Easy Toaster Oven Recipes: Baked Ziti & Fried Chicken | Joe vs. The Test Kitchen
In this episode, Joe shows you how to make 2 easy meals using only a toaster oven.
Professional Test Cook Joe Gitter has worked on over 20 cookbooks and performed hundreds of recipe tests. Joe vs. The Test kitchen is an inside look into the mistakes and wins from the recipe testing process, showing the right and wrong ways to cook amazing food.
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ABOUT US: The mission of America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) is to empower and inspire confidence, community, and creativity in the kitchen. Founded in 1992, the company is the leading multimedia cooking resource serving millions of fans with TV shows (America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Country, and America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation), magazines (Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country), cookbooks, a podcast (Proof), FAST channels, short-form video series, and the ATK All-Access subscription for digital content. Based in a state-of-the-art 15,000-square-foot test kitchen in Boston’s Seaport District, ATK has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary experts alike thanks to its one-of-a-kind processes and best-in-class techniques. Fifty full-time (admittedly very meticulous) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days tweaking every variable to find the very best recipes, equipment, ingredients, and techniques. Learn more at
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No seasoning on the chicken?
made the Ziti tonight, it was delicious, and very easy.
I would definitely go for the ziti…less mess and cleanup. It's basically a one-pot meal. If I feel like going to two pots, I might get fancy and add some Italian sausage or ground beef browned with onion and garlic. I think the fully-cooked meat could be added before the last step of adding and broiling the cheese. Thank you for this!
They look delicious!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with us. Have a blessed day.
Somebody was hanging out with Sonja Morgan- the queen of toaster cooking!
How do i get receipes
I love baked zitti! I'm going to try this. I use my toaster oven for almost everything. I have even roasted a turkey breast with stuffing. Thanks for sharing this!
Mixing the egg and flour for coating it´s great trick
I have that exact same toaster oven, thanks to a review ATK did a few years ago. I absolutely love it; it was a little expensive but worth every penny!
More likely to make the fried chicken sandwiches
I even use my medium-size toaster oven for years to bake my sandwich (loaf) bread ! (I dunno if large/free-standing breads, such as sourdough boulé, which require extra baking hardware, would fit and bake successfully in toaster ovens [?].)
Many recipes scale down so they can be prepared in pans small enough to fit in a toaster oven. The bonus: the kitchen doesn’t get as hot in the summer because you are using a smaller oven.
Interesting!
Excellent! Lots of cooking is easier in the toaster oven & it uses way less energy for people who want that. I use mine everyday (no microwave)!
Another great video from Joe! Was that Breville used to develop the recipes in the cookbook?
Can I use like the air fryer ninja if I don't have a toaster oven. It kinda looks like an oven
I bought a Breville in 2015 and only use my large oven for storage. Soon after getting the Breville a friend’s microwave needed to be replaced so I gave mine to him. Haven’t missed it.
I’d rather make Ziti.
To clarify, these are recipes developed on and for a $300 Breville Smart Oven. You will NOT get comparable results with the $50 Cuisinart or Black & Decker most people have.
Very instructive for me… !
I cook almost all our meals in the toaster oven. About all I use the even for is roasting a turkey.
Could you achieve similar results if you used an air fryer instead?
Loved this video! Would love to see more videos from this chef!
Not sure I've seen a toaster oven in about 21 years.
I love this video and am most interested in both!!! Would love to see Joe do toaster oven vs convection microwave!
What’s the point of toasting the breadcrumbs to remove any marginal hydration if you’re just going to add liquid to the batter (kimchi brine) anyways?
Thank you, Joe!
You had me at kimchi!
OK I own a Breville toaster oven, I love it BUT this is not it. This is the Breville Mini Oven difference in price about $160.00. No convection and much smaller, a quarter sheet pan will not fit in the toaster oven.
Looks delicious! Thank you 🥰
They are fun till you try to clean them.
i think i like this guy as much as i like Dan. 😂
I believe that we have the same toaster oven. That thing is AWESOME! So much so that the house that I’m building now will not have a conventional oven.
Just ordered the book. I'm a huge fan of that model of toaster oven! I use it several times a week and rarely use my large oven anymore.
I can't afford a $200 toaster oven when I have a full size paid for oven. I promise you aren't doing serious cooking in the cheap toaster oven I do have.
Wait, isn’t this the vegan guy?
I don't even bother with my regular oven any more never worked very well in the first place I use the counter top oven that your testers recommended, I've roast hole chickens, bake banana bread and cookies and pasta dishes like that in it , between that oven and my air fryer the only thing I use is my stove top but I'm only cooking for one person these days and I'm not heating the house up
The ziti was in for 40 minutes to cook. Then another 6 to melt the cheese. Then another 10 to cool. The math isn’t mathing here.
Love Joe, but that British pronunciation of "pasta" makes my left eye twitch. lol
I wanted a toaster oven/air fryer combo and due to my not reading the description well enough I mistakenly ordered just the toaster oven. It’s a very nice Breville oven but I was so disappointed and boxed it up to return it and order the combo. I’ve never owned an air fryer but after reading several of the comments on this post I’m almost convinced to keep the toaster oven I ordered and just forget about even getting an air fryer. Would some of you give me your thoughts and opinions about this? Please no sarcastic, rude or ugly comments.
I might use this. I’ll be pleased if Test Kitchen gets to be near the status it used to be.
i bet that ziti would be good with some of those toasted panko crumbs going on top before it goes under the broiler
I haven't roasted a chicken in years. Sam's and Costco are just cheaper than doing it yourself.
We even switched our dog to rotisserie chicken because it's cheaper than premium dog food.
Likely to try the ziti first as pasta is a regular feature at dinner.
Use mine all the time. Rarely use my full size oven
I am having my kitchen remodeled, set up my kitchen in the garage. The Breville Oven is my main cooking item and I am so going to make the kim chi chicken sandwiches! Thx More Joe please!
Hmm… skeptical… despite the claims of 'crispy', I heard nothing when he bit into the sandwich. 🤔 I demand a Chef John style fork test! 😆 #forkdontlie
Now I understand your love for kombucha. Fermented drinks and fermented food…I detect a theme here! I will definitely make the chicken sandwiches and the baked ziti and because I often air fry chicken tenders, I also add a little flour to my egg wash. As you said, it combines a step and works very well. Thanks for more great ideas!
Why does this guy sound so SURPRISED that this countertop OVEN cooks chicken?🤷♂️ That's what they are made to do🙄