In most cases, we were able to successfully cook only about one serving of food at a time. For less money, we think the Instant Mini Vortex is a better single-serve option. The Ninja AF161 Max XL Air Fryer, a larger iteration of the AF101, also ran too hot.
But even if you decide to set the machine manually, you can still press the “shake” button to activate the reminder. The beeping is much louder on the Cosori Pro LE than on the Premium Airfryer, and you have no way to lower the volume or turn it off, so some people may find the sound annoying. That said, the beeping is loud enough to be heard from far away, which is handy if you’re in another room. Like the Premium Airfryer, this Cosori model is about as loud as a hair dryer while the convection fan is running. If you’re simply in the market for an air fryer toaster oven, but don’t have a preference on brand, we’ve tested many air fryer toaster ovens on the market to find the best ones.
And the finger holes for lifting the tray are wide enough to allow french fries to fall through to the bottom. Beyond cooking all those foods, we did some tests focused on how reliable and easy to use each model was. We stuck an air probe thermometer inside each oven to see how well they maintained a set temperature. We also used all of the controls to see how easy they were to navigate and how accurate the cooking guidelines were for preparing common foods such as french fries and chicken nuggets.
Similarly, the breading on the chicken nuggets was pale and crumbly in comparison to the batches that the Philips Premium Airfryer produced. But we’ve found that most pod-shaped air fryers struggle to cook food evenly due to their cramped cooking baskets. For the price—and the nice user interface—we still think the Pro LE is a good option. On the flip side, one of the biggest pitfalls of pod-shaped air fryers is that their compact size really limits not only the amount of food you can cook at once but also the kind of food you can cook.
We also test the air fryer toaster ovens’ baking ability by making frozen pizza (to see how evenly the cheese melts) and boxed cake mix. In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we tested 20 different air fryer toaster ovens for their ability to air fry, bake, broil and, of course, toast. That cuisinart air fryer oven means we fried more than 20 pounds of wings and frozen fries to see how quickly and evenly they crisped up. Read on to learn more about how we test air fryer toaster ovens, what to consider when shopping and more about how air fryer toaster ovens work. Check out our favorite air-fried recipes like air fryer salmon flatbreads.
The air fry basket tends to be shallower but wider, letting you cook more food at once. It’s also easy to monitor cooking through the window and to pull out the basket to stir and flip over food. The digital controls work with a dial, and are easy to read and navigate. I loved the Ninja’s one-minute preheat, its light for checking on your food during cooking, and its quiet operation. When this oven isn’t in use, you can flip it over and stand it up at the back of the countertop.
Mostly that’s because of how tiny the holes in the wiring are, so it requires a detail-oriented attack. The downside, the manual warns, is that things may take longer to cook (though the lid has some holes in it, it’s essentially creating a barrier between your food and the appliance’s heating element and fan). I was initially skeptical about Cuisinart’s TOA-65 Air Fryer Toaster Oven. Its roughly 17 x 22 x 16 inch size seemed too large to merit space on my counter, and I couldn’t imagine myself luging it out of a cabinet to toast a bagel or air fry onion rings.
The LED interface is a combination of buttons and knobs and it has a limited three-year warranty. The instruction book has recipes and helpful charts for successful air frying and dehydrating. Since this is a relatively new category of appliances, the manual is critical in getting started. We checked to see if each explained how to use the product thoroughly, provided guidelines for cooking specific foods, and included recipes. During testing, we considered each product’s size, construction, design, and safety. We tested toaster settings just as seriously as we tested air fry functions on these combo appliances.