Some smart models, like the Cosori Pro Smart Air Fryer, even come with apps that pair with your phone to make the appliance accessible via voice controls (video), though we haven’t tested those features yet. An Air fryer is a kitchen appliance that cooks by circulating hot air around food. They do a fantastic job cooking up frozen foods that are meant to taste deep-fried. You can air fry french fries, crispy chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and more.
This air fryer also isn’t as much of an eyesore as some machines we’ve tried over the years, so it won’t look like an alien spaceship has landed on your kitchen counter. Air fryer toaster ovens tend to look like larger versions of your classic toaster oven, but come with all the functionality of a toaster oven, air fryer and even roaster combined. If your countertop already houses a toaster oven and you’re wishing you had space for an air fryer, consider this the ideal more-than-2-for-1 upgrade. This under-$125 model impressed us during testing, especially when it came to air frying. It has a basic control panel with three knobs that are easy to operate and a small footprint that’s still large enough to fit a 12-inch frozen pizza. In our tests, it was one of the few that was able to bake an evenly melted pizza in addition to making evenly colored toast.
Air frying and convection cooking both work similarly in the sense that they both use a fan to circulate hot air. Air fryers, however, typically have heating elements that are more concentrated and located on the top, while most convection ovens work with the same heaters already built into an oven or toaster oven. Air fryers also typically have a larger fan that works quicker and is positioned on top of the heating elements versus a convection oven with a smaller fan located in the back or side of the oven. Ultimately, the best air fryer toaster ovens heat up quickly and make crispier food in less time than convection ovens.
The Hamilton Beach, Panasonic’s FlashXpress and Breville Mini Smart Oven were among the top finishers with mostly even cooking and a solid medium color. To ensure the fat renders and the wings crisp, air fry chicken wings at two separate temperatures. It’s important to eat your veggies, and while there are many ways to cook them—the air fryer isn’t a good choice for leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, bok choy, Swiss chard, and kale. The one exception to this rule is that air fryers are great for making veggie chips from these types of vegetables. In February Cosori issued a recall of 21 air fryer models following incidents of them catching fire, melting, overheating, or smoking. Our budget pick, the Cosori Pro LE Air Fryer, isn’t part of the recall.
In the range, you can find cookers that can be pre-programmed if you are someone who is always on the move. We also have different brands to choose from like Chefman, Cusinart, Ninja Foodi, Philips and more. Pick an Air fryer from our superb range and switch to oil-free, oil-less and quick frying. In our air fryer toaster oven test, the Joule Oven Air Fryer hamilton beach air fryer Pro made mostly even toast and a gorgeous, golden cake. The air fryer setting took longer to crisp wings than other air fryer toaster ovens we tested, but the results were similar to the results we saw in the Smart Oven Air that consumers love. It was amongst the easiest to use with an intuitive control panel; plus, the ability to follow along on the app.
Air frying gives you the crunchy texture of fried foods without the extra grease and fat. Most fryers are easy to clean, have dishwasher-safe containers and occupy less space than convection ovens. An Air fryer can function like convection ovens, deep-fat fryers, and multi-cookers; they combine benefits of multiple appliances. At Target we have a wide range of Airfryers with different functions and styles. Whether it is a toaster-oven, convection oven or a traditional pot style cooker, you can find one at Target.
In addition to the matte black design with rose-gold colored knobs, it also comes in white and stainless steel. Aesthetics aside, this air fryer toaster oven performed well in our tests. Air fried wings took 20 minutes to crisp evenly, released from the air fryer basket easily and stayed juicy. We were pleased that there wasn’t any smoking during air frying and that the oven was easy to use overall. Air fryer toaster ovens offer all the versatility of a toaster oven or countertop oven with the additional benefit of air frying.
The light setting delivered barely-there toasting while the dark setting produced proper dark pieces of toast without burning them. The Breville and Balmuda also nailed the light hamilton beach toaster oven and dark toast cycles when I put them through their paces. The Panasonic FlashXpress’ well-calibrated dark toast setting delivered a proper dark without burning the bread.