Toaster Oven Vs Air Fryer: Which Guzzles The Most Electricity?

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It can be a pain to turn on the oven for a small serving of food or to heat up some leftovers. Luckily, there are easier options in your kitchen (though you certainly don't need every kitchen appliance out there) — a toaster oven or an air fryer will do the job nicely. For home cooks looking to save some money on an electricity bill or cook more sustainably, which one uses less electricity? The answer isn't so clear-cut.

The thing is, every toaster oven and air fryer uses a different amount of electricity, which is measured in watts. Most toaster ovens on the market now use 1,200 to 1,800 watts, while air fryers use 1,000 to 1,800 watts (the average uses about 1,400), basically in a similar range.

The wattage of each appliance isn't the only consideration in figuring out its overall efficiency. Home electricity usage is measured in kilowatt hours, meaning the kilowatts of electricity used per hour. That means cooking time matters, too. Generally, air fryers work like a superpowered convection oven, meaning they get hot really fast. Toaster ovens, like regular ovens, need time to warm up, meaning they'll pull electricity for longer (and use more kilowatt hours).

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Suppose you were cooking Applegate chicken patties, our favorite frozen chicken burgers. They cook in 18 minutes in a 425-degree Fahrenheit oven (or toaster oven), according to the manufacturer, but just 10 minutes in a 370-degree air fryer. The longer cooking time and higher temperature in the toaster oven will mean it uses more electricity to do the same job.

Just how much more? As an example, the Ninja AF101, one of our favorite air fryers, uses 1,550 watts of electricity. Our choice in toaster ovens, the Breville Mini Smart Oven, uses 1,800 watts. So, based on those cooking times, the air fryer uses about ¼ of a kilowatt hour to cook the chicken compared to the toaster oven's more than ½ of a kilowatt hour (and that doesn't include preheating the oven). Now, this isn't a huge difference for a one-time use — it's cents on an electric bill, depending on the local electricity rate — but it can add up over time.

Here's the good news for anyone looking to cut down on home energy use: Both of those appliances are much more efficient than a traditional oven. An electric oven will use, on average, anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 watts of power. So, a 3,000-watt oven will use nearly 1 kilowatt hour to cook the same chicken. That means, whether the air fryer or toaster oven is your kitchen's go-to appliance, they're both far more efficient than the regular oven.