In recent years, outdoor pizza ovens have become popular options for upping your culinary game at home. Whether it’s on the deck, patio, porch, or anywhere else backyard, these products are more versatile and easier to maintain than a permanently installed installation. All of the options I’ve chosen in this guide are portable, although you’ll need help moving a few of them around due to their size and weight. These pizza ovens are a versatile choice for pie pushers with limited space or those who want to take their skills on the go when needed. If large indoor space is your domain, I have a candidate for you on this list. But before you buy, there are a few things you’ll want to think about beforehand.
What to look for in a pizza oven
When shopping for a home pizza oven, the first thing you’ll want to think about is what type of pies you plan to make. Most portable outdoor pizza ovens from Ooni, Solo Stove, and others use wood and are primarily designed to cook at the high heat required for light and airy Neapolitan-style pizzas. We’re talking temperatures as high as 900 degrees Fahrenheit. These units can certainly cook a variety of styles at cooler temperatures, but the learning curve is easiest when you run them openly with a full load of wood.
You may also want to consider alternative fuels. If you buy a propane or natural gas burner, you can easily adjust the temperature by turning a knob. That’s why I recommend spending an extra $100 or more on that accessory. This dual-fuel option makes your pizza oven more versatile and allows you to still have a freshly baked pie when you don’t want to mess with wood or charcoal. If you want to cook with gas only, there are models available that use only propane or natural gas.
The consumer is another key consideration for pizza makers. Most companies make ovens that fit 12-inch pizzas, which is the perfect size for a personal pan pizza. They’re also great for pizza parties because people can customize their own without taking away toppings they don’t like. If you plan to make larger pizzas or use your oven for other things (pans, etc.), consider a larger version that can hold more than the smaller pies. Inside dimensions – or at least pizza stone size – will be listed on most product pages.
Plan for success
Making quality pizza at home requires ample counter or table space. You need space to roll out and prepare your pizza dough, arrange your mozzarella, other cheeses and toppings, and load the pies into the crust. Of course, some people will be comfortable working in the tight confines of a small kitchen, but I found it easier to use the extra space to make sure I wasn’t constantly moving things around during the various steps of the process.
Setting up your pizza prep station near your oven is also less of a hassle. As soon as the pizza started, I ran back and forth from the kitchen to the back porch. Far from ideal. It’s hard to maintain a fire when you can’t keep a close eye on it (if you’re using wood or charcoal). The good news is that a patio table can easily be turned into a pizza station with a large cutting board. It also raises your oven off the ground so it’s easier to access.
Ooni sells tables for ovens that offer shelves and storage for shells and other accessories. There is a Solo Stove rolling stand it also has small side shelves for your Pi stove and a place underneath for your propane tank. Of course, you can find other tables and stands to suit your needs, just make sure they can handle any heat that may radiate from the bottom of the oven while cooking. Most ovens are either well insulated or don’t radiate much heat to the table, but you can never be too careful. For this reason, a stainless steel or metal surface is a good choice for outdoor model building.
Most of these ovens cook quickly at high heat, especially if you’re making Neapolitan pizza. Having everything you need nearby will alleviate a lot of unnecessary headaches, so you can focus on the oven and whip up your next pizza in no time. When your cooking time is two minutes or less, you don’t want to go too far.
The best outdoor pizza ovens in 2024
Photo: Billy Steele / Engadget
If you want to go all out with an outdoor pizza oven, you can’t go wrong Ooni’s Karu 16. It’s the company’s largest multi-fuel model, meaning you can choose between wood, coal or gas (propane and natural gas burners sold separately). It’s equipped with a hinged glass door to monitor your progress, and a digital thermometer monitors the ambient temperature inside. The larger size means you can not only cook bigger pizzas, but the Karu can fit 16 pans and cast iron, so baking, roasting and grilling is possible here. It’s this versatility and ease of use that makes the Karu 16 our top pick.
- Supports wood, coal and gas fuel sources
- The glass door allows you to watch your pizza as it cooks
- Built-in digital thermometer
- Expensive
- Large footprint
- Gas/propane stove sold separately
Photo: Billy Steele / Engadget
Solo Stove may be on your radar its fire pitsbut the company does one too solid multi-fuel pizza oven. Called the Pi, the device is made of stainless steel and is round like the company’s trademark products. Solo Stove says the Pi can reach 850 degrees Fahrenheit with wood and 900 degrees with a gas burner (sold separately). It explains that these numbers translate into maximum stone temperatures of 750 and 800 degrees, respectively. The big difference between the Solo Stove Pi and the Karu 16 and other Ooni stoves is that it doesn’t have a front door and stays open all the time like a brick oven to allow for more airflow.
- Supports wood and gas fuel sources
- Open front design
- Propane stove sold separately
Solo oven
Ooni’s pizza ovens are great, and Solo Stove’s Pi is a solid second choice, but when it comes to ease of use, the latter company’s Pi Prime is where it is. This is the best outdoor pizza oven for most people, combining the convenience of a propane burner with a wide curved opening for unrestricted access while flipping pies. The Pi Prime has a similar circular dome design to the Pi, an aesthetic the company borrowed from its fire pits. That large opening in the front allows you to monitor progress without opening the door. Front-mounted temperature controls make adjustments easy, and the gas-fired setup means you can focus on making a great pizza instead of feeding the wood with flame. The Pi Prime can reach up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit, making it a great choice for Neapolitan-style pizzas that cook for up to 90 seconds.
- Open front design
- Uses propane fuel
- Front mounted temperature controls
- Wood does not support a fuel source
Photo: Billy Steele / Engadget
The Ooni Fyra 12 it was the first outdoor pizza oven I ever used, and it remains one of my favorites. It’s compact (22 pounds) compared to some alternatives, so it won’t take up as much storage space. It also runs on wood pellets instead of cloth, and once you put out the fire, you fill the hole from the top. This means that the Fyra has less fire than other wood-fired pizza ovens, so you can focus on preparing and baking your pizzas. The Fyra does everything other Ooni pizza ovens do well, including cooking at high heat (950 degrees) in under a minute.
- Small footprint
- Fueling wood pellets is easy
- Limited to 12-inch pizzas
The best indoor pizza ovens in 2024
Let me preface this section by saying that you probably have a built-in choice that you can use to make a great pizza. Whether it’s your basic kitchen stove or a multi-function countertop, with some affordable accessories, you can easily up your game without spending $1,000 on a dedicated appliance. For example, mine Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer features a convection pizza setting that automatically adjusts cooking time based on size, oven temperature, and whether the cake is fresh or frozen. The key point here is size. These are massive, about the size of a large microwave, so unless you have a large kitchen, you won’t want to keep them out all the time.
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Ooni made its name primarily in wood-burning or gas-fired outdoor pizza ovens. The company took closed items last year Volt 12. Ooni’s first electric stove it can be used outside thanks to its weatherproof construction, but this behemoth brings the company’s design and efficiency into your kitchen for the first time. Capable of heating up to 850 degrees Fahrenheit in 20 minutes, the Volt 12 can bake Neapolitan-style pies in 90 seconds. The controls on the front allow you to adjust both the upper and lower heating elements. Among the pizzas, there are cooking presets and a Boost function to quickly bring the stone back up to temperature. The 13-inch stone inside is square, so you can slide in pans for Detroit recipes or other baked goods.
- Can be used outside and inside
- Front-mounted controls allow you to adjust the upper and lower heating elements
The best pizza accessories for the oven you already have
If you want to make good homemade pizza that rivals your favorite pizzeria (and without spending hundreds of dollars on a special oven), you can definitely do it with the oven in your kitchen. With a few gadgets, you can up your game without spending money on a Breville, Ooni, or Solo Oven. First, I would recommend a high quality baking steel or stone.
Baking stones great for browning the bottom of your pies better than a pizza or sheet pan. You can also use them for bread, cookies and other things. Like the inside of a stone brick oven, it absorbs heat to cook the pizza quickly, leading to a charred crust. Compared to them, it is also available at a more affordable price baking steels. These metal plates have one main advantage: higher thermal conductivity. This means that steel will cook your pizzas faster as it can absorb more heat from your oven. Although baking steel can be used in the oven and as a grill for other types of bread, it is not ideal for some yeast breads.
The second item you want is a pizza crust. These come in all shapes and sizes made of different materials. I usually use a bamboo or wooden peel when I put my pizzas on top and then a metal peel to pick them up. During preparation, I found that the dough did not stick easily to the bamboo and that the metal resisted the high heat of the oven when turning or removing the finished pizza (the bamboo would burn). There is also perforated shells allowing both steam and excess flour to escape. The crust is a great tool for loading and turning pizzas, placing them in the back of the oven, and since you’ll typically be baking them with your oven at 500 degrees or more, using something like parchment paper to roll them won’t work.
