By omitting this feature, they made it more difficult for us to set accurate times and temperatures. I also tried air frying frozen breaded fish fillets which is usually my preferred way of cooking these. The crumb was hard and overly crisped, it tasted like it had been under a broiler and the fish inside was drier than usual. Overall the air fryer function just didn’t produce the same results as the best air fryers I’ve tried.
We used the preprogrammed pizza function on the Breville, Oster, Waring, and Panasonic and the two new models, the Cuisinart – Chef’s Convection and the KitchenAid – KCO211BM. For the toaster ovens that did not have a pizza function, we used their bake function and preheated them to 400°F as the pizza packaging instructed. One of the most popular reasons why people use toaster ovens is convenience, specifically when it comes to speed. When it came time to start testing our finalists, we paid close attention to preheating and cooking times.
How well the toasters or toaster ovens produced a batch of even, medium-brown toast. For the two that did not, the BLACK+DECKER and the Hamilton Beach, we simply watched and turned off the toaster oven once a crisp, golden brown color was achieved. The toasting time ranged from one minute, 45 cuisinart toaster costco seconds to four minutes. The Breville toaster oven proved itself as the latest in technological advancement and the greatest in thoughtful design. Ultimately, the multitude of features is what makes it the clear winner. Helen McCue is a freelance contributor who trained as a Home Economist.
This test was where the Breville and Cuisinart toaster ovens excelled as their convection baking produced the lightest, moistest cupcakes. In our 2019 testing, the Cuisinart – Chef’s Convection gave us perfect cupcakes as well. On the bake setting, the heat source comes from above and below the food. As instructed by the packaging, each toaster oven was preheated to 325°F and each timer was set to 12 minutes. They all produced essentially the same results in density, texture, and color, but the shape of the cupcakes varied.
Ultimately, your decision will be determined by your personal budget and preferences. Breville has also updated the model we reviewed and now has 12 instead of 10 programmed functions. The Cuisinart ups the number of functions to 15, including a “speed convection” function and an innovative “dual cook” function. The dual cook function allows you to program two modes of cooking — for example, slow-cooking followed by browning — for two different times.