Air Fryer Toast
Temperature
350°F
175°C
Time
3 min
2 slices
Heat through to
Piping hot
cooked right through
Prep
None
Cook
3 min
Total
3 min
It's not a reason to buy an air fryer, but it makes good toast in a pinch - useful when you need more slices than a toaster manages at once. A flip gives the most even color.
Ingredients
Quantities for 2 slices - the times on this page assume that much in the basket.
- 2 slices of bread
How to air fry toast
- Preheat the air fryer to 350°F (175°C).
- Add the fresh toast to the basket. Weigh the bread down with a rack so it doesn't fly around.
- Cook for about 3 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through.
Pro tip
A metal rack keeps it from lifting into the element.
How to tell when it's done
It's ready when golden to your liking - watch it closely, as it goes from golden to too-dark fast at this heat. Flip it halfway for even color on both sides.
How to toast bread in an air fryer: the browning has nothing to slow it down
Bread is the least forgiving thing on this whole chart, and the reason is the very thing that makes the air fryer good at everything else. Almost everything you put in the basket goes in wet, and a wet surface physically cannot climb past about 212°F (100°C) until the water on it has boiled away - while the browning that turns bread golden needs closer to 285°F (140°C). That evaporation is a built-in brake: it holds the outside pale for the first few minutes while the heat works inward, so you get some warning before anything colours. Bread has no such brake. Its surface is already dry, so from the first second it is free to run straight up past the browning point and then, moments later, on into scorching. Recipe pages tend to put this the wrong way round and say bread burns because it 'loses its moisture quickly'. It is the other way about: bread has almost no surface moisture to lose, which is exactly why nothing is holding it at a safe temperature while your back is turned. So use a short time, check it early, and add colour in ten-second steps rather than trusting a number - here the gap between golden and burnt is a matter of seconds, which is the real weight behind the page's 'watch it closely'.
The other thing to expect is that the colour will not land evenly, and it helps to know that before you blame the machine. A pop-up toaster browns bread by radiant heat from elements sitting a finger's width away, so the whole face takes much the same dose at once and comes out gold from edge to edge. An air fryer has a single element and a fan, and it browns wherever the air moves fastest - the edges and the face turned toward the element go first, while a shaded patch lags behind. That is why this page has you flip the slice halfway: not to cook the second side, since bread is thin enough to heat through in seconds, but to turn a fresh face into the airflow and even out browning it has made lopsided. Keep the slices in a single layer for the same reason - overlap them and the moving air cannot reach the covered faces at all.
Converting from an oven recipe
If your recipe is written for a conventional oven, lower the temperature by about 25°F (15°C) and reduce the time by roughly 20% to land near 350°F for 3 minutes. Need a different starting point? Use the conversion calculator.
Air fryer toast: FAQ
Do you need a rack to make toast in an air fryer?
It helps more than it sounds like it should, and the reason is the fan. A single dry slice weighs almost nothing, so the same moving air that browns it can pick it up - it flutters against the element and scorches in stripes, or it flips itself over partway through and undoes your timing. A light metal rack or trivet holds it flat in the airflow so it browns where you expect it to. Heavier breads - a thick slice of sourdough, a bagel half - stay put better because they have the weight to resist the draught, but for standard sliced bread the rack is the difference between toast and a slice pressed against the element.
How long does it take to air fry toast?
Air fry toast at 350°F (175°C) for about 3 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through. That's for 2 slices in a single layer; adjust slightly for a fuller basket or a different model.
What temperature do you air fry toast at?
Set the air fryer to 350°F (175°C). If you're converting an oven recipe, that's roughly 25°F (15°C) below the oven temperature, with the time cut by about 20%.
Do I need to preheat the air fryer for toast?
A 2-3 minute preheat gives the most accurate timing and the best browning, but it isn't essential - if you skip it, add a minute or two to the cook time.