Never Use Your Clunky Oven Again Thanks to These Space-Saving Toaster Ovens
If you're strapped for storage space but love to roast and broil weeknight meals or reheat leftovers, a toaster oven is the small yet mighty game-changing kitchen appliance you need in your life. Essentially functioning as a mini convection oven, toaster ovens offer tons of benefits like cooking dinner in way less time than a traditional convection oven, offering tons of multifunctionality, and keeping your small apartment cool during the summer. It's seriously no secret that toaster ovens are the unspoken workhorse of the kitchen.
Beyond the obvious warming applications for crusty baguettes, perfectly-gooey-in-the-middle brownies, and your pre-avocadoed morning toast, a toaster oven can actually perform a ton of other cool tricks. From defrosting frozen entrees to broiling steaks and even baking batches of sweet treats, a toaster oven is a seriously multitasking kitchen appliance.
Whether you're looking for a tricked-out toaster oven that can roast an entire chicken, or you just want a basic appliance for everyday crisping and toasting for garlic bread and toast, there's something on this list for you. Read on to find out everything you need to know about the best toaster ovens out there. Then thank us later!
Best Overall
Sure, it's great that you can toast six pieces of bread at once, but your mind will be blown when you realize you can roast an entire chicken (a small one, at least!) in this toaster oven. Plus, because it has a baking option, this best-seller from Oster is perfect for cooking casseroles and broiling garlic bread, so it's helpful for big family dinners when there's never enough room in the real oven.
Enjoy the convection baking that circulates hot air throughout the oven for flakier crusts, crispier edges, and even browning in no time at all. Plus, everything is digitally controlled via the easy-to-use panel that offers precise heat and time adjustments.
Best Budget Buy
If you're on a tight budget but still on the hunt for a toaster oven, we recommend this affordable, top-rated option from BLACK+DECKER. First off, you can fit a 9-inch pizza in this toaster oven, so wave goodbye to your actual oven and stop eating cold leftover pizza like a cave person. Second, this toaster oven has an extra long 120-minute timer that makes it easy to reheat or bake dishes like casseroles and frozen meals.
There are two rack positions that can account for different-sized dishes and foods, with the top rack being the ideal option for broiling. Cleanup is also a breeze: Just remove the crumb tray and toss it in the dishwasher. This oven's unique door actually slides upwards and over the back instead of opening down, making it safer to use for anyone who's prone to burns and accidents in the kitchen.
Its shape makes accessing the food inside easy and painless, whether you're checking on your pizza to see if it's cooked through, or you're trying to pull toast slices from the back of the oven.
Best for Large Capacity
Not only does this toaster oven have a large capacity (it can fit six slices of toast), but it also has premium functions like touchpad controls, heat sensors that maintain precise temperatures, and seven presets that take the guesswork out of choosing settings. It can bake, broil, roast, and toast with the touch of a button, and at a fraction of the power it takes to turn on a full-sized oven.
The unit comes with a drip tray and a broiler tray, though they aren't nonstick. Oh, and if Amazon reviews mean anything to you, you should know that this one has almost a perfect rating from nearly 1,000 customers.
Best for Saving Space
Don't have a lot of countertop space? You'll only need about 17 by 15 inches for this toaster oven. It has smart features like Element IQ technology, which helps with even heating throughout the interior, and the programming panel has eight presets — including options like bagel, pizza, roast, broil, bake, cookies, and reheat.
It's large enough to hold four slices of toast at once, and it even has precision shade options from light to dark and everything in between. The interior walls are nonstick, so it's easy to clean, and the enamel baking pan and broiling rack that come with the oven can be tossed in the dishwasher.
Best Splurge
This splurgeworthy, retro-inspired beauty not only toasts bread evenly like a champ, but it can make pizza and broil side dishes. Cooking Cornish hen or a small chicken? Toss it in there, because it easily fits. It's meal-prep gold!
Tech-wise, we love the nine pre-programmed cooking functions, but especially the Asado Roast Function that accurately adjusts from a high-heat sear to a proper roasting temperature. The toaster oven will also notify you once it preheats if you're baking something, so you don't have to second-guess when it's time to put your dish in.
If this sleek stainless steel finish is a bit too industrial for you, check out the other fun color options, like turquoise, black, or red.
Honorable Mention
We call this basic toaster oven "The Old Standby." You can't really go wrong with Cuisinart, and this toaster oven is no different. It's sort of like our splurge-worthy #5 pick from this roundup, with less of the tech-y bells and whistles, but all of the performance power.
Decently priced with modern features, you can expect to never bite into an unevenly cooked meal again. Trigger this toaster oven's convection function to evenly recirculate heat throughout the interior. Did we mention that it's nonstick, too?
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