A toaster oven is a small electric oven with a manual front door, wire rack, removable baking sheet, and heating element (usually ceramic, Nichrome, or quartz). Invented in 1910, this versatile appliance is capable of traditional toasting, as well as limited baking and broiling capabilities. It is typically used to toast bread and reheat foods.
A toaster oven can be an incredibly convenient and valuable kitchen asset, or entirely superfluous, depending on the setting. They are particularly useful to people in small apartments and dorms where they might not have access to an oven, as a toaster oven is capable of many things an oven might be needed for. They can be a great energy-saving option for smaller-scale cooking.
However, cooks who prefer to reheat their food in a microwave, toast their bread in a slot toaster, and have easy access to an air fryer or traditional integrated oven/range might find a toaster oven to be redundant.
What Are the Pros and Cons of a Toaster Oven?
Pros
- The electric heating filaments can brown, bake, toast, crisp, and caramelize.
- The intense dry heat provided is excellent for keeping foods warm.
- Toaster ovens use much less energy than a traditional oven/range and so are more efficient for heating or reheating single servings of food.
- Pop-up toasters and toaster ovens use about the same amount of electricity. Toaster ovens are versatile though, unlike a traditional pop up toaster, which is a single use appliance.
- Removable wire rack and baking sheet are more compact and easier to clean than those of a large oven.
- Toaster ovens are a much safer appliance today than they have ever been. Modern dials and digital timers provide customizable heat intensity and cook times.
Cons
- Longer cook times than a microwave for reheating food.
- Not capable of heating liquids
- Not capable of thawing
- Can dry out foods.
- The removable glass door creates a cold spot near the front of the oven. Turning food for even cooking may be required.
When Should You Use a Toaster Oven?
Toaster ovens are particularly useful in spaces lacking an integrated kitchen stove top and oven such as dorms, smaller apartments, office kitchens, campers, and trailers. Many of us think of ovens as ubiquitous things, a standard feature. When this isn’t the case, a toaster oven can be an only slightly limiting replacement.
A toaster oven can get as hot as a traditional oven, most topping out between 450°F and 500°F. However, the easy-open manual front door can let heat escape near the front of the oven, creating a cold spot. Turning food midway is best practice for even cooking. It may take longer and some creativity, but you can do almost anything you can do in a traditional oven in a toaster oven.
When cooking for just one person, a toaster oven can be a time and energy-saving alternative to a large oven. Whether you live alone, or are the only one who is hungry, heating up the whole oven can seem excessive and wasteful for just one person.
A toaster oven is a perfect option to make smaller portions of foods you would normally make in the oven. This reduces your carbon footprint in the long run.
When cooking large meals, a toaster oven can be used in conjunction with traditional ovens and microwaves to get the job done.
There are many settings for which a toaster oven is the best appliance for the job. Its specialties include:
Toasting
This appliance can toast a slice of bread as well as any slot toaster. The wire rack suspended between upper and lower heating elements toasts both sides evenly.
The toaster oven really shines when it comes to toasting baked goods that wouldn’t fit in a traditional slot toaster like scones, rolls, croissants, bagels, fragile pastries, and pies.
The removable baking sheet also allows for toasting smaller items like nuts, breadcrumbs, grains, or spices while easily watching for burning through the small glass oven door.
Broiling
Toaster ovens almost universally offer a broiling feature, which is when only the upper heating element gets extremely hot to brown the surface of whatever food is near.
The broiler setting in a toaster oven can be used to caramelize sugar on top of deserts, brown cheese on the top of a casserole or baked potato, scorch the bechamel on top of a croque monsieur, or set a wheel of brie bubbling in a ramekin.
Roasting
The durable heating elements of an electric toaster oven are well equipped to provide the dry radiating heat required for roasting.
The toaster oven can be a perfect option for roasting lean meats like chicken and turkey breast, or for cooking foods like bacon and sausage as the direct high heat cooks them quickly and evenly, while the oven door protects users from dangerous oil splatters. It can also roast delicious vegetables like broccoli/cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, or squash.
Baking
A toaster oven is well suited for baking things with shorter or more gentle cook times, like eggs and fish. I like using it to make egg pies like frittata and quiche.
It makes frozen pre-made foods from the freezer aisle or pre-portioned cookie dough really easy and convenient to bake.
Reheating food
While the microwave is most associated with reheating food, a toaster oven is excellent for making leftovers like french fries, fried chicken, dumplings, and pizza crispy again.
Warming
This setting on a toaster oven is an effective way to keep dishes warm while you finish something else.
For example, keeping a casserole warm while you finish the sides. It can keep bread and rolls warm in a basket until it’s time for dinner. When cooking things like pupusas or pancakes in batches it can keep them fresh until each one is finished and can be served together.
How Much Do Toaster Ovens Cost?
Toaster ovens can be incredibly affordable depending on the model. A basic 4 slice toaster oven can cost as little as $30.
Most basic 6 slice toasters cost between $50-70 and stainless steel options, which are popular, can cost upward of $80. Specialized toaster ovens may offer a convection feature, which tends to greatly increase the cost, usually adding about $100.
Toaster ovens are typically designed to sit on a countertop, but some are made to be installed under cabinets or shelves. Between hardware and installation, these models can cost significantly more.
How Much Electricity Do Toaster Ovens Consume?
A toaster uses about 1,200 – 1,800 watts. At a cost of $.12 per 1000 watts per hour, a toaster oven costs between $.15 – $.22 cents per hour to operate. Compared to the 2000-5000 watts it takes to run an oven, the toaster oven is the clear energy-saving option.
Can a Toaster Oven Replace a Microwave
While a toaster oven and a microwave might be similar in size and price, their strengths are very different.
A toaster oven uses less electricity than a microwave, but toaster ovens tend to have longer cook times than microwaves, making them less efficient overall even if they have a smaller carbon footprint than a microwave.
Microwaves can heat liquids like tea, stews, or soups quickly and easily unlike toaster ovens. They can pop popcorn and bake potatoes much faster than a toaster oven could, as well as thaw meats and melt chocolate.
But toaster ovens can brown and crisp and refresh leftovers much better than a microwave. Perhaps if one preferred using a kettle or pot on the stove for heating liquids, popping popcorn in a pot, baking potatoes in a traditional oven, and thawing meat in the sink, then a toaster oven could replace a microwave nicely as a tool primarily to reheat food.
Whether they are worth the counter space and energy consumption when there are so many other appliances offering a range of features to choose from is up to the needs of the individual cook and their kitchen.