The good pizza oven will guarantee the tastiest slice this side of Italy. Simulating the smoky flavours of a traditional stone oven, the best pizza ovens help you to create restaurant-quality pizza in your own backyard. These new innovations might even take pride of place over the best grills, transforming your entertaining.
Pizza ovens - Quick Menu
We've reviewed a number of the best pizza ovens on the market from Ooni, Gozney and Solo Stove, comparing wood-fired and gas pizza ovens to find easy ignition and cook times of under 60 seconds. We found that the Ooni Karu 16 is the very best, but there's plenty of other models worth considering.
We're constantly testing to make sure that we bring you all of the top recommendations, and every pizza oven in this guide has been reviewed by a member of our expert team. From the cook time to ease of assembly to that all-important taste test, we've got all the important features of the best pizza ovens covered.
Best pizza oven 2023
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Best pizza oven overall
Why you should buy it
The best pizza oven you can buy
What we love
We loved the Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven when we put it to the test. It's a generously sized oven that won't be easy to store, but it's surprisingly lightweight and perfect for propping up in an outdoor kitchen.
This oven cooks with a Cordierite pizza stone with a 16-inch cooking area for large pizzas. The door has a unique hinge feature which makes it easy to pivot your pizzas as they're cooking. It's got a see-through panel too, which means you can keep an eye on your pizza as it cooks. However, this did get a little smoky during cooking. Perhaps the best feature is the in-built digital thermometer, which shows the fluctuations in temperature as your pizza oven is cooking. This is perfect for consistency between different pizzas. You can also switch between gas and wood fuel, opting for either the speed and convenience of gas cooking or the smoky flavors of a traditional wood-fired pizza.
When it comes to the taste test, our Managing Director Jason Orme found that there is 'nothing like the pizzas' that come out of the Karu 16. In fact, Jason found it the 'ultimate culinary addition to an outdoor living experience', and says it's the best pizza oven he's ever tried.
Good to know
Note that the gas burner doesn't come as standard, so it will be an additional expense if you want to cook with gas. As with other Ooni ovens, essential accessories like pizza peels and pizza cutters aren't included.
Jason's full Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven review goes into more depth.
Best wood-fired pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best wood-fired pizza oven
Why we love it
Wood fired pizza ovens create a smoky flavour and charred crust that simple isn’t achievable in a convection oven. Our latest test, Ooni's Fyra 12, goes straight in at number 2 as the best wood-fired pizza oven on the market.
Wood fuel can be daunting, but the Fyra 12 is easy to set up and use. This is thanks to clear instructions and a handy app packed with recipes for doughs and sauces. It's simple to add wood and control the temperature, and the fast heat up time means it's ready to go in just 15 minutes.
This all resulted in a perfect Neapolitan pizza. Our expert tester Helen found 'a crispy puffed-up crust that had lightly charred patches' that cooked in just two minutes. You aren't limited to pizza, either — Helen also found great results when experimenting with roast garlic potatoes, lamb, and asparagus.
Good to know
It's a problem with any wood-fired oven, but the Fyra 12 needs a little more care and attention than gas-powered ovens, as you need to keep an eye on the wood pellets as they reach temperature and you'll need to stoke them every so often to maintain the right heat. Ooni products also don't include accessories like a pizza peel or pizza slicer, so while the Fyra is the best-value Ooni, it costs an extra couple hundred dollars if you want all the bells and whistles, such as specialised wood pellets and a thermometer.
Helen's full Ooni Fyra 12 review has all the detail.
Best indoor pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best indoor pizza oven you can buy
Why we love it
The Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo is the answer to a quick and hassle-free pizza night. This electric pizza oven is designed for use indoors, making it the perfect option for those who lack patios or don’t need a large pizza oven setup. The countertop oven is the first of its kind to reach the blistering temperatures of 750°F. What does that mean? It can cook a 12-inch pizza in just two minutes.
The Element iQ smart system regulates power so that the oven mimics the type of heat generated in a brick oven, providing the leopard-spotted charred finish you can usually only get from a wood-fired pizza oven. You can also adjust the oven to cook different types of pizza – like New York, pan, thin and crispy, or frozen pizzas. While you can control the temperature and heating element, Milly preferred the pre-set features which kept the whole thing almost fool-proof.
Good to know
Though this indoor marvel can mimic the leopard-spotting necessary for a true Neapolitan, it still can't recreate the smokiness that marks a traditional pie. It's also one of the most expensive ovens we've tested.
Millie's full Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo review takes you through the detail.
Best looking pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best-looking pizza oven
Why we love it
This oven looks much less utilitarian than other ovens. It's a design statement in its own right, and can take pride of place on a patio or outdoor kitchen. This striking, stylish oven is available in two contemporary color finishes, Bone and Olive. You can choose between three different fuel options, from dual-fuel models to a traditional wood model, with each working to create a restaurant-quality authentic Neapolitan pizza.
As the design is built to the exact ratios of a restaurant pizza oven, the cooking process is fast and efficient. We also love that the oven can cook dishes other than pizza; from slow roasting and smoking meats, to steaming and cold smoking, there are unlimited possibilities.
Good to know
This is one of the most expensive ovens around, so it might not suit everyone. This price increases when you consider that not all of the accessories are included in the price. That includes things like a dough scraper, which is nice to have but not essential, but also includes the Gozney turning peel, which you'll need for adding and removing your pizza.
Alex's full Gozney Dome review has more detail.
Best gas pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best gas pizza oven on the market
Why we love it
If the ovens above sound like too much hassle, the Koda 12 is incredibly easy to use. Rather than charcoal, it runs off gas, so all you need to do is plug in your propane and you're good to go. It heats up in 15 minutes and finishes your pizza in two.
Our expert tester Helen used the Koda 12 to make an excellent cheese and tomato, a perfect pepperoni, and an indulgent cheesy garlic bread. The worry with gas ovens is that you can't achieve a good crust, but this model created excellent charring.
The 12" capacity goes beyond pizza, too. Helen found that it's is perfect for cooking with a cast iron skillet, using the Koda 12 to make delicious grilled chicken and roasted vegetables for fajitas, so you aren't confined to pizza. What's more, this lightweight oven is more compact than others on test, so easy to move around the yard and store in the winter.
Good to know
Like other gas-powered pizza ovens, such as the Gozney Roccbox below, this simply doesn't taste as good as a charcoal-fired oven. It achieves the same leopard-spotting, but it doesn't have the smoky flavor. What's more, we're sorely missing a door on this model. It makes it easier to load the pizza but harder to regulate the temperature. It's also missing the bonus features of Ooni's Karu 16, such as a thermometer.
Helen's full Ooni Koda 12 review has all the detail.
Best compact pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best pizza oven for beginners
What we love
The Solo Stove is the best pizza oven for beginners. Our Executive Editor Kaitlin found that 'setup was done in a matter of minutes' — all you need to do is place the cooking bricks, insert the fuel grate and ash pan, and you're good to go.
Another of our favorite features sounds small, but it makes a big difference: a guard that protects you from throwing your pizza too far back in the oven. The trickiest part of mastering a pizza oven is launching your pie, and it's easy to throw your pizza right to the back of the oven when it will squish and burn.
All this meant that the resulting pizzas were easy to make and tasted delicious. In fact, Kaitlin found that the trickiest part of of cooking with this oven was 'making the pizzas as fast as they were being eaten'.
Good to know
You'll need to get a specific type of wood: kiln-dried, 1" wide by 4-5" long. You'll also need a small fire starter, preferably non-toxic of course, to get going. It's a bit less accessible than the Ooni, which allows you to top up fuel and check on your fire from the back of the machine. The oven is equipped to make 12" pizzas, but ours came out at around 10" with a bit of room at the edges. These are perfect for small gatherings, but may be on the slow side for big groups.
You can find out more in Kaitlin's full Solo Stove Pi Pizza Oven review
Best combination pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best hybrid pizza oven, offering the best of both worlds
Why we love it
If you already know you want to cook with gas, opt for the Gozney. It's easy to set up, arriving on your doorstep assembled in the box. It's also portable, with a black Velcro strap - you can just pick it up, place it outside, and get cooking straight away.
The built-in thermometer is handy and the safe-to-touch silicone covering (in green or gray) means you can touch the exterior without worrying about burns – this is important as the inside reaches 950 degrees. Unlike some of the other ovens we've featured, the Roccbox includes a professional pizza peel. The Roccbox has retractable legs and when unfolded, you can easily attach the gas burner to the undercarriage. While gas is the standard fuel for Roccbox, Gozney has a detachable wood burner if you'd like to order it as an additional accessory.
The pizza is delicious, with good leopard-spotting, and cooks the fastest of any oven on test, finishing a pizza in little over a minute.
Good to know
We found the wood hopper a little lacking if you want to get a proper roaring fire going, whereas the gas never left us short on power, and was a lot speedier to get started. It's also quite heavy for a portable oven.
There's more detail in Millie's full Gozney Roccbox review.
Best large pizza oven
Why you should buy it
The best large-capacity pizza oven
What we love
This traditional-looking pizza oven is packed with modern technology. Made from the highest-quality materials. It has a stainless steel cooking chamber, a double layer of ceramic fiber insulation and four oven floor firebricks. The double insulation means it doesn't get too hot on the outside. Our tester Kaitlin found this especially important if, like her, you have young children.
The mouth of the oven is meant to maintain the heat of the cooking chamber, while also making it easier to turn the pizza during cooking. It has a 15-inch opening, but a much larger capacity inside, a good compromise which retains heat while ensuring a large capacity. Alfa says it's for one pizza at a time, but our tests found that if you opt for smaller pizzas you can just about stretch it to two.
Good to know
This oven takes a little getting used to, but that's true of most pizza ovens. It also has a pretty large footprint. If you're working with a small space, opt for something else.
Kaitlin's full ALFA Nano Pizza Oven review has more detail.
How we tested
We tested the best pizza ovens by making a lot of pizza and putting it through a taste test. I know - it's a hard life being a product reviewer. We tried dozens of cheese pizzas, pepperoni pizzas, put-as-many-toppings-on-as-possible pizzas, garlic breads, flat breads, and foccacia.
We also pushed these ovens beyond the limits of just pizza, trying chicken, roast vegetables, and other grilled recipes to check their versatility. We timed how long the ovens take to reach temperature and cook each pizza, so we know that they're efficient, as well as how easy they are to ignite.
We pay close attention to the look of each oven to see which spaces it will suit, as well as nitty-gritty details like assembly, storage, and maneuverability. Most importantly, we judge all of this against price and warranty, to make absolutely sure that the ovens we recommend are the best value for money.
For more information on our testing process, see our how we test guide.
Meet the testers
Jason Orme is Managing Director of Homes & Gardens, and a number of other home and interiors websites and magazines. He has worked in homes media for over 20 years, appearing in all the mainstream national newspapers as well as many specialist magazines, including Homebuilding & Renovating, which he edited for 12 years.
Jason reviewed the Ooni Karu 16, and found that it is 'by some distance the leading pizza oven of its type available. For a pizza oven of this size and spec – a real crossover between the pro models and consumer-friendly versions – it’s very intuitive and easy to use.'
Helen is a trained home economist with a 20-year career in appliance reviews. She is a freelance writer specializing in home appliance reviews, but she’s most at home when trying out the latest kitchen and cooking gadgets.
She tested the Ooni Fyra12 in her own backyard, finding that 'even a novice cook will be able to achieve good results'.
Millie Fender is Head of Reviews at Homes & Gardens and has reviewed a number of the pizza ovens in this guide. With a lot of trial and error, she's discovered exactly what a pizza oven needs to make the best pizza, and tested the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo in her kitchen at home.
Alex Temblador is a Contributing Editor at Homes & Gardens. She writes on a wide variety of topics for H&G, and has tested everything from vacuum cleaners to fitness equipment and pizza ovens in the name of product research.
Alex reviewed the Gozney Dome, a versatile outdoor oven that allows at-home cooks to use gas or wood to create everything from pizzas to salmon, steaks, and vegetables. She says 'Gozney made a smart move when they created the Dome...it retains heat like few products can'.
Kaitlin Madden is Executive Editor at Homes & Gardens. She is also the co-founder of the The Finish, an interior design start-up which offers home decorating services on demand.
Kaitlin reviewed a number of the pizza ovens in this guide, including the Solo Stove Pi, finding an oven that cooked better pizza pizzas 'than anything you've ever cooked at home'.
How to buy a pizza oven
Fuel type and flavor
Fuel is the most important factor when considering what type of pizza oven to purchase because it determines additional costs (for the fuel), the time it takes for the oven to heat up, cleaning measures, and how well the pizza tastes.
Wood-fired pizza ovens produce the best flavor of pizza because it infuses a great smoky, charred flavor into the crust, cheese, and toppings. Some fruitwood can add a slightly sweet taste. A bag of wood chunks costs $5-$15 per bag (depending on what size you buy) so it’s fairly affordable. However, it will require some clean-up and a bit of a learning curve. Lighting a fire and maintaining it is sometimes easier said than done. No matter your fire-starting skills, it will take 10-15 minutes for the fire to get to the right temperature to cook.
Charcoal, which can be paired with wood to fuel certain pizza ovens, provides a nearly similar experience and flavoring that wood has. Like wood, it's not too expensive ($5-$15). Most quality pizza ovens will have a tray that catches the ash for easy disposal, but like wood, it does take some time for the oven to reach the right temperature. Deep Dish Pizzas are best cooked with charcoal.
Gas pizza ovens are easy to use and tend to be a little cheaper, but they don't bring the same smoky flavour that wood and charcoal pizza ovens bring. The
Electric pizza ovens are great, but they're usually designed for indoor use only. Just like gas, keep in mind that electric pizza ovens don't yet have the capabilities to achieve that smoky wood flavor that only wood and charcoal can produce.
The ALFA pizza oven on test
Cook time
If you purchase a high-quality pizza oven, such as the ones featured here, you can expect your pizza to cook in as little as 1 minute and as long as 10 minutes – which is a lot quicker than a pizza delivery service. For families who are always on the run, it might be better to purchase a gas-fueled pizza oven or an indoor electric pizza oven as they heat much quicker and require far less prep and clean-up time.
Size
It can be easy to overlook the size of a pizza oven but take a moment to consider the measurements. If you’re working with a small patio or no patio at all, then an indoor pizza oven might be the way to go. While the Alfa pizza oven could perhaps be stored outside year-round, smaller pizza ovens like the Solo Stove Pi or the Ooni Koda 12 should be stored indoors, so make sure you have the space for that.
Maneuverability
Pizza is best shared, so portable pizza ovens like the Roccbox pizza ovens are great, because easily pack them in your car and take them to a friend’s house, or out on camping trip.
Pizza oven FAQs
Are wood-fired pizza ovens better than gas?
Wood-fired pizza tastes better. It gives your pizza a tradtional smoky flavour. Gas pizza ovens are still great, and you can still get that leopard-spotted charred crust, but by comparison they can taste a little sterile - they're just missing that extra touch.
That said, gas ovens are far easier to use - there's no tricky ignition of wood pellets, just hook up your gas and start cooking.
How do I stop my pizza from sticking?
A common problem with pizza ovens is that your pizza sticks to the stone. This will be because the base of the pizza and the pizza peel don't have enough flour. Flour is essential, as it creates a layer between the pizza dough and the pizza stone which stops it from sticking. You can also use cornmeal, but this may make your pizza a little gritty. The best option is semolina, as it has the lowest chance of sticking and is finer than cornmeal.
Can you use a pizza oven indoors?
You can only use indoor pizza ovens indoors. Never use a wood-fired or gas pizza oven inside, because the smoke will ruin your kitchen. The only safe indoor pizza ovens are the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo and the Ooni Volt 12.
How does a pizza oven work?
A pizza oven is a miniature version of the big brick-fired ovens you see in proper pizza places. The heat source - typically wood pellets or gas - sits at the back of the oven. Flames lick along the top of the oven against ceramic plates and along a pizza stone. This incredibly heat-efficient material reaches blistering temperatures that can cook an entire pizza in a minute. They also char the crust for an authentic pizza that a regular domestic oven can't hope to match.
Is it worth getting a pizza oven?
Yes. I genuinely believe they make far better pizzas than a regular oven, and in the long run they'll save you money from restaurants and takeout. It's no exaggeration that one of the best pizzas I ever had in my life was in an Ooni Fyra. Some friends and I had just finished a hike, and after working up an appetite we came down off the hills to makesome homemade pizzas. It was fast, fun, and it barely cost anything. We used ready-made dough, cheap tomatoes and store-bought mozzarella, but we still made fresh, delicious pizzas in our own back yard. I can't overstate how good it was - perfectly melted golden cheese with a crisp crust and well-charred topping. Don't tell anyone, but it genuinely beats some of the pizza I've had in Italy.
The only issue here is the money. They can get pretty expensive. If you can't stretch to the more expensive models, stick to the most basic wood-fired oven you can get. The taste will still be authentic, but you won't be overpaying for unessential features.
What's the right temperature for pizza?
700-850°F (370-450°C) is the right temperature for pizza. Commercial - and some domestic - pizza ovens can reach 900-1000°F, but this is far higher than you need for a backyard pizza.
What can I cook in a pizza oven?
Most pizza ovens are designed to cook homemade pizzas like Neapolitan and deep dish pizza, not frozen pizzas that you would find on the frozen aisle at your grocery store. There are exceptions to the rule, like the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo, an indoor electric pizza oven that does accommodate frozen pizzas.
However, don't think that you're limited to pizza. We've tested flatbreads, chicken, and grilled vegetables too.
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