To cook and heat food or to thaw frozen food quickly, let’s see the best-quality toaster ovens and how to choose which one to buy. A toaster oven is a small appliance designed to perform various functions, such as cooking and defrosting.
Thanks to these appliances, it is possible to cook all the food. Even if you already have the traditional oven, the toaster oven can be useful when cooking dishes without much time or power, allowing energy savings.
The practicality of the size is added to the numerous functions offered by this product, making it suitable not only to be placed in small spaces but also to be easily transported. Another advantage of toaster ovens is the cost: they have a decidedly lower price than traditional ovens and still guarantee excellent performance.
Unlike the microwave oven, the toaster oven, more similar to the traditional oven, offers cooking methods closer to the classic ones, maintaining the food’s tastes and properties unaltered.
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How to choose toaster oven: Types and Characteristics
To correctly choose which toaster oven to buy, it is important to know which types are on the market to suit your needs better. Small electric ovens of different sizes and capacities can perform different cooking types and methods.
Let’s see the most important features to evaluate to make the right choice.
Types of cooking
The first parameter to consider is the type of cooking. For example, if we want to cook pizza or focaccia, we must move towards an electric pizza oven with ventilated cooking. On the other hand, grilled meat or fish lovers will have to opt for an electric oven with a grill function. So, let’s see, what are the different types of cooking among which we can choose:
- Static Cooking: this is the standard function. The toaster oven is equipped with this cooking mode, which allows food to be cooked by choosing the thermostat; this function is particularly suitable for cooking cakes that require slow and delicate cooking.
- Ventilated cooking: this cooking mode adds fan activation to classic cooking; with this specific function, the toaster oven not only reaches the temperature faster but also allows uniform cooking; this mode is particularly suitable for cooking even more dishes together on different levels.
- Grill: This particular function makes the surface of different foods crisp. It is particularly suitable for foods such as lasagna or meat.
- Rotisserie: the oven models equipped with the rotisserie accessory allow you to cook food using the rotary movement, thus ensuring uniform cooking.
- Thawing: with this function, it is possible to thaw different foods; defrosting occurs with the activation of the fan by moving the air, producing a suitable temperature without generating heat.
- Delicate: delicate cooking allows you to activate only the resistance in the lower part of the oven; thus, the oven will not reach a too high temperature, thus cooking the foods that require prolonged cooking at a low temperature.
- Keeping warm: this function allows you to keep a constant temperature inside the oven, thus offering the possibility of keeping cooked food warm; some models allow the duration of this function to be selected using the timer.
Some of the best toaster ovens and the different types of cooking also offer the possibility of choosing between preset programs. In these cases, cooking will be easier and more practical because you must choose the most suitable program.
Size and Capacity
An important aspect to keep in mind is that of dimensions. Based on the measurements, the oven’s capacity varies and, consequently, its versatility. The capacity identifies the oven’s internal capacity and is normally expressed in liters.
The capacity of the ovens can vary between 9 liters to 50 liters. Normally, the most common models have a capacity of about 35 liters, but evaluating this feature according to your needs is essential. A larger capacity makes cooking food such as cakes or roasts larger quantities.
If we are looking for a small and compact product suitable for limited quantities of food, you can opt for a model with smaller dimensions.
Another factor to consider is the cable length to connect the appliance to the electrical socket: an indispensable element for the oven’s functioning. There are also toaster ovens on the market with special dimensions and shapes, such as circular ovens designed specifically for cooking pizzas and focaccias.
Design and Functions
When choosing a toaster oven, the design is a factor that should not be underestimated, as it affects practicality and ease of use. Some models have a display to select the types of cooking and the temperature.
But we also find more basic models and cheaper ones, equipped only with a knob. Other aspects that can make the furnace design more suitable and functional for different needs are rubber feet, which are useful for the product’s stability, and internal coating.
Self-cleaning function
Since the toaster oven is designed to cook and prepare food and dishes, one aspect being evaluated is the ease of cleaning.
There are self-cleaning toaster ovens that exploit two different systems useful not only to simplify but also to reduce cleaning times drastically:
- Catalytic panels: special panels covered with enamel whose composition decomposes the cooking fat.
- Pyrolytic cleaning: This function allows us to bring the oven to a very high temperature, pulverizing all food residues.
Additional function
The toaster ovens also differ according to the different functionalities they are equipped with. Among these, we list the most important:
- Internal light: An internal light allows us to keep control of the food’s cooking status.
- Auto-off timer and acoustic signal: all models are equipped with timers, but the best toaster ovens also have a timer connected to an acoustic signal activated when the cooking time is reached. At this point, the oven will automatically switch off.
- Extra functions: in some cases, the toaster oven can also be used for other functions besides simple cooking. The best and most innovative models allow, for example, using the oven as a bread machine. It will also be possible to knead, rise, and bake bread, pizzas, and focaccias.
The Best toaster ovens to buy
The toaster ovens are selected for value for money, from the top range to the most economical, with technical features and prices.
Product prices and availability are subject to change. Therefore, any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply to purchasing any products.