The best pizza ovens for restaurant-style cooking
Want to take your pizza-making up a notch? Upgrade your kitchen, patio or garden with our recommended gas and wood-fired pizza ovens
Paying for a takeaway pizza is often a nice treat but if you want something a cut above your average Dominos or Pizza Hut, why not give authentic, homemade pizza a try in your very own dedicated outdoor oven? The best pizza ovens will have you whipping up freshly baked pizzas in a matter of minutes, and trust us when we say that dough cooked in this way really is a cut above the rest.
Can’t I just cook pizza in a regular oven or in a cast-iron pan? Of course and you can achieve some great results too with the right techniques. However, unless you have a proper pizza oven, you’ll never be able to duplicate that authentic wood-fired taste in exactly the same way.
As you’d expect, dedicated pizza ovens come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and with all sorts of price tags attached. They aren’t always cheap, which is why you’ll want to invest in wisely. To help you make a well-informed buying decision, we’ve put together a guide on how to pick the right outdoor oven for your needs and budget, followed by a list of the best pizza ovens available right now – both gas and wood-fired.
Best pizza ovens: At a glance
- Best portable pizza oven: Gozney Roccbox | £499
- Best all-rounder: Ooni Karu 12 | £299
- Best gas pizza oven: Witt Etna Fermo | £579
- Best luxury pizza oven: Gozney Dome | £1,799
- Best multi-fuel pizza oven: Ooni Karu 16 | £699
How to choose the best pizza oven for you
Consider what you really need
When you picture your fantasy pizza oven, you might be thinking of one of those huge, domed ovens that are made of brick and clay, and are usually to be found in pizzerias, restaurants and on the patios of certain TV chefs.
As magnificent as these ovens look, they’re designed for commercial use, and for a turnover of hundreds of pizzas a day – which is something you’re probably not planning to do. They’re also generally custom-built by specialist companies and are prohibitively expensive.
Gas or wood-fired?
Pizza ovens use either gas or wood as fuel, and each has its own pros and cons.
The overwhelming majority of pizza ovens are wood-fired because pizzas cook optimally in short, fierce blasts of heat. Cooking time usually takes between 30 seconds and five minutes, and the finished result is simply unachievable in a gas or domestic oven.
The main advantage to gas-powered pizza ovens is how low-maintenance they are by comparison: there’s no prep or waiting time, and no ashes to clean away afterwards. Instead, all you’ll need to do is attach a butane or propane canister. Also, the temperature of a gas pizza oven can be adjusted with the simple turn of a dial, although as explained, this isn’t essential.
What else can be cooked in a pizza oven?
Any sort of food that fares well in intense heat. Other bread-based dishes are a great choice, such as focaccia and flatbreads, but you can also experiment with dishes like steaks, salmon, traybakes, frittatas and baked eggs. Avoid poultry: unless it’s expertly cooked, it will most probably end up incinerated on the outside and raw on the inside.
Where should it go?
Somewhere in your garden, where it’s relatively sheltered from the breeze, as winds can send cool air into your oven and bring those cooking temperatures down. You’ll want a flat, even surface on which to rest your oven, whether that’s a heatproof tabletop, or the ground if it has its own legs or stand.
Bear in mind that wood-fired ovens will produce a fair bit of smoke as they’re getting up to temperature. This can be minimised by only using well-seasoned wood (i.e. wood that’s been drying for upwards of six months), but you should still take the same precautions as you would with a barbecue.
The best pizza ovens to buy
1. Ooni Karu 12: Best all-rounder pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £300 | Check price at Ooni
Arguably one of the biggest names in pizza ovens, Ooni is continually innovating, with the Karu being one of its best pizza ovens yet. Representing value for money compared to some of the company’s more expensive models, such as the Koda 12, the only real feature the Karu lacks is a built-in gas ignition switch.
This oven can reach a maximum temperature of 500˚C in just 15 minutes and is able to cook a 12in pizza in just 60 seconds. You can fuel the Karu in a couple of different ways, including wood kindling and charcoal. It can be gas powered too, though this requires a £70 Gas Burner tool. It’s a pricey addition but this tool will grant you better temperature control than burning wood or charcoal can.
The Ooni Karu is one of the more portable pizza ovens on this list, too. The fibre-insulated ceramic body weighs only 12kg, the smoking chimney can be removed and each of the four legs can be folded away for easy carrying.
Key specs – Dimensions: 77 x 40 x 80cm; Weight: 12kg; Fuel Type: Wood, Charcoal and Gas; Portable: Yes; Max pizza size: 12in
2. Gozney Roccbox (dual fuel): Best portable pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £499 | Check price at Gozney
Suitable for use with wood and gas, the Roccbox is an incredibly stylish and portable outdoor pizza oven. Its compact size and easy set-up makes it ideal for al fresco dining whether you’re in the garden or camping. The oven is almost fully assembled straight out of the box and it comes with pretty much everything you need to get started, with the exception of the fuel itself.
When tested with the gas burner, the Roccbox reached its maximum temperature of 500ºC in around 30-45 minutes. 12in pizzas cooked in around 60 seconds, sometimes less and the result was excellent, with a well cooked base and crispy crust. Unfortunately, the Roccbox struggled to reach the maximum temperature using the wood burner. It also required a lot of wood to stay hot and struggled to stay at a consistent temperature without regular tending. This meant pizzas took longer to cook but the results were still authentic and delicious.
If you’re looking to buy your first pizza oven and want the flexibility of using both gas and wood, the Roccbox is an excellent, albeit expensive, choice. And, if you can live without using wood, you can save yourself some money by opting for the gas-only version (£399).
Read our full Gozney Roccbox review
Key specs – Dimensions: 47 x 53 x 41cm (WDH); Weight: 20kg; Fuel type: Wood, gas; Portable: Yes; Max pizza size: 12in
3. Witt Etna Fermo: Best gas pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £579 | Check price at Amazon
While Danish brand Witt may not have the name recognition of competitors like Ooni or Gozney, we can safely say it deserves to. This stylish pizza oven impresses from the first glance with its sleek, modern design and striking range of colour options. Coming largely pre-assembled, the Etna Fermo is also simple to set up, needing just a AA battery and a bottle of butane to get it going.
Under ideal conditions, we found that the Etna Fermo’s pizza stone could reach its operating temperature of 500ºC in just 18 minutes, although it struggled a little to reach this temperature on cooler days. Even below 500ºC, it was able to cook a classic, thin-crust homemade pizza to perfection in just 60 seconds. What’s more, we found it matched the authentic flavour of wood-powered ovens.
Throughout testing, the Etna Fermo also revealed several neat design touches. The oven’s large internal capacity meant it was able to fit sizable pizzas of up to 16in, while its extra-wide opening at the front made it simple to adjust, turn and remove our pizzas as they cooked. The Etna Fermo’s U-shaped burner was another standout feature: both practical and pretty, it looked great in use and also ensured our pizzas cooked more evenly.
Pairing great aesthetics with impressive functionality and performance, the Etna Fermo is one of our current favourite pizza ovens.
Read our full Witt Etna Fermo Pizza Oven review
Key specs – Dimensions: 63 x 75 x 45cm (WDH); Weight: 32kg; Fuel type: Butane, propane; Portable: No; Max pizza size: 16in
4. Ooni Karu 16: Best multi-fuel pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £699 | Check price at Ooni
The Karu 16 is, quite simply, the ultimate outdoor cooking accessory. It’s suitable for use with hardwood, gas and charcoal and can reach a scorching 500ºC in just 15 minutes. It cooks 16in pizzas in around 60 seconds and can also be used to cook a variety of other foods such as steak and vegetables (with the use of cast iron cookware). It’s quick and easy to set up – even for a beginner – and everything you need, including screws and tools, are included in the box.
Despite its huge capacity, the Ooni is surprisingly compact at 50 x 81.5 x 83.7cm (including chimney), making it suitable for smaller gardens too. There’s a digital thermometer at the front, as well as a hinged door at the front and chimney on top, which allows you to control the airflow and temperature of the oven. In testing, we found the Ooni produced excellent results with both wood and gas, though the wood offered a crispier, smokier and more authentic pizza flavour overall. Adding and removing our pizza was easy, due to the Karu’s wide opening, and the reheat time was super speedy too – sometimes as little as 60 seconds.
The only downside of the Ooni? The price. It doesn’t come with a gas burner as standard, nor does it come with many of the essential accessories you need to cook pizza, such as a pizza peel and turner. This means that if you want to make the most of the oven, you’ll need to spend an additional £150 at least. If money’s no object, though, you won’t regret splashing out. This is one of the very best pizza ovens you can buy.
Read our full Ooni Karu 16 review here.
Key specs – Dimensions: 50 x 81.5 x 83.7cm; Weight: 28kg; Fuel Type: Wood, gas and charcoal; Portable: No; Max pizza size: 16in
5. La Hacienda 56294 BBQ Pizza Oven: Best BBQ accessory for pizza
Price when reviewed: £80 | Check price at Amazon
If you’re looking for a pizza oven that’s smaller than average but doesn’t compromise on quality, this model from La Hacienda might just be the ideal fit. More of a nifty BBQ accessory than a standalone pizza oven, this clever contraption sits on the grill of an existing gas or charcoal BBQ, letting you add authentic Italian pizzas to your garden party with ease.
It takes just ten minutes to get to temperature (this varies depending on the temperature of your BBQ) and stays hot enough to cook a 12in pizza to crispy perfection in a matter of minutes. Once everyone is pizza-d out, the removable stone base makes it easy to clean and its small size and helpful handles on both sides make it a doddle to store away.
Its portability doesn’t come at the cost of functionality either. Like other pizza ovens, its repertoire is not limited to pizzas. With a little bit of experimenting, you can cook everything from fish and meat, to bread and cookies.
Key specs – Dimensions: 35 x 35 x 15cm; Weight: 8kg; Fuel Type: Barbecue grill; Portable: Yes; Max pizza size: 12in
6. Ooni Koda 16: Most stylish pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £500 | Check price at Lakeland
For those looking to knock their pizza-making up a gear, this model from pizza oven pros Ooni is definitely worth the steep price tag. It’s incredibly easy to set up – just unfold the legs, connect the gas and use the built-in ignition switch. What’s more, it can reach up to 500°C in just 20 minutes.
It’s also surprisingly portable for such a luxury model. As it’s gas-powered, there’s no bulky chimney or ash to clear away after use. Perhaps its most important feature, though, is the incredible capacity. Despite not taking up much more space than smaller Ooni models, this oven can handle 16in pizzas with ease. And with the cordierite pizza stone helping you to produce a perfectly crisp base, you’ll be a pizza pro in no time.
Key specs – Dimensions: 63.4 x 58.9 x 35cm; Weight: 18.2kg; Fuel Type: Propane; Portable: Yes; Max pizza size: 16in
7. Gozney Dome: Best luxury pizza oven
Price when reviewed: £1,799 | Check price at Gozney
If you’re a pizza-lover with a serious amount of dough to spare, then a professional-grade option like the Gozney Dome is well worth your consideration.
Dubbed “the Rolls-Royce of pizza ovens” in our full review, the Gozney Dome earns this title due to its luxurious design and excellent performance. Its cream-coloured, domed exterior is quite simply a pleasure to look at, while the weatherproofed ceramic and stainless body feels sturdy and well put-together, proving to be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.
Available in single and dual-fuel models, the Dome heats to 500ºC in about 30-40 mins with gas and 40+ mins with wood. While these aren’t the quickest times we’ve seen, the oven’s thick stone floor retains heat well, meaning that once the Dome has come up to temperature, you can get a lot done with the warmth you’ve generated.
Of course, all this wouldn’t mean much if the oven didn’t make great pizza. Thankfully, we can confirm that the Dome produces perfectly crisp pizza with a nicely blistered crust, and does so in a largely hassle-free manner. The Dome is easily set-up, its extra-wide opening makes turning the pizza a simple affair and its built-in digital thermometer with backlit display leaves heat levels easy to monitor.
Read our full Gozney Dome review
Key specs – Dimensions: 55 x 79 x 68cm (HDW); Weight: 58kg; Fuel Type: Wood/Wood and gas; Portable: No; Max pizza size: 16in
