The NuWave Brio is a versatile air fryer that is designed to allow you to fry your favourite foods in the healthiest manner possible. With several different cooking functions and a surprisingly large food capacity, the Brio stands out as a fantastic air fryer despite its rather small frame compared to the majority of air fryers. At a price of around $140-150, the NuWave Brio is certainly less expensive than many similar air fryers. However, the Brio manages to outperform even some of the more expensive air fryers and is generally a well-performing, convenient appliance that you could get great use out of.

While you’re unlikely to be able to find an air fryer that can be appropriately described as compact or lightweight, the NuWave Brio definitely satisfies in the size department with its small frame compared to most air fryers. With dimensions of 19.2 x 16.7 x 16.1 inches and a weight of 19.38 pounds, the Brio is much smaller than a lot of similar air fryers. While the Brio is certainly not the smallest piece of equipment you’ll have in your kitchen, its smaller dimensions should make it much easier for you to suitably fit it inside your kitchen, compared to a lot of air fryers that people tend to struggle to fit inside their homes conveniently.

The NuWave Brio comes solely in the colour black and is formed entirely of plastic, and some may argue that it doesn’t have a particularly attractive design. Even so, the Brio’s design may be one of the most convenient we’ve seen from an air fryer. One complaint that could be made regarding the Brio is the amount of noise that it makes while in use. There are certainly air fryers out there that are louder than the Brio, but it can be frustrating trying to talk over the air fryer or carry out other tasks in the kitchen while the Brio is making a racket. Mostly though, the NuWave Brio is a well designed air fryer that is built to last a decent amount of time. The Brio comes with a one year warranty which should be more than fine, although there are some air fryers that do offer longer warranties.

In terms of performance, the NuWave Brio is a high quality air fryer that should be able to produce some amazing fried food for you. Despite its rather small size compared to many air fryers, the Brio’s cooking performance was really impressive, and this may be down to its wire basket that helps to form the crispiest coating possible. Not only will you be impressed by how crispy the food produced by the Brio is, the rate at which it can consistently produce food of the highest quality will stun you. The Brio’s cooking also manages to be super even, though certain batches may end up cooking better than others depending on the quality of the batch used. While the Brio is a well-performing, high quality air fryer, it's certainly not the easiest product in the world to clean.

Unlike many air fryers, the Brio’s frying basket is made of wire. While this helps to create the crispiest food possible, the drawback to this is that the wire makes it significantly harder to clean. If you’re looking to hand clean your air fryer, cleaning the Brio may take longer than you would hope, and you may need to soak it first in order to get the most effective cleaning. Thankfully, the basket is dishwasher friendly and you may not feel the need to clean it by hand. Even so, the cooking performance of the Brio’s wire basket should make up for any difficulty you find in cleaning it. The touchscreen buttons on the NuWave Brio are relatively easy to operate and you should find no challenge in using this air fryer. A chime inside the fryer informs you when the frying basket is in place and ready to cook. The Brio even has a digital timer, making it easier for you to know when your food is ready. Furthermore, despite its small size, the Brio’s food capacity is rather impressive. It has an extra large 6 quart capacity that is perfect for accommodating foods such as French fries and fried chicken.

You’d be surprised at the sheer range of features included in the NuWave Brio that help solidify it as a smart and innovative air fryer. First off, the Brio has its very own safety shut-off feature that prevents it from overheating too much and becoming dangerous. And with 1300W of power being generated by the Brio, it's no surprise that a safety feature is needed to make sure that the Brio is as safe as possible. In terms of temperature options, the cooking temperature of the Brio can be adjusted in 5 degree increments that give you much more freedom and choice in how you can cook. The Brio has an easy-start function that programs it to cook at 360 degrees for 10 minutes once you press the start button. You can press the auto pause button if you ever need to temporarily stop cooking for any reason.

Also, by preheating the Brio to your desired temperature using the pre-heat function, you can give your foods a crispier taste by adding it once the device has reached peak temperature. Another interesting and beneficial feature of the Brio is that it comes with a baking pan and muffin cups that enable you to make desserts as well as just frying foods. Moreover, there are additional racks that allow you to use the NuWave Brio for roasting and grilling foods too. These helpful features just show the sheer versatility of the NuWave Brio compared to many other air fryers.

All in all, the NuWave Brio is a well-performing, highly versatile and convenient air fryer that can help produce some fantastically crispy fried food. Not only that, but the Brio is more affordable than many other of the best air fryers available. There are some minor drawbacks to this air fryer such as the difficulty you may find in cleaning it and the amount of noise it can make, although these do not take away from the great job it can do. The NuWave Brio is one of the most effective air fryers on the market, and at $140-150 it offers absolutely superb value for money.