There are so many different types of air fryers out there. You may have a hard time making a decision on which is the best one for you and your family. Your first decision will be to decide how big of an air fryer you need. In this review, we will take a look at the NuWave 36011 3-quart Air Fryer which could be perfect for a small family.
After thorough research, I recommend this air fryer due to the many advantages that you’ll find listed below. There have been a few customer complaints about this air fryer but the overall customer reviews have been positive. If you need to return this air fryer for any reason, it’s going to cost you. For that reason, I give this air fryer a 9.1 out of 10 rating.
Main Features of the NuWave Brio 3 Qt Air Fryer.
-
- Air Fryer Dimensions:
- 9 x 9 x 12.5 inches
- Air Fryer Weight:
- 14.7 pounds
- Air Fryer Dimensions:
-
- Pan Size:
-
-
- 7.5×7.5×4 inches
- Basket Size (Volume):
- 3 QT
- No of Persons Designed For:
- 1-2
- Colors:
- Black Brush Matte Finish
- Analogue/ Digital :
- Digital Display
- Dishwasher Safe: (FryDay Dave does not recommend using a dishwasher for cleaning non-stick accessories. As this will reduce the life of the coding for each. We recommend using hot water and a rag with degreasing dish soap to clean both items.)(NuWave recommends the top rack of the dishwasher)
- All accessories
- Manufacturer:
- Max Temp:
- 100°F
- 400°F
- Timer:
- Temp set between 100°F-345°F 1 min.-99:59 Hours
- Temp set between 350°F-400°F 1 min.-60 min.
- Wattage:
- 1300 Watts.
- Safety Features:
- Auto-pause function when the basket is removed.
- On/Off Switch.
- Cool Touch Housing and Handle.
- Safety Lock handle.
- Non-slip feet.
- Cooking ability:
- Air Frying
- Baking
- Roasting
- Grill
- Broil
- Toast
- Dehydrating
- Searing
- Rotisserie / Self-stirring:
- No
-
- Customer Service:
-
- 1 Year Limited Warranty (Located in the Instruction Manual)
- Accessories
Pro
Digital Temp. Control Switch
The Control Panel allows you to quickly and easily customize your cooking temperatures. The New-Wave 3-quart air fryer varies only 10°F. Other air fryers cycle on and off which means the temperature goes up and down and can vary by as much as 40°.
The advanced temperature range means that you can cook in a minimum of 100°F and a maximum temperature of 400°F It’s also adjustable in 5ºF increments by simply pressing a button. This allows for even heating so you can cook french fries as well as chicken breasts. It has a consistent temperature that is checked 120 times per second. This means that your food cooks evenly. If you are cooking chicken breasts, they will be cooked on the outside as well as the inside.
Lower temperatures of around 100°F allow you to dehydrate food. If you enjoy dehydrating fruits, for example, pineapple, apricots, dates, apples or kiwi, this is a great additional feature.
Auto Pause
If you should need to open your air fryer for any reason, the cooking will be automatically paused until you place the basket back in and turn the unit back on. This is a great safety feature, especially around children. If you get distracted and have to leave your air fryer for a few minutes you won’t have to worry if you remembered to turn it off or not.
Timer Control
Your air fryer has a wide range of cooking temperatures you can use to cook a variety of foods in a short span of time. The low temperature (100°F – 345°F) timer can be set to a maximum of 99:59 hours. So if you prefer to slow cook your food, you can. The high temperature (350°F – 400°F) can be set for up to one hour.
Pause/Clear Function
Can pause or stop air fryer with a touch of a button. This is especially useful if you need to leave the room or the house for a period of time. In this way, your food won’t be left in the air fryer to get cold or soggy.
Likewise, you also have a Clear function that allows you to clear the timer in case you need to and reset it.
Can pause or stop air fryer with a touch of a button. This is especially useful if you need to leave the room or the house for a period of time. In this way, your food won’t be left in the air fryer to get cold or soggy.
Preheat Function
The NuWave Air Fryer features preheat and reheat buttons and a menu of 6 popular dishes that are preprogrammed into the unit. Steak, fish, frozen fries, chicken nuggets, french fries and poultry all have preset buttons.
Auto Shut-Off
Your Nu-Wave air fryer will automatically shut off when the basket is pulled out. An excellent safety feature especially if you have young children in your home. The unit won’t start cooking again until the basket is safely put back inside.
Cons
Questionable Support
There have been a number of customer complaints about this product. Customer complaints include: the air fryer stopped working after 10 seconds, basket doesn’t release from the tray, button controls get stuck, and more. When customers contacted the manufacturer, the manufacturer would agree to replace the air fryer but only after the customer paid to return the air fryer as well as other additional charges.
Company Doesn’t Address Reviews
Customers have left plenty of reviews on this product. At the time of this writing, there were 28 reviews ranging from 1-5 stars. Of those ratings, 64% of the reviews were positive 5-star ratings and 11% were 1-star ratings. Other companies such as Philips HD9641 Air Fryer have provided customer support by answering problems addressed in reviews. Some offer free return and/or exchange for the product. Good customer service and support go a long way whenever you buy something, whether it’s online or not. Sadder still is that other customers who purchased the product would comment and commiserate with the original reviewer.
Get Ready To Pay
Unfortunately, if something goes wrong with your air fryer, the first thing you would normally do is to contact the manufacturer. With this air fryer, the manufacturer makes the process a little more difficult. No matter what is wrong with your air fryer, you will have to pay to return it to the manufacturer. You will also have to pay an additional $20 for “processing and handling.”
No Low And Medium Wattage Settings
Even though the product was advertised with this option as of April 2019, customers complained that the product has no wattage settings. This forces you to cook everything at a high wattage no matter what the setting is.
Hard To Clean Bottom Basket
The basket is stainless steel and has no non-stick coating. Having a non-stick coating on an air fryer basket really should be a no-brainer. The stainless steel basket is difficult to clean after each use. If you can’t get all the food off the basket, there’s a chance that the caked on food is combined with any food you subsequently cook. This will be a very unpleasant eating experience. For example, if you can’t clean off the frozen fish particles on your basket, your french fries or frozen chicken may taste a little fishy! The tray can also rust over time.
Grill Pan Not Included
With this particular model, the grill pan isn’t included. This would normally be included with most air fryers. In this case, it’s considered an accessory and must be purchased separately. So if you have your heart set on whipping up a batch of french fries as soon as you open the box you’ll be out of luck from the start.
Conclusion
There are many advantages to owning a NuWave 36011 3-quart Air Fryer. It has a lot of great features such as auto shut-off, temperature control switch and auto pause. These features make it easy to use this air fryer around young children. If you should get distracted the auto pause and auto shut-off will certainly come in handy and give you some peace of mind.
The only issue FryDay Dave has is the return policy will leave you out of pocket because you will have to pay shipping plus a $20 fee to return to the manufacturer.
If you have any thoughts about this air fryer, please be sure to leave a comment below..
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NuWave Brio 3 Qt Air Fryer
Pros
- Digital Temp. Control Switch
- 100°F Min. - 400°F Max Temperature Setting
- Auto-Pause
Cons
- Support
- No Low and Medium Wattage Settings
- Hard to Clean Wire Basket