The air fryer market has expanded considerably over the past few years, moving well beyond simple baskets with a single frying function into appliances that genuinely replace several kitchen tools at once. The Nuwave Brio Plus 8-Quart sits firmly in that more capable category. With seven cooking functions, 150 preset options, a wide temperature range, and a PFAS-free cooking surface, it is designed for households that want more than just a way to crisp up frozen fries.
This article covers everything worth understanding about this appliance — what it does, how it can be used practically, who it makes sense for, and what to keep in mind before committing to it. No fluff, no exaggerated claims — just a clear, honest breakdown.
Starting With the Basics: What Is the Nuwave Brio Plus?
The Nuwave Brio Plus is an eight-quart digital air fryer with a cream-colored exterior and a one-touch control panel. The eight-quart capacity places it comfortably in the large-household category — significantly more room than the typical five or six-quart models that dominate the mid-range segment.
What sets it apart from many competitors at a surface level is the combination of a genuinely wide temperature range — from 50 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 400 degrees — and the PFAS-free designation on its cooking surface. Both of these points matter and are worth unpacking in more detail throughout this article.
The “New and Improved” designation in the product name reflects updates Nuwave has made to the Brio line over time, including refinements to the control interface, cooking presets, and surface materials. The Brio Plus is the current iteration of what has been one of Nuwave’s more established air fryer lines.
Key Features Explained
Eight-Quart Capacity
Eight quarts is a meaningful step up from the five and six-quart models that most people are familiar with. In practical terms, it means you can fit a whole small chicken, a larger batch of wings, a full pound of fries with room to spread out, or a generous amount of vegetables without overcrowding the basket.
Overcrowding is one of the most common mistakes people make with air fryers and one of the primary reasons food comes out steamed rather than crispy. A larger basket gives you more margin to spread food out in a single layer, which is how you get the browning and crispiness that make air frying worthwhile in the first place. For households of four or more, or for anyone who meal preps in larger quantities, eight quarts provides real cooking flexibility that smaller units simply cannot match.
PFAS-Free Cooking Surface
This is one of the more significant product features worth understanding. PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a category of synthetic chemicals historically used in nonstick coatings, most commonly associated with PTFE (often known by the brand name Teflon) and related compounds. Growing consumer and regulatory concern around PFAS has led many cookware and appliance manufacturers to reformulate their nonstick surfaces.
The Nuwave Brio Plus uses a PFAS-free cooking surface, meaning the nonstick coating does not contain this class of chemicals. For households that prioritize avoiding these substances — whether due to health considerations, environmental concerns, or simply a general preference for cleaner materials — this is a meaningful distinction.
It is worth noting that PFAS-free does not mean non-nonstick. The cooking surface is still designed to release food without significant sticking; it simply achieves that without relying on PFAS-containing compounds. As with any nonstick surface, avoiding metal utensils and abrasive cleaning tools will help maintain the coating over time.
Seven One-Touch Cooking Functions
The seven functions available on the Brio Plus cover a practical range of everyday cooking tasks:
Air Fry is the primary function and the one that circulates high-speed hot air to create crispy results with minimal oil. This is what most people buy an air fryer for, and it handles everything from chicken wings and frozen appetizers to fresh vegetables and fish.
Bake brings the appliance closer to oven territory — lower, sustained heat for items like muffins, brownies, small cakes, or cornbread that need even cooking through without aggressive surface browning. An eight-quart capacity makes baking more realistic than it would be in a smaller unit.
Roast uses moderate to high heat with airflow to cook proteins and vegetables through evenly while developing some surface color. This is the mode to reach for when cooking pork tenderloin, a bone-in chicken breast, or a tray of root vegetables.
Dehydrate runs at the low end of the temperature range — between 50 and around 160 degrees Fahrenheit — for extended periods to remove moisture from food slowly. Beef jerky, dried fruit, vegetable chips, and dried herbs can all be made using this function. It takes patience (typically several hours), but the results allow for complete ingredient control that commercial versions of these snacks rarely offer.
Toast handles bread, bagels, and similar items that benefit from surface browning without prolonged cooking time. Not every air fryer includes a dedicated toast setting, and its inclusion reflects Nuwave’s intent to position this as a more complete countertop appliance.
Reheat runs at controlled lower temperatures to warm previously cooked food without continuing to cook it. As mentioned in other air fryer discussions, this function tends to outperform a microwave for anything with a crispy exterior — pizza, fried foods, roasted vegetables, and similar items.
Preheat is a dedicated function that brings the unit to the desired temperature before you begin cooking. While many air fryer recipes can be started without preheating, certain foods — particularly items that benefit from an immediate blast of heat — cook more consistently when the basket is already at temperature.
150 Preset Cooking Options
The 150 presets are one of the more distinctive features of the Brio Plus. A preset, in this context, is a pre-programmed combination of temperature, cooking function, and time designed for a specific food or dish. Rather than consulting a recipe and manually dialing in settings each time, you select the relevant preset and the appliance handles the configuration.
For new air fryer users, this removes a significant amount of uncertainty. Knowing how long to cook chicken thighs at what temperature, or how the dehydrate function should be set for a particular thickness of beef, is knowledge that takes time to develop. Presets shortcut that learning curve considerably.
For experienced cooks who prefer full manual control, the presets are simply there to use when convenient and easy to bypass when you want to set your own parameters. The one-touch digital interface makes switching between manual and preset modes accessible without navigating complex menus.
Temperature Range: 50°F to 400°F
The temperature floor of 50 degrees Fahrenheit is lower than most air fryers on the market, and it matters for the dehydrate function specifically. Proper dehydration of delicate items like fresh herbs or thin fruit slices benefits from very low, controlled heat over long periods. A unit that bottoms out at 170 or 180 degrees limits how gently it can dehydrate without cooking the food instead.
The 400-degree ceiling is consistent with what most air frying and roasting recipes call for and sufficient for achieving proper surface browning and crispiness across a wide variety of foods.
Having the full range of 350 degrees of temperature control in a single appliance is relatively uncommon and contributes meaningfully to the Brio Plus’s versatility compared to more narrowly designed units.
Digital One-Touch Control Panel
The interface uses a digital display with one-touch controls for each of the seven functions. Settings for temperature and time can be adjusted once a function is selected. The display is clear and readable, and the layout is designed to minimize the number of steps between deciding what to cook and actually starting the process.
This kind of interface tends to work well for households where multiple people use the same appliance — the controls are intuitive enough that you do not need to read a manual every time someone new uses it.
Practical Ways to Use the Nuwave Brio Plus
Weeknight Family Meals
The eight-quart capacity makes this appliance genuinely suitable for cooking a full family meal without breaking it into multiple small batches. A whole small chicken, a large batch of drumsticks, or enough salmon fillets for four people can be accommodated comfortably. Pair the main protein with a side of vegetables in a second round and dinner comes together faster than a conventional oven would allow.
Batch Cooking and Meal Prep
For anyone who cooks multiple portions on a dedicated prep day to eat throughout the week, the larger basket is a real asset. Cooking two or three pounds of chicken breasts for weekly lunches, roasting a full tray of mixed vegetables to add to different meals, or dehydrating a batch of snacks — all of these are more practical at eight quarts than they would be in a smaller unit.
Baking in Small Quantities
The bake function opens up the appliance to uses that go beyond typical savory air frying. Small-batch baking — a few muffins, a personal-sized cake, a batch of cookies — can be handled without heating up a full-sized oven. For people who bake occasionally rather than regularly, or who live in warm climates where turning on the oven adds noticeable heat to the kitchen, this is a practical alternative.
Making Homemade Dehydrated Snacks
The low-temperature dehydrate function combined with the wide basket gives you the ability to process a meaningful quantity of food at once. Homemade beef jerky made with your own seasoning blend, apple rings with no added sugar, mango slices, or zucchini chips are all achievable with patience and the right slice thickness. For households trying to reduce processed snack consumption, this function adds genuine value.
Toasting Without a Separate Appliance
A dedicated toaster takes up counter space for a single function. The toast setting on the Brio Plus means that space could potentially be reclaimed if toasting is the only reason you have a separate unit. Whether that trade-off makes sense depends on how much you value toasting speed and convenience versus the Brio Plus’s longer heat-up time for that specific task.
Who This Appliance Makes the Most Sense For
Larger Households
Four to six people eating together regularly is the sweet spot for the eight-quart capacity. At this size, you can cook meaningful portions of food without running batch after batch, which is one of the frustrations people encounter with smaller air fryers when feeding multiple people.
Health-Conscious Cooks Who Care About Materials
The PFAS-free surface is a specific draw for people who have moved away from conventional nonstick cookware for health or environmental reasons. Having the same consideration applied to an air fryer basket — a surface that gets used multiple times per week at high heat — is something this segment of consumers tends to prioritize.
People Who Want One Appliance to Do Many Jobs
Seven functions in a single unit covers an impressive amount of cooking territory. For someone trying to reduce the total number of appliances in their kitchen while maintaining cooking versatility, the Brio Plus offers a compelling consolidation.
Cooks Who Are New to Air Frying
The 150 presets significantly lower the barrier to entry. If you are not sure how long to cook chicken wings or at what temperature to roast salmon, a preset removes that uncertainty and gives you a reasonable starting point. Over time, most people adjust from presets toward their own preferred settings as they become more familiar with how their appliance behaves.
People Who Dehydrate Food Regularly
If dehydrating is something you already do or want to start doing, having a unit with a proper low-temperature range and a spacious basket is a meaningful practical advantage over air fryers that treat dehydration as an afterthought with a narrow temperature window.
What to Think About Before Buying
Counter Space and Storage
Eight quarts is a large appliance. Before purchasing, it is worth measuring the counter space where it would live and the cabinet or storage area where it might go between uses. This is not a compact unit and should be evaluated accordingly.
Cooking for One or Two People
The eight-quart capacity is excellent for larger households, but it may feel excessive for a single person or a couple who cooks small portions. A five or six-quart model may offer a better balance of capacity and footprint for smaller households. The Brio Plus is worth its size when the basket is being used meaningfully — cooking small amounts in a large basket does not cause problems, but you are carrying a bigger appliance than you strictly need.
Learning the Preset System
One hundred and fifty presets is genuinely a lot, and navigating them efficiently takes some familiarity with the interface. For some users, this depth is an asset. For others who prefer simple, straightforward controls, the range of options may feel like more than they need. Neither response is wrong — it depends on how you like to interact with kitchen technology.
Nonstick Surface Maintenance
PFAS-free nonstick still requires care to maintain. Avoid metal utensils, use soft cloths or sponges for cleaning, and be cautious with dishwasher cycles if the basket is labeled as dishwasher safe — hand washing generally extends coating life. Building these habits early matters more for longevity than any single cleaning decision.
Noise Level
Air fryers produce fan noise during operation as a fundamental part of how they work. The Brio Plus is not unusually loud compared to similar appliances, but it is worth knowing that the fan runs continuously during cooking. For open-plan living spaces or quieter households, this is simply part of the air fryer experience.
Comparing Air Fryer Categories: Where Does the Brio Plus Fit?
Large Basket vs. Small Basket Air Fryers
The eight-quart format is better for volume cooking, batch preparation, and larger households. Smaller units are more space-efficient and heat up marginally faster. The right choice depends on how many people you regularly cook for and how much prep you do at once.
Single-Basket vs. Dual-Basket Models
Dual-basket air fryers allow you to cook two different foods simultaneously at different temperatures — useful for preparing a protein and a side dish that require different settings without timing coordination. The Brio Plus is a single-basket design. For users who regularly want to synchronize two different components of a meal, a dual-basket configuration might be worth considering separately.
Air Fryers vs. Countertop Convection Ovens
Countertop convection ovens offer more interior space and can handle full sheet pans, but they take longer to heat and do not circulate air as aggressively as a dedicated air fryer, which affects surface crispiness. The Brio Plus lands somewhere between the two in terms of capacity while retaining the high-speed airflow that distinguishes air fryers from standard convection.
Air Fryers with Presets vs. Manual-Only Models
Manual-only models offer simplicity and often a lower price point. Preset-heavy models like the Brio Plus offer guided cooking that benefits newcomers and reduces decision fatigue for everyday use. Both are valid approaches depending on the cook’s experience level and preferences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the PFAS-free surface as effective as traditional nonstick?
For most everyday cooking tasks, yes. The PFAS-free coating still allows food to release without significant sticking when used correctly — meaning with a light spray of oil on lean foods and proper preheating. The practical performance is comparable to conventional nonstick for the types of foods typically prepared in an air fryer.
Can you actually bake in an eight-quart air fryer?
Yes, with some limitations. Small to medium baking projects work well — individual servings, small loaf pans, six-count muffin trays, or personal-sized cakes. Full-sized baking projects designed for a standard oven tray will not fit, and items requiring very precise humidity control (like certain breads) may behave differently than in a traditional oven. For casual, small-batch baking, the function is practical and genuinely useful.
How loud is it during operation?
Fan noise is present throughout the cooking cycle, which is inherent to how air fryers work. The Brio Plus is within the normal range for its category — noticeable but not disruptive in most household settings.
Does the wide temperature range affect cooking accuracy?
The range from 50 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit is achieved through digital temperature control, which is generally more precise than analog dial systems. The digital interface allows for specific temperature settings rather than approximate ranges, which contributes to more consistent results across functions.
How many presets are actually useful in daily cooking?
That varies entirely by household. Some users rely on a handful of presets repeatedly and ignore the rest. Others explore the full library gradually over time. The presets are a resource rather than a requirement — you can use as many or as few as suit your cooking style.
Is the basket large enough for a whole chicken?
The eight-quart capacity can accommodate a small whole chicken — typically up to about four pounds depending on the shape. Larger birds may not fit with adequate airflow around the outside, which is important for even cooking. Spatchcocking (removing the backbone and flattening the chicken) can help fit larger birds into the basket.
Wrapping Up
The Nuwave Brio Plus 8-Quart Air Fryer is a thoughtfully designed appliance that takes the air fryer concept and expands it meaningfully — both in capacity and in functional range. The PFAS-free surface addresses a concern that a growing number of home cooks take seriously. The seven cooking functions and 150 presets make it a flexible tool that works for both experienced cooks and people just getting started with this style of cooking. And the wide temperature range, particularly the low floor for dehydrating, gives it capabilities that more narrowly designed appliances cannot match.
It is not the right fit for every kitchen. The size demands counter or storage space, and for small households cooking modest portions, a smaller unit may serve better. But for larger households, health-conscious cooks, meal preppers, and anyone who wants a single appliance that covers a wide range of cooking methods, the Brio Plus is a serious option worth understanding thoroughly before deciding.