For the past two years, two Wirecutter employees have used the Hamilton Beach for basic tasks like making toast, reheating pizza, and baking frozen snacks. One of our testers initially tried toasting bread in the baking pan, which only browned the top of the bread. 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.
Some toaster ovens, like our budget pick, are equipped with only two heating elements. But fewer heating elements aren’t necessarily an indication of poor toasting performance. If the oven cavity is small, two elements are enough to regulate heat. That said, avoid larger toaster ovens with only a couple of elements because they won’t be able to distribute heat evenly.
And when you’re using the bagel function, you take your bagel and the cut side, which is the flat side, goes on the inside facing each other. And this toaster, actually, the function adjusts the toasting temperature so that the inside of your bagel is nice and crispy, but the exterior is not overcooked. The other thing is that each of the toasters comes with removable crumb trays. This one happens to have two because, as I mentioned, it has independent carriages.
No more batch cooking necessary, which means you can get dinner on the table for your whole family faster. The Cuisinart also has two convection speeds, regular and high. 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 cuisinart toaster costco it cooks food a little faster. Some toaster ovens (ones with convection technology, like our larger pick) can even work with air frying recipes, though that may require some adjustments. But if you’re looking to do a lot of air frying in your toaster oven, you may want to check out our separate guide to air fryer toaster ovens.
If you’re eyeing an air fryer but also an Instant Pot or another multicooker, let me save you some money and kitchen space. The Instant Pot Duo does all the work of the popular multicooker — pressure cooker, slow cooker, steam and saute — but comes with a separate air fryer lid and cooking function as well. The air fryer remains a very buzzed-about kitchen gadget and is cuisinart toaster costco our absolute favorite way to fire off quick snacks using less oil and to reheat leftovers. We also did some math and it turns out that energy-efficient air fryers can even save money on your electric bill. If your air fryer is preheated or if you are cooking multiple batches, you may need to reduce timing by a few minutes (unless preheating is called for in the recipe).
Power and size are the most important factors in finding the best air fryer for you. The Ninja air fryer that we liked best has 1,550 watts of power but you can expect an oven with slightly less oomph to also deliver solid results. Soft and watery veggies such as zucchini and mushrooms may turn to mush under this type of intense heat. For Brussels sprouts, we preheated the ovens to 375 Fahrenheit and cooked them for 15 minutes. Before cooking, we rinsed and cut the sprouts in half and tossed them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
One disappointing thing about the Breville, especially at this price, is that it comes with a two-year warranty, whereas the Cuisinart has a three-year warranty. To learn even more about the Breville Air Fryer Pro, see our guide to the best air fryer toaster ovens. The FlashXpress made crispy-yet-melty Bagel Bites that were more consistently browned from one edge of the pan to the other.