I Cooked A Salmon Dinner In Our Place’s New Easy-Bake Oven

You may recognize Our Place by its internet-famous, nontoxic, and oh so versatile cookware creation: the Always Pan. Now you can identify the beloved brand by yet another multipurpose staple: the Wonder Oven. This $195 multipurpose appliance air-fries, reheats, steams, bakes, broils, toasts, and roasts all in one 10-inch-wide stainless steel compartment. If you’re like me, then one look at Our Place’s debut adult Easy-Bake Oven (Oh, those adorable dials!) will leave you intrigued, utterly smitten, and, in all honesty, skeptical.

As a victim of my home oven’s uneven heat distribution as well as my unsatisfactory cooking skills, this beginner-friendly invention sounded too good to be true — albeit a dream. How can something so cute claim to crisp whole chickens, sizzle salmon fillets, bake bread, and more? So, I did what any lifestyle shopping writer would do. I reached out to Our Place, plugged in the Wonder Oven, and put it to the test the second I finished reading the manual. Read on to see how well this brave little toaster handled a full-fledged salmon dinner all from the comfort of my kitchenette’s countertop.

Wonder Oven, $195

What is the Wonder Oven?

The Wonder Oven puts convenience at the forefront — meaning, you can churn out a whole lot of food in a short amount of time with a little bit of surface area. Specs-wise, it features a 12-liter capacity (can roast a 4.5-pound chicken), a stainless steel interior, a heat range of 200 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, a 60-minute timer, an exterior water inlet for steam, and six heat settings: bake, air-fry, broil, reheat, roast, and toast. In addition to the oven, you receive a wire rack, bake pan, air-fry basket, and crumb tray. It’s currently available in four classic Our Place colorways: Steam, Blue Salt, Char, and Spice. Plus, it’s pretty light at just a little over 11 pounds.

One of its most innovative features is steam-infusion technology. Depending on your bake, pour just a small amount of water into the oven’s exterior water inlet, and boom: Your food stays moist while it bakes, crisps, sears — whatever you please.

It’s beautifully designed to sit proudly on your countertop without taking up too much space.

What can you cook in the Wonder Oven?

I like to think of it as a yassified toaster oven. Pop anything from whole chickens to broccoli florets, frozen French fries, day-old leftovers, and the like into this appliance for hot-and-ready, gourmet dishes. You can find Our Place-approved recipes both online for free and in a booklet included with your Wonder Oven purchase. We’re talking air-fried buffalo wings, baked Gochujang salmon, steam-infused flatbreads, and more mouthwatering meals compliments of the Our Place team. Of course, you can always whip up custom meals of your own just like I baked, air-fried, and broiled up my salmon meal.

Bake: Focaccia Bread

One trip to Trader Joe’s and heaps of package unwrapping later, and I was ready to give my stunning Wonder Oven a go. Obstacle No. 1: (pre-baked) focaccia bread. I know; it’s child’s play. Essentially, I just wanted to make sure this thing wouldn’t blow up.

I preheated the oven for 10 minutes by turning one knob to 400 degrees, another to “Bake,” and the last one to the 10-minute mark as instructed by the manual. Not only does it make an adorable tick, tick, tick once you set the timer, but it also emanates a warm yellow light — the exact color a toddler picks out of the crayon box to memorialize an oven atop a piece of printer paper.

The oven dinged — I jumped as I scoured the manual. As someone who never blinked at the 1960s housewife aesthetic, this oven transformed me into Edna Turnblad quite quickly. Suddenly, I had an apron on, freshly baked bread in my oven mitt-adorned hand, and a nuclear family to serve it to (myself and my plants). Jokes aside, the bread came out piping hot, crispy, and simply delectable in just 10 minutes. Impressive!

Broil: Salmon

Onto the main event: salmon. I followed Our Place’s Gochujang Salmon instructions rather than the recipe (did not have those ingredients). I olive-oiled up three pieces of BBQ-cut filets and sprinkled on seasonings while I preheated the oven to 400 degrees on the broil setting.

The baking sheet is superb, and I’m assuming just a miniature version of the pan in the brand’s main Ovenware Set. Each rack fits into the oven perfectly. That being said, because the appliance is so small, it can be somewhat of a struggle to get food in and out with an oven mitt on. And this oven gets hot on the inside AND outside. So although I would prefer to go barehanded, I find it safest to mitt up.

The oven dinged, I didn’t jump, and the salmon sizzled. Although I was going to re-glaze and pop them back in at 450 degrees for about five minutes, each filet looked evenly cooked and juicy after those 10 minutes. After another five minutes? Succulent salmon crisped to perfection. Onto the air-frying.

Air-fry: Broccoli

For the third, final, and highly anticipated installment, I air-fried some veggies. To my knowledge, people invest in air fryers specifically to avoid their ovens, so I was eager to see how Our Place pulled this off. My chopped, oiled, and seasoned florets made their way into the air-frying basket and subsequently the preheated oven.

This is where things get interesting. I busted out the steam infusion technology — aka, I unscrewed the cap found at the top right corner of the oven, filled it up about halfway with fresh H2O, and hesitantly dumped it into the small opening. There’s something unnatural about pouring water into a heated electric oven, but maybe that’s just me. To my surprise, I was not met with seared eyebrows, but rather the sound of swift evaporating air and an oven awash with condensation. Thankfully, I already placed the broccoli inside; otherwise, I would’ve lost some of the humidity upon opening the door.

The oven dinged, I slowly peeled myself off the couch (cooking is exhausting, no matter what), and the appliance puffed out a breath of singed-yet-dewy veggies. In all honesty, it didn’t look too appealing, but it tasted exactly as planned: crunchy, buttery, and tender.

Verdict?

Our Place calls it the Wonder Oven; I say it’s the adult Easy-Bake Oven. Meanwhile, my editor claims it “would go on an adventure with the Brave Little Toaster.” One of my co-workers swears “it’s giving French, new wave WALL-E.” Another says, “I don’t know if I’m looking at the future or if I’m being transported back in time.” I digress. The Wonder Oven is nothing short of a marvel.

Functional? Yes. Adorable? Yes? Worthwhile? I sure think so. This contraption helped me, the proud owner of an Uber One subscription, forget about New York City’s infinite food offerings. Yes, I actually looked forward to cooking dinner after just one use. Of course, there are cons. The oven gets a little too hot for my liking on the outside; the timer knob is a little hard to turn in both directions; and the size isn’t necessarily oven mitt-friendly. But, that won’t stop me from saying to my baking-challenged brethren and impatient home cooks: I implore you to buy Our Place’s Wonder Oven.

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