5 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens
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These days, making pizza in your own backyard has become more popular and much easier. With so many options of outdoor pizza ovens on the market, you no longer need to build a traditional wood-fired oven made of bricks and cement to cook the perfect pizza.
Depending on your space, budget and how many pizzas you will be cooking, this guide will help you find the best outdoor pizza oven for your yard.
Quick Look at Our Top Picks for Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens :
- Best Overall Outdoor Pizza Oven – Ooni Karu Outdoor Pizza Oven
- Best Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven – ROCCBOX Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven
- Best Gas Outdoor Pizza Oven – Summerset ‘The Oven’ Outdoor Freestanding Large Capacity Gas Oven with Pizza Stone
- Best Wood Fired Outdoor Pizza Oven – Thor Wood Fired Stainless Steel Artisan Pizza Oven
- Best Budget Outdoor Pizza Oven – Harbor Gardens Monterey Pizza Oven
Why You Should Trust Us
We spent more than 48 hours analyzing outdoor pizza ovens and customer reviews on the Amazon, Home Depot and Barbeques Galore websites as well as in person where available. In addition to conducting this in depth research, we related information learned from conversations with several outdoor experts.
After comparing several outdoor pizza ovens side by side, we are sharing this information with you so that you can make the best decision when buying your own.
How We Researched Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens
- We spent several weeks researching the best outdoor pizza ovens
- We considered over 10 outdoor pizza ovens and narrowed it down to the 5 reviewed in this article
- We did this by reading hundreds of reviews, testing available outdoor pizza ovens and comparing the features of each
Comparison Chart
| PICTURE | NAME | RATING | SHOPS |
|---|---|---|---|
 1 | Ooni Karu Outdoor Pizza Oven Show more | ||
 2 | ROCCBOX Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven Show more | ||
 3 | Summerset ‘The Oven’ Outdoor Freestanding Large Capacity Gas Oven with Pizza Stone Show more | ||
 4 | Thor Wood Fired Stainless Steel Artisan Pizza Oven Show more | ||
 5 | Harbor Gardens Monterey Pizza Oven Show more |
The Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens Reviewed
- Ready to cook in 15 minutes
- Can cook with real wood & charcoal
- Take it with you to any outdoor space
- Even cooking maybe a challenge
- Price on the high side
- Ready to cook in 15 minutes
- Can cook with real wood & charcoal
- Take it with you to any outdoor space
- Even cooking maybe a challenge
- Price on the high side
Ooni’s multi-fuel pizza oven for outdoor cooking cooks stone-baked pizza in any outdoor space in just 60 seconds.It is made from high-grade stainless steel, and the body is packed with ceramic fiber insulation, an extra-thick stone baking board and Flame Keeper technology for maximum heat retention. This compact pizza oven weighs just over 26 pounds.
You can cook with wood or charcoal, or can add the gas attachment which is sold separately. The custom-designed fuel tray maximizes airflow and delivers a powerful blast of searing flame to your pizza.
- Reaches temperatures as high as 932°F
- Built in thermometer
- Retractable legs for easy storage and moving around
- Price on the high side
- Coals fill up hopper taking up space
- Reaches temperatures as high as 932°F
- Built in thermometer
- Retractable legs for easy storage and moving around
- Price on the high side
- Coals fill up hopper taking up space
This is a wood-gas hybrid oven that offers the best of both worlds and is portable as well. This pizza oven can run off just wood, but propane provides a speedier cooking process. You can also preheat it with gas and then use wood to finish it off to still give your pizza that stone oven wood-baked taste and feel to it.
A dual burner gas system makes it simple and the body insulation and the outer silicone skin reduce the danger of skin burns. The built in thermometer, retractable legs and detachable dual-fuel burners means this pizza oven is easy to transport and set up.
- Can fit pizzas up to 16 inches in diameter
- Door has magnetic latch, & sides have airflow vents
- Electronic ignition allows for easy starting every time
- May not get as hot as other fuel types
- Customer service may not be easy to deal with
- Can fit pizzas up to 16 inches in diameter
- Door has magnetic latch, & sides have airflow vents
- Electronic ignition allows for easy starting every time
- May not get as hot as other fuel types
- Customer service may not be easy to deal with
This Summerset gas oven provides stainless steel construction, and a large storage door for LP tank storage as well as fold-down side shelves. With a 16,000 BTU main burner, three cooking racks, a storage drawer, this unit has everything you need to add variety to your cooking and also features a large capacity that can fit items up to a 16-inch pizza.
This oven has a max temperature of 450 F, and pizza stone will heat to 700 F in oven. The electronic ignition allows for easy starting and the front view window with temperature gauge allows for easy monitoring of food. Includes a cool touch, heat resistant handle to reduce the risk of burns while operating the oven.
- Rapid heating time from 100 to 800 degrees F
- Large cooking space for 2 to 3 pizzas
- Polished stainless steel exterior
- Instructions maybe hard to understand
- Included pizza stone is not very thick
- Rapid heating time from 100 to 800 degrees F
- Large cooking space for 2 to 3 pizzas
- Polished stainless steel exterior
- Instructions maybe hard to understand
- Included pizza stone is not very thick
This wood fired pizza oven offers stainless steel construction, a polished steel exterior, and 4 castors for easy transport. It has a temperature range of 100 to 800 degrees F and heats up quickly. You can even cook up to 3 pizzas at a time on the large cooking space. The thermostat helps with precise cooking and the inside is built with fire brick.
This pizza oven comes with pizza stone surface, a wire brush/broom, large pizza peel (large spatula), pizza turner spatula and a pizza cutter.
- Temperature gauge included to help cook pizza
- Stainless steel with matte black high temperature paint
- Charcoal and wood-based cooking
- Smaller than expected
- Temperature gauge maybe off
- Temperature gauge included to help cook pizza
- Stainless steel with matte black high temperature paint
- Charcoal and wood-based cooking
- Smaller than expected
- Temperature gauge maybe off
Harbor Gardens offers a wood setup meaning you simply load the firebox feature with chamber and once ideal temperature is reached, you put the pizza in. The intake and exhaust vents allow you to manually control your cooking temperatures or use the temperature gauge included to adjust cooking preferences.
The stainless steel dome, and solid weld construction protect this oven from rust. It offers a fast heat up time and you can cook pizzas, breads and more, directly on the stone provided.
What to Consider When Buying an Outdoor Pizza Oven
Fuel – Wood-fired pizza ovens are more traditional and offer more when it comes to taste and smell. The downfall is needing wood to cook and clean up can be messy due to ash. Modern gas models do offer convenience and ease of use especially for beginners. The heat retention is also more balanced than wood and offers a quicker and easier clean up. There are hybrid pizza ovens that offer both wood and gas cooking available giving you the best of both worlds.
Cooking surface – This is usually determined by the volume of pizza that you are planning to cook per session. If you plan on entertaining and making several pizza’s then you will want a larger cooking surface. Also consider if you will be cooking other items while cooking pizza and consider what type of space you will need for that.
Size – Outdoor pizza ovens come in a variety of sizes with many features and options. All this should be considered when purchasing one to accommodate your needs and space. Of course if you want to cook larges amounts of pizza you will want a larger pizza oven and need more space to do so. If you are lacking space you can always consider a portable pizza oven which takes up little space and still does a great job.
Construction type – This is important when choosing a pizza oven. Traditional clay ovens look great but are very heavy and might lack insulation. Steel is preferred for basic construction because it’s lightweight, sturdy, and offers good heat retention. Higher end models should have an outer layer of some other material to improve insulation, like ceramic or silicone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you cook anything else in a pizza oven?
Yes! Anything you can make in your oven or on the grill, you can make in a pizza oven. Try making bread, vegetables, steak, chicken, fish, and more!
What type of pizza oven heats the best? Wood or gas?
Heating an oven with wood is faster and as you burn wood, you accumulate a coal bed on the bottom of the oven. This drives heat deep into the floor at the same time the flame is heating the overhead dome.
With a gas fueled oven, the heat source is limited to a fixed position flame only. As the flame heats the dome, it radiates down to heat the floor.
Do wood and gas pizza ovens cook the same?
When the pizza oven is fully heated, you will achieve the same temperatures and the same bake with both fuels. However, wood creates a more moist environment due to the fact that as you burn firewood it releases moisture into the bake chamber. Wood also adds flavors from the specific wood varieties.
What is the best material for an outdoor pizza oven?
There are several quality materials depending on your cooking style. Stainless steel pizza ovens are a great conductor, and heat up very quickly. That said, they also lose heat more quickly if fire isn’t maintained. A brick pizza oven is less conductive, and getting it up to cooking temperature takes a bit of time. This also means that a brick oven will hold its temperature longer, and be able to maintain much higher temperatures.