For Christmas, I asked my mom for a new toaster oven. She has this fancy one that Heather recommended to her and she loves it.
I am a heavy user of le toaster oven and when mine broke a few years ago, I simply walked into Target and picked a new one and bought it. Shame on me for doing no research and yes, I should have shopped local, but let’s not harp on that.
Fine, we can linger for a moment on my refusal to do research. Perhaps I was rebelling against the abundance of information available online which makes it seem mandatory to read four different websites for reviews and look at what people are saying on Amazon before making any purchase. Can’t I just go look at the assortment on the store shelf and pick a toaster oven that seems to have the right features?
No, is my final conclusion.
For the past two years, I lived with a toaster oven that I hated. It made terrible alert noises that didn’t turn off until you walked over and pressed the button. The interaction design of the buttons sucked. But it worked, so what could I do?
Finally, I invited my mom to treat me, and thar she blows, my sexy Breville toaster oven. Big enough to roast a chicken, bake cookies, or whatever other Martha Stewart-type activities you can come up with. A 12-inch pizza fits in there.
On New Year’s Day, I made an egg+bread+veggies casserole inspired by a recipe I saw by Catherine on Weelicious. See how my new toaster envelopes the casserole dish? They love each other.
Apparently Catherine’s got friends at Betty Crocker because I found this video of her explaining how to make the breakfast casserole.
Note that we are not big on breakfast meat at my house, so I made a few changes. First, I used rosemary bread, which gives the whole dish a delicious herb-y flavor with no extra labor. And, my veggies were potatoes, zucchini, and frozen corn. And I put some goat cheese in. So did I follow the recipe at all? Ok, not really, but I got the idea of a baked egg dish from her. Does it sound good to you?
Are you guys toaster oven people?
Man, I just spent all morning researching what toaster oven to get to replace ours. After reading about a kagillion reviews, I decided on this one. And then this afternoon BAM you recommend it too. I was hoping you were going to say that you were giving away a free one. 🙂
We use the toaster oven for everything, but are often frustrated by burnt tops of reheadted pizza or fried taco shells. It has it’s fun quirks..
We also have the cheap version we just picked up at a box store. I feel cheated by it when I saw your photo of the casserole and the shiny exterior of your oven.
I’m jealous. I also feel lame for starting my Chirstmas list in March in order to try to get a new toaster oven.
My mother never used these in my house growing up, so forgive my ignorance because I really want to know — what is the perk of using a toaster oven instead of a regular oven? And does it toast better than a regular toaster? I’m sure I sound stupid, but I really just have no idea and I’m curious. Also your toaster oven looks really pretty and I sort of want one just to play with it! 🙂
Hi @Julie, we never used on growing up either so they were a mystery to me. Mine (same as above) can toast 6 pieces of bread at one time. So, not necessarily better but faster.
In terms of how it stacks up to a regular oven, it cooks many many things in less time with less energy. So it feeeeels more environmentally friendly to me to run it.
In the past week, I baked bacon, toasted crumpets, reheated a chicken, kept my husband’s dinner warm, roasted asparagus, and cooked a frozen pizza.
A toaster oven is used for most of my cooking. I live in my camper and often travel around the area. The toaster oven can be powered by my Honda 2000 generator, by power at the campground, or run by a drop cord at my buddy’s gas station.
I use a smaller four slice model. It makes the most delicious and healthy pizzas.
I also like to put 6 ounces of blackberries in a dish and then mix up some Betty Crocker complete blueberry muffin mix and bake it on top… The result is a wonderful fresh fruit cobbler that makes the camper smell delightful.
Though I also cook with a butane stove and a microwave, nothing beats a nice, hot baked meal. Toaster ovens are so compact and useful. Tomorrow I am going to try making some peanut butter cookies for dessert. Dinner will be beef stew with cornbread baked on top.
I, like LT did a ton of research and the Breville came out as the best, not the cheapest, of the toaster ovens. I would caution everyone to heed the internet warnings about using Pyrex bakeware. It can and has exploded in radiant heat style toaster ovens!
Hi,
Becoming toaster oven fan big time. empty nesters, smile. Ours does a 4-5 lb. chicken on the rotisserie. just great! I have some of the older Corelle 1 3/4 cup casseroles. Think they will be ok in the oven? Looking for good breakfast casseroles we can cook in about 15 minutes baking time. Containing eggs, sausage, cheese, etc. . We can rotisserie a lovely 2-3 lb. sirloin pork roast in ours. We have a Walmart 165220-53 model. Just love it. Has dials not digital but who cares, Just us. Best, Karen in western PA, USA
If your dishes are oven-safe, they will be fine in the toaster oven. I can’t speak to your Corelle casseroles specifically. Happy toastering!