Toaster Ovens with Convection, do you have one?

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Long story short, new dietary guidelines in the house. Doing the recipes for shopping tonight. Noticed how much emphasis was put on particular styles of foods such as grilled this, steamed that, lots of broiling. Not a huge fan of cleaning ovens, so we went out today and bought a toaster oven with convection. I've used a lot of toaster ovens, but not convection.

 

What sorts of things do well in these? It's a full size (12 inch interior width) oven, by Cuisinart, the digital kind. Any ideas or tips out there?

[Amy in NH]

We do a lot of grilling, steaming, and broiling with our regular range, but things always seem to cook too fast, unevenly, and/or burn in our convection toaster oven. I wish I could have found one I liked without the convection feature.

[Belacqua]

We do a lot of grilling, steaming, and broiling with our regular range, but things always seem to cook too fast, unevenly, and/or burn in our convection toaster oven. I wish I could have found one I liked without the convection feature.

 

 

I agree. It's ok for things that don't require especially precise cooking times, such as casseroles (in which case I'll drop the temperature 25 degrees from what the recipe calls for and keep a close eye on things). For baking or cooking meat, though? Not great. It does a pretty fair job roasting vegetables, though it obviously doesn't have room for much.

 

Then again, ours is a cheapie brand I grabbed when my oven died. Probably a nice Cuisinart would be more reliable.

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I did a sear on steaks, then used the convection for 7 minutes, seemed to work okay. Did sweet potatoes in a packet of foil (not so hot) - and found I had to unwrap and broil those again.

 

This oven has a black no stick interior inside, which is a little different than most toaster ovens. Oridinarly toaster ovens have the white metal or stainless finish. It's always been my experience to drop the temp if the pan or interior is dark.

 

Still out there reading....I can use this as straight bake or turn on the convection seperately.

 

This has coils on both the top and the bottom too.

 

I realized tonight that I'm going to add some oven dishes sized to fit this thing, that's something I hadn't thought about. All my bakeware is full size oven, way too big for the interior of this thing.

 

Any recommendations for ovenware? Brands? Vintage pyrex? (Just kidding..)

[Acorn Island]

I have this exact Toaster/Convection oven, and I love it!

 

The key is to decrease BOTH cooking time and temperature by 10-20%. I had to play around with it a bit to figure out the right amount. Also, there is a hot spot, so it works best if you turn things during cooking.

 

For ovenware that fits, I found plenty of stuff -- you just have to look for simpler styles of casserole dishes. A 12" pizza pan fits, and I use that as a guideline for selecting other pans.

 

The other side benefit is that there is less of a 'heating up' of the house in the summer, since you are cooking for a shorter time, and you are not heating up a giant oven that takes forever to cool down.

 

Good luck!

[ElizabethB]

I do a lot of cooking in our toaster oven. I use pie pans, a 9 x 9 baking dish, Pyrex rectangular baking dishes, and metal bread sized pans. Also, smaller pizza pans fit. Mine needs to be a bit hotter than things cook in the regular oven in general. It heats up the house less and uses less energy. Also, if you really wanted to during the hottest summer days, you could move it outside if you have a good outside area for cooking and a handy plug.

 

You can get a whole meatloaf or lasagne in a wide tall bread pan if you are tricky.

[KungFuPanda]

I used my convection toaster oven for YEARS as a second oven. I made biscuits, pizza, bread, and casseroles in it. It had a rotisserie, so I rotisseried chicken and pork loin. For bakeware, the square corningware dishes worked out perfectly.

[KatieJ]

I have a Cuisinart Toaster Convection oven now for over 5 years. I love it! There are only 2 of us, and I can cook for two, or I can pop in a casserole for the family.

I have a fairly large ( probably 3 qt?) oval Corning Ware casserole that fits nicely. If I need a lid I have to use tin foil. The rack flips over and moves down if you need more room.

Finding a baking sheet was harder. BBBeyond had one. Pampered chef had a stone and a metal pan. The stone is small, but works for two of us for fish, 2 pork chops, etc. THe metal pan is larger, but it pitted. I was quite unhappy about that, but it works.

 

I bake everything and anything I can fit in there, except bread. There is not enough room and the top of the loaf burns. I will use my smaller loaf pans and bake banana bread.

 

I have moved it to my 3 season porch in summer months when I truly did not want to heat the house at all, but overall it heats up the house far less than my big oven does.

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I went to the store to pick up some small dishes for it, I thought it was interesting to note that several of them said, "Not for use under broiler." This included several of the corning ware white style dishes, so I passed on those. I was debating whether to get some pyrex or not and basically chickened out and bought plain metal pans.

 

I have a fiesta ware set, I can reheat or use in there safely up to 350 I believe, but after that, it's a little dicey if they'll hold up. I have a few cute pieces of Rachael Ray also, but again, they aren't recommended for use over 425.

 

I think I'm going to stick to metal in there if I use the broiler function at all.

 

I could just swear corning ware is all I ever see used in big kitchens (commercial/restaurant) though. Maybe there is another brand out there that gets used. I'm going to have to keep my eye out. Yell if anyone thinks of it. I'm lost.

[ElizabethB]

I broil things in my pyrex at top heat for mine, which is 450, I have never had a problem.

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Hmm, who is this Emile Henri you speak of? Off to find out....

 

Cooks Illustrated online has an article on recommended brands, but it's a pay for deal database. I can't afford those print magazines- I just wait until they show up at the FOL free bookshelves..ha.

[elfgivas]

I used my convection toaster oven for YEARS as a second oven. I made biscuits, pizza, bread, and casseroles in it. It had a rotisserie, so I rotisseried chicken and pork loin. For bakeware, the square corningware dishes worked out perfectly.

 

we have an Oster toaster/convection oven, and use it like a second oven, and a first oven in the summer.

stuff doesn't take as long.....

 

the only extra pans we bought were super small cookie sheets, where dh bends up the handle ends, and it fits perfectly.

 

i really only use the big oven for baking, or for turkeys..... everything else goes in the toaster/convection oven.

 

have fun!

ann