Fired Up

We Tested The Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens For Cooking The Perfect Pie

An open flame is still the best way to cook a pizza. Here are the ovens that’ll cook your pie to perfection.

Updated: Feb. 20, 2024

Originally Published: Aug. 23, 2022

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The best way to cook pizza at home is still in an outdoor oven. That is a matter of settled business. But still up for debate is which outdoor pizza oven is best for your purposes. Not only are more companies making ovens optimized for cooking a pizza in under four minutes with crusts that have that perfect outer char and slightly chewy interior, but most manufacturers have also developed accessories that let you cook pretty great pizza on a multi-use grill or smoker.

The most important feature in any pizza cooker? Heat, and lots of it. And the ability to distribute it simultaneously to the top and bottom of the pie. Dedicated pizza ovens can push 900 degrees, which might seem excessive. But 700 to 900 degrees is a prime cooking range that results in ultrafast cook times for a pie. Those high temperatures also get the baking stone hot enough to puff the crust when you slide a pizza on by hitting it with a blast of initial heat.

Gas and pellet grills do well to push above 600dgrees F, which can still make for a lovely crust and even cook when used with a quality pizza stone. A standalone stone does nicely, though some manufacturers make custom ones that fit perfectly in the grill body. Gas grills with larger surface area tend to perform better than more compact models, since they allow you to crank the burners on the opposite end from the stone and get more of a hot indirect cook. While pizza snobs might turn their noses up at the lack of precision a gas grill offers compared to a dedicated pizza oven, they provide quality results and peak convenience for those who want to cook a range of foods on a single apparatus.

That said, it’s a blast throwing a pizza party in your backyard and, while there are certainly differences, any of the below apparatuses do a wonderful job churning out delicious pies. Here are some of our favorite outdoor pizza ovens and accessories for families.

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Best Professional-Grade Outdoor Pizza Oven

Gozney

Dome

Want a spare-no-expense, pro-level pizza oven for your backyard? The Gozney, which can fire a pie in 90 seconds at its highest temperature, is a great choice. Now, this thing is big — it weighs 128 pounds and stands 5 feet high and nearly 4-and-a-half feet wide when on its stand — but if you have the space, it’s well worth the investment. Whereas the heat source for most pizza ovens is located at the rear of the chamber, the Gozney Dome fires from the side. This makes it much easier to get a peel underneath your pizza without pushing it into the fire. It’s incredibly efficient when used in wood-burning mode, and the propane burner easily throws flame across the length of the dome’s ceiling for even cooking. And the dome is meant for far more than pizzas up to 16 inches. It takes elements of a traditional Italian-style outdoor oven and then gears them up with modern materials and design elements. As a result, it has more range than most residential ovens. At lower temperatures, it can handle slow roasting, baking, smoking, and steaming. Crank it up for dishes that require searing or pan frying. It’s an all-purpose oven that’s a true backyard standout.

$1,499

Best Authentic Neopolitan Pizza Oven

Karu 16

Ooni

$799

Best Modular Pizza Oven

Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven

Camp Chef

$167.14

Best Smoker For Cooking Pizza Outdoors

This article was originally published on Aug. 23, 2022