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Maximize Small Ovens for the Big Game

Super Bowl parties are all about finger food. You don’t want to be huddling in the kitchen while your team is making its move on the field. The challenge for the host is how to put out a steady stream of appetizers without missing the key plays, great commercials, or the halftime show. Oven occupied? Then this is the time to draft your small ovens, such as your microwave or toaster oven. Consumer Reports made a scouting report, and here’s what we found.

Microwaves
More and more microwaves on the market today have a convection mode that can be used to brown and crisp food. In our tests, one of the microwaves with a convection function, the Samsung MC12J8035CT, $500, did a good job baking when we tested that function.

For half that, another midsized countertop model, the Cuisinart CMW-200, $250, features convection and also a grill function. It scored well overall and was very good in heating evenness, which can be a challenge for some microwaves.

Toaster Ovens
A large toaster oven can also serve as a second small oven. Use one to heat appetizers or to warm up pie for dessert. Several of the toaster ovens in our tests have convection heating, which manufacturers claim is faster and cooks more evenly. At least one model, the Panasonic FlashXpress NB-G110P, $110, has speedy infrared heating.

Three of the eight toaster ovens on our recommended list come from Breville and range in price from $180 to $270. Two of the small ovens, the Breville Smart Oven Pro BOV845BSS, $270, and the Breville Smart Oven BOV800XL, $250, have convection ovens that make them more versatile. All of our top models have cooking options that help when you’re making something more complicated than toast.

Other Oven Options
If you have a double oven, then your game strategy is set because you can cook different dishes at different temperatures. Also consider using a pizza stone to heat pizza and other appetizers. Because they retain heat, you can turn out trays of food one after another.

About the same size as a toaster oven but with a fresh take on induction is the newly tested Panasonic countertop induction oven. In our tests, we were very impressed by the Panasonic’s ability to produce well-cooked, flavorful meals more quickly than with conventional cooking methods. The chicken breasts and rib-eye steaks we cooked were delicious, and the oven cut cooking time on almost everything we tried, which is perfect for entertaining.



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