You can air fry french fries, crispy chicken wings, mozzarella sticks and more. Air frying gives you the crunchy texture of fried foods without the extra grease and fat. Most fryers are easy to clean, have dishwasher-safe containers and occupy less space than convection ovens. An Air fryer can function like convection ovens, deep-fat fryers, and multi-cookers; they combine benefits of multiple appliances.
Ultimately, the best air fryer toaster ovens heat up quickly and make crispier food in less time than convection ovens. Despite its tiny, 2-quart capacity—it was the smallest air fryer we tested—it held its own against much larger machines. Though the Instant Mini’s square basket is a little more than half the capacity of the Cosori’s and nearly a quart smaller than the Philips’s, it could fit a meal big enough for one hungry person (or two snacky people). Depending on the food, such as french fries (which can be stacked), brownies, or pizza, the Instant Mini can fit nearly as much as the Philips Premium or the Cosori Pro LE thanks to its wide, shallow shape.
For example, when we reheated pizza, the Mini Vortex fit a large slice more comfortably than an air fryer with a deep basket, such as the Dreo Aircrisp Pro. The basket is easy to take out and put in, and the Mini Vortex was also the quietest of our three picks. We found it easy to clean (even after cooking sticky chicken cuisinart air fryer oven wings), and it blends right in on the counter when not in use. The Pro LE has seven preprogrammed settings, which is a bit overkill, especially since some of them aren’t that accurate (a common drawback with most air fryers). You may have to figure out the optimal settings for what you’re cooking by trial and error.
I placed a salmon filet in the air basket which was fitted in the baking/drip pan — as recommended. The fish was looking good after five minutes and there was no smoke or fishy smell. I broiled for three minutes more and the salmon was browned on top, opaque on the sides and bottom and just flakey in the middle. The TOA-65 embodies smart convenience and versatility in a multicooker.
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.
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.
Foods like frozen French fries and chicken nuggets cook up brown and crispy. However, with homemade recipes, you’ll see less even coloring and get a lighter crunch. The Oster DuraCeramic Air Fryer, which looks straight out of a sci-fi movie, has a tilting mechanism and a rotating oven cavity so you don’t have to toss food manually. Unfortunately, in our tests, fries took nearly 50 minutes to cook (versus about 20 minutes in our pick, the Philips Premium HD9741/56) and still weren’t as crispy as we’d like.
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.
Unfortunately, it’s only middling at air frying, so it’s best for people who only occasionally fry up frozen fries or mozzarella sticks. If you’re looking for a large countertop oven that can also toast and air fry, the Instant Omni Plus Multi-Use Toaster Oven fits the bill. It roasts an incredibly crispy rotisserie chicken but also toasts bread evenly. The interior has a nonstick coating that’s easy to wipe clean, and the racks and air fryer basket are dishwasher safe. The manual doesn’t include any cooking charts and the recipe booklet doesn’t feature any air frying recipes.
The Ninja AF101 Air Fryer has a flat, removable tray liner in its basket to keep food from sitting in oil. Unfortunately, the tray falls out when you turn food out of the basket, which could potentially cause burns. This model runs quite hot—which we discovered when it burned our brussels sprouts during testing—so you have to be vigilant about adjusting the temperature. We liked the spacious square basket cuisinart air fryer oven of the Instant Vortex 6-quart Air Fryer, which offers a lot of surface area for evenly cooking food. We also appreciated that this model allows you to silence the beeps, which can be annoying. Unfortunately, you have to press the controls really hard in order to operate the machine, which meant we had to grip the machine with one hand to hold it still while attempting to press the buttons with the other.