Cosori
Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven
About the product
We tested the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven to help you decide if it’s worth checking out
Standalone air fryers can crisp up french fries and chicken nuggets with little to no oil, but they just don’t have the versatility that air fryer ovens have. The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven not only air-fries but also toasts, bakes and more to make it a workhorse in the kitchen.
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is larger than previous Cosori air fryer ovens, so it can hold six slices of toast compared to other models’ two or four. It also offers additional cooking functions and presets, so it’s even more versatile in the kitchen. Unlike earlier models, the Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is also Wi-Fi-enabled, so it connects to the VeSync app, which lets you adjust your cooking temperature and time, monitor cooking, search for recipes and more.
But how does this air fryer toaster oven match up against others with similar features?
The BestReviews Testing Lab put the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven through its paces, preparing popular air-fried foods to evaluate how long they took to cook, how crispy they got and how they tasted. We also considered how well the oven performed its other cooking functions, how loud it was during use and how difficult it was to clean. Ultimately, the Cosori Air Fryer Oven excelled at air-frying french fries, chicken wings and bacon but required some trial and error with cooking temperatures and times for other functions.
What is the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven?
Product specifications
Type: Oven air fryer | Capacity: 26 qt | Dimensions: 16.3” L x 16.9” W x 16” H | Weight: 22 lb | Material: Stainless Steel | Control Type: Button, knob and app | Number of Functions: 12 | Temperature Range: 80 to 450 degrees
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is an oven air fryer that offers 12 cooking functions and presets. Its temperature can go as low as 80 degrees and as high as 450 degrees, so it can air-fry, toast, bake, broil, roast, keep warm, dehydrate, slow cook, defrost and ferment. It also has settings for pizza and preheating. The oven even allows you to customize and save preferred temperature and time settings for each cooking function.
The Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is fairly large, so it requires significant space on your countertop. During testing, we found its height (16 inches) to be the main issue because it barely fit beneath our kitchen’s overhead cabinets. It weighs 22 pounds, too, so it’s an appliance you probably wouldn’t want to take in and out of the cabinet as needed. It can hold 26 quarts, which allows it to accommodate six slices of toast, a 12-inch pizza or a 5-pound chicken. We easily fit a 2-pound bag of frozen french fries in its air fryer basket during testing.
The oven features stainless steel construction that feels durable and well-made. Our testing model had a matte black finish that gave it a sleek modern look. Its controls combine buttons and a knob that we found very easy to use. However, it’s also Wi-Fi-enabled, so a connected app provides recipe access and lets you adjust the cooking time and temperature, monitor cooking and more.
Pros
- Versatility: The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is a highly versatile countertop appliance that can tackle many recipes in your kitchen. It can air-fry, toast, bake, roast, broil, dehydrate, slow cook and more, replacing the need for a separate air-fryer, toaster oven, dehydrator and/or slow cooker.
- Crisp air-frying results: The oven consistently made crispy, delicious air-fried foods like french fries, chicken wings and hot dogs.
- Capacity: With a 26-quart capacity, the Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven can hold up to a 5-pound chicken, making it ideal for four- to five-person households.
- Shake reminder: The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven has a Shake Reminder feature, so the oven beeps halfway through cooking to remind you to shake the food to ensure it cooks evenly.
- App connectivity: The oven’s Wi-Fi connectivity lets you use the VeSync app to control cooking and monitor progress, even when you’re not right in front of the appliance.
- Price: Even with all its features, numerous cooking functions and capacity, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is actually one of the most affordable oven air fryers we tested.
Cons
- Runs hot: The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven runs hotter than its advertised temperature for some functions, which can lead to uneven cooking if you don’t adjust the cooking times or temperatures.
- Countertop space: While the oven doesn’t take up as much horizontal space on the counter as some other air fryer ovens, it’s fairly tall, which may be an issue in kitchens with low overhead cabinets.
- Longer cleanup: The Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven’s accessories aren’t dishwasher-safe, so cleanup takes longer than other models.
How we tested
To test the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven’s cooking performance, we air-fried several popular foods. We also cooked the same foods in a standard oven to see how the cooking times and finished products compared.
Air-frying french fries
The frozen french fries we made in the Cosori didn’t have air-frying instructions on the package, so we relied on a recipe we found online. First, we tossed the fries with minimal olive oil and salt and laid them in a single layer in the oven’s air fryer basket. Next, we cooked the fries at 400 degrees for six minutes and then shook the basket to ensure all the fries cooked evenly. We then returned the fries to the oven for another six minutes.
The fries cooked for a total of 12 minutes.
Air-frying chicken wings
To prepare the chicken wings for air-frying, we tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika. We laid the wings in a single layer in the oven’s air fryer basket and cooked them at 400 degrees for nine minutes before flipping them to ensure they cooked evenly. We returned them to the oven to finish cooking for another nine minutes.
The chicken wings cooked for a total of 18 minutes.
Air-frying hot dogs
We made several slits down the length of each hot dog and placed them in the Cosori’s air fryer basket. We cooked them for six minutes at 400 degrees and then transferred them to buns. We returned the hot dogs and their buns to the oven for another two minutes to finish cooking.
The hot dogs cooked for a total of eight minutes.
Air-frying Brussels sprouts
We tossed the Brussels sprouts with olive oil, sliced garlic, salt and pepper and laid them in a single layer in the oven’s air fryer basket. We cooked them at 375 degrees for five minutes and then tossed the sprouts to ensure they cooked evenly. We returned them to the oven for another six minutes to finish cooking.
The Brussels sprouts cooked for a total of 11 minutes.
Air-frying bacon
We placed our bacon in the Cosori’s air fryer basket, positioning the food tray beneath it to catch the grease during cooking. We cooked the bacon at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Cooking performance
While air-frying in the Cosori, we paid careful attention to the food’s overall crispiness and flavor, as well as how long it took to cook. We also compared the air-fried versions to their oven-baked counterparts to see how they stacked up. Additionally, we evaluated how some of the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven’s other cooking functions performed.
Air-frying french fries
The french fries made in the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven took just 12 minutes to cook, half the time they required in our standard oven. They were wonderfully crispy on the outside with no burnt areas and had a soft, fluffy interior. The oven-baked fries had a fairly crispy exterior, but their interior was dry.
The air-fried french fries had excellent flavor, even though we only added a small amount of salt. On the other hand, the fries from the oven were somewhat bland because of their dry interior.
Air-frying chicken wings
Our air-fried chicken wings took 18 minutes to cook in the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven, which was 28 minutes faster than those made in the standard oven. The wings had a nice crispy skin with some slight charring near the end, but the meat inside was still juicy and tender. The oven-baked wings were somewhat crispy, though their interior was noticeably drier.
We used the same seasonings on both batches of wings, but the wings from the Cosori were more flavorful. We found the wings from the oven to be slightly bland because they were drier overall.
Air-frying hot dogs
The hot dogs we made in the Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven took just eight minutes, 11 minutes less than those prepared in the standard oven. The air-fried hot dogs had a nice, crispy skin with slight browning near the ends. In the oven, the hot dogs developed a crisp skin, but they shriveled up quite a bit, so they weren’t as juicy inside.
We also found the air-fried hot dogs had better flavor than those from the oven. The oven-baked hot dogs tasted fine, but we didn’t like their texture.
Air-frying Brussels sprouts
Our air-fried Brussels sprouts needed 11 minutes to cook in the Cosori, 15 minutes less than when prepared in a standard oven. While they had a somewhat crispy exterior, we found that the sprouts were the least crispy of all the foods we made in the Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven, with only slight caramelization on their exterior. They were crispier than those from the oven, though, which weren’t as caramelized as the air-fried sprouts.
The caramelization affected their flavor, too. The air-fried Brussels sprouts were more flavorful than those from the oven, though we used the same seasonings for both.
Air-frying bacon
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Oven needed just 10 minutes to fully cook our bacon, which was 11 minutes faster than when prepared in the oven. Even though we prefer extra-crisp bacon, the air-fried version was perfectly cooked. The oven-baked bacon was also super crispy, though, and both had excellent flavor.
However, we noticed the oven-baked bacon was much greasier than the bacon we air-fried in the Cosori. That’s because it sat in its drippings as it cooked, while the grease from the air-fried bacon dripped through the basket to the food tray below. As a result, we didn’t need to blot the air-fried version as much.
Other cooking results
We also used the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven’s other cooking functions to see how well it performed. We toasted four slices of bread in the oven at the medium darkness setting, and it took approximately four minutes to get it perfectly golden brown.
We also broiled a 1.75-pound London broil at 425 degrees for seven minutes on each side, the temperature and time we typically use in our own toaster oven. The edges of the meat were slightly overcooked, but the rest was fine. However, it was cooked to medium rather than the medium rare we usually aim for.
We were impressed with the oven’s reheat setting when we used it to warm up leftover pizza. When we set the temperature to 250 degrees, it took approximately 10 minutes to heat the slice through. The reheated pizza was perfectly cooked, with the crust nicely crisp and the cheese melted.
Overall, we found that the Cosori often ran hotter than its selected temperature for baking, roasting and broiling, which sometimes led to uneven cooking. However, we could achieve even cooking results when we adjusted the temperature and time settings.
Where to buy the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven?
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven regularly costs $159.99. You can find it at Amazon.
Is it easy to use?
With two ways to control its settings, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is easy to use. The cooking process is pretty straightforward, too, though we sometimes had issues with the accessories.
Controls and display
The Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven features an LED display and a combination of buttons and a control knob. The buttons pull up the functions menu, turn on the convection fan and interior light and allow you to adjust the temperature, time and number of slices and darkness for toast. There is also a button to convert the temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius. We then used the selector knob to scroll through the various functions and adjust the temperature and time settings.
During testing, we found the controls fairly straightforward to use. We generally prefer button controls on these types of toaster ovens, but the LCD display allowed us to set a precise temperature and time even with the control knob. We could adjust the temperature in five-degree increments and one-minute intervals. Occasionally, we would turn past our desired setting, but it was easy to correct by turning the dial in the opposite direction.
However, the connected app sets the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven’s controls apart from other similar air fryer ovens. The app doesn’t just send alerts when cooking is finished or provide convenient access to recipes; it also let us adjust all the oven’s settings and start the cooking process, so we could begin cooking even if we weren’t right in front of the oven.
Cooking
Cooking in the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is also easy, though we had some minor hiccups along the way. As with most air fryer ovens, the hardest part of the process is figuring out what position to place the air fryer basket, wire rack or food tray in for the chosen cooking function. Conveniently, as with Breville’s Smart Oven Air Fryer, Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro and the Joule Oven Air Fryer, the correct positions are listed on the Cosori’s door for easy reference, so we didn’t have to consult the manual to determine where we should place each accessory.
The oven also has a decent-sized interior, measuring 12.8 inches long, 13.4 inches wide and 8.9 inches high. We had no issue putting food in or taking it out of the oven, even when we used a bulky potholder.
However, we found that the air fryer basket wasn’t very stable in its track inside the oven. As a result, it would sometimes wobble when we added or removed food from the oven.
Additionally, the Cosori often ran up to 10 degrees off the selected temperature in the baking or broiling modes. That could lead to uneven cooking as well as some burned areas. However, once we became aware of the discrepancy, we could adjust cooking temperatures and/or times and produce perfectly cooked food. There is often a trial-and-error period like this with new air fryers or toaster ovens, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Cleaning
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven isn’t difficult to clean, but none of its accessories are dishwasher-safe, so cleanup may take a little longer.
The oven’s interior and accessories all have a nonstick coating that helps with cleaning. We used a nonabrasive liquid soap on a damp cloth to wipe down the interior walls and washed the accessories in the sink with hot water and the same soap. The entire cleanup process took us approximately 10 minutes.
Is this design a perfect fit for your kitchen?
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven features a relatively simple design that makes it easy to use. Its appearance may not be as appealing as high-end air fryer ovens, but you won’t mind having it on your counter.
Look and feel
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is basically square, measuring 16.3 inches long, 16.9 inches wide and 16 inches high. During testing, we found that it was rather compact in its length and width, but its height may pose problems in some kitchens. Our testing area had low-hanging overhead cabinets, so there was barely enough space between the oven’s top and the bottom of the cabinet. While Cosori doesn’t list clearance requirements for the oven in the owner’s manual, similar ovens generally require 4 to 6 inches of clearance on top, so it may be difficult to fit the oven in some kitchens with overhead cabinets.
The oven also features stainless steel construction, which felt sturdy and well-made during testing. Our model had a black matte finish that would work well in many kitchens.
Our only durability concern with the oven was its door handle. While high-end air fryer ovens like those from Breville and Cuisinart have welded handles that connect directly to the door, the Cosori’s handle has plastic housing on each end, which could possibly crack over time with heavy use.
User experience
Overall, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is designed with the user in mind. The layout of the button controls is relatively intuitive, so we didn’t have much trouble figuring out how to use the oven.
However, we were somewhat confused by the Temperature and Time buttons because we assumed they would adjust those settings when pressed. But the buttons actually determine which of the settings you can control with the knob control. For example, when we wanted to adjust the cooking temperature, we first pressed the Temperature button and then turned the dial to adjust it to our desired setting on the LCD display.
The VeSync app also made the oven much easier to use. The app has a clean, easy-to-navigate design and allowed us to adjust all the oven’s settings even from across the room. We could monitor cooking progress, too.
Who is it for?
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is perfect for someone who likes all of the features of high-end air fryer ovens but not the premium price. This oven does nearly everything that models like the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro and Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven do, but at a much lower cost. While it may not be as durable as those premium ovens, it is just as versatile — and can cook for four to five people, making it ideal for families.
How does it compare to other air fryers we tested?
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven runs as much as 10 degrees above the selected temperature compared to other air fryer ovens we tested, like the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro and Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven, so there is more of a learning curve when using it. However, its increased heat may lead to more efficient air-frying — the Cosori needed just 12 minutes to air-fry frozen french fries, while the Breville needed 15.
The Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven is more compact than the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven, measuring 14 inches long, 15.75 inches wide and 14 inches tall compared to the Cosori’s measurements of 16.3 inches long, 16.9 inches wide and 15 inches tall. However, the Cosori’s capacity is larger than that of the Cuisinart — it can fit a 5-pound chicken, while the Cuisinart can only hold a 4-pound one.
We also found that the Cosori’s VeSync app offered much more functionality than the Breville+ app supported by the Breville The Joule Oven Air Fryer. Breville+ served mainly as a source of recipes and allowed us to start cooking select recipes, but the VeSync provides recipe ideas and complete control over the oven’s settings.
Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven Review: Should you get one?
The Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven requires some trial and error to determine the correct cooking temperatures and times because it runs a little hot. However, we found it could provide solid results once we adjusted our settings, especially when air-frying. It offers nearly all the same functions and features as higher-end models we tested but costs $200 to $300 less.
For shoppers on a budget or who don’t care about brand names, the Cosori Smart Air Fryer Toaster Oven is an excellent purchase. However, if you want an air fryer oven from a brand with more of a track record, the Breville models or Cuisinart Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven may be a better bet.