RTEX—November 17, 2023
In the first few days I cooked toast, frozen waffles, and tacos. and used it to air fry french fries from scratch, breaded fish patties for sandwiches, chimichangas, and hard-boiled eggs. I had no previous experience with air frying, and I cannot believe how easy this to use, and how easy it is to clean. I keep a sheet of foil on the bottom of the pan, which helps to keep the pan clean, and most often even the foil wipes clean, and is good for many uses. Do not put foil or anything on the crumb tray though. It did take me 3 tries to get my toast the way I like, but it was easy to adjust the settings to make it right for me. It makes great toast, and everything else has cooked great on my first attempt. It is a powerful convection toaster oven, and air fryer with many options to choose from. Please read the manual! The Manual is very good, and you can also download it from the Cuisinart website. Like any new appliance, it takes several times of using the dials and buttons, before it starts to feel normal, and you understand how they all work. Then you can adjust settings to your liking with ease. This is a big improvement from the Breville Smart Oven that I bought. The fan in it went out after 7 years. It was one of the best toaster ovens available when I bought it, but after 7 years of newer technology, it had nowhere near the cooking potential, or quality of this Cuisinart. I don't know why this was so hard to find, as it is not in any of our local stores. Shame on them. However, the box is quite large, and would require a lot of shelf space. I am very happy to have this in my kitchen. It is a very good cooking appliance of high quality. Keeping it clean should make it last for many years. Read more
California Person—May 30, 2020
I have been using an Oster 1300W convection bake oven. I was very happy with its convection bake but wanted to replace it with an air fryer / oven unit. I purchased both the Ninja SP101 and this Cuisinart. I cooked the same items in all the ovens at once to perform a direct comparison. I Initially purchased just the Ninja but noticed a significant bake performance downgrade from the Oster it was replacing so added this Cuisinart to the competition. Convection bake: Frozen French bread pizza at 400F. The Cuisinart cooked it perfectly at 6 minutes. The Oster came in second with a perfect pizza after 13 minutes. The Ninja came in last with a disappointing bake after 16 minutes. Air fryer: Frozen chicken nuggets sprayed with olive oil at 400F The Cuisinart created a perfect crisp set of nuggets after 9 minutes. The Ninja created a very good crisp after 14 minutes. Both did an excellent job at air fry, but the Cuisinart crisp was slightly better and it cooked much quicker. So this Cuisinart oven wins by a mile. The Ninja is still a good air fryer if you never touch the Cuisinart. Notes: I ruled out the more expensive Breville due to its low quality air fry and unacceptably slow preheat time. I purchased the Ninja first since it is compact and has a fold up feature to free up some counter space when not in use. That feature is somewhat of a gimmick since you have to lift and move the entire unit to store it. The Cuisinart is significantly taller at 14” vs 8” for the Ninja and 12” for the Oster. Read more
Bug’n’Hop—June 24, 2020
Love this AF- specifically model Toa-65. I researched for a super long time before purchasing my 1st AF. I’m going to start with cons first because that’s probably what you’re after. Do note, however, that the pros outweigh the cons :) Cons: - Could be bigger or have more racks. However, I do understand that even if it had more racks they wouldn’t all be able to airfry very well at once because in order to achieve the “fry”, the food needs to be very close to heating elements AND the main convection fan- which can really only happen on 1 shelf at a time. This is obviously why many airfryers only have 1 shelf or 1 basket. - It would be nice if the basket & tray could be bigger, but if they did that, the unit would be huge and it’s already big. Overall, this isn’t an issue and it holds more than I expected it to, as you can see from my photos. The roasted chicken was a fresh 2 pack of whole chickens from Costco, to give you an idea of bird size. - Cleaning. Overall, it’s not a big deal. Air fryers are going to be dirty and I accepted that immediately. I don’t fret over keeping it sparkling. You should know that you’ll need to unplug it and clean it once in a while. Bacon grease especially, gets stuck to the fan & ceiling, & over time it smells when it’s being used as a result. So unplug it, tip it & clean it once in a while. This is a bit of a job. - The knob and dial were not intuitive & threw me for a loop for about a day. Once I realized that 95% of the time, I just spin the wheel, push it, spin, push it, push it (push = select/enter) & hit “Start”, I was good to go. I almost always set the time & temp this way- by only using the knob and entering it manually. The pre set buttons are nice and we do use the “Air Fry” button, but generally just the wheel. You very quickly learn that most cooking is done at either 350 or 375 & for only a few minutes. Pros: - Stainless Steel!!! 👏🏻 I don’t want plastic or teflon in my food! This was super important to me because air fryers are HOT and no one needs more chemical carcinogenic junk in their food or air!! - fast. easy to use. After a day or 2 of getting used to it, it’s SO FAST to use. It’s made my cooking time in the kitchen LESS, easier, cooler, & simpler. Less work. Less clean up. No hot oven heating up the house!! - it’s plenty big and I’m super glad I didn’t buy a smaller one. I cook a lot and I almost always cook for leftovers. - Paleo/AIP/Whole30 Dream machine! - Cooks really well. You can bake, hard boil eggs, air fry, roast, dehydrate, proof bread, reheat, toast, bagels, brown, broil, pizza, warm & set a dual-cook. It’s an all-in-one! I’ve even made a poached egg in a ramekin!! (just for fun) - Doesn’t smoke. I am always reading about other AF’s (other brands, shapes, styles) smoking. I have not experienced that at all with this model. - Cooks hot & fast. This is a pro, but at first feels like a con because you have to WATCH CAREFULLY!! - This machine cooks hotter than expected. Turn it down 25° less than you want to, or less than a recipe calls for!! Most of the time I cook at 350-375. Rarely 400 and when that temp is used, it’s BRIEF- just to “finish” or “crunch”, or brown something. Most of the time 375 AF is sufficient. - I’ve heard customer service is excellent, which was also a selling point for me. I haven’t had to use it. - Join the Cuisinart TOA-65 Facebook group once you purchase it! Newbie Tip! * Start at 350 Air Fry. Set the timer for 3 minutes at a time. Turn on the light and check your food. Repeat until it’s desired doneness. Seems silly but this is how you will learn and you’ll catch on fast! If you want it more fried, turn the temp up to 375, 2 minutes. Watch. Repeat. Need more? Try 400, 2-3 minutes. * Buy a few cans of spray/spritz avocado oil. Costco now has a 2 pack, amazon has plenty, and all the health stores. I wouldn’t personally use coconut oil, I think it will be too heavy and smoky. Olive oil works, but isn’t great for you at high temps & doesn't brown as well as avocado. * Do NOT just toss some food in there and turn it to 375 or 400, 10 minutes your first time or IT WILL BURN and you will be disappointed. Invest the time to babysit it and get a good feel for the temps & settings. * Toast- We like our Canyon GF toast on “Toast- Shade 7- 1-2 slices”. You can also air fry toast! Put butter on it first- yum! * Fresh cut french fries- best if you soak them in salt water ahead of time, strain, rinse, and dry well. THEN toss in a bowl w/ spritz’s of avocado oil & seasonings. Wet fresh sliced potatoes don’t make good french fries, regardless of what appliance you use. - Make some sweet potato hashbrowns and thank me later! Overall, LOVE IT. It’s a bit more expensive but totally worth it!! Read more
