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NuWave Oven: Does it Work?

The NuWave Pro Infrared Oven promises you can cook almost anything–frozen of fresh—in a fraction of normal cooking time.  I’ve seen a lot of these infrared ovens advertised on TV, especially in the wee hours of the morning.  Several of you must have too because you’ve requested I “try it before you buy it,” and in time for Christmas gift giving.  Well, my first order of business is to see if it works.

Or even better, I will try it and let you know whether it works. I will follow the NuWave oven instructions and my own recipes to make certain the oven does what it is advertised to do.  Whether this oven will make enough of a difference in the quality of food that you would buy one, is something only you can decide.  If a 1200 kilowatt infrared heater warms your house without heating your wallet, we would like to know about it.  You can read our comments on the NuWave Oven by clicking here .  

You can also see some other comments on  Amazon .

The NuWave oven is made by NuWave, which has been around for more than 20 years.  Their infrared ovens are not what heat your house more efficiently.  More significant is that the company has been a leader in design of the world’s best residential heating and air conditioning systems.  They also have a line of outdoor infrared heaters that use far less energy than any other unit on the market.  You can read more about their history here.

What I Like About The Oven

NuWave claims to only use 280 watts to create total radiant heat, which they say goes into cooking foods at 3 times faster speed than conventional ovens.  By using only 280 watts, it is said the NuWave can save you money on your electric bill. The oven uses a combination of infrared heat and convection to cook your food.  I can neither confirm nor deny this because it is cooked in minutes rather than an hour.

The NuWave oven eliminates the need to use aluminum foil or other types of cooking containers or liners that can be used to cook your favorite recipes by simply placing the ingredients into the machine with room-temperature water, and pressing “Start.”

What I Don’t Like About It The NuWave oven requires baking strips for baking cakes and cookies, and roasting racks for roasting beef, chicken, pork, ham and fish.  Although they can be purchased separately, they will increase the cost of the oven, and I don’t want to make a final judgment until I use them with the NuWave oven.

The NuWave Oven Costs

The NuWave Pro Infrared Oven is priced at $149.99 plus shipping and handling.  If you select their “Automatic Delivery Program,” it will cost $108.99 plus free shipping (valid for 6 months) plus $16.99 shipping and handling for each additional shipment of 6 months, subject to state and local taxes (if any).  They may offer additional discounts if you pay with a credit card.  I found these prices on their website .

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NuWave Oven

NuWave Oven Can Baking Strips Be Used To Cook Foods? The NuWave oven uses a combination of infrared heat and convection to cook foods.  I will test it to see whether it can do what is claimed or not.  Whether you would want to buy the NuWave oven for your kitchen depends on how well you like the way it cooks things, how much money you think you might save by not having to turn on your regular oven as often, whether you like the cooking surfaces or not and whether or not it is a worthwhile investment for someone who mostly likes to bake.

The NuWave Oven Instructions

The instructions that come with the oven are very complete.  It is also easy to follow and let you know every step of the way what’s happening.  The key thing is that it recognizes when you have foods ready to go in it, and sends a signal to start your cooking cycle.  If you want to cook pasta in the oven, for example, all you have to do is place the package of pasta into the oven with room-temperature water for 10 minutes.

When it is finished cooking, a beeping will sound once only followed by a secondary beep after that if you have additional items on your list.  If you don’t hear any beep, the oven is done.

NuWave Oven Cookbook

The NuWave Oven Cookbook contains 100 recipes that are tested and approved by Nu Wave.The cooking material includes:

Potatoes, rice and pasta–all the recipes I am familiar with for cooking those things in a regular oven or stove-top.  The cookbook also provides directions for 3 types of bread and 2 types of pizza dough.  There are also several other recipes that are clearly not intended to be cooked in an infrared oven but they include directions like “Microwave” or “Steamer.  Read the NuWave Oven Instructions for these types of recipes.

I would like to see some more creativity in the recipes and perhaps a few more meat and chicken dishes because I would like to test it with those items.   If you have any recipes for an oven cooking sheet, please feel free to let me know about them.

NuWave Oven Recipes

The NuWave oven manuals is packed with information, but their recipe book could be more creative than it is, and there are not a lot of meat or chicken recipes included because I am going to use my own recipes instead of theirs.

What is the difference between an air fryer and a NuWave Oven?

The NuWave Oven cooks food at a slightly higher temperature than an air fryer, which eliminates any worries about using the wrong oil or baking the wrong foods in your air fryer.  The NuWave Cookbook stated that everything you cook should be a “double-wrap French baguette” — two or three layers of foil around your food that is cooked in as little time as possible.  You can also bake foods such as chicken, pork and steak.  The oven automatically switches to cooking mode after you add ingredients to the bowl and then when you put in the cooking sheet.

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Is NuWave Oven better than microwave?

Yes and no… The microwave does a lot more than cook food and I suggest you buy one if you don’t have one.  The NuWave Oven works as well as a microwave, although the outcome is different.  That is because the food that is cooked by an infrared oven reaches higher temperatures than it would in a microwave oven and there are no longer any hot spots in the cooking chamber that look burned or overcooked.

What’s In The NuWave Oven Book?

The book contains 100 recipes that are tested, approved, and use Nu Wave products like their tray liners, which I do not recommend at all.  I would definitely buy the NuWave Ovens but probably not the tray liners.  The reason for this is that the baking strips and roasting racks that come with the oven are good for everything I would like to cook except for baking cakes, brownies, pies, and cookies.  Those things need a cooking sheet which can be purchased separately from NuWave but it will cost more money.

Is the NuWave Oven healthy?

The idea behind microwaves is that they don’t overcook food, thereby preventing them from getting cancer, as some say.  However, the radiations of a microwave also depletes vitamins and minerals, according to some studies.  I do not know what the NuWave Oven does to food but I can tell you that an infrared oven browns food really well and it tastes really good when cooked in any oven.

Is NuWave Oven safe?

According to consumer reports it is safe although they said they couldn’t tell if their food was safe or not because they used it under 3 minutes which is not enough time to contaminate the food.  They also said it was hard to get the temperature to reach 750 degrees.  They did not feel that the oven cooked food in a safe manner because it was hard to clean and the racks didn’t nest well.

What does NuWave Oven cost?

The NuWave Oven is about $99 for the basic model and it can cook more than 100 recipes.  It also comes with baking strips, broiling racks, a tray liner and infrared cooking rack, as well as a copy of their recipe book.  You can buy replacement trays for $30, replacement cooking sheets for $20 or $22 dollars or cooking strips that fit into your oven.

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How does the NuWave Oven work?

The oven uses infrared technology to heat food as opposed to microwaves which vibrate the water molecules in food and causes it to heat up.  The Nuwave Oven heats the moisture trapped inside meat or vegetables and creates steam, which creates a natural tenderizing process of your food.  I know some people prefer to cook chicken using an oven because they say it is lower in fat than when you use a microwave, but I find that an air fryer does everything an oven does with less time and calories.

Can you use aluminum foil in a NuWave oven?

The oven works fine with aluminum foil.  That is, if you double wrap the food and you make sure that the two pieces of aluminum foil touch, it will work.  However, I would like to see NuWave provide a cooking sheet for this purpose because the cost of purchasing one for $20 is not a lot more than the price of buying it separately.

What does an infrared oven do?

It uses an infrared technology to cook food from all angles which draws moisture into it and prevents drying out.  The Nu Wave Oven Browning Rack cooks every side evenly so you don’t have to flip anything while it cooks in any type of temperature or time.  The browning rack and tray liner are sold separately but you can buy replacement cook sheets and trays.

Are there recipes for meals made with the NuWave Oven?

Yes, and they are easy to follow.  They recommended that you refer to their recipe book in the manual when cooking many of their recipes.  They also suggest that you cook two or three very different types of food in order to test the oven thoroughly.  I would recommend reading this article about how to choose the right cooking time for a NuWave Oven if you have any issues with it.

The NuWave Oven is an easy to use and healthy way of cooking.  You should also consider buying it because it cooks better than a microwave oven and you can cook in less time.  The oven is easy to set up and it gives you moist results when you cook food in it.  It uses infrared technology that is used in cars, toaster ovens and skillets, so it is not something new.  This article educates people on how the NuWave Oven works and explains many of the benefits associated with using such a product as well as a few of its disadvantages.