signals thermometer to monitor the internal temperature and removed the chicken once it hit 165 degrees. I timed how long it took to cook the chicken, how evenly it was cooked, and how different parts of the chicken tasted.
• Cookies: I baked gluten-free chocolate-chip cookies using homemade dough and evaluated how quickly and evenly they cooked.

Toaster oven FAQs

What are the benefits of using a toaster oven over a standard oven?

Roxanne Wyss, co-author of the toaster oven cookbook "Toaster Oven Takeover," pointed out that the best toaster ovens preheat faster than standard ovens, making them more eco-friendly. And, since they go on a countertop, you don't have to bend over to use them.

What should I look for when shopping for a toaster oven?

Kathy Moore, co-author of the "Toaster Oven Takeover" cookbook, recommended considering what you want to cook in your toaster oven and where it will go. You want a unit that will fit, and you don't want to pay extra for features you'll never use.

What can I make in a toaster oven?

A toaster oven can broil, reheat, roast, bake, and toast. You can also air fry with a convection toaster oven. We suggest using a toaster oven instead of a standard oven to save energy. Though they are designed for oven or air fryer cooking, the following cooking tips also work for toaster ovens with roughly the same cooking times and temperatures:

• How to roast asparagus in the oven for a simple, elegant side dish
• How to make roasted beets in the oven
• How to make baked potatoes in the oven with crispy skin and a fluffy middle
• How to caramelize onions in a skillet or oven
• How to make perfect bacon in the oven every time
• How to make crispy kale chips in the oven or air fryer

Is it worth buying a toaster oven?

A toaster oven is worth it, especially considering our versatile budget pick only costs $60. A toaster oven is a smart choice if you want to toast or bake and don't have room for an oven. It also does the job of an air fryer and toaster.

How long do toaster ovens last?

Our top pick has a three-year warranty, and all the picks in our guide have at least a one-year warranty. Your toaster oven can last several years, especially if you take good care of it by wiping it down and emptying the crumb tray.