I Tested 26 Toaster Ovens and Found 6 for All Your Toasting, Roasting, and Air-Frying Needs

Toaster ovens have become a standard in many home kitchens. They make it easy to cook multiple dishes at once and preheat quickly. Plus, when it's hot out, they put out much less hot air than a standard oven. And their uses go way beyond toast: Nowadays, your toaster oven can also roast, bake, broil, and sometimes even air-fry.

We last reviewed toaster ovens in 2017, so it was high time for a re-test. I put 26 toaster ovens through the ringer (and blew more than one power fuse) to see if our previous top picks were still the best-of-the-best—and how they compared to newer models. The highest-performing toaster ovens are reliable, versatile, and, of course, deliver beautifully browned toast. 

The Tests

• Toast Test: I prepared a single slice of toast in each toaster oven to see how quickly and evenly it browned the bread. Using the medium-dark setting, I timed the process and checked the toast for burnt spots or underdone areas. 
• Toast Heatmap Test: To check for hot spots, I filled each oven with as many slices of bread as its rack fit. I toasted the bread to medium-dark and observed how evenly each piece turned out. 
• Pot Pie Test: I baked a single-serving pot pie in each oven, evaluating the finished product for burnt edges or cold spots. 
• Frozen Pizza Test: I baked a frozen pizza in each oven, checking for even browning and crust texture. 
• Broiler Test: To test the broiler function, I used each oven to melt a slice of cheese onto a piece of bread. I timed how long it took to get bubbly, golden-brown results, and evaluated the finished product for burnt spots or unmelted areas.
• User Experience Tests: Throughout testing, I evaluated how easy each toaster oven was to use, including how intuitive its controls were.

What We Learned

Digital Timers Eased Anxiety 

The toaster ovens I tested featured a variety of controls and displays. Some were clear and easy to use, while others were imprecise and frustrating. The best toaster ovens, like the ones from Breville, had digital displays that clearly showed the cooking time and automatically switched off when the time ran out. These digital displays were easy to set and adjust. To toggle the time, turn a dial or select a preset, and observe how many minutes are programmed, adjusting as desired. Models without a display screen, like the Our Place Wonder Oven and Galanz Large 6-Slice True Convection Toaster Oven, used dial timers with a few numbers for benchmarks and notches in between. It was much more difficult to select an exact time with these controls. Furthermore, these models didn’t automatically switch off after the time was up—if you don’t keep a close eye on them, it’s easy to scorch your breakfast. 

Framed Doors Were Safer

Keeping an appliance that rapidly heats up to 450ºF out in the open can be a little risky. Toaster oven exteriors—including the top and the door—become extremely hot during use, and bumping into them can cause one big ouch. The doors should always be opened via the handle, but it’s easy to touch the edge of the door by mistake when closing it. Imagine using your microwave—do you close it with the handle every time you use it, or do you slap at the door to shut it quickly? Making this mistake with a toaster oven is a way to singe your fingers, but a well-designed door makes this easier to avoid. The higher-end products, like Breville, Cuisinart, and Balmuda ovens, have aluminum or stainless steel-framed doors, which provide insulation. The Breville Smart Oven Pro also features a spring so it doesn't just flop open when you grab the handle.

We Liked Toast Toasty

It’s right there in the name—a toaster oven should be able to make good toast. Many of the models I tested were able to brown bread, but some ovens took significantly longer to achieve medium-dark results. The average time for all of the ovens was around four minutes, but a couple of minutes can make a big difference when it comes to rushed morning breakfasts.

The Panasonic churned out one of the fastest pieces of toast—bread was pleasantly brown and crispy after just over two-and-a-half minutes. Other models, including the Hamilton Beach, took more than six minutes to brown a single slice.  

Super Convection Cut Down Cook Time

What do most of our favorite toaster ovens from Breville have in common? They all have powerful convection fans. This is a great feature not only because it ensures crispy, evenly heated results (lookin' at you, golden French fries and you, burnished, crispy-skinned roast chicken), but also because it cuts down cooking time dramatically. We often could stop cooking five to 10 minutes earlier than the recipe indicated. That said, if you're cooking meat, you'll want to use an instant-read thermometer to ensure doneness—better safe than sorry!

Toaster Oven vs. Pop-up Toaster: Which Should You Buy?

Whether you choose a toaster oven or a pop-up toaster comes down to your budget, needs, and space. A toaster oven is a more versatile appliance: They can often roast, bake, broil, and even air fry. Many of our editors use them instead of their standard ovens since they heat up faster, too.

But if you’re working with limited kitchen space—or if you only want to toast bread—there’s nothing wrong with a pop-up toaster. They're simple: Just small electric appliances with heated coils next to the slots where you place bread, but good ones do their job well.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Toaster Oven

First off, consider your space and your cooking needs, and choose a model that will fit comfortably on your countertop. If you mostly plan on making toast, don’t hesitate to choose a pared-down appliance with simple functions. That said, baking, roasting, and air fryer options add to an appliance's versatility. At its most basic, though, a toaster oven should toast (and bake) evenly. It should also have intuitive controls and a timer, so you're not playing a guessing game of how long to toast a slice of bread. We preferred machines that let us get granular with temperature and time; it was annoying when they were preset to specific increments, like intervals of 25 degrees.

Our Favorite Toaster Ovens

The Best Toaster Oven

Breville Smart Oven Pro

$270 at Amazon View on Williams Sonoma $266 at Target

What we liked: This toaster oven can bake, broil, and toast with the best of them. It performed well in all of my tests—it delivered a golden slice of toast in four minutes, produced a nicely cooked pot pie, and demonstrated even heat distribution. Its generous capacity (you can roast a chicken in it) makes it well-suited as a backup oven for daily cooking tasks. 

What we didn’t like: At almost 20 inches wide and 16 inches deep, this is a big ol’ appliance that will hog counter space. It's loud when the superconvection fan is on.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 18.9 x 15.9 x 10.9 inches
• Interface: Digital display
• Functions: Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat, warm, slow cook
• What’s included: One oven rack, 12 x 12-inch enamel baking pan, 12 x 12-inch enamel broiling rack, 13-inch non-stick pizza pan, removable crumb tray
  

The Best Air Fryer Toaster Oven

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

$400 at Amazon View on Williams Sonoma $400 at Target

What we liked: This oven sports a dial interface, making it easy to toggle between the many, many functions it offers (including toast and air fry). It's great that you can adjust the temperature and time while cooking—perfect if you need more time or want to blast the heat for the last few minutes. It toasted decently (though it does err on the side of pale) and air-fried supremely well. Thanks to its super convection fan, French fries emerged golden and crunchy, and it made succulent air-fried chicken wings.

What we didn't like: While it does tend to produce pale toast, it's easy to up the time and get a darker shade (just turn the dial).

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 21.5 x 17.5 x 12.7 inches
• Interface: Manual, with three dials and six push-buttons total, including super convection
• Functions: Toast, bagel, broil, bake, roast, warm, pizza, proof, air fry, reheat, cookies, slow cook, and dehydrate
• What's included: 2 oven racks, air fryer basket, pizza pan, roasting pan
  

The Best Small Toaster Oven

Breville Mini Smart Oven BOV450XL

$160 at Amazon $160 at Target $160 at Sur La Table

What we liked: This oven heated up fast—it took a little over a minute to preheat to 400°F for the frozen pizza test. Said pizza turned out great, by the way: The crust crisped up nicely, and the cheese was gooey and golden. While it’s a small oven, it easily fits four pieces of bread, all of which got nicely toasted. The up and down buttons for setting the temperature were easy to use, and the settings dial provided a good basic array of functions: cookies, reheat, bagel, pizza, toast, bake, broil, and roast. Overall, for under $160, this is a great toaster oven for someone who doesn’t need anything fancy. 

What we didn’t like: The toast on the right side of the oven was paler than the bread on the other side. It is a small oven, so a 12-inch pizza won’t fit inside. 

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 16 x 13.6 x 8.8 inches
• Interface: Digital display
• Functions: Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat
• What’s included: 1 oven rack, 10 x 10-inch enamel baking pan

Another Good Compact Toaster Oven

Breville Smart Oven Compact Convection

$265 at Amazon

What we liked: This smaller model offers many of the features of our favorite Breville Smart Oven Pro without claiming as much countertop space. That said, it’s still large enough to toast six pieces of bread at once and can fit a 12-inch pizza. It heated evenly, too—the pot pie came out golden brown and piping hot, and the heat map test didn’t reveal any hot spots. The dials for changing settings, temperature, and time are easy and intuitive to use. 

What we didn’t like: While the full-sized Breville includes a stainless-steel frame, the compact version features a solid glass door with exposed, hot edges. It also doesn’t have an interior light. While it can fit six pieces of bread for toast, the bread on the edges emerged paler than the slices in the center. 

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 16.5 x 15.5 x 10.2 inches
• Interface: Digital display
• Functions: Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat
• What’s included: 1 oven rack, 10 x 10-inch enamel baking pan, 10 x 10-inch enamel broiling rack

The Best Toaster Oven for Perfect Toast

BALMUDA Steam Oven Toaster

$309 at Amazon View on Williams Sonoma $309 at Sur La Table

What we liked: The Balmuda toaster oven is beautiful and compact. Its streamlined functionality made it easy to use, and it excelled at evenly browning pieces of toast and broiling perfectly melted cheese. It is a steam oven, so you can use the included measuring cup to add a small amount of water through an opening in the top, allowing the oven to inject steam. This function can effectively revive stale bread or pastries, creating toast with a crispy exterior and a moist, bread pudding-like interior.  

What we didn’t like: The small footprint is great for saving counter space, but it also gives it a more limited capacity; it can only toast two slices of bread at a time. During testing, I had to cut a 10-inch pizza in half to fit it on the rack. While it’s easy to use, the Balmuda uses analog controls that are less precise than a digital menu. 

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 12.6 x 14.1 x 8.2 inches
• Interface: Analog display with dials for time and temperature settings
• Functions: ​​Artisan bread mode, sandwich bread mode, pizza mode, pastry mode, oven mode
• What’s included: Rack, baking pan, external crumb tray, measuring cup

An Editor-Favorite Toaster Oven

Breville Joule Oven Air Fryer Pro

$550 at Amazon View on Williams Sonoma View on Sur La Table

What we liked: This is a spacious toaster oven—you could fit a 14-pound turkey in it if you wanted to—that baked, roasted, toasted, and air-fried well. It's been an editor favorite for years, and even won our review of countertop ovens, too. We liked the "add more time" function and that we could set custom temperatures, like 373°F, just for kicks.

What we didn't like: While we don't use the app a ton, associate editorial director Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm does find its reminders to flip or turn items quite useful. The toast function is a little spotty (literally), but it does a fine job. It's expensive.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 21.25 x 15.75 x 12.75 inches
• Interface: Digital display with dials
• Functions: Toast, bagel, bake (convection, super convection, or conventional), air fry, broil, roast, pizza, cookies, proof, reheat, slow cook, keep warm, dehydrate
• What's included: 2 wire racks, pizza pan, roasting pan, air fryer basket

The Competition

• Breville Smart Oven Convection Toaster Oven: This oven performs well and is easy to use. Its digital control panel is clear, the door is framed for safety, and the non-stick external crumb tray is easy to clean. During testing, this model was almost impossible to distinguish from the Breville Pro. They’re similar sizes and prices and offer almost identical functions. The primary difference seems to be that the Pro model includes an oven light, which was just enough to nudge it into first place. That said, if you don’t care about an oven light, this is also a great toaster oven.
• Calphalon Air Fryer Oven: Our previous top pick, we re-tested this toaster oven after hearing complaints about its performance. Turns out they were warranted. It produced near-burnt toast, limp fries, and flabby chicken wings. The oven also felt cheaply built, and the rack fell out when the door was opened.
• Panasonic Toaster Oven FlashXpress: I loved the compact size of this appliance—it saved counter space, and was just large enough to accommodate a 10-inch frozen pizza. Although it tested well, this model’s control panel left me wanting more. The cook time maxes out at 25 minutes—not quite long enough to finish baking a pot pie—and with no countdown clock, you might need to set a backup timer to keep track of what’s cooking. 
• Our Place Wonder Oven: Don’t let the color options charm you—cheap-feeling materials and imprecise controls placed this oven near the back of the pack. 
• Cosori 26-Quart Ceramic Air Fryer Oven: While this air fryer toaster oven produced golden, crispy chicken wings, we later found a pamphlet that said not to use the fryer basket to cook oily foods. This is very limiting and almost negates the point of having an air fryer function. Plus, this was not mentioned in the air frying section of the instruction manual, which was odd.
• GreenPan Bistro Noir 6-in-1 Air Fry Toaster Oven: Fries were soggy and wings remained wan even after 24 minutes of cooktime.
• Ninja 12-in-1 Double Oven with FlexDoor: While this oven had good results, the double oven aspect made for a cramped cooking space.
• Galanz Large 6-Slice True Convection Toaster Oven: This massive oven produced uneven toast—by the time the top of the slice was medium-dark, the bottom was barely golden.
• Hamilton Beach Professional Digital Convection Countertop Toaster Oven: This was the slowest model I tested—it took nine minutes to successfully brown four slices of toast, and the final results were uneven. 
• DeLonghi Livenza Countertop Oven: The DeLonghi overly toasted bread and inconsistently browned pot pie.
• KitchenAid Compact Countertop Oven: KitchenAid's analog toaster oven cooked toast, pizza, and pot pie unevenly.
• Oster Manual French Door Oven: The Oster just couldn't toast toast well. It's also giant (and currently out of stock).
• Cuisinart Toaster Oven: This oven ran far too hot and had a ceiling-mounted fan that contributed to this.
• Krups Stainless Steel Deluxe Convection Toaster Oven: Without a spring-loaded door, the Krups' door slammed downwards. It also both burned and undercooked frozen pizza.
• Hamilton Beach Digital Countertop Toaster Oven: This inexpensive Hamilton Beach toaster oven performed poorly at its namesake task.
• Black+Decker 4-Slice Toaster Oven: The Black + Decker is too small to be super versatile and runs hot at times.
• Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven: This model overcooked toast. Sad.
• Black+Decker Convection Toaster Oven: Unfortunately, this toaster oven ran too cool.
• Oster Toaster Oven / Digital Convection Oven: The Oster was inconsistent. It was either too hot or too cold—never just right.
• Our Place Large Wonder Oven: There were a few things we liked about this oven, but also some glaring issues. Starting with the positives, it toasted bread evenly and fairly quickly, and pizza emerged with a crispy crust and golden, melty cheese. It was easy to use, too, with intuitive dial controls and essential functions like bake, air fry, and toast, as well as the option to set the temperature. That said, the oven’s temperature settings are only adjustable in increments of 25 degrees, which is limiting. The door also didn’t form a tight seal when closed and leaked grease and moisture, and the trays often get stuck when sliding them in and out.

FAQs

What's the difference between a toaster oven and an air fryer toaster oven?

Toaster ovens and air fryer toaster ovens are the same size and perform virtually the same functions, with the chief difference being that air fryer toaster ovens have an air fryer function and a perforated basket that aids in all-over air circulation (read: better browning).

How do toaster ovens work?

Not every toaster oven is made the same. Our top pick, the Breville Smart Oven, functions like a miniature convection oven complete with multiple heating settings and modes. It has heating elements at the top and bottom of the oven and a fan located at the back of the oven that blasts hot air all around.

How much does a toaster oven cost?

After testing, it became clear: Pricier toaster ovens (specifically those from Breville) performed better and were generally easier to use. At the time of writing, our top pick is $270.

Why We’re the Experts 

• Madeline Muzzi is a writer, editor, and video producer.
• She has written many reviews for Serious Eats, including wine decanters and countertop ice makers. 
• For this review, we drew on previous findings and tested 26 toaster ovens, using them to make toast, broil, and bake chicken pot pie and frozen pizza.
• We've recommended the Breville Smart Oven Pro toaster oven for about seven years and stand by its longevity and quality.