Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Toaster Oven Review

From its look, the brushed stainless steel Breville BOV450XL Mini Smart Toaster Oven seems well-constructed throughout, from the outer shell, to the control panel, to its non-stick interior coating. It also offers some unique features, good accessories, and interesting cooking functions. Let’s dive in deeper to see if the price tag of $151.99 (at the time of writing) is high or just right!

8.2 Performance

The Breville BOV450XL produced excellent toast and chicken wings. Pizza and fries were also good but the tests seemed to have revealed a problem of inconsistent heating.

Also, the fact that the oven didn’t have a convection system didn’t help in this regard. A model of the same brand that improved on this was the medium-sized Breville Smart Oven Pro.

7.8 Toast

Scoring Components ↓

The Breville currently holds the highest score in toasting bread for all small toaster ovens at 7.9/10. We determined that this oven’s toasting level 4—only 3 minutes on the timer—was the best option. At level 3, the bread was very lightly toasted and at 5 was darker than ideal and had a more uneven surface color.

At toast level 4, the Breville produced 4 pieces with mottled light golden to golden-brown color which looked quite appetizing. The color was only even enough for an 8/10 though due to the oven’s lack of a convection system.

The first batch of toast was nicely crispy outside while still soft and moist inside, deserving an 8/10 score for flavor. 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.

Overall, it’s a 7.5/10 for consecutive usability. Remember to reduce the heat by one level if you want the same result. Thanks to its high wattage, this oven has one of the the fastest cooking times for toast among the toaster ovens we’ve tested thus far.

8.8 Pizza

Scoring Components ↓

Our Pizza test with the Breville took some figuring out but in the end, we were able to achieve a satisfying result with a score of 8.8/10.

We first went with the Bake function to keep it consistent with other ovens without the Pizza function and the results were pretty good for a small toaster oven. Then we wanted to try if the Pizza function can actually serve its purpose and be more suitable for this test than Bake, and this is where things got interesting.

After 9m 30s, the oven reached 425°F and won’t go any higher even after 20 minutes has passed, so we settled with that temperature and placed the pizza on the second rack level. After only 5 minutes 36 seconds of baking, it was looking good so we stopped. This was a shorter process and scored the Breville a 10/10 for cooking time according to our pizza baking data.

The crust had an appetizing golden brown color and a nice crispiness with only a patch of lighter hue. It also had a nice crispiness outside but could be better with more moisture retained inside, so the crust scored an 8.5/10 — probably the best we can get without a convection fan.

The toppings were nicely caramelized, from the cheese to the meat and veggies. However, they could only score a 8.5/10 since the cheese wasn’t the most melty due to it losing quite a bit of moisture from the prolonged cooking time compared to something like the Cuisinart TOA-70 with an air fry function.

With all that said about the crust and the toppings, our chef gave the pizza a 8.5/10 after tasting.

8.8 Roasted Chicken Wings

Scoring Components ↓

The Breville is also the champion when it comes to our Roasted Chicken Wings test, scoring 8.8/10.

It took 40 minutes to roast 10 middle-joint chicken wings at 400°F, which is our fastest recorded time, 10/10. With the oven’s power, the skin developed a nice caramelized color as well as crispiness, worthy of a 8.5/10.

The wings’ internal temperature was around 205°F, meeting the USDA recommendation. This helped maintain a lot of juiciness in the meat but smaller wings can be slightly dry due to the high heat, as you can see with the dried up meat juice on the tray. Thus, we awarded it a 9/10 for doneness.

Judging by the skin and the meat, the wings were really delicious and worthy of another 9/10 for taste.

6.9 Baked French Fries

Scoring Components ↓

The Breville did an acceptable job in our Baked French Fries test, scoring a 6.9/10.

At 400°F, the oven took 25 minutes to bake 12 oz of french fries, so it got a 7/10. Except for a few golden pieces, the fries mostly lacked color, only deserving a 7/10.

The fries had a variety of textures, which all could be improved with a drier and crispier surface that ovens with a convection system can achieve. The golden fries were dry and yet only slightly crispy. Also, the ones that lacked color were really soft, so it was only a 6.5/10.

Our chef gave the fries a 7/10 for taste. If you want to improve the results, we suggest using some kind of mesh container for the fries and pump the temperature up to 450°F.

9.0 Design

The Breville Mini Smart Oven stands out among small toaster ovens for its good capacity and high build quality. Its interior has a great non-toxic non-stick coating but is black and contains no internal lights, unlike the Panasonic Flashxpress.

In the Box

• Model: BOV450XL
• Warranty: 1-year limited
• User Manual
• Baking Rack
• Baking Pan

On the packaging were some illustrations and basic information, and the oven was couched nicely between two foam pads. Breville’s user manual explains in detail how each oven function works. 

The default accessories, a baking rack and baking pan, were packaged in a fitted carton box. You can opt to buy a separate 11” pizza pan and/or a broiling rack to cover more cooking methods.

9.0 Exterior

We measured the oven’s footprint to be 15.74" x 14.17" x 8.86" which was slightly different in terms of height from the manufacturer’s 16.1" x 14.2" x 10.4". The small size didn’t stop Breville from designing a sturdy stainless steel outer shel (+3)l.

The shape of the back buffers makes it easy to wrap the power cord around them once things have cooled (+2). Also, the tray-level indicators on the glass door and the slide-out crumb tray are always nice touches (+4). However, the oven’s exterior doesn’t provide good grip points to carry the oven.

Control Panel

The control panel consists of 1 control knob for 8 functions and 4 buttons to set the time, temperature, and/or toasting mode. The digital display and the Start/Cancel button both shine blue when the oven’s plugged in and red when it’s cooking.

Beyond the standard stuff, you’ll find 3 unique buttons: Temperature Conversion (°F-°C), Frozen Foods, and A Bit More. The latter adds a specific amount of time depending on the cooking function.

The LCD screen will display ‘E01’ or ‘E02’ when there is a non-resettable issue with the appliance. When this happens, immediately unplug the cord from the wall outlet and call the Breville Customer Service Center.

The ‘E03’ shows up when the oven temperature exceeds its design limit. Should this occur, unplug your oven, allow it to cool for 15 minutes, then plug it back in.

The ‘E04’ appears when the room temperature is below the set minimum. If this happens, unplug the oven and move it to a warmer area.

Cooking Functions

• Toast (7 levels, 4 slices maximum)
• Bagel (7 levels, 4 slices maximum)
• Bake (1h 30m maximum)
• Broil (High and Low levels, 20 minutes maximum)
• Pizza (55 minutes maximum)
• Roast (1h 30m maximum)
• Cookies (55 minutes maximum)
• Reheat (370°F maximum)

For safety reasons, all cooking functions have a predetermined timer limit after which the oven stops cooking. If you want to continue cooking, simply operate the oven in standard mode. The High setting of the Broil function does the job faster than Low and you’ll need to experiment with it to learn how quickly it cooks.

9.0 Interior

We appreciate the Breville’s interior for having a non-toxic non-stick coating (+3), 4 heating elements (+3), and 3 tray levels (+3), all rare features for its size . However, we wish it had an internal light since the coating is black.

Each quartz heating element has its own safety guard to prevent direct contact with baking pans and food. Unlike the more common nichrome style, these don’t heat the air in the oven, but rather radiate the infrared heat directly to the food or pan.

Overall, they produce more heat and cool down faster than nichrome. In addition, they’re easier to clean and are more energy-efficient but not as durable. However, if grease splashes onto the heating elements while cooking, it’ll leave permanent stains.

Capacity

The BOV450XL had enough space for four slices of toast, an 11-inch pizza, or barely a 3 lb whole chicken.

We measured the cooking chamber’s volume to be 13.86 liters compared to the manufacturer’s provided capacity of 12.74 liters. However, it could just be because we measured from the cooking chamber’s walls to walls whereas the manufacturer stopped before reaching the heating elements.

9.0 Build Quality

The Breville is well-constructed and durable with a high power rating of 1800 W (+4). All of its parts fit nicely and work smoothly (+4), especially the LCD display and the buttons.

Thanks to the good insulation of the casing, the oven gets hot to the touch only after cooking for a long period of time at high heat (+1).

Power Cord

The power cord is roughly 40.94"—plenty of length for household use—and can be wrapped around the back buffers for storage. The plug also has a nice little handle which makes it easier to grab.

Accessories: Baking Rack

The rack fits perfectly on the guide rails, which helps prevent accidents when placing your food in the oven.

Accessories: Baking Pan

Although the baking pan is a bit smaller than the rack, it still has more than enough space for a 3 lb chicken. Thus, it keeps most of the mess off the heating elements. 

However, even with the enamel coating, the chicken skin still stuck to the pan during our roasting test. Also worth noting is that the dishwasher can damage this coating.

8.4 Usability

The Breville BOV450XL is simple to use with some nice additional features that could be improved. And cleaning it was an extremely easy task.

8.8 User Control

The display of the Breville presents all the settings you’re applying to it so you’ll know exactly what you’re doing (+2). To choose a cooking function, simply turn the dial to what you desire (+2). The Temperature Conversion button is a nice touch for international users navigating their recipes (+2).

For adjusting time and temperature, press the corresponding button first then adjust with the two increase and decrease buttons. The cooking time can be adjusted in increments of 1 minute and the temperature in increments of 5°F (+2). For some reason, this differs from what the user manual states.

The manual says that the FROZEN FOODS button adds the right amount of additional time needed to defrost the target foods in the Toast, Bagel, Pizza, Cookies, and Bake functions (+0.4). However, we didn’t find it very useful since cooking time depends heavily on the food quantity and personal preference.

The A BIT MORE button, where each press adds a pre-set amount of time to each function, has a similar problem. It only seemed useful when the oven was still cold and we wanted to skip the preheating phase (+0.4).

8.0 Ease of Use

The Breville has an automatic preheating phase that lasts 1m 45s (+2). Our tests saw it reaching around 180°F in that time. The temperature alert will sound when the oven reaches your selected temperature. Then, it will sound three times at the end of the cooking cycle.

It’s very easy to adjust cooking settings during use, especially compared to an analog unit like the Mueller MT-175 (+2). Also, the properly sized accessories make maneuvering them easy (+2).

We didn’t have to worry too much about accidentally touching the oven and burning our hands since it doesn’t get too hot while it’s running (+2). However, even though this oven doesn’t turn off upon opening the door, the door won’t stay partially open – it’s all or nothing.

According to the manufacturer, the Element iQ System’s smart algorithms focus power where and when it’s most needed, creating ideal cooking conditions every time. However, we didn’t notice a significant difference in performance when comparing it to other ovens of the same size/wattage.

If it’s not actively cooking, the oven will go into STANDBY mode after 10 minutes with no interaction to avoid accidental presses (+2). Although unplugging the oven resets your customized setting, Breville recommends doing so anyway after you finish using it.

9.0 Cleanability

We cleaned the Breville in accordance with our toaster oven cleaning guide. Thanks to the stainless steel exterior and non-stick interior, it was very easy to clean (+3). Removing crumbs was also easy thanks to the slide-out crumb tray, although we still had to tilt the oven to get the last of them out (+3).

The upper heating elements got stained by smoke from splattered grease during our roasted chicken test. Fortunately, we had no problem removing the stains by brushing the elements with a paste of baking soda and water. We were also able to easily scrub the burnt chicken skin off of the baking pan (+3).

Buying Options