The Best Toaster Ovens Tested & Reviewed

Toaster ovens are gaining popularity as a compact, energy-efficient alternative to traditional ovens, offering faster preheating and better functionality, especially a much desired air-fry function. But what about each oven’s performance efficiency?

Determined with our research, we purchased 19 of the most popular products from trusted brands like Cuisinart, Breville, Ninja, Black+Decker, Panasonic, and more to put them through our curated tests.

With years of testing, we found the Cuisinart TOA-70 to be the best to buy since it’s well-built, fast, precise, and produces consistently excellent foods. If you love air-fried foods and a larger cooking chamber, the Ninja Foodi XL Pro is the way to go.

Everything We Recommend

Cuisinart TOA-70 Air Fryer Toaster Oven w Grill

Best to Buy

This 100% analog toaster oven is excellent for everyone. With unmatched temperature precision and cooking speed, it’s perfect for meals, especially whole roasts and pizzas, for 3 to 4 people. Its design is simple but superbly built with safety, as well as ease of use and cleaning as a priority.

Ninja DT201 Foodi XL Pro Air Oven

Best Air Fryer Oven

This oven is quick and efficient at air-frying meat and veggies, producing excellent caramelization while keeping the food succulent. And, you can do both at the same time with the oven’s large capacity and impressive 2-level even cooking, making it ideal for family-sized meals.

Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven

Best Small

This oven is the fastest at toasting bread, thanks to its high wattage and compact design. With durable build quality, easy cleanup, and unique features like a Temperature Conversion button, it's a solid choice for small kitchens, though the lack of a convection system affects evenness in roasting.

Black+Decker CTO6335S Large Convection

Best Value

This oven offers everything you need in a good oven at a shockingly low price — it’s sturdy, easy to operate and has convection. Although it has a small weakness of low wattage, you can get around that by tinkering with the temperature.

Panasonic NB-G110P FlashXpress

Best for Reheating

With powerful quartz and ceramic heating elements, high wattage, and compact cooking chamber, this oven whips up meals in no time. Features like an auto-pull rack and handy cooking presets make it perfect for home cooks who want to keep things quick and easy!

How We Test

To evaluate the toaster oven’s performance, we tested four dishes that require different functions and temperatures. Each test used food of the same size, weight, and starting temperature for consistency.

1. Toast: We aimed for the perfect medium toast—crispy, golden brown on the outside, soft and moist inside—then scored two consecutive batches based on color and taste.
2. Pizza: We baked a 9-inch thick-crust meat pizza at 450°F to a golden crust with melted cheese, evaluating cooking time, crust, toppings, and overall taste.
3. Whole Roasted Chicken: We roasted a 3 lb chicken at 350°F to golden perfection with crispy skin, and then assessed its cooking time, skin, and flavor after checking doneness with a meat thermometer.
4. Baked French Fries: We baked 12 oz of frozen fries at 400°F to a golden crispy outside and moist inside, grading them on cooking time, texture, and taste.

The Design features of a toaster oven in need of evaluation can be condensed to its exterior, interior, and build quality. And during the cooking sessions, we were able to tell the Usability of said features, including user control, ease of use, and cleanability.

Check out full How We Test and Score Our Toaster Ovens for more information.

How We Choose

The foundation for our list is our test results from toasting bread, baking pizza, roasting whole chickens, and air-frying fries. Simultaneously, we consider the brand’s popularity, their customer service (including guarantee period), the consensus of people who have hands-on experience with the ovens, and their price tags.

Cuisinart TOA-70 Air Fryer Toaster Oven w Grill

Best to Buy

This 100% analog toaster oven is excellent for everyone. With unmatched temperature precision and cooking speed, it’s perfect for meals, especially whole roasts and pizzas, for 3 to 4 people. Its design is simple but superbly built with safety, as well as ease of use and cleaning as a priority.

$210

(Price at time of publish)

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The Cuisinart TOA-70 Air Fryer Toaster Oven ranks number one on our performance data, with its steady and stable temperature delivering consistently excellent test dishes. Its biggest strengths lie in its air fry function and basket, providing amazing convection heating for savory dishes and scoring the highest in our pizza and whole roasted chicken tests.

Our store-bought pizza got a perfectly golden crust and superbly caramelized toppings with melty cheese in a record time of 3 minutes 30 seconds. If you’re making a fresh one, we’d recommend preheating the griddle to use as an extra surface.

As for our 3-lb whole chicken, the skin was evenly golden and really crispy around the thighs and wings. The Cuisinart’s excellent infrared heating allowed the chicken to reach a near perfect doneness in the ideal window of 40 minutes, maintaining the tenderness and juiciness of the meat.

We do have to point out that the quartz heating elements of the TOA-70 has shown less even browning on carbohydrates like toast and frozen fries compared to the nichrome one of the previous model TOA-60, but it’s not bad by any means. Nonetheless, this shouldn’t be a problem with baking sweets like cakes and cookies which don't need convection anyway.

Another reason why this oven is the best is that the brand listened to customer feedback for the previous model and improved upon it. In terms of design, the top-mounted convection fan is much quieter while still being powerful. Also, the back buffers have better shape for sturdiness and cord-wrapping.

When it comes to usability, the oven doesn’t offer many convenient features due to its simplistic approach but they all deliver. The exterior is well insulated, especially the door handle, so you won’t have to be afraid of accidentally burning yourself. And if you ever forget the temperature and time for your recipes, just look at the glass door for the brief instructions.

The oven also stops running when you open the door, just in case you take food out to bring to the table and forget to close it. Moreover, the cooking chamber is polished to minimize built-up grease, making it easy to clean along with all the accessories.

Read our full Cuisinart TOA-70 Air Fryer Toaster Oven w Grill in-depth review

Ninja DT201 Foodi XL Pro Air Oven

Best Air Fryer Oven

This oven is quick and efficient at air-frying meat and veggies, producing excellent caramelization while keeping the food succulent. And, you can do both at the same time with the oven’s large capacity and impressive 2-level even cooking, making it ideal for family-sized meals.

$279.99

(Price at time of publish)

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The Ninja Foodi XL Pro Air has ‘third-element convection’ so it both heats up fast and caramelizes savory dishes well. When roasting a 3-lb whole chicken in an air fryer basket, the Ninja's strengths earned it one of our highest scores to date.

The chicken was fully cooked and had crispy and uniformly golden from bottom to top skin after only a record time of 40 minutes, on par with the Cuisinart TOA-70. Checking with a meat thermometer, the internal temperature was higher than necessary but the meat stayed incredibly succulent.

The oven’s results in toasting bread and air-frying 12 oz of frozen French fries were top tier as well. The dishes had various good textures and colors which were really appealing to our head chef.

Unfortunately, the Ninja DT201 didn’t have the best result with baking a 9-inch store-bought pizza. However, looking at the overall performance, we believe the Ninja would excel at baking fresh pizza.

The Ninja's cooking chamber easily handles a 12-lb turkey. Utilizing the four rack levels, the distinctive '2-level' button offers, on the LCD, the optimal rack position for cooking two trays of food simultaneously. This even allows you to simultaneously roast a tray of meat and a tray of veggies.

The Ninja's control panel is anything but basic, yet the digital display shows all the information in an aesthetically uncomplicated manner. In addition, its buttons are really intuitive.

When a function is selected, the oven will indicate the appropriate rack position. As you cycle through functions, you’ll find that the recommendations for optimal tray levels change accordingly.

Each cooking function has its specific temperature range that corresponds to its intended use. The functions are matched to specific recipes in the manual.

Read our full Ninja DT201 Foodi XL Pro Air Oven in-depth review

Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven

Best Small

This oven is the fastest at toasting bread, thanks to its high wattage and compact design. With durable build quality, easy cleanup, and unique features like a Temperature Conversion button, it's a solid choice for small kitchens, though the lack of a convection system affects evenness in roasting.

$154.13

(Price at time of publish)

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The Breville Mini Smart Toaster Oven performed great in toasting bread, so we would say it accomplished its main goal. Thanks to its high wattage, this machine has the fastest cooking cycle for toast among the toaster ovens we tested thus far.

At the optimal toasting level, the oven produced four slices of bread with mottled light golden to golden-brown color that looked quite appetizing. The color was not evenly distributed due to the oven’s lack of a convection system to circulate hot air, though.

The first batch of toast was nicely crispy outside while still soft and moist inside. Our head chef, Tuyet Pham, determined they would go well with pretty much anything, including an omelet, eggs benedict, and particularly sandwiches.

Even though the oven automatically adjusted the timer to 2 minutes 36 seconds, the color of the second batch was a bit darker. Also, the second batch was crispier than the first which made it more suitable for soup. Remember to reduce the heat by one level if you want the same result.

The oven was able to produce acceptable results in roasting a whole chicken and baking fries. However, it showed a weakness in baking pizza.

The Breville BOV450XL has a durable stainless steel casing with a slide-out crumb tray and tray-level indicators on the glass door. Its cooking chamber is more spacious than most small models and has a non-toxic non-stick coating. With 1800 W, it’s got plenty of power for four quartz heating elements.

Besides the basic features, the Breville has a few interesting presets for pizza, cookies, and reheating. The LCD screen combined with a function dial allowed for easy readjustment of the cooking settings during use.

As for the oven’s unique features, we found the Temperature Conversion button useful, especially for international users. On the other hand, the FROZEN FOODS and A BIT MORE buttons didn’t live up to their advertising claims.

It was easy to clean up the toaster oven, especially the non-stick interior and even the caramelized bits on its accessories.

Read our full Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Oven in-depth review

Black+Decker CTO6335S Large Convection

Best Value

This oven offers everything you need in a good oven at a shockingly low price — it’s sturdy, easy to operate and has convection. Although it has a small weakness of low wattage, you can get around that by tinkering with the temperature.

$86.01

(Price at time of publish)

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The Black+Decker CTO6335S did best in roasting a 3 lb whole chicken where the cooking chamber still had more than enough space. After one hour of convection roasting, the entire bird was still very juicy. If you want a deeper color on the skin though, increase the heat to 400-425°F compared to our tested 350°F.

The oven also had better Toast and Pizza scores compared to others of the same price range. However, with 1500 W, it couldn’t compete with the likes of the 1800 W Ninja Foodi XL Pro when it came to baking frozen fries. What you can do to get the most out of it is to crank the temperature to the maximum 450°F.

In addition to its performance, the Black+Decker is also more sturdy and durable compared to other units around $100. A few more things that stood out to us were the easy-clean interior, quartz elements, and the baking pan plus broiling rack combo.

The oven is easy to operate thanks to its LCD and 13 buttons. Unfortunately, the door and buttons are a bit dodgy. Moreover, it doesn’t have any features to increase convenience. This applies to its automatic preheat phase, which isn’t very useful.

Read our full Black+Decker CTO6335S Large Convection in-depth review

Panasonic NB-G110P FlashXpress

Best for Reheating

With powerful quartz and ceramic heating elements, high wattage, and compact cooking chamber, this oven whips up meals in no time. Features like an auto-pull rack and handy cooking presets make it perfect for home cooks who want to keep things quick and easy!

$153.64

(Price at time of publish)

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The Panasonic FlashXpress closely rivaled the Breville when it came to roasting chicken wings, achieving even crispier and browner skin in the same time frame. If you want to maintain more moisture in the meat however, we suggest lowering the setting from 425°F to 390°F.

Notably, it set a record for the quickest pizza-baking time among our tested toaster ovens, completing in just 3 minutes. However, we recommend lowering the temperature from 450°F to about 430°F, as the crust cooked too quickly and lacked color, while the toppings like onions, bell peppers, and meat were slightly burnt.

In our toast test, it showed uneven heat distribution, likely due to its short cooking time. Even on the lowest Toast shade setting, going any higher would have resulted in overly dark toast.

The Panasonic NB-G110P boasts high build quality, justifying its price, along with unique features like an auto-pull rack and preset cooking functions.

However, while the auto-pull rack is convenient, it reduces cooking space. We’d also want more precise adjustments when it came to time and temperature settings.

Read our full Panasonic NB-G110P FlashXpress in-depth review

Nearest Competitions

Not everyone can be the winner in the battle of toaster ovens. Nonetheless, without the weaker competitors, it would be harder to gauge the products that perform well. Not to mention, some of the weaker units are still solid choices on their own.

The toaster ovens that didn’t make the cut:

• Breville BOV845BSS Smart Oven Pro: A large stainless steel toaster oven with attention to features of design and usability at a high price. Hence, it’s only suitable for someone prepared to invest in a high build quality, easy-to-operate control panel, and easy-to-clean accessories.
• Instant Omni Plus 18L: This oven excels in air frying, with smart features like automatic reminders, preheating, and an easy-to-use touchscreen. However, its price tag is a little too hefty and its cooking chamber can be better utilized to fit its rotisserie kit.
• Cuisinart TOA-60: The previous model of our best-to-buy choice. A fully analog, straightforward, and robust convection toaster oven that produces consistently great foods but with much room for improvement.
• Cosori CO130-AO: This oven impresses with its versatility, ease of use, and consistent results. Unfortunately, there have been some concerns about its durability and lifespan.
• Hamilton Beach 31344DA Easy Reach: This oven can save even more space with its roll-top door. However, the design of the cooking chamber did make it tricky to clean and its cooking performance was average.
• Oster TSSTTVMNDG-SHP-2—An inexpensive, robust, large toaster oven. Its helpful accessories and various cooking function make it simple to use for everyone. While the oven had a good performance score, it could have been higher if not for the low power output of 1300 W.
• Mueller MT-175—A small, lightweight, easy to operate, easy to clean, and energy-efficient toaster oven. At an inexpensive price, it can serve one or two people and save your limited counter space. It can toast bread, bake pizza, and roast chicken quite well but not bake frozen french fries.

Our Expertise

Alan Nguyen is a reviewer for Shouldit. On top of making home-cooked meals as a hobby, he has prior experience working in both restaurant and military kitchens. Behind the kitchen counter was where he learned to utilize an array of equipment for cooking delicate portions as well as cooking in bulk.

Along with the Research, Testing, and Review (RTR) Lab of Shouldit, he began the quest to find the best by sifting through hundreds before purchasing 19 distinctive models and putting them through a series of comparative tests regarding cooking performance, design, and user-friendliness. Follow along as we go through our journey via a video series if you prefer watching.

Most notably, our performance tests required roughly 90 hours of development and execution time. The process includes toasting over 50 packs of white bread (That’s over 500 slices of toast!), baking more than 20 nine-inch pizzas, not just 20 three-pound whole chickens, and something over 15 pounds of frozen french fries.

In the end, the team honed down to the best ones each for a specific budget, culinary purpose, and home interior.