When it comes to the question of whether a toaster oven or microwave is best for you, you need to consider what foods you cook the most. A toaster oven will cook certain foods better than a microwave and vice versa.
We’ve given you the full breakdown below so you can decide which appliance best suits your lifestyle and culinary requirements.
Toaster Oven
Toaster ovens heat food from the outside using electrically heated coils. The heat gradually transfers to the center of the food, cooking it on the inside and browning it on the outside.
The best toaster ovens can crisp, caramelize, and toast certain foods all in one appliance. With a few exceptions, most microwave ovens cannot do this. For this reason, a toaster oven will be more beneficial to people who enjoy warm bread, make toast, prefer crispy skin on potatoes, like crispy bacon, or want to brown pastries.
However, a toaster oven is not appropriate for making popcorn or thawing food. It is also not ideal for heating water. It can reheat stews but it takes a very long time compared to a microwave.
We found that Aicook Airfryer Toaster Oven is the best toaster oven on the market. The Aicook Airfryer Toaster Oven is easily operated, with a knob to choose the temperature, a knob to set the timer, and a knob to set the cooking mode. It contains 3 cooking racks and a 24 quart capacity - enough room to cook for the entire family. You can use this toaster oven with little or no oil and still achieve crispy results. The Aicook Airfryer Toaster Oven costs about $200, though it frequently goes on sale.
Microwave
Microwaves use electromagnetic waves to heat the moisture inside the food. When we cook food, it inevitably loses some nutrients. Luckily, microwave cooking expels the least nutrients from our food, making it the healthiest form of cooking, which is surprising given the amount of radiation used in the cooking process.
However, a microwave cannot make food crispy and is not appropriate for heating foods without a high water content, such as bread and low-fat meats. The food will cook but it will be chewy and dry.
Buy a microwave if you want to cook frozen foods, cheesy foods, baked potatoes, leftovers, or if you want to reheat soups or stews. A microwave reduces food waste by making heating leftovers quick and easy. Microwaves are also useful if you often have a busy schedule, as it will cook things faster than a toaster oven.
We recommend choosing the Panasonic NN-SD78LS Microwave Oven if you want a high-quality machine. It has 20 cooking functions and a cooking capacity of 1.6 cu. ft., all of which lend themselves to fast and efficient cooking.
For a tighter budget, we recommend the GE JEM3072SHSS Microwave Oven. This microwave has 3 one-touch presets, automatic and timed defrost functions, and a kitchen clock timer. This GE microwave is smaller than our previous recommendation with a 0.7 cu. ft. capacity. One of the features we love about this microwave is its limited 1-year warranty. You can usually find this handy microwave for less than $170.
We hope we helped you in deciding on what type of oven you want to buy. If you have the money and space, we would recommend buying both of them. After all, they both bring something delicious to the table!
