Toaster vs. Toaster Oven

I’ve been a toaster oven fan since my days of melting marshmallows and chocolate chips onto graham crackers in the little model on my grandmother’s counter for my after-school snack. But my parents always kept a pop-up toaster on their kitchen counter, preferring it to this day. My sister owns both, but there’s a clear preference: the pop-up toaster claims counter space, but the toaster oven lives in a cupboard until needed for a special meal, like mini English muffin pizzas.

I listened to all of their pros and cons, along with some deeper research, for my latest piece for The Spruce Eats. Although I wasn’t swayed to give up my toaster oven, I found several sound reasons for choosing a pop-up toaster instead.

Learn more about toasters and toaster ovens in this article.

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Twice as Tasty

My love of toaster ovens comes down to their versatility and my lifestyle. I use my toaster oven almost daily: to toast Sourdough English muffins or reheat quiche for a quick breakfast, to melt cheese on a toasted sandwich for lunch, and to reheat leftover mac and cheese for an easy dinner or a fruit crisp for dessert.

Instead of heating my full-size gas oven, I flip on the little electric toaster oven to roast a couple of heads of garlic or toast just enough nuts to blend into a pesto. It’s ideal for drying out bread for breadcrumbs or making garlicy croutons. A toaster oven is also my preferred way to reheat leftovers like Shrimp and Summer Squash Enchiladas and Spinach and Herb Frittata, toast up homemade baked goods like Sourdough Garlic Knots and Cranberry-Orange Quick Bread, and keep batches of Zucchini–Basil Pancakes or Grilled Pepper Pancakes with Goat Cheese warm.

These are a few of the recipes on the blog that send me to the toaster oven:

You can find more recipes that can be made or reheated in a toaster oven or pop-up toaster in the recipe index and more of my work off the blog here.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.