I Tried The Trendy Brava Oven And Here’s What Happened

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Have ads been popping up on your feed for the revolutionary new Brava Oven? Us too! 

My hubby had been bugging me and bugging me to order the Brava. The ads kept popping up on his Facebook feed and he probably sent me the link 5 times. I personally couldn’t wrap my head around paying so much for what is essentially a grown up, super powerful EasyBake Oven. See, Brava uses light to cook food. The interior of the oven is lined with horizontal light bulbs and Brava adjusts the intensity of the light in each zone to perfectly cook whatever item you tell it to — it even can sear and broil.

Hubby wanted me to order it because it looked so easy to use in the video ads and he thought maybe, finally he would be able to cook something for himself. This is a man who cannot make tea. So after unboxing it and watching several welcome videos and tutorials, it became quickly apparent that NO, he would NOT be able to use this oven at all. It is not as simple as the ads make it out to be and you really have to pay attention to their specific instructions, including putting the right ingredient on the right “zone” of the trays, cutting things into uniform sizes and inserting a temperature gauge into cuts of meat which will be hard to do if you don’t have tiny hands. 

So right after getting the oven set up, our kitchen island flooded and had to be dismantled. This included our stovetop. So it was the perfect time to try out the Brava as I had literally no choice. Here is my takeaway:

• The Brava only works if you are cooking for one or two people. My hubs likes big portions so even just cooking for the two of us was a bit challenging unless I was willing to cook everything separately and try to somehow get it all to the table warm.

• When you are cooking two servings of protein, they must be exactly the same size. This is a problem for me because my appetite is about ⅓ of my husband’s, so I had to choose whether to feed him a tiny piece of chicken or feed myself a giant piece.

• My best results with the Brava came at breakfast — it cooks eggs perfectly, although you can only choose fried or poached. I like a scrambled egg, but oh well. It cooked my single portions of baked oats perfectly although when I tried to make a full pan, it burnt at the edges and was still soggy in the middle? I ate a lot of avocado toast which it does well.

• I really like the heavy metal chef’s pan and almost everything I made in that pan turned out great. 

• There is a large Facebook group of Brava users who love this oven and have great results, so maybe there is a learning curve I just am not getting?

Here’s my bottom line — if you’re not already a good cook and you’re super great at following instructions and only cooking for 1 or 2 people, then this is for you. If you’re cooking for a family, this won’t work. If you really like to cook and know what you’re doing already, then the Brava will be frustrating for you and won’t add anything to your kitchen. I went to culinary school so I like to cook and see what’s going on in my pan, add things on the fly etc… Brava is a set it and forget it system.

I’m thankful I had the Brava while my kitchen was dismantled, but I probably won’t use it much and may even sell it. I’ve recently ordered the Suvie Oven and am looking forward to comparing the two. Maybe I will eventually find something that makes it possible for my hubs to cook us both dinner — that will be my miracle product. 

Have you tried the Brava Oven yet? Or is there another revolutionary countertop oven you’re in love with? Let us know in the comments below!

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