The Ninja gave us evenly toasted bread, even when we loaded it up to capacity. A 12-inch pizza and a batch of biscuits baked to perfection in the time recommended on the package. On air fry mode, it browned and crisped French fries, plus both homemade and frozen chicken nuggets, to a light golden brown.
I wisely opted for a relatively low one of 150°C for toasting some halved brioche burger buns. Shade setting 2 took about 3mins30secs and resulted in a pleasant golden brown hue. With a lot of accessories—a crisper basket, the baking dish, and a rotisserie spit— you’ll need to clear plenty of cabinet space to store everything. All of the parts require hand washing and since they’re not nonstick, this can be a bit of a chore, especially after you’ve air fried battered chicken. Its large nonstick sheet pan can cook chicken, beef, or shrimp and veggies for four in under 30 minutes. The Cosori offers a preheat option, but it can take as long as 8 minutes to come up to temperature.
Its large, square-shaped 5-quart basket fits more food than the Philips Premium Airfryer HD9741/56, but it doesn’t cook as quickly or evenly. The Pro LE’s many preprogrammed settings also weren’t as accurate as those of the Premium Airfryer—we preferred using the manual controls for selecting the time and temperature. But considering its relatively low price, and the fact that cuisinart toa60 most air fryers of this style don’t cook very evenly, we think the results were good enough. It also comes with a recipe booklet, which is helpful if you’re new to air frying. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention how good looking this model is—the entire exterior has a sleek matte finish, and it features a brightly lit control panel that’s easily visible even in a dark room.
If you wish you had a second oven or don’t have one at all — then it’s also your best bet. The time it takes to toast a full batch of bread at the medium setting. We were encouraged by the three-year UK warranty on this mini oven covering defects occurring under normal use within the home, known as ‘consumer use’. We also found it was quick to heat up, heating in under two minutes, which was significantly less time than a standard oven and therefore, used less energy. Another big draw for using a countertop oven over the big oven is the speed at which it’ll preheat. During the cookie bake-off, I timed each oven to see how fast it came up to 350 degrees F.
I also used the bake setting to bake up a small batch of my favorite granola recipe. In my normal oven it takes 20 minutes to bake with a stir halfway through, plus there’s the ten minutes or so that the oven takes to preheat. However, I didn’t preheat the Cuisinart and noticed after 6 ½ minutes that the top of the granola was browning and needed a stir.
This is the oven I’ve used most since I owned it even before my wider testing began. The Crux has a formidable air fry function, fairly consistent temperature control, a compact size and it looks nice, too. With a bevy of hybrid convection-air fryer ovens available, I wanted to see how some of the most popular models performed in some real-world testing. I secured six models from brands at various prices, starting with a $144 Crux model and working up to Breville’s very big and very fancy Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro, which retails for around $400.
Many of these are for people who prioritize toasting and versatility over air frying. To get good results, you may have to extend cooking times and be vigilant about tossing, flipping over, and rearranging. Adding an air fry function gives you capabilities of a toaster oven and air fryer in one appliance, often with additional features as well. Some models can roast on a rotisserie, slow cook, or dehydrate, making them even more useful.
It can also be used to cook perfectly baked treats, delicious roasts, crisp tasty 12” pizzas, expertly grilled meat and fish and evenly cooked toasties and paninis. Senior staff writer Michael Sullivan conducted research and testing for the previous version of this guide. Michael also served as a knowledgeable consultant for the latest round of testing, researching, and writing of this guide. While the Ninja cuisinart air fryer oven Foodi took the top spot in a majority of tests, the Breville nabbed a few titles, too, including the best broiled salmon and a dead tie in the cookie competition. It also kept an accurate and consistent heat throughout cooking and has an impressive air fryer function. This Smart Oven is also quite large, for better or worse, but that bulbous cooking capacity makes it a more versatile machine than the Ninja.