Without wasting any more of your time, let’s skip to the main section of the content and look at the 7 best s money can buy today. With that in mind, I decided to go out there myself and created a shortlist of the best toaster oven models from arguably the best toaster ovens brand available today. While wiping it clean was easy, I’d suggest being careful to not slop water or food into the convection fan’s vent holes in the oven. Since most of the crevices and protrusions are rounded, it’s easier to clean than sharp corners. The back corners are the hardest bits to clean, but they’re also the least likely places food would spatter.
Just keep in mind that the pods tend to cook a little less evenly, and in most cases you’ll only be able to make a couple servings at a time. The nonstick coating in the baskets of pod-shaped air fryers are also likely to wear off within a few years, so you’ll need to replace either the basket or your entire machine. hamilton beach toaster oven If you want to use this oven as an air fryer (because pod-shaped air fryers are simply tiny convection ovens), we’ve found that the high setting works better, since it cooks food a little faster. The exorbitantly priced Wolf Gourmet Countertop Oven produced the most evenly browned toast of any model we tested.
And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. On bright side, once we learned the subtleties of this oven, we were consistently able to produce frozen meals hamilton beach toaster oven that were acceptably cooked. We simply had to wait a little longer than the directions suggested. This product comes with a rotisserie spit and forks that hold the food on the spit.
I washed the racks and other pieces that would contact food, and I let the empty oven heat up to burn off manufacturing residue. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). It’s common for most toasters to release steam while toasting, so don’t be alarmed. This is a normal occurrence, especially if the bread is particularly moist.
As with all models, you want to remove the pan and toast bread directly on the oven rack. Otherwise, they encountered no issues—the Hamilton Beach is great for any simple toasting and baking jobs. A standard quarter-sheet tray (and if you put a quarter-sheet tray on each of its two racks, that’s equal to a standard half sheet pan you’d use in a full-size oven).
It might be best located on an island or a table for ample airflow all around. The Balmuda’s controls and capacity are also limited compared to our top picks. It offers just three temperature settings—350 °F, 400 °F, and 450 °F—plus four presets, and it can only fit two pieces of bread.
Most of the frozen items we heated came out a little undercooked after the recommended cooking time. Some of the pizza dough was still gooey and the tots weren’t very crispy, resulting in additional cook times that exceeded those recommended. For this metric, we gave the Easy Reach its highest marks for ease of cleaning. Likewise, cleaning out the oven’s interior is a breeze — another benefit of the roll-top door. When open, the oven is completely accessible, both visually and spatially, which allows fingers, rags or scrubbers to easily find their way into every corner. It’s billed as being able to accommodate two 12-inch pizzas, two 9 x 13-inch casseroles, or two cake pans, and I found that to be true.