Toaster Oven Hacks

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, cooks across America are firing up their ovens and cranking out every harvest classic, plus one or two new recipes vying for classic status, then drawing on skills befitting an air-traffic controller to get all these dishes to the table at a tempting temperature in a timely manner. While not every home is equipped with two wall stoves and a warming oven, many, if not most, cooks have a toaster oven. Press yours into service this Thanksgiving with a few simple hacks, and you’ll find yet another reason to give thanks.

Today’s toaster ovens are powerhouses. Most of them are so smart that they can do everything your wall oven does and ace your kid’s calculus homework. Appealing extras—like air frying and convection—can’t hurt, but here are a few basic features to look for if you want a toaster oven that can really help:

• A roomy interior—at least 18 by 12 inches
• Large, easy-to-use controls
• Nonstick interior that wipes clean
• Removable crumb tray

In addition to the list above, the Breville Smart Oven Convection Toaster Oven, which can accommodate a 13-inch pizza, has a convection feature that helps with browning, a replaceable interior light that helps you see what’s going on in there, and an automatic slide-out rack that makes it easy to remove your hot food.

The Ninja® Foodi™ SP101 Digital Air Fry Oven with Convection, also large enough to hold a 13-inch pizza, is roomy, heats to 350 degrees in one minute, and flips on its side when you aren’t using it for storage against your backsplash

Big enough for an 11-inch pizza, the powerful Breville Mini Smart Oven with Element IQ has an adjustable rack and a compact 15-inch footprint.

The pizza sizes are included as an aid to visualization, but it’s worth mentioning that pizza’s cousin, flatbread, is a quick and easy Thanksgiving appetizer to prepare in the toaster oven. Look for recipes online or wing it with seasonal ingredients like pancetta and brussels sprouts, or cranberry and goat cheese.

Leave the heavy lifting, like turkey roasting, to the conventional oven and use the toaster oven for smaller jobs. Just about anything you would cook or reheat in a casserole dish—stuffing, gratins, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole—is a candidate for the toaster oven as long as it’s short enough. (Double-check the height of your dishes a few days before you start cooking.)

Here are two good-looking versions—one covered, one not—that are attractive enough to bring to the table or buffet. You can use a toaster oven to roast vegetables if you have the right size baking sheet. Not all toaster ovens are as consistent and reliable as wall ovens, so if you’re new to toaster-oven cooking, do a trial run well before you’re entertaining to get a sense of how it performs.

Toaster ovens, especially those models with a warming function, can outperform wall ovens when it comes to delicate operations. Just as you wouldn’t pare an apple with a meat cleaver, there’s no reason to blast sensitive foods like pies, nuts, and dinner rolls when all that’s required is slow, gentle heat. These cute holiday nut dishes can withstand the low temps of a warming oven, making serving easy. Speaking of, roasted nuts are a great appetizer and can be made in your toaster oven in a matter of minutes. Kale chips are another toaster oven winner.

Once you’ve warmed your dinner rolls, bring them to the table in a homey wicker basket. Wrapping them in elegant harvest-print napkins will preserve the heat.

Your toaster oven also makes a great plate warmer. Use it to take the chill off dinner plates and serving vessels. You probably won’t need a trivet for gently warmed dishes, but this little birdie is sure to find a place at the Thanksgiving table.

Your toaster oven will also come in handy to reheat leftovers (and refresh stale bread) in the days following the feast.

Happy Thanksgiving!