Who we are and how we test
Wired reviewer Adrienne has therefore tested many pizza ovens and has made over a thousand pizzas over the past seven years. Wired reviewer Matthew Korfhage is a longtime food writer who has written about pizza on the coast for two years, from Portland’s sausage slices to Philadelphia’s Mexican pizza.
We tested each pizza oven in a few weeks, using homemade dough (Adrienne loves Ooni’s classic pizza dough recipe), fresh dough purchased from local pizzeria, store-bought fresh dough and frozen pizza. We use infrared thermometers to ensure that the temperature on the cooking surface is consistent (and what the built-in thermometer says). In related cases, we also have built-in thermometers on each oven for our own ambient thermometers.
Pizza ovens are also much more useful than you might think. After years of testing, Adrienne used her pizza to grill steak, quickly cook salmon and pan-fried flowers. Matthew has air-fried wings in the pizza oven, grilled pork chops, charred asparagus and black chicken.
It took me many years and thousands of pizza to perfect my pizza making technique. Honestly, my Naples-style pizza doesn’t really meet the standards set by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the World Authority of Naples. (Ooni Pizza Oven, including our previous model with the highest rated Karu 2, is the only model we recommend AVPN also.)
But over the years, I have accumulated some tips for those who find pizza a little awkward or intimidating. If you have already refrigerated the dough, first put it to room temperature. Sprinkle flour or cornmeal on the peels in large quantities before assembling the pizza. Be patient and stretch from the inside out. This is cheating, but I also want to use a tiny rolling pin ($10) to help me keep the dough as thin as possible.
Authentic Naples will use some specific ingredients. When you make your own dough, you can get 00 flour, which is specifically used for pizza and pasta. Fresh mozzarella will moisten your pizza, so I mix the fresh and chopped low-haired cheese cheese to make the tackiest, meltiest pie. If you don’t stick with the Naples recipes, we would also like to recommend some favorite pies. Cizmar and I love a good buffalo pie, Frank’s red hot and pickles. I also recently tried Brightland’s pizza oil in a squeeze bottle. While it’s great to drizzle the pie with soy sauce, you can make it cheaper by putting olive oil and herbs into a squeeze bottle.
There is a lot more pizza oven than you think: I preheat the cast iron pan in the hot oven and pop the food from salmon to steak to my chicken thighs. Chef Francis Mallman’s book is also a good source of inspiration. –Adrienne
Is your terrace already occupied by the giant Traeger? Your grill or smoker may have a pizza attachment that you can buy in less than a new oven. Senior Director Martin Cizmar’s favorite is the Yoder Smoker Wood Burning Oven Accessories ($499), which freed him from many nights of flames. It is located under the hood of the smoker, on the steel plate sitting on the fire box. The plate is a diffuser, and when you are away from the fire, the holes of the size increase, so the section furthest from the flame will be exposed more. The design provides a consistent temperature along the oven floor and works well, with the farthest corner of the oven still at 650 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can also turn a regular indoor oven into a pizza oven. Although most ovens maximize at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, one way to dissipate more heat into the pizza is to preheat the baking surface with higher heat – this will maintain temperature stability and provide its stored heat directly. An easy way is to preheat a cast iron pan or bake steel. The classic Lloyds pot is the go-to tool for Detroit or Sicilian style pot pizza and works well in a traditional oven.
Some of our favorite grill and pizza oven manufacturers, such as Camado and Webber, also make ceramic pizza stones. Check out our guide to the best portable grills and grill accessories.
Honorary mention
We tried a lot of pizza ovens. These are some of the things we like, and these things didn’t advance.
Photo: Adrienne
Ooni Karu, First Edition, $349: Ooni is still selling the previous generation oven of the wired Karu 2, which is about $100 lower. Like other Ooni pizza ovens, the OG Karu is an excellent oven – light, portable and easy to clean – and wired reviewer Adrienne, so it is impossible to stop using the item after the first test. Still, the newer Karu 2 heats evenly and keeps more fuel than the first generation ovens.
Ooni Koda 12 costs $399: The original Ooni Koda 12 (8/10, wired recommendation) is only 21 pounds, making it the lightest, portable Koda. Its thin, powder-coated steel shell is well insulated and maintains a touch even when the fire burns. Just slide on the baking stone, screw onto the propane tank and you’re ready to go. Doors fit 12-inch pizza fruit and 10-inch cast iron skillet. But, you should no Store it outside.
The Gozney Roccbox is $499: When Adrienne so first reviewed the dual-fuel Gozney Roccbox (5/10, wired review), she praised the quick recovery time that made Roccbox popular among pizza pop-up chefs, making 10 pie in less than 30 minutes while cooking pizza with propane in less than 30 minutes. That said, few home pizza makers require such throughput, and the 44-pound device is heavier than other competitors. An optional wooden box is hard to use for those who want to be able to cook on fire. However, the price of Gozny (one of the most expensive contestants in the past) seems reasonable now.
Ninja Wood Oven Price $300: If you are looking for a very sturdy and versatile outdoor oven, this is a great choice with a maximum temperature of 700 degrees. The door is a little sticky and can make baking pizza at high temperatures a little tricky, but if you want a device that can do everything from the smoke shoulder shoulders that can make muffin-making pizza cakes, that’s your choice.
Piezano priced at $99: This Tiktok-Popular oven is affordable, small and convenient. It looks a bit like waffle iron and comes with a handy scull for easy placement. Surprisingly, it’s arguing that heating the top and bottom elements to 800 degrees Fahrenheit is accurate and takes about 15 minutes, which allows for short cooking times. But be aware that the heating element on the top does not cover the entire surface area, so you have to rotate the pie frequently. Plus, opening the top like a waffle maker means it doesn’t retain heat well. It drops 100 to 200 degrees between pies and takes a little recovery time.
Tested as well
Photo: Matthew Korfhage
Current Backyard Model P, $699: The TV Food Character signed with Alton Brown is endorsed by this 1,750-watt electric indoor/outdoor pizza oven that will heat to 850 degrees Fahrenheit using a standard power outlet. Even between ovens, the heat is relatively high and the maximum temperature will be reached within 30 minutes. But the chef environment is limited to several preset levels (New York style, thin skin, Naples, freezing), and its temperature and cooking time can be a bit picky: at least early on, application and device controls tend to be weirder than features. The display temperature and the actual temperature don’t always match, with the top thermal elements on and off like the lights in David Lynch’s movie, which the company calls proprietary algorithms. You can make a great pizza on this thing and it can be made indoors. Current said it plans to add more features and cooking modes to future updates, and we will continue to test them. But it’s not felt completely baked right now, especially at its price.
Pizza Pizza for $130: This oven is cute and affordable and you can cook good pizza while standing in the driveway and sitting in a camp chair. However, it is not as even as hot or cooked as a better oven.
The best accessories
Some pizza ovens provide you with proprietary accessories to get you onto the pizza path. But I also found some extra features helpful in the process:
Handheld infrared thermometer, priced at $47: Even if the oven has a built-in thermometer, a handheld infrared thermometer is a great way to check the temperatures in different areas of the pizza stone. It is also important to make sure the stone has time to reheat after each pizza.
$34 for wooden pizza fruit: If you have multiple peels, preparing one pizza is quick and easy when baking another pizza. Wired reviewers Adrienne So and Matthew Korfhage both have multiple peels, including useful small turn peels. However, for launching, the dough is unlikely to stick to the vulgaris, especially if you sprinkle on certain seaweed or flour in the first place.
$25 Cast Iron Skill Pan: You can also use a cast iron plate in your pizza oven to grill steaks or pan-grilled broccoli. Lodge’s Pans are also more expensive.
Heat-resistant gloves, priced at $20: That cast iron gets extremely Hot, so you also need a good pair of gloves. (Even these won’t protect your hands for a long time, so you’ll need to put the pot down near the oven.)
Priced at $20: If you’ve ever been frightened by the idea of cooking with wood, don’t! These fire starters make it quick and easy. Simply light the end with a match, place it in the fuel tray, and place a few oak sticks on the top. If you don’t want to create a smoke pile in your backyard, be sure to keep the wood dry.
