NuWave Pro Infrared Oven
The NuWave Pro uses three types of cooking to increase cooking efficiency using far infrared, convection and conduction to cook from frozen to fully cooked yet tender and juicy in less time.
Ease of Use/Performance: 21/25
Convenience/Storage 21/25
Appearance/Design 21/25
How much I enjoy 22/25
Total: 85/100
The NuWave Pro Oven cooks using infrared, convection and conduction to cook in less time without raising the temperatures that harm cooking by drying out the food.
The NuWave Pro Infrared Oven combines the best of three cooking methods to reduce cooking time for tender juicy meat and is simple to use.
You can use the NuWave Pro to cook from frozen to tender, juicy and delicious in fractions of the time it would take to thaw, even using a microwave oven. The NuWave uses three methods to increase the cooking without the drying or overcooking in any parts of the oven.
Infrared cooks similarly to a microwave using wavelengths of the spectrum that we cannot see but causes food to cook both from the inside and the outside. Infrared cooking is not harmful if exposed to the direct rays from the unit so it is perfectly safe as far as radiation but does include heat.
Infrared rays are much like intense heat from light but is invisible and will cook your skin if you expose yourself to the heating unit of the NuWave directly under the open area while on. It is much like using a heat lamp in spas and saunas to warm people but the food you’re cooking is much closer to the element.
The Conduction cooking is direct contact with a metal or other surface like a grill or skillet that cooks the food from the outside inward. This is a great way to cook things but only cooks from the outside so food will take longer to cook if you only use this method.
Conduction cooking gives food a flavorful and appealing sight with lines from grilling and lock in juices like skillet frying. Conduction cooking is good for steaks and other foods but does not cook evenly and is not for food that is frozen as it will over cook the outside but leave the inside still frozen.
Convection cooking will use hot air blown around the food to help cook the food with heated air blowing around to get a more even cooking. The convection cooking is much like that used in a hot air popcorn popper but with foods like steaks, chicken and turkey it allows for a more even browning for a great appearance to food.
Using all three cooking methods creates a unique and perfectly combined method to cook from fresh or frozen to fully cooked but juicy tender for meats. You can also use the NuWave oven to cook vegetables very quickly without losing those nutritious vitamins that boiling pulls out of the foods.
The design of the NuWave Pro is also great with a grill rack to allow the convection underneath the foods so they cook on the bottom as well as the top at least some. You will still have to open the oven and flip those burgers or even the full turkey but this allows for the best cooking, especially from frozen to fully cooked.
The NuWave Pro comes with the Oven itself and several cooking manuals, short recipe books and a handy laminated chart. If you purchase the NuWave directly from the company there are several packages you can purchase that will include various other cooking items such as a personal blender.
There are several parts to the oven like the plastic base and an aluminum pan used as adrip tray for all those greasy drippings to collect. There is a two position rack that has feet to keep the food either four inches or one inch form the bottom pan of the oven.
The plastic dome is your standard cover that holds the Power Head using a simple screw type thread to twist on and off the power unit. There are two things I would recommend getting with the oven to make your oven the best it can; the Extender Ring Kit and the Custom Carry Case.
The Extender Ring Kit comes with a plastic ring that fits under the plastic dome so you can add larger food as it raises the domes height. The kit also has an extra grilling rack that allows for three cooking heights instead of the two with the basic oven.
There is also a non stick 10 inch pan for catching drippings and to allow for dual layer cooking so drippings from one food does not get on other ones. This works great for cooking whole meals in the oven like chicken breasts with vegetables and potatoes all at the same time.
The Custom Carry Case allows you to carry the NuWave Oven and the Extender Ring Kit in one handy bag but I did not receive this for reviewing, only the NuWave Oven Pro and the Extender Kit. The NuWave Oven is simple to use and the manuals and books contain plenty of useful and helpful information but it really is simple enough to just toss food in and turn it on.
The Pro version is a digital display while the regular version uses a two dial system but both give you the various settings from low to high and timed settings. The idea behind the various settings is to be able to cook on a lower setting for the same amount of time for foods that cook longer like thicker steaks or casseroles.
Using the NuWave Oven to cook a steak, chicken or other meat is as simple as setting the aluminum pan in the bottom, then the one/four inch rack with the four inch height down so the rack is four inches from the power head. You then place the food down on the rack and season if you want, place the dome on and then twist on the NuWave Power Head.
Plug in the unit and set the cooking time to whatever minutes according to the handy laminated chart for the food you’re cooking. I found about 6 minutes for burgers per side works well and for chicken and fish you adjust the time accordingly.
You can get a good idea of time from the chart or recipe book but like all cooking you need to watch the food while it cooks. The NuWave does cook quickly so you need to pay attention but you can overcook the food but it will not dry out quickly.
Due to the infrared cooking and the convection the food has started a small outer layer of cooked meat and will seal juices in so they will not dry out if they are overcooked some. This means timing is a little less important than it usually is with grilling or other methods and gives a lot of flexibility with your cooking.
The NuWave oven is great for cooking from frozen to fully cooked and I tried this out with the usual turkey, fish, steak and chicken. While steak does not work exceptionally well it does good from frozen to cooked in about twelve to fifteen minutes but I have had better steaks pan fried.