Best Air Fryer Toaster Ovens for 2026

KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven: While the KitchenAid didn't run away with many of the test categories, it didn't struggle mightily in any of them either. It offers a serviceable air fry function -- although certainly not the best -- excellent temperature consistency and a very sleek and intuitive control panel.

The KitchenAid Digital Countertop Oven is a bit expensive considering the smaller size.

KitchenAid

The Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven: This hybrid convection oven and air fryer wasn't terrible and it certainly had one of, if not the most powerful, air fry functions. That proved to be a blessing and curse since some of the food I cooked burned on the edges and cooked unevenly.

Crux 11-in-1 Toaster with Air Fry (Update: Out of stock): The Crux oven is nice to look at and comes in both a black or white finish with red trim. The air fryer function was great, but this oven struggled when asked to do gentler, more precise cooking jobs such as evenly toasting a slice of bread.

Who is hungry? Use an air fryer oven to make an easy delicious lunch or dinner in no time.

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Calphalon Precision Air Fry Oven (Update: Out of stock): The Calphalon scored high marks in the toast test with even browning, but that's about where the accolades ended. This oven was slow to preheat, had trouble holding a consistent temperature and the air fry function was among the weakest.

Cooking modes and special features

Since you're potentially going all-in on one machine, there are a few functions you want it to perform and perform well. For this list, we took four main cooking functions into account: air fry, broil, bake and toast. These, along with roast, are the oven duties the average home cook will rely on most. Some of these cookers also sport dehydrate, proof, pizza and other niche cooking functions, but not all, so I stuck to testing functions that were possible across all the hybrid ovens.

Cuisinart makes an affordable countertop oven with one of the fiercest air fryer functions of any I tested.

Cuisinart

Air frying: This trendy term has nothing to do with frying but rather mimics the results of deep-frying using super hot, fast-moving convection air for food that's crispy outside and moist inside. Having an air fry function was the baseline criterion for consideration on this list. You can air fry lots of things, but chicken wings and French fries are two popular options, so I employed them for testing.

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Broiling: I'm a big broiler person, especially for fish but also for things like mac and cheese, certain chicken recipes and anything else I want a crispy crust on top of. I find that ovens differ wildly in broiling ability so I wanted to see which of these toaster ovens did it best.

Baking: Baking can mean a lot of things, but when it comes to, let's say cookies and cupcakes, consistency is key. The sign of an oven that bakes well is simple: Will it hit the temperature you set it to and then stay there consistently throughout the bake?

Toasting: Like many people, I do a fair amount of toasting -- bagels, bread and the occasional Eggo -- and so I wanted to see how well, evenly and accurately (according to the oven presets) these machines could toast.

"What about roasting?" Not a bad question, but roasting is essentially baking at a higher temperature and is also a term generally just used to designate cooking foods with structure, including meat and vegetables. The tests I ran for baking -- temperature consistency and accuracy -- can be loosely applied to roasting so if an oven gets hot and stays hot, we can assume it's going to roast well too.

Size and capacity

Try to picture what you'll be cooking in your air fryer oven and that will help you determine which size to buy. Models such as the Breville are large enough to fit a whole chicken while smaller models like the KitchenAid are better suited for cooking for two to three people at a time.

There is also the issue of how much space the oven takes up in your kitchen. Remember, these will likely live permanently on the counter. The Ninja Foodi oven is the most efficient oven on our list in terms of counter space since it flips up on a hinge and sits flat against the wall when not in use.

Cost and value

Spending more on an air-frying toaster will likely get you more special features and a sleeker interface but not necessarily better results. Premium models such as the $380 Breville Smart Oven Air are a joy to use, the Ninja and Cuisinart delivered equally delicious wings, fries and toast for about half the price.

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Air fryer chicken wings

These chicken wings cooked in the Ninja air fryer were a thing of beauty.

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Chicken wings are almost universally loved and a very popular item to air fry. The goal for an air-fried wing is crispy outside and skin with a juicy inside. To test each oven's air fry ability, I cooked three frozen wings on air fry mode at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, turning them every 10 minutes. I let each oven come to full preheat before putting the wings in and then photographed them immediately after pulling them out. Naturally, I tasted them too, when they were cool enough to eat.

Success here depends on high heat and good fan circulation of that hot air, which means faster cooking. The faster an air fryer cooks and the more effective the super convection is, the faster the outside skin will crisp, making it less likely the chicken will be dry inside.

The Ninja Foodi oven won the great wing war by a feather, with the crispiest wings after 30 minutes. They were also perfectly juicy inside and had no real visible burning. The Cuisinart and Wonder Oven Pro also nailed the wing test, but I actually had to pull them after about 25 minutes because they were fully done. They even had some burnt skin but not enough to bother me. The Breville and Crux also did well with good browning and crispy skin, while the KitchenAid finished sixth and the Calphalon seventh with not enough browning or crispiness for my taste.

Air fryer french fries

The Ninja and Breville cooked french fries to a golden brown the fastest without burning.

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This second air fryer test was designed to illuminate the pure power and speed of an individual oven's air fry function, but also its ability to cook evenly. I placed a handful of frozen fries (McDonald's style) on air fry at 450 F and timed how quickly each one got to that golden brown color that we all covet. Because speedy cooking and convenience are key features of the countertop air fryer oven, faster equals better. All of the oven subjects (except for the Cuisinart) reached the desired doneness eventually, but some performed the task much more quickly and consistently than others.

Breville won the fry test with perfectly golden fries in 6 minutes. I set the Ninja to a slightly lower temp (390 F) per its manual, and in eight minutes I had perfect fries (a very close second place and it likely would have won or tied if I'd set it to 450 F). KitchenAid also took 8 minutes on 450 F while the Crux took nine minutes to get there and the Calphalon took 12 minutes. The Cuisinart was actually the fastest at just 3 minutes, but it burnt the edges of the fries and didn't cook evenly. At this point, I began to suspect the Cuisinart has an unusually intense air fryer function, for better or worse.

Broiled salmon

The Breville and Ninja were the only ovens that imparted any sort of crust after four minutes.

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To test the broiler, I brushed a 4-ounce salmon fillet with a mixture of mustard, olive oil and brown sugar. After the oven came to preheat, I snuck the salmon under the broiler about 2 inches from the top and left it there for four minutes before removing it from the oven for a photoshoot.

The key thing I looked for here was how well each broiler imported a caramelized crust on the top of the fish. Some ovens, like the Calphalon and Cuisinart, showed almost no signs of browning, while the Ninja and Breville delivered nice color and the beginnings of a good crust. I decided they would share the blue ribbon for this test. The KitchenAid and Crux both showed some browning, landing them in third and fourth place.

Plain old toast

Both the Calphalon and Ninja made very pretty toast that matched their medium presets, but the Ninja (pictured) did it in half the time. 

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This test was to see how accurate a particular oven's toaster presets are and how fast it can toast bread. I stuck one slice of bread in each toaster and set it to medium. I didn't weigh this test as heavily as the others because, in truth, any of these ovens will get you to the desired toastiness, it just may take more (or less) time, some tinkering or learning of the presets to get it how you want it.

How long each cook time was for the "medium" preset on each oven varied rather significantly, ranging from over 6 minutes for the Calphalon to just three and a half for the Ninja. As it was, these two produced the most even and attractive toast that corresponded to the preset, but the Ninja (winner) did it in half the time. The Breville, KitchenAid and Crux barely toasted the bread at all when set to medium -- which simply means you'd have to use a darker setting -- while the Cuisinart over-toasted the bread.

Baked cookies

Ninja and Breville tied in the cookie contest as both ovens turned out almost perfect results.

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Next, I wanted to see how accurately and consistently each oven could reach and hold a temperature, and baking a cookie is a perfect test for that. I plopped a spherical tablespoon worth of Toll House cookie dough on parchment paper and stuck one in each oven on the middle oven rack for the recommended time and temp (350 F for 10 minutes).

The cookie race was a photo finish between Ninja and Breville, both of which delivered almost perfect results. The Cuisinart cookie was overbaked, as was the Crux (although just slightly), while the KitchenAid cookie was a tad underbaked.

Preheat test

Another big draw for using a countertop oven over the big oven is the speed at which it preheats. During the cookie bake-off, I timed each oven to see how fast it came up to 350 F.

The Ninja Foodi blew all the others away, preheating to 350 F at a lightning-fast 50 seconds. Most of the others clocked in around three and a half minutes, while the larger Breville took five minutes to come to temp as did the Wonder Oven Pro. I didn't do an official test for air fryer preheat, but I did notice the Calphalon took markedly longer than the others to get to 450 F on air fry.

Temperature accuracy and consistency test

This is low-key one of the most important functions for any oven, especially if you plan to do some light baking in it. If an oven can't hold an accurate and consistent temperature, it makes following recipes far more difficult, and you'll be forever adjusting and hawking your food to make sure it doesn't burn. I used thermocouples to read the internal temperature of the oven while it baked for 10 minutes at 350 F. I was able to get an average temperature reading for the duration of the bake, but I also watched the thermometer in real-time to see how much fluctuation happened during the cook.

The KitchenAid won this test with an average reading of 350 F on the nose and with very little fluctuation. The Ninja (343 F average temp), Cuisinart (346 F) and Breville (345 F) also did well, although the Breville started off very hot and then came back down. The Wonder Oven Pro did the same and had the most temperature variation for our top winners. The two last-place finishers were the Crux, which ran hot (365 F) and the Calpahlon, which ran cold (337 F). Both were also the most inconsistent throughout the bakes.

Cleaning and care

A smart design feature allows you to get right inside the Ninja oven and give it a good cleaning.

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Except for the Ninja (more on this in a second), there is nothing particularly unusual about caring for or cleaning these ovens and their heating elements. They have standard box interiors of various sizes made from stainless steel that will require regular scrubs and wipes. Each oven also has a removable, dishwasher-safe crumb tray to catch fallen fries and toasty bits.

Now back to the Ninja. Because of the compact interior, this oven is definitely more prone to splatter and stains, especially when making foods with fat and grease such as wings. Thankfully, there is a smart design feature that allows the entire bottom floor of the Ninja oven to fold out so you can get right inside with a rag or Brillo pad and wipe it down. I am sure the Ninja will require more frequent cleaning than the others. If that's not something you're diligent about, it's certainly something to consider.

If you already have a toaster oven you love, there's no need to replace it just for an air fryer function. Instead, consider buying a solo air fryer oven, which can cost as little as $50. If you need a new toaster oven or are replacing your existing model, look for one with an air fryer function so you can make more than just toast or reheat last night's dinner.

Most of these ovens come standard with a baking tray, wire racks and mesh air fry basket. The air fry basket is meant to allow the circulating hot air to hit food at all angles and save you from having to turn it. These are great for fries and certain veggies, but beware that fatty foods, including chicken wings, will drip through as they cook and it ain't pretty. I always use parchment paper when cooking things of that sort.

Ninja countertop ovens and other appliances consistently rank at the top in our testing. Breville is another high-end brand producing functional toasters with loads of special features and cooking functions.

Yes, you can use aluminum foil in an air fryer toaster oven. Just make sure it doesn't touch the heating element, and that it's weighted so it doesn't fly around.