When you’ve purchased a brand new toaster oven, you will most likely want to keep it in pristine condition for as long as possible. It’s not unlikely that you turn to liners, such as aluminum foil and parchment paper to keep your toaster oven clean. However, reading most toaster oven manuals will tell you that there are certain restrictions when it comes to using metal, plastic, paper, and other materials in your toaster oven.
Based on the fact that there are such guidelines regarding what type of materials you put in your toaster oven, I figured there would be similar restrictions regarding pans. I’d surely want to know if I can use a pan or not in an appliance before buying it.
Thankfully, there are pans made out of different materials. Not all of them are equally suitable for the toaster oven. I took it upon myself to find out which materials were better than others and why that is.
I’ve included links to Amazon, where all of my recommendations are conveniently available.
What kind of dishes can you put in a toaster oven? In most toaster ovens, you can use dishes made of silicone, stone (stone bakeware), ceramic, steel, and aluminum. You shouldn’t use glass at all, even the companies themselves say so. You should always start by consulting the manual and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations regarding what materials should be used in your toaster oven as they may vary from one oven to the next.
That’s the short story (to say the least). To get a greater understanding, we must dig deeper and understand why certain materials shouldn’t be used.
What Kind of Dishes Can You Put in the Toaster Oven?
This information may not apply universally, you should first and foremost seek answers from the manufacturing company as they are the most reliable source of information for your specific toaster oven.
The information I have gathered may apply to most toaster ovens but yours may be an exception. I’m trying to prevent accidents from happening here – not creating one.
Oh, there’s one more thing to keep in mind before reading the next section.
Glass, ceramics, pottery, and stoneware are all fired at high temperatures but their biggest threat is thermal shock. Taking a dish out of the fridge and placing it in a heated toaster oven will create a sudden spike in temperature levels. This puts a lot of stress on the dish and can cause it to break easily.
Let’s talk about what can be used now.
What I’ve found to be the most suitable options for either dishes or liners in the toaster oven are the following;
- Silpat Silicone Baking Mats
- Steel Pans
- Ceramic Pans
- Stone Bakeware
- Aluminum
What qualities do these have that make them suitable?
They’re capable of withstanding high temperatures, they do not melt (silicone and aluminum foil will melt if they come in contact with the heating element – but nothing should ever be placed that close to the heating element), they come in different sizes, they don’t release toxins when heated, they won’t smoke when heated, and they won’t start a fire if placed in the toaster oven with care.
What Can You Not Put in a Toaster Oven?
While I was surfing the web, gathering information on the topic, making sure nothing had slipped my mind, It became clear to me that a lot of people still use the materials that the manufacturers themselves have warned us to use.
Now that they’ve done so successfully, they recommend others to do it too. I wouldn’t be quick to do so, there are reasons why some materials are restricted while others aren’t.
The little box that is your toaster oven may not seem very harmful but one must keep in mind that these electronic devices are capable of reaching very high temperatures very quickly. They’re much smaller than regular ovens but don’t let that fool you, the sheer size of the toaster oven in combination with a strong heating element is the source of its power.
It doesn’t use magnetic waves, like the microwave oven. It’s basically built upon the same principles as your regular oven. Things that can be used in your regular oven can oftentimes also be used in the toaster oven. Nevertheless, the manual should always be consulted before experimenting.
Potential dangers include the following:
- The material placed inside the oven or the oven itself starts to burn.
- The toaster oven malfunctions.
- The material inside the toaster oven starts to spark.
- The toaster oven overheats.
- The dish is damaged by the heat.
- The material melts and fuses to different parts of the toaster oven, damaging it and preventing it from functioning properly.
- The pan placed onto the toaster oven’s rack weighs too much, causing the rack to break or bend.
If this list isn’t enough to scare you, let’s take a look at the different materials individually to find out what the general consensus is regarding the use of them in a toaster oven. You may be able to find contradictory comments for each and every kind of dish on this list online but this seems to be what manufacturers and the majority of users have agreed on.
Can You Put Glass (Pyrex) In a Toaster Oven?
You should not put glass in your toaster oven. Earlier I mentioned that toaster ovens are small-scale ovens and could, therefore, handle materials similar to those an oven can handle. But, there’s a slight difference between the two: the proximity to the heating unit.
The toaster oven’s design isn’t as spacious and anything place inside the oven will be much closer to the heating elements than it would in a regular oven. That’s why Pyrex shouldn’t be used in a toaster oven. It won’t be able to handle the concentrated heat – which may cause too much stress on the glass and it may deform.
If the glass has cracked already, it may actually break. In fact, this hungry lad had to pick shattered glass from his oven when his Pyrex-dish exploded in the heat.
Can You Put Parchment Paper In a Toaster Oven?
For someone who just recently purchased or starting using their toaster oven, it may have come as a surprise that you shouldn’t use parchment paper in the toaster oven. After all, the toaster oven is quite similar to a regular oven, which handles parchment paper just fine.
The main difference? The toaster oven’s size will place parchment paper much closer to the heating element than an oven would. This increases the risk of starting a fire.
Can you Put Plastic In a Toaster Oven?
I would advise against it. Plastic will have a hard time withstanding the toaster oven’s temperature, causing it to melt. This can, in turn, damage the toaster oven, make a mess, or even worse, start a fire.
Avoid putting plastic in the toaster oven.
Can You Put Wax Paper In a Toaster Oven?
Wax paper shouldn’t be mixed up with parchment paper. Wax paper is not nearly as heat-resistant as parchment paper is. Whereas parchment paper is coated in silicone, wax paper is coated in wax. When exposed to high temperatures, the wax coating will melt and the paper itself can catch on fire.
The answer is, therefore, no. While wax paper is very useful in other endeavors, it should not be used in a toaster oven.
Can You Use a Cast Iron Skillet In a Toaster Oven?
When it comes to cast-iron skillets the main concern is a different one. There’s not much risk for combustion when using a cast-iron skillet. Instead, you need to be aware of the weight of the skillet and the toaster oven’s maximum capacity to avoid bending the rack with the weight of the pan.
Refer to the user manual or contact the manufacturer to find out if it’s OK to place cast iron skillets in your toaster oven.
What Size Pans Fit in a Toaster Oven?
This depends entirely on the model of your toaster oven. You would have to refer the product’s measurements when looking for a fitting pan. Toaster ovens come in varying sizes so it’s hard to say right off the bat. I’ve found most toaster ovens to be capable of holding dishes between 8.5 x 6.5 and 12 x 10 inches.
I’ll show you a small toaster oven and a quite large one to give you an idea of the range of different sizes available.
The Panasonic FlashXpress is considered to be a really small toaster oven, measuring 12.00 x 13.00 x 10.25 inches. The Hamilton Beach 31104D is a larger toaster oven and measures 16.54 x 20.62 x 13.11 inches. As you can see, there’s quite a difference between these two.
The Panasonic is used for smaller things, like garlic bread or toast, while the Hamilton Beach can cook two 12″ pizzas simultaneously.