Best Countertop Oven And Air Fryer In : Ninja Breville Kitchenaid And More
A proficient countertop toaster oven with capable air fry function is the best of both worlds, and a space-saver to boot.
Improvements to the good old-fashioned oven are never in short supply. Some innovations, like convection cooking, which debuted in 1945, are difficult to imagine living without. Others land softly with an air of frivolousness and very little impact
Smaller countertop ovens are not new, of course, and at this point neither are air fryers. What is new is a fusing of those two types of cookers into one hybrid convection oven with air fryer function, and a good one will do about as much as anything else you can buy for your kitchen. I’ve had one of these versatile hybrid ovens for about a year and find the uses for it many and the results rather delicious.
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“But I already have a solo air fryer or was thinking of getting one.” Great! Air fryers are awesome and they’re pretty cheap, too. In fact, we have a list of the best air fryers to help you choose. But the solo units have limitations and those might make a hybrid oven a better option for you. I did the calculations for myself and decided on a hybrid.
Who’s hungry?
I broiled. I baked. I judged. I ate. Here’s how the hybrid ovens performed and a few of my top picks.
Best Big Convection Air Fryer Toaster Oven
Nuwave Air Fryer Oven
12 Presets Available This best convection toaster oven air fryer has a large capacity that can fit a 13-inch pizza inside, as well as 9 pieces of toast, and a 10-pound chicken. There are 12 presets available on the digital control panel and you can also choose the oven temperature from 100 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit in 5-degree increments.
Integrated Temperature Probe The oven offers three fan speeds for baking and is also equipped with 5 quartz heating elements. A temperature probe is also integrated into the appliances so that you can control the inner meat temperature for perfect and precise cooking. This model is very intuitive to use and with the included recipes, even inexperienced users will know how to use it.
Durable Parts This large convection toaster oven lets you air fry, bake, broil, roast, toast, reheat, defrost, and grill in it. At the same time, it will look great on your kitchen countertop thanks to the stainless steel body finish and the modern-looking interface. The durable accessories it comes with include a silicone pad, a stainless steel tray, heavy-duty racks, and more.
User-Friendly Engineering The 1 cubic foot oven has a digital display that makes it easy to choose the cooking program, as well as adjust the oven temper temperature. By using the digital temperature probe, you dont have to worry about undercooking or overcooking your food again.
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Using Convection Oven As Air Fryer
A countertop convection oven is equipped with a fan that blows hot air around. Since its wide, it enables the food to be spread out on the rack instead of piled in layers. This is important because layering food can disturb the hot airflow. Placing the food in one layer enables it to cook more evenly.
Recommended Reading: Lock And Lock Air Fryer
Best Stainless Steel Large Toaster Oven Air Fryer
Cuisinart Toaster Oven TOA-60
Non-Stick Large Interior This large toaster oven air fryer is constructed from stainless steel material to easily fit any type of kitchen decor. The interior of the oven is non-sticking and measures 0.6 cubic feet. It can bake up to a 12-inch pizza, roast a 4-pound chicken, toast 6 slices of bread, or air fry 3 pounds of chicken.
User-Friendly Located on the control panel, there are four control knobs for easy setup. The first one is used for turning the oven on and setting a timer for up to 60 minutes. The temperature knob can set up the cooking temperature between warm settings and 450°F. The toast timer allows you to select a toast shade to your preference.
7 Available Settings The function control knob is used to choose between 7 offered cooking programs. You can air fry, bake, broil, convection bake, convection broil, warm food, or toast bread. If you set up a timer for cooking or toasting, the oven will automatically shut off once cooking is done.
Fries With Hot Air The stainless steel toaster oven includes a basket for air frying, an oven rack, and a baking pan. When air frying, it uses hot air to prepare healthier versions of traditionally fried foods, while also using less oil or fat. As it is designed for countertops, you wont have to keep moving it from the kitchen countertop to the storage area.
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Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro
While the Ninja Foodi took the top spot in a majority of tests, the Breville nabbed a few titles, too, including the best broiled salmon and a dead tie in the cookie competition. It also kept an accurate and consistent heat throughout cooking and has an impressive air fryer function. This Smart Oven is also quite large, for better or worse, but that bulbous cooking capacity makes it a more versatile machine than the Ninja. You could easily cook a roast or whole chicken in the Breville, while the Ninja is simply not tall enough. It also has a boatload of features and presets — bread proofing, dehydrate, pizza — and so if you like bells and whistles, the Breville’s got ’em. It’ll even switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius with the push of the button for folks who use that system. Ya know, everyone but us.
At $350, it’s by far the most expensive oven I tested, but the quality build and performance were commensurate. It is the one model on this that could pretty close to replacing your big oven altogether — in case that’s the goal — or if you need something for a space without an existing oven.
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So Is An Air Fryer A Convection Oven
Most convection ovens can air-fry, but not all air fryers can do what a convection oven can. The main difference between an air fryer and convection oven lies in the size, with a convection oven generally having more space for cooking larger amounts of food at one time . The fan in an air fryer is located at the top of the appliance, which cooks food a little faster than the back-of-the-oven fan in a convection oven, but a convection oven doesn’t require any specialty equipment or accessories like an air fryer does.
Ninja Pro Air Fry Digital Countertop Convection Toaster Oven
If you want to get air fryer healthy meals, then you are at the right place because it can give you food with 75% less fat. It uses the air fryer function other than traditional deep frying. Ninja air fryer toaster oven is all in one digital countertop convection toaster oven. I like its high-quality stainless steel finish with easy-to-use features.
Ultimate Versatility
Most conveniently, you can do any cooking in this Ninja air fryer toaster oven such as air roast, broil, toast, bake, bagel, pizza, and reheat.
30% faster cooking
Ninja air fryer toaster oven is 30% faster as compared to a traditional full-size convection oven. Moreover, it can also help in quick family meals with a 90-second oven preheat time. It is extra-large, so it covers more area on the countertop. It gives you two levels, even cooking with no rotation required.
TruSurround convection
This toaster oven also has the TruSurround convection feature that will give you up to 10 times the Convection power compared to a traditional full-size Convection oven. Therefore, you will get crispier, faster, as well juicy results.
Specifications
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What You Need To Know
Air fryers promise to make fried food with very little oil. While the lure of eating healthier french fries or making fried chicken without heating a pot of oil is enticing, we know from extensive testing that air-fried foods more often taste oven-fried than deep-fried. That said, we still really like air fryers: They cook food more quickly than an ove… read more
How To Make Your Choice
As Ive said, choosing an air fryer/toaster oven is a lot like finding an apartment, you need to decide on must-haves and work from there. For example, when my wife and I were looking at apartments in our younger days wed always wanted a garden so we always made sure a back yard or outdoor space was high on our search criteria.
In this case, you need to do the same things with our search for an air fryer. Lets say you are cooking for a crowd or often have big parties where you want to keep lots of food warm or cook in big batches, you might want to go with the Breville Smart Oven Air or the Nuwave Bravo XL.
Maybe you want to cook rotisserie style chickens or prime ribs for special occasions, in that case, youre going to want to go with either the Emeril Lagasse Power Air 360 or the Instant Omni Plus is going to be the one for you.
On the other hand, you might value ease of use or a classic analog control panel, for that youll want to go with the Cuisinart TOA60 or the Chefman Air Fryer Toaster Oven. Finally lets imagine you have a smaller kitchen and a slimmer machine with a top-mounted display is what you need, for that youll want the Cosori 12-in-1 or the Intstnat Omni Plus.
Regardless of which machine you go with, all of these models will air fry, roast, bake, and broil as well as a ton of other options depending on the one you choose!
Recommended Reading: Ninja Air Fryer 2 Basket
You Dont Need An Air Fryer You Already Own Something Better
Convection toaster ovens can do everything air fryers can doand more.
We found that pod-shaped air fryers often had more-powerful fans, but this wasnt necessarily a good thing, since they could produce dried-out foods and overcooked cakes. And the fryer baskets in pod-shaped models were too limited. Even filled to capacity, they could fit only a couple of servings of food at a time, which isnt practical for larger households. In general, we found that pod-shaped air fryers didnt cook as evenly as the toaster-oven models because their cramped interiors didnt allow heat to fully circulate around the food, even when we shook the basket periodically.
If Your Oven Comes With A Rotisserie Make Sure To Watch The Video Explaining Its Use
I decided to go ahead and try to set up my rotisserie without watching the video and while I was eventually successful, it took a while and a lot of experimenting before I got it right. After watching the video later I realize I had haphazardly stumbled on the correct setup after a ton of adjustments and I could have saved a lot of time and energy by just watching the video in the first place. While its nice to be bel to use an appliance without the users manual sometimes its best just to review everything before you get started!
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Best Smart Air Fryer Convection Oven Combo
Breville BOV900BSS Smart Oven
Included Accessories And Design
This Breville convection and air fry smart oven features digital buttons and display. The oven light can be switched manually but it automatically turns on when the cooking is over. With the toaster oven, you will get a non-stick pizza pan, wire rack, broiling rack, roast pan, and air fry/dehydrate basket.
Fits 9 Slices Of Bread
The interior is large enough for toasting up to 9 slices of bread or roasting a 14 pounds turkey. You can also fit standard 9 x 13 pans and 12 cup muffin trays. It features four rack positions. When the wire rack is inserted in rack position 3 or 4, it will automatically eject halfway out of the oven when the door is opened so you can easily remove the food.
Offers 13 Preset Cooking Functions
You can choose from 13 cooking functions including toast, broil, bagel, bake, roast, warm, proof, pizza, cookies, air fry, slow cook, reheat, and dehydrate. If the door is opened during cooking, the timer will pause and the light will turn on.
Features Super Convection Technology
Super convection technology uses two speed convection fans including regular and super. They allow better cooking control. Super convection offers a greater air volume ensuring even and fast heat distribution ideal for roasting, air frying, and dehydration.
Smart Features
Specifications:
- fits 9 slices of bread
- 4 rack positions
If You Have A Convection Oven You Essentially Have An Air Fryer
Air fryers have come a long way since they first arrived in homes as futuristic orb-like appliances offering healthier cooking options for our favorite cheat-day snacks. The appliance was introduced in 2010, but it didn’t become a commonly seen kitchen tool until 2018, when it was declared the “it” gift for Christmas, according to . Air fryers were originally used to reheat food on airplanes, but we soon learned you can do so much more at home with an air fryer than fry chicken wings or donut holes without loads of added oil. We now use this trendy countertop device to bake, rehydrate, roast, and re-crisp leftovers the same way we used our convection ovens, which got us thinking is there really a difference between an air fryer and a convection oven?
The short answer? No.
“The results for foods cooked in an air fryer are comparable to a convection oven,” says Dawn Sieber, chef instructor at Purdue University’s Hospitality and Tourism Management at Marriott Hall, and that’s because an air fryer is basically just a miniature convection oven.
Also Check: Hamilton Beach Toaster Oven Air Fryer Recipes
Air Fryer Vs Convection Toaster Oven
The only variation between a regular toaster oven and the convection counterpart is that the latter is supercharged by fans. While air fryers also use convection for cooking food, they are more powerful, which implies that they circulate heat faster than convection toaster ovens.
Furthermore, air fryers come with baskets in which you place small portions of food. Its a no-brainer that smaller spaces translate to more confinement. Therefore, the fan of this appliance solely focuses on its heating in a small space.
The Pros And Cons Of An Air Fryer
- With an air fryer, you can’t see inside. This might not be super important, but being able to see your food can help judge doneness.
- Air fryers are louder than a convection oven. Philips says its air fryer generates 65 decibels, which is about as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
- An air fryer is more expensive than a comparable convection oven. A top air fryer might run $250, but a $150 convection oven will cook more food and more varieties of food
- Air fryers take up less space. A convection oven will pretty much have to live on your countertop full-time, whereas an air fryer can go in a cupboard when you’re not using it .
- Air fryer cleanup is more difficult. With an air fryer, you have the perforated basket to clean along with the bucket that it fits in. If you’re cooking something like chicken wings, there will be a lot of dripping. With a convection oven, you just clean the pan.
Also Check: Top 5 Rated Air Fryers
And How About A Convection Toaster Oven
Well, the only difference between a convection toaster oven and a regular toaster oven is that convection models have been supercharged by fans. I know that could be confusing since I pointed out earlier that Air Fryers also essentially use the convection technique to cook their meals.
That said, Air Fryers fans are more powerful, which means the appliance will circulate the heat way more rapidly compared to convection toaster ovens.
In addition to that, an Air Fryer retails with a basket that will allow you to put in a small amount of food. And as you may know, a smaller space equals a more confined space, which means that an Air Fryers fan will only focus its heating in a small space.
Now that you clearly understand what the two products are, let us skip to the main section of the post and look at their main differences.
Nuwave Bravo Xl Convection Oven Air Fryer
While I really did enjoy my time working with the NuWave Bravo XL there is one distinct drawback that landed it on the bottom of the list and that is the digital control panel. Overall, this oven is great, it works well, has a strong powerful fan, and a ton of options. That is all marred, in my opinion by how difficult the display was to use in comparison to the other models on this list.
The Nuwave Bravo XL is a front-loading toaster oven air fryer with a multi-button digital display mounted to the right side of the unit like the Power Air 360 or Breville Smart Oven Air. Apart from those ovens, it has a much busier control panel with 12 buttons and 1 larger selector knob.
Because of the multi-button display, coupled with this ovens wide range of cooking options, it took repeated references to the users manual to make sure I was cooking each item correctly. That being said, once the oven was up and running it worked like a charm. Also, unlike the other model on this list, it came equipped with an internal thermometer probe that allowed me to track the temperature of a given item without opening the oven door.
Even though this oven came in last, I want to assure you that it is still a high-quality piece of equipment. This list is meant to be a round-up of some of the best examples of the air fryer toaster oven category and this oven is no exception. While it is difficult to use out of the box, once I figured out what I was doing it wasnt that much of a problem.
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