5 Best Air Fryer Toaster Ovens of 2024, Tested by Our Experts
These standouts from our tests do the work of both appliances with great results
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Toaster ovens have long been doing much more than toasting. They reheat, bake, defrost, and even broil. But in the past couple of years, manufacturers have taken the product’s versatility to a whole new level, marrying everything we love about toaster ovens with the crisping capabilities of an air fryer. In CR’s ratings, there are more than two dozen models with this designated function. Here, we provide insights into what makes these multitaskers so appealing and which models come out on top, according to our rigorous tests.
Is an Air Fryer Toaster Oven Worth It?
If you’re in the market for a new toaster oven and have a penchant for a little crispiness to your food, a model with an air-fry mode may be a smart move. While the feature often comes at a cost, there’s a wide range of options to choose from. The most expensive air fryer toaster oven in our roundup starts at $400, but the least expensive is a fraction of that. And our tests find that regardless of the price, the air fryer mode on these appliances tends to offer pleasing results. What’s more, buying a top-performing model can save you about $60 to $130 compared with purchasing a top-rated conventional toaster oven and air fryer separately.
Best Air Fryer Toaster Ovens
The top models in our roundup went through the arduous tests we perform on all toaster ovens in CR’s ratings. They also crisped up food as promised while landing acceptable scores or better for reheating and baking.
Air Fryer vs. Toaster Oven
Toaster ovens with an air-fryer mode are equipped with a fan to circulate hot air, just like a dedicated air fryer. The result? Food cooks up fast and emerges “fried” with little or no oil. But our evaluations suggest that you’ll probably get crispier results from a dedicated air fryer.
The difference lies in the dedicated air fryer’s smaller size compared with that of a toaster oven. In fact, the five toaster ovens featured in this article all have larger capacities than even the largest air fryer we tested. Food placed in an air-fryer gets a more concentrated blast of heat, allowing it to crisp better and faster (up to about 40 percent quicker, depending on the food, according to a staffer who has cooked with both in her kitchen). So you can expect your air-fryer French fries to have that undeniable crisp like the kind you’d find with McDonald’s, let’s say, as opposed to those served up at your typical neighborhood diner.
Which Is Better: Convection or Air Fryer Mode?
Some toaster ovens have a convection function in addition to an air-frying feature. While similar, they’re best used for different things, so the most optimal setting depends on what you’re cooking.
A toaster oven’s convection mode uses a heating element at the top and bottom of the oven, which works along with a fan at the back of the cavity. This fan helps provide a uniform temperature within the oven and allows food to cook faster than in a conventional oven. Bakers especially appreciate convection mode because it allows multiple racks of, say, cookies to achieve the same results. But it’s also a handy way to roast meats or cook casseroles more efficiently.
Air-frying is a type of convection cooking, but the fan circulates at a higher speed, directing a hot airstream onto the food. To run a toaster oven on air-fry mode, you place the food in a dedicated mesh air-fry basket (which typically is sold with the unit along with a drip tray) instead of a pan, so that the air can circulate all around the food—top, bottom, and sides—creating a completely crisped surface.
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