Why are you looking for the best air fryer toaster oven? Depending on how they intend to use it, different persons will have different answers to this question. Some might need this unit solely for air frying. Others may like to have an air fryer that could also toast, bake, and dehydrate their food.
The best air fryer toaster ovens on the market can do both. But they don’t stop at that. These devices also let you prepare your favorite meals without using lots of oil. That is precisely the reason why the dishes they prepare are equal parts healthy and crunchy.
All the units that you’re going to see in this review are a cinch to operate as well. Their touchscreen control panel, LED display and preset functions make sure of that.
They are easy to clean too. All of their inner parts that will come into contact with the food are dishwasher safe.
Want to know more about them? Read on.
Top 5 Best Air Fryer Toaster Oven Consumer Reports for 2021
Here are the top five best air fryer ovens on the market:
1. Cuisinart TOA-60 Convection Toaster Oven Airfryer
This large-capacity air fryer toaster oven offers multiple features its peers don’t. Take the example of its pre-programmed functions. They let you bake bread, roast a whole chicken, air fry French Fries, or simply cook a lasagna. Also on offer is an adjustable thermostat with a 60-min timer.
Then there is the auto-shutoff function. This feature keeps you safe by never allowing the cooking chamber’s pressure to exceed a safe limit. It does that via its built-in sensor, which automatically turns off the whole unit when something goes amiss.
Equally worthy of your attention are the dials that control its operation. The first two dials on the left-hand side let you activate a timer and set temperature inside the cooking chamber, respectively. You can rotate the third dial to roast, bake, broil, warm, toast, and air fry your food.
Cuisinart has loaded this model’s package with accessories. They include an air fryer rack, baking pan, and an oven rack. The America-based manufacturer supplies this unit with a three year warranty – the most extended warranty you’d get on any toaster oven currently on the market.
Pros
- 6.5 cubic foot interior space.
- 7-in-1 functionality.
- Auto-shutoff and adjustable thermostat.
Cons
- Heavy.
2. Hamilton Beach Countertop Toaster Oven
The Hamilton Beach countertop toaster oven was designed with user convenience in mind. You can guess that on your own by looking at its cooking chamber. It stands lower than those of other models in this review and therefore gives you easy access to your food.
Similar is the case with its door/viewing window. It moves up and out of the way of the chamber when you’re putting in or taking out food from this toaster oven. This allows the door to steer well clear of drips and messy spills during the loading/unloading of food.
You can use the three dials located on the right-hand side to bake, broil, and toast your food. They also let you set the time you want to cook your meals and the temperature at which you want to cook them. And the fact that they’re contoured means that the dials are a cinch to maneuver.
Inside the cooking chamber you can fit six slices of toast at once. The compartment is spacious enough to hold a 12-inches pizza or 9’’ x 11’’ bake pan. Hamilton Beach further sweetens the deal by making this unit’s crumb tray removable for easy cleaning.
Pros
- Can bake, toast, and broil.
- Easy-to-use contoured knobs.
- Spacious interior.
Cons
- Parts aren’t dishwasher safe.
3. Emeril Lagasse Power Air Fryer 360 Combo
The Emeril Lagasse Power Air Fryer 360 Combo offers many outstanding features. Foremost among them is its 12-in-1 functionality. It provides 12 pre-set cooking functions using which you can toast bread, roast turkey, dehydrate jerky, roast veggies, slow cook means, bake desserts, and more.
This unit also makes sure that your food cooks evenly on all sides. Its 360-degree Quick Cook Technology produces a whirlwind of heat that surrounds your meal from all sides. Together with the unit’s five heating elements, the Quick Cook Technology won’t leave any side or portion of your food uncooked.
Its control panel is a mixture of analog dials and digital display. Two dials are on the left-hand side and let you set time and temperature. The third is on the top-left corner and enables you to choose between the 12 cooking functions. On their top is the backlit LCD digital display.
You might also find it useful to know that this unit is made of stainless steel. That’s precisely the reason why it’s (almost) rust-proof and corrosion-resistant. Stainless steel also makes the exterior extremely easy to clean as you can remove any accumulated dirt with a damp microfiber cloth.
Pros
- Stainless steel construction.
- 12 pre-set cooking functions.
- Five super powerful heating elements.
Cons
- Only 60 days moneyback warranty.
4. Breville BOV900BSS Smart Oven
Breville has always been one of the best air fryer toaster oven brands on the market. Units like this are the reason why. The BOV9OOBSS features an interior light that lets you keep an eye on your food. You would no longer have to open the lid – and disturb the cooking process – to check the meal’s progress.
It offers 13 pre-set cooking functions. Among them are options to toast, air fry, slow cook, broil, roast, reheat, and warm your food. The last two functions are extremely useful as they’d allow you to make sure that the food remains at a perfect temperature until it’s time for dinner.
You can also count on this air fryer toaster oven combo to ensure even cooking. It has a built-in fan that ensures the circulation of hot air to every inch of the cooking chamber. The fan also raises the temperature of the food basket, thereby contributing to quicker heating.
Breville further sweetens the deal by equipping this unit with an LCD display. It shows cooking temperature, time, and a list of all 13 preset cooking functions. You can rotate a dial beneath the display to select from the functions, and there are touch-buttons for activating the fan and interior light.
Pros
- Two speed convection fan.
- Huge interior space.
- 2-year limited warranty.
Cons
- Extremely heavy.
5. COSORI CO130-AO 12-in-1 Air Fryer Toaster Oven Combo
Cosori has never shied away from making top quality products. The C0130AO is yet another visible proof of this statement. This air fryer toaster oven combo offers 12-in-1 functionality to let you roast, air fry, toast, bake, broil, dehydrate, keep warm and even ferment your food.
The inside of this unit is exceptionally roomy. It measures 14.2 inches wide, 9.8 inches high, and 13.9 inches deep. That’s large enough to make six slices of toast, or to bake a 13 inches pizza at the same time. The trays and racks are both stainless steel, which makes them incredibly easy to clean.
Its front features a user-friendly control panel. There’s an LCD display at the top that shows you the time remaining and current temperature. It also shows the fan setting, the power status, and the dark/light setting. Its bottom left-hand side shows which of the cooking functions is currently being used.
On top of everything else, this unit features two different fan settings. You can activate the high-speed setting when you’re in a hurry and want to reduce the cooking time. Those of you who are conscious about their electricity bills can turn the fan down to save a lot of power.
Pros
- 24 hour adjustable timer.
- 12 cooking functions.
- User-friendly control panel.
Cons
- The fan is quite loud at the high-speed setting.
Related:
- Top 10 Best Rated Air Fryer in 2021
- 10 Best Air Fryer Under $100 of 2021
- Top 5 Best Air Fryer Brands in 2021
- Air Fryer with Rotisserie 2021
- Top 5 Best Small Air Fryer 2021
- 5 Best Large Capacity Air Fryers in 2021
What is an Air Fryer Toaster Oven?
Air fryer toaster ovens let you air fry, toast, bake, cook and defrost. These devices rely on a built-in heating element and a fan to induce a convection effect. Hot air comes from the top and raises the meal’s temperature placed in a perforated basket at the bottom.
Many of these units can fit a whole chicken, four-slices of bread, and a 12-inch pizza. Their huge capacity saves you from the trouble of batch cooking and helps to get the food to the dinner table faster. But that’s not where their utility ends.
The best air fryer toaster oven combo can reduce the fat content in your food by as much as 90%. You can thus rely on them to help you to trim your waistline. These models also consume less energy than your conventional microwave, thereby ensuring energy-efficient cooking.
How does an air fryer toaster oven work?
Do you know why some people refer to air fryer toaster ovens as convection ovens? Because both these devices work on the same principle. Both of them have two heating elements – one at the top, the other at the bottom – that raise the cooking chamber’s temperature.
They also have a fan that circulates hot air around the food. This results in more even distribution of heat and allows the food to cook evenly. The circulation of hot air in the cooking chamber also brings down the cooking time. It’s also responsible for creating a crispy outer layer on the food.
How to choose the best air fryer toaster oven?
Most people will head straight to the review section in their search for the best air fryer toaster oven. We do not recommend that approach. You should first identify the features you want in your air fryer toaster oven. Only then should you embark on the search for a unit that offers them. Here’s how you can do it:
What to consider when buying an air fryer toaster oven combo?
Following are the questions you need to ask yourself:
What is the size of the unit?
Air fryer toaster ovens come in the following sizes:
Medium Size Units
Medium air fryer toaster ovens have a capacity of between 0.5 and 0.9 cubic feet. Their interior is spacious enough to hold a 12-inch pizza, a whole rotisserie chicken, or up to 6 slices of toast.
Such units are easier to clean than their larger counterparts. They are more compact and will occupy less space on your countertop as well. You can also count on them to weigh less.
Large Size Units
Are you looking for an oven that you could use to prepare food for dinner parties? Then you may want to spend in a model with a capacity of between 1.0 to 1.2 cubic feet. Here’s why.
Large size units have roomy interiors that can pack a 12-cup muffin tray, a 13-inch pizza, up to 9 slices of toast. You can even load them with a turkey weighing up to 14 pounds.
Is it offering analog or digital controls?
Here’s how this question may influence your selection:
Analog controls
Air fryer toaster ovens with analog controls come cheap. They are also significantly to use, even for the elderly. You can use their protruding dials to set time and temperature.
On the flip side, such units aren’t exactly user intuitive. The absence of cooking functions, LED display and preset programs mean that you can only use them for most basic cooking jobs.
Digital controls
Almost all the best rated air fryer toaster ovens offer digital controls on their panel. That means an LED display, touchscreen control panel, preset cooking functions, among other features.
They also have dials to let you adjust time and temperature. Some of them go as far as to offer a ‘Keep Warm’ function to keep the food at its recommended temperature until it’s time for dinner.
How many cooking functions is it offering?
Every air fryer toaster oven worth its salt offers at least five cooking functions. They include toasting, air frying, reheating, broiling, and baking. That means that if you need something that could fry potatoes, bake cookies, and toast bread, they will be fine.
Some models go the extra mile by offering functions such as dehydration, keep warm, and reheat. They come in handy for users who want all the bells-and-whistles in their model. But you should know that models that offer such cooking functions won’t come cheap.
Features and Specs
Here are some of the features that almost all top-rated air fryer toaster ovens possess:
Interior light: The interior light in air fryer toaster ovens is unlike the one in your traditional microwave. It won’t lit up only after you’ve opened the lid. Instead, there’s a button on the control panel that lets you turn this light on/off at will to check food’s progress from outside.
Auto shut-off feature: This feature turns off the air fryer toaster oven when the unit’s inner pressure exceeds a safe limit. This allows you to not worry about the device overheating or any kind of accident happening.
Compatible with standard size accessories: Are you a fan of devices that force you to purchase super-expensive extras? Neither are we. That’s why we recommend that you go for a device that is compatible with generic, standard-size accessories.
Dishwasher safe parts: Would you prefer a device that would force you to manually clean its interior after having a delicious dinner? We won’t. That’s precisely why air fryer toaster ovens with dishwasher safe parts get our nod.
Multiple pre-programmed settings: Are you one of those home chefs that cook French fries one day and follow it up with wings the next? Then you may want to look for a unit with multiple pre-programmed settings. It will make the entire cooking process more comfortable.
Extended warranty period: Most models that you saw above boast a 2-year warranty. That is their way of putting your mind at ease by showing you that the company will repay the trust you’ve put in their products if anything goes amiss.
Air Fryer Vs Toaster Oven – What are the differences?
Air fryers and toaster ovens have much in common. Both have built-in heating elements that cook your food without using lots of oil. Both rely on the convection effect to raise your meals’ crispiness level, and both come with lots of cooking functions. That’s where the similarities end and differences start.
Heating Source
Air fryers have circular heating elements built into their roof. Toaster ovens, on the contrary, have a basic strip of heating elements. It isn’t only the shape of their heating source that is different – toaster ovens have two heating elements vis-à-vis an air fryer’s one.
Cooking functions
Any air fryer worth its salt can grill, roast, bake, dehydrate, and (of course) air fry your food. That isn’t the case with a toaster oven. This device can only perform grilling, roasting, and baking (though some toaster ovens can function as a rotisserie as well).
Size of the cooking chamber
Air fryers, for reasons we’re going to explain below, are relatively cramped on the inside. That means that they cannot hold as many food items as toaster ovens, which mostly have a spacious cooking chamber.
Speed of cooking
Do you know why air fryers tend to have a smaller cooking chamber? Because these devices are fond of cooking your food in less time. And they can only do that if the constricted space of their interior makes it easy for the fan to distribute heat.
Insulation
Air fryers are the epitome of insulation. These devices have cool-to-touch handles even when their inner temperature is reaching in the hundreds. Toaster ovens, however, boast little insulation and therefore have exterior surfaces that are too hot to touch.
Conclusion
Why are the best air fryer toaster oven consumer reports so popular? You can get an answer to this question by going through the abovementioned reviews. These units are not only easy to use, but they also provide superior results when compared to traditional toaster ovens.
Apart from that, the best rated air fryer toaster oven isn’t a one-trick pony. It is available in multiple types, offers different cooking functions, and lets you prepare multiple dishes on a daily basis. That means you can use it for baking, grilling, air frying and roasting your food. And that’s not all.
Most of the models you saw above come with considerable warranties. All have user-friendly controls and LCD displays to give you full control over their operation. Some of them even go as far as to offer recipe books in their package. What more can you ask for!