The Nuwave Bravo Pro 1800-watt Toaster Oven & Air Fryer is an attractive countertop kitchen appliance with a 0.7 cubic foot capacity. It comes in a variety of colors in addition to the stainless steel model. It’s a practical option among affordable countertop ovens available online and at big-box retailers, priced around $129. The convection technology ensures hot air circulates evenly, providing quick and consistent results without preheating. All accessories are removable, making cleanup simple. There are digital time and temperature controls (up to 99 hours at 60–275°F, up to 10 hours at 280°F, and up to 1 hour at 405–425°F)
The Nuwave features eight presets, allowing for a quick selection of baking, broiling, toasting, reheating, dehydrating, and more settings. It’s easy to override these presets and manually adjust time and temperature as needed. While it takes some experimenting to get the settings just right, the large digital display is easy to navigate.
Though not a replacement for a full-size oven, its small footprint makes it work well as a kitchen complement. Great for meals for one or two without the ambient heat. On its own, it would be a good fit for a guest apartment or RV.
PROS
- No preheating is required; convection temperatures cook quickly and use less energy than a full-sized oven for smaller portions. The independently controlled top (2) and bottom (2) quartz heating elements heat up faster than metal elements
- Perfect size for a 2-quart Pyrex baking dish—I made bread pudding for four using the bake preset, and used the warm setting to serve it for dessert. (The warm setting keeps food at a steady temperature for serving.)
- It worked well with a six-hole muffin tin. After 15 minutes without preheating, the muffins were done perfectly.
- The air fryer has a larger capacity than a standalone Ninja-type model. The convection function crisped breaded chicken well, and I was able to cook homemade nuggets with sliced potatoes on one pan using a spray of olive oil. (Note: The mesh pan should also be sprayed!) The air fryer also worked well for crispy tofu slices.
- Cleanup is easy since the crumb tray, fryer basket, and oven tray are all removable and dishwasher-safe.
CONS
- No interior light—I burned a batch of cookies because I couldn’t see them browning too quickly.
- The toast setting takes longer than a traditional pop-up toaster. The capacity is larger, which is helpful, but it feels less efficient for one or two slices. That said, it’s great for toasting crumbly quick breads, melted cheese sandwiches, rolls, and bagels with less mess than a traditional toaster and less energy use than a full-size oven.
- The interior height wasn’t high enough for my rising sourdough loaf—the top burned because it hit the upper heating element.