The 5 Very Best Toaster Ovens

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Size:18.5” x 16.25” x 11.25”|Presets:Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, reheat, warm

This toaster oven is decidedly big (the second largest on this list). But in my own testing, I’ve found it to be an all-around great performer. It preheats in a matter of minutes, doesn’t make my whole space hot, and thanks to the stainless steel interior, is a breeze to clean. (Celia Lee, pastry chef at New York City’sNARO, expressed the same sentiment: Foods never stick to the tray or rack but if the inside needs a clean from crumbs, “it’s super easy to slide them out to put those parts through the dishwasher and wipe down the interior,” she says.)

The functionalities are intuitive to use: It has a dial to control temperature, another to control time, and a third to cycle through the different settings (bake, broil, and the like). Perhaps most impressively, it bakes, toasts, and broils super evenly, without hot spots.

For two years, recipe developer andnewsletter authorCaroline Chamberslived in a kitchen without a full-sized oven and had to use this in its place to create and test dishes. “It cooks things fast and efficiently,” she says. Jocelyn Delk Adams, a cookbook author and the recipe developer behindGrandbaby Cakes, notes the even heat distribution, too, which she says works just as well for making uniformly colored toast (like she does every morning) as it does for roasting a few salmon filets for dinner. She also likes it for reheating food, especially when she wants something to maintain its original crispiness, like fritters or pizza.

Size:12.5” x 17.3” x 12.8”|Presets:Toast, roll, waffle, pizza, reheat, defrost

When I first got my hands on the compact and lightweight Panasonic, I was overwhelmed by its interface. Strategist senior writerMichael Zhao, who has owned one for a decade, put it well: “It’s a quirky device that feels like it speaks a different language than every other oven I’ve used — everything you’d expect to be a knob is a button. But once you learn it, it’s tempting to use it for just about everything.”

Indeed, he’s right. A look up close and a bit of playing with the settings, and it’s actually very simple to use. For toast specifically, you choose your level of darkness (the photo below shows the second to last setting, my preference). It also heats incredibly quickly, more than any other toaster oven I’ve tried. There are several presets (the frozen hash brown setting is admittedly a bit odd in its specificity, but it should work for defrosting anything around that size). And then there is temperature and time control, should you want to straight-up cook something. “I’ve done pork chops and bone-in chicken thighs, but it really shines for roasted vegetables,” Zhao says. “The lack of preheating means you can go from realizing you forgot to make a side dish to having perfectly roasted veggies before your weeknight pasta is finished cooking to al dente consistency.” One notable feature is the smart sensor, which automatically regulates the heat to maintain your desired degree and avoid burning the outside of foods before the inside is finished.

Strategist contributorSarah Leonloves it, too. She’s had hers for more than five years, most notably during one when sherenovated her kitchenand was left without a full-size oven. She says it was truly indispensable then for reheating leftovers and making both small meals and more elaborate dinners. But the pair say they also loved it before the remodel — and still love it after. “It allows you to put something in and walk away from it, knowing it won’t burn,” she says. And the size is yet another plus: “It’s very small, so it doesn’t take up much space. Still, she says it can fit a larger New York–style slice of pizza and a pre-madelasagnafor two.

Size:16” x 13.5” x 8.75”|Presets:Toast, bagel, pizza, reheat, cookies, roast, broil, bake

This Breville model has different mechanisms for adjusting time and temperature from our best overall pick (buttons instead of dials), as well as one less designated setting (there’s no “keep food warm” option). But the biggest difference — and one worthy of warranting its own spot on this list — is the size, which is about three inches smaller in height, depth, and width and just a bit over half the capacity. I grew up with this model and owned one for years myself before trading it for aslotted toastera couple moves ago. It’s an efficient machine that perfectly toasts bread and uniformly broils bubbling cheese on top of open-faced sandwiches. The machine fits four slices of a standard square loaf and two of bigger sourdough — plenty of space for my needs. I like that you can set an exact temperature to bake at; I used it all the time to toast nuts and seeds, a task that feels a bit small to heat your full-sized oven for.

Zhao has also owned a Breville Mini since 2021. He appreciates that it fits anywhere you’d expect a toaster oven to fit (unlike the larger convecting smart oven, which can feel “surprisingly large out of the box,” he says). He mostly uses the “roast” and “bake” settings (it has plenty of space to make enough potatoes for four adults), as well as “toast.” “I particularly like the ‘a bit more’ button for adding extra color,” he says. “This is crucial because we keep our Ezekiel bread in the fridge, so even the darkest setting isn’t quite enough if there’s four slices in there.” His one small gripe is that he wishes the rack would automatically move out when he opens the door, but he gets around this by leaving a pair of steel buffet tongs on top.

Size:14.1” x 12.6” x 8.2”|Presets:Sandwich bread, artisan bread, pizza, pastry, salamander

The original Balmuda toaster oven, made viral by influencer Emily Mariko’s videos, held a place on this list since I first tested the appliance several years ago. Despite its hefty price tag, it excelled at refreshing old pastries, leftovers (like a slice of pizza), and stale or refrigerated bread. While most standard toaster ovens can technically heat all those things, the steam oven does it better. To use that function, you fill the tiny provided cup with water and pour that into a small vent at the top of the machine. As it heats, the water turns to steam that imparts moisture to your food as it browns.

TheBalmuda Pro, which debuted late last year, maintains this ability but has a new feature that I think makes it even better: a salamander, or superintense broiler setting. (For reference, the Pro retails for only $30 more than the first one. Still expensive, but at that point, worth it for the addition.)

The broiler quickly finishes dishes by browning, melting, toasting, or crisping the top — but it also makes it much easier to cook full meals, or components of full meals, than the original did. I’ve cooked chicken meatballs that turned evenly golden on the outside and many open-face cheese toasts. I’ve charred peppers for a dip and blistered green beans for a side dish.

I will note: The Pro is more compact than other toaster ovens on this list (by comparison, Breville’s Mini Smart Oven fits four pieces of toast, while this fits only two and requires an even smaller tray than a standard-size ⅛ sheet,like thisone). It also allows for only three preset temperatures (350, 400, and 450 degrees). If your goal in buying a toaster oven is to cook full dinners — like to act as somewhat of a replacement oven — I would opt for a different model. But if you love the aesthetic of the Balmuda, often find yourself making food for just one, or cook singular components of meals for a couple of people, this does a good job.

Size:20.5” x 21” x 12.5”|Presets:Toast, bagel, bake, roast, broil, pizza, cookies, proof, air fry, dehydrate, reheat, warm, slow cook

Food writer and editorAlyse Whitneyhas been using this Breville for the last four years (and used an older, similar model for eight years before that). It works as anair fryer, a countertop oven (Whitney says there’s truly nothing she makes in her regular oven that wouldn’t work in here), and a toaster. It’sbig, so not everyone might have the counter space — but if you do, Whitney says she can’t recommend it enough, calling it her “ride-or-die appliance.”

She makes toast in it at least a few times a week and says her bread gets evenly browned when she tells the appliance there are two pieces inside instead of one so that it knows to heat a wider surface area. (It can, in fact, fit up to nine slices at a time.) There’s also afrozenbutton for bread straight from the freezer. The other functions get alotof use, too. She uses the broiler for “instant cheese melting or to get the top of a dip browned a bubbly,” the reheat function for leftovers “without sacrificing texture,” the air fryer to circulate convection heat for crispy food (the fan isn’t loud, she says), and the pizza which ensures a frozen pie comes out “evenly golden” every time. She says the dial and scrolling mechanism to switch between settings is easy to use and that the removable tray at the bottom comes right out to rinse clean.