 This Product
Nuwave Brio | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  |  |  | ||
| Price | $120 List $99.99 at Amazon | $140 List $129.95 at Amazon | $120 List $89.95 at Amazon | $100 List $57.35 at Amazon | $70 List $69.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Cooks food fairly evenly, a lot of cooking options, user-friendly, wide temperature range, comes with a temp probe and basket divider | Fantastic cooking performance, easy to clean, easy to use, great temperature accuracy, multiple cooking functions | Great cooking performance, user friendly, excellent temperature accuracy | Accurate temperature, great for potato products, easy to clean | Inexpensive, easy to clean, good cooking performance |
| Cons | Inaccurate temperatures, presets can be overwhelming, hard to clean, inconsistent cooking performance | Cost | Not the easiest to clean, cost | Leaves meat dry, difficult to open, buttons are not always responsive | Fry basket can stick, medicore temperature accuracy |
| Bottom Line | Easy to use, it offers many presets and a range of temperature ranges but does not provide consistent cooking results | Exceptional frying performance and an easy to clean design makes this one of the best options on the market | This high performing, four quart model offers some of the most consistent quality | This accurate, budget friendly air fryer is the perfect option for casual side dishes like tater tots | An effective and inexpensive model that offers decent cooking performance and good temperature accuracy |
| Rating Categories | Nuwave Brio | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Ultrean Air Fryer |
| Cooking Performance (35%) | |||||
| User Friendliness (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Cleaning (20%) | |||||
| Temperature Accuracy (20%) | |||||
| Specs | Nuwave Brio | Instant Vortex Plus | Ninja Air Fryer | GoWISE USA Digital | Ultrean Air Fryer |
| Measured Dimensions (L x H x D) | 14.5" x 11" x 13.5" | 11.5" x 13.3" x 12.8" | 13.6" x 11" x 13.3" | 13.5" x 12.5" x 11.5" | 13.2" x 11.3" x 12.4" |
| Capacity | 7.3 qt | 6 qt | 4 qt | 5.8 qt | 4.2 qt |
| Accessories | Temperature probe | None | Multi-layer rack for dehydrating | None | None |
| Power Consumption | 1800 watt | 1700 watt | 1550 watt | 1700 watt | 1500 watt |
This air fryer is 14.5" by 11" by 13.5", which is a somewhat standard size. The Nuwave Brio can hold up to 7.25 quarts. The temperature is inaccurate, but it comes with a probe that automatically turns the device off once your food has reached its desired temperature.
During our cooking performance testing, we cooked sweet potato fries, onion rings, donuts, chicken breast, and tater tots, while paying particular attention to texture, evenness, and cook time. The Brio's performance varies significantly from one food item to another. The texture it produces across the board is just okay. The onion rings are crunchy and delicious, but the donuts are too soft.
As far as evenness goes, the Brio does quite well except for the donuts, whose innards are consistently undercooked. Surprisingly, the chicken breast is evenly cooked, though it takes significantly longer than the manual suggests. The sweet potato fries also take much longer than suggested and are never fully crisp. All the food we cooked with the Brio had a distinct taste from the manufacturing oil, which gave our taste test foods an odd flavor.
The interface, basket accessibility, and versatility are three main contributors to any air fryer's user-friendliness. The Brio has a mostly intuitive digital interface. The fry basket fits perfectly and can be removed easily but requires a committing pull, so you may want to use both hands. This machine is very versatile. It offers a high-temperature range and can be increased or decreased in 5°F increments, giving the user a good amount of control. There are 100 different presets, with the ability to store 50 more of your own and four different modes: air fry, sear, grill, and warm. This appliance also has the ability to change the wattage settings.
It can be challenging to muster the motivation to clean after cooking and eating a tasty meal. The fry basket can be separated into three parts for convenience; however, the Brio is not the easiest to clean. The non-stick coating is subpar, and as a result, a lot of food gets stuck to it. The mesh screen at the bottom of the secondary basket is also tough to get food out of. While it comes apart nicely, this air fryer requires a good scrub for a proper clean.
The Brio offers a wide temperature range from 50°F to 400°F range and increases in 5°F increments, but the accuracy is not particularly impressive. At 300°F, the Brio clocks in at 295°F and at 400°F we measure a whopping 20° hotter. You can make the appropriate adjustments once you are aware of this information, but the overall accuracy is subpar.
The Brio is pretty pricey for its so-so performance. While there are far more expensive options and far less expensive options available, the price and performance of this air fryer do not measure up.
While the Nuwave Brio is easy to use, it does not yield the best results. The temperature probe is helpful, but the lack of temperature accuracy is about as irritating as trying to clean all the food out of the mesh basket and off the non-stick material. Unfortunately, this air fryer is slightly overpriced for the performance it offers.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
Learn More
