outside the labs

We Used the Tovala Smart Oven for a Month

Now we can’t go back to sad desk lunches

By Perry Santanachote

Additional reporting by Paul HopeUpdated by Daphne Yao

Updated August 30, 2024

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black Tovala oven on kitchen counter with boxes of Tovala meal kits — The Tovala smart oven cooks the brand’s meal kits with very little prep required, but you can also use it just as you would a regular toaster oven.

As lifelong epicureans, my colleague Paul Hope and I have used the gamut of kitchen appliances. Between the two of us, we’ve probably tried them all, attempting to incorporate them into our cooking repertoire. But for every appliance we’ve kept—sous vide circulator, Instant Pot, Vitamix blender, to name a few—there are dozens that we scrapped for various reasons: It takes up too much space, it’s a pain to clean or use, it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to, or it doesn’t do it better or any more conveniently than the standard way. (A pot or pan on a stove or in the oven still trumps almost everything.)

So any time a hot new appliance enters the market, claiming to change our lives, we are skeptical at best. Tovala, which was launched in 2017, was a pleasant surprise.

In this article

Setting Up the Tovala Smart Oven
Cooking Meal Kits with the Tovala Smart Oven
Tovala Recipes, Grocery Store Foods, and Cooking With Intuition
Who Is the Tovala Smart Oven Best For?

trays of food roasting in an oven — Scanning to cook Tovala's coconut-crusted salmon meal kit.

Setting Up the Tovala Smart Oven

We bought the second-generation Smart Oven via the Tovala website, which at the time was selling for $49 (a discount of $250) if we ordered at least six weeks of meals within the first six months. There’s no option to purchase the oven for the full price without a meal plan, but customers can call customer support afterward to cancel the meal plan and pay the full $299 price for the oven.

You can compare the Tovala’s specifications with other lab-tested toaster ovens in our ratings.

How many slices can it hold? 6
Can it fit a chicken? Yes, up to 4 pounds
Number of rack positions: 3
Pizza size: 10 inches
Temp range: 225° to 450° F
Exterior dimensions: 18.5x12.32x11.75 inches (LxDxH)
Interior dimensions: 12.75x11x8 inches (LxDxH)
Warranty: 1 year

Delivery was wicked fast. The ovens arrived at our doorsteps in three days. It was easy to unpack and required only one person who can lift 21 pounds.

Overall, the setup was extremely simple, and the machine was easy to connect to WiFi and sync with the compatible app. Before the first use, the manual says to do an oven cleaning cycle (bake at 450° F for 20 minutes), which emitted off-gassing smells, but subsequent uses did not emit these odors at all. I recommend leaving the room during this process if possible.

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Perry Santanachote

As a multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports, Perry Santanachote covered a range of trends—from parasite cleanses to pickleball paddles. Perry was also a main producer of our Outside the Labs content, evaluating products in her tiny Manhattan apartment.