Product Reviewed: BLACK+DECKER Crisp ‘n Bake Air Fry Digital 4-Slice Toaster Oven
The year 2020 (and even 2021) brought out the home chefs in all of us, as we found ourselves spending more time at home due to widespread stay-at-home orders. Many kitchen tools gained popularity during this time, including air fryers.
Having never owned an air fryer, I was eager to try the BLACK+DECKER Crisp ‘n Bake Air Fry Digital 4-Slice Toaster Oven. Featuring air fry technology, it uses hot air to prepare food with five cooking functions: bake, broil, toast, air fry and keep warm. Equipped with a digital 60-minute timer and stay-on function, it’s easy to multitask while your food is being prepared.
Minimal assembly is required for this air fry toaster oven. It comes pre-assembled with a few additional components, including an air fry mesh tray, a wire rack and a baking pan, as well as a slide-out crumb tray.
Using the product was straightforward and fast: Simply adjust the temperature nob to the desired temperature or cooking function. For baking, it is recommended to preheat the oven for 10 minutes. For the other functions, no preheating is required. When using the air fryer function, homemade chicken tenders came out with a crispy texture I could not have achieved in a regular oven and took just 20 minutes. I had a similar successful result with sweet potato fries, achieving a texture I wouldn’t have been able to achieve with my other kitchen tools.
The toast, bake, broil and keep warm functions were simple to use and results were as expected. It is a useful addition to a conventional oven when preparing multiple foods with different cooking techniques for a meal. For example, you can make homemade chicken tenders in the air fryer and baked brussels sprouts in the conventional oven simultaneously, rather than trying to coordinate cooking times and temperatures using just the conventional oven. The tool and trays are relatively small, however. While they were the perfect size for my small kitchen and preparing food for two people, I can see it being a challenge to use this tool to prepare food for four or more.
For a kitchen tool that does it all and really gives you more bang for your buck, look no further than the BLACK+DECKER Crisp ‘n Bake Air Fry Digital 4-Slice Toaster Oven. It is compact and multifunctional for all your food preparation needs.
