The best pizza ovens to buy in 2024
delicious. team
Is there anything more appealing than the idea of cooking restaurant-quality pizza in the comfort of your own garden? Sales for pizza ovens have gone through the roof over the last three years, making it clear that the appeal for DIY pizza is absolutely not going anywhere. As the market has a lot to offer, we’ve done our bit to help out and have reviewed five of the most popular free-standing outdoor pizza ovens.
If you’re looking to upgrade your al-fresco cooking situation, check out our reviews. You’ll be creating the Neopolitan-style charred-edged pizza of your dreams with your very own hands, in no time.
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Believe in the hype?
Making pizza at home is always fun, but with conventional ovens, the crust often dries out or goes too crispy by the time the toppings are cooked. Fret no more, friends. With these 6 pizza ovens, you can cook a crispy-edged, chewy crusted pizza, rather quickly (in 90 seconds or less, to be precise).
There’s a huge range of sizes, types and costs of ovens, with some coming in at more than £1,000. We tested a range that are under £500 for this review, plus a couple of the pricier ones. We have chosen ovens that should work in various sizes of gardens (or even on balconies), and are pretty portable meaning they can be taken on holiday, on camping trips, or even to a picnic.
We highly recommend you make your own pizza dough for a truly authentic pizza experience (plus, it’s so satisfying to see the end results).
7 of the most popular portable pizza ovens
The Ooni Karu 12G is the company’s newest model, and it seriously impressed us. What makes this model special is that it comes complete with a door and a chimney, meaning it stays hot for longer and can create a roaring fire with just wood, wood chips or coal. This makes it ideal for those who don’t want the burden of buying and refilling gas canisters (not to mention the expense). The model does take a little time to build and put together (approximately 30-40 minutes in total), but once it’s built, it’s a beauty of a machine that will bring you many evenings of pizza joy in your future.
What’s special about it?
The design of this model is incredibly well thought-out and it really stands out as a multi-fuel oven for the speed with which it gets up to temperature. The chimney, with its heat-resistant handle and powder-coated body, the non-slip rubber feet, the built-in thermometer; everything has been considered here and expertly engineered. The insulated glass door provides you with a good view of your pizza as it cooks without the risk of heat loss/smoke in the face, and its handle is easy to manoeuvre. The door even has built-in ‘AirWash technology’ which means soot is prevented from building up on the glass surface: how clever is that?
This oven has multiple fuel options: you can also purchase a gas connecter if you prefer to cook with gas with your oven, but the Ooni Karu 12G’s wide and spacious fuel burner means that wood and coal do the job just brilliantly. It took us 20 minutes to get the fire going with wood sticks and chips but fire-starting experts would be able to do this more quickly.
Once hot, the Ooni Karu 12G will cook a pizza in 60 seconds! Other ovens promise this, but this oven really delivers a fast-cook and a gorgeous leopard print spotting on the crust. The finished pizza tasted like it came from a pizzeria, and we can also vouch for Ooni’s pizza dough and ingredient kits, all available online (the dough is fool-proof!).
In short
If you want to make 12” pizzas, the Karu 12G would be our top pick, principally for ease of use and design, and the flawless pizza it produces. The crust (or cornicione as it’s professionally known) puffed up wonderfully every time we put a new pizza inside it, and as well as pizzas, the Ooni can be used to roast meat, fish and veggies – which is where the temperature dial comes in handy (no one wants burnt steak).
Ooni Karu 12G is available at Ooni.com (£379) or Amazon.com.
Ooni also offer sourdough pizza dough balls available to buy frozen, as well as dough kits and lots of exciting toppings. We have tried and tested and can confirm the dough makes amazing pizzas. £39 for 24 balls, available at ooni.com.
If you’re looking to splash the cash…
This Norwegian designed gas-powered oven has a double layer of insulation and an integral rotating pizza stone to ensure evenly baked pizzas every time. It’s available in four finishes black, anthracite, orange and stone.
What’s special about it?
The Etna Rotante has two burners that cook the pizza from above and below. There’s a show-stopping U-shaped gas burner at the back of the oven and a second booster burner underneath the pizza stone which helps keep the stone consistently hot, enabling you to chain cook pizzas and serve the entire family quickly and efficiently.
The oven reaches 500c in less than 15 minutes and can handle up to a 16 inch pizza. It weighs 37.5kg so although portable will probably need a semi-permanent home in your garden at least over the summer months. The manufacturers do sell a cover for it too.
In short
Stone-baked pizza in super fast time with leopard-dotted puffy crusts. It’s hard to do pizzas badly in this oven and the combination of the rotating pizza stone and gas backburner ensure this oven will always impress when you are entertaining.
The Witt Etna Rotante oven is available from wittpizza.com and costs £699. You can also find it on Amazon.com.
If you’re looking for a super-sized slice
Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven
The first oven to be certified by the Assocazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the Karu 16 is a multi-fuel pizza oven that is capable of creating impressive, flame-cooked pizzas in minutes. The oven’s aesthetically pleasing, durable design, is just one reason to love it; but its the functionality that is second to none. The glass oven door and large fuel tray allow this oven to reach 500ºC in just 15 minutes.
What’s special about it?
Not only is the Karu 16 bigger than other models (meaning you can create 16 inch pizzas to feed a crew), it’s also clearly the result of Ooni’s 9 year of experience in pizza oven production. The oven’s exterior has a temperature-resistant powder finish which means you don’t need to panic should there be children (or merry adults) around. The oven’s door is unique in having brackets (making it very easy to open) as well as a ventilation system, which means the glass door stays clean and you can watch your pizza cooking, so you know when it’s time to turn it. The oven is a hybrid: able to take charcoal, dry wood or gas fuel (with a separate attachment), and the large tray for the fuel means the fire stays hotter for longer. As a result, this oven is wonderful at slow cooking meats and is also suited to cooking bread or vegetables.
The oven does need assembling on arrival, but this didn’t take our tester longer than 30 minutes, and once built, it can be stored in a shed or covered in the garden quite happily. The Karu 16 comes with a digital thermometer that you attach to the outside of the oven – which tells you the ambient air temperature: but it is advisable to invest in a temperature hand gun as the environment inside the oven can be quite a lot hotter at the back than at the front.
In short
The Karu 16 gets top marks for ease-of-use and the speed with which it heats up. The oven door and smoking chimney create the perfect environment for wood fired pizza. The Karu 16 will not let you down, but it is a larger, heavier model so best for those who aren’t looking for something particularly portable.
The Karu 16 is available at Ooni for £699, or Amazon.com.
If you want a portable gas-fuelled oven
The Gozney Roccbox is a restaurant-grade portable pizza oven, which reaches 500°C. Gozney is known in the UK for a successful commercial oven business, and their restaurant-sized pizza ovens are used by the likes of Franco Manca, Homeslice, and Pizza Pilgrims to name but a few. The Roccbox is designed to work like these commercial ovens, with a yellow rolling flame which gives the consistent bake we are all striving for, and the leopard-like spotting along the crust of the pizza.
What’s special about it?
The Gozney Roccbox uses thicker stone than the other ovens we tested (30mm) which means the oven retains heat and cooks the pizza from the bottom up as well as the top down. This ensures the crust rises evenly and the pizza doesn’t end up burnt on the top while soggy on the bottom. It’s easy to set up, but you do need to get your hands on patio gas and a canister. You can find this at petrol stations or many suppliers of Calor gas, who will deliver. Then it’s just a case of hooking up to your oven, switching it on, and waiting 30 minutes for your Roccbox to reach temperature. The oven comes with a pizza paddle so you have all the tools you need to get cooking.
Once hot, the Roccbox will cook your pizza in 60 SECONDS! We tested Neopolitan style pizzas, as well as pides (best cooked a little lower at 300°C to ensure they don’t burn) chicken wings, and peaches (roasted for a salad with ricotta). The Gozney is a revolution in outdoor cooking. The finished pizza tasted like it came from a pizzeria, but better! It was hotter and fresher than any restaurant pizza, and the crust was the perfect level of chewy and crisp. Gozney offer loads of video recipes on their website, from garlic naan breads to lahmacun, so go on – get cooking!
In short
Top marks for design, ease of set-up and use, and the restaurant quality pizza!
Gozney Roccbox is available at gozney.com for £399, with the option of both gas and wood-fired (just scroll to choose your fuel)! We’re delighted to team up with Gozney. We may earn commission if you buy a Gozney Roccbox that you’ve seen promoted by us.
You can also find it on Amazon.com.
If you want a compact electric oven
Cuisinart’s stainless steel, electric pizza oven is a powerful model that offers the opportunity to create bubbly Neopolitan pizzas, pillowy focaccia or crisp, New York style slices inside your own kitchen. All the accessories you need, including a pizza peel, pizza cutter, large heat-conducting pizza stone and a deep dish pan come included. This is a noisy, large, machine so bear that in mind if you have a smaller kitchen or noise is something that might bother you. You’ll need plenty of room on the kitchen counter and indoor storage for the oven when not in use. However, this oven’s ease of use and lack of soot/mess (associated with outdoor pizza ovens) is very appealing.
What’s special about it?
The speed with which this oven heats up is impressive for a plug-in gadget. It reaches 400°C in just 20 minutes, which is faster than many gas or wood-fuelled ovens we’ve tested. The temperature range can be changed on a dial, and ranges from 175°C to 400°C, so you have the choice to cook pizza to your style – whether you favour a crisp Roman base or a doughy Neopolitan pizza.
In short
This oven, with its large pizza stone and user-friendly interface, has a lot going for it. It’s ideal for people who don’t have an outdoor space but still want a slice of the pizza oven action.
The Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven is available from Cuisinart for £299 or Amazon.com.
Optima Pizza Express Napoli
The Pizza Express Napoli is an electric tabletop mini version of a professional pizza oven, manufactured near Modena, and has been on the go for over 20 years. It’s a very simple construction: pizza stone, two heating elements that reach 450°C (way higher than a domestic oven) and a lid. The cooking surface, made of traditional real fire stone, absorbs moisture from the dough and gives the pizza base a really good chewy crispiness.
What’s special about it?
It’s perfect if you don’t have outside space for a full-sized wood-fired oven (or even want the faff). The stone base and electric element in the lid reach the heat of a commercial pizza oven in just 10 minutes and another few minutes later you’re guaranteed a pizza that’s way better than you’d expect. In Vespa red it looks quintessentially Italian and is great for a little party: once you get into the swing you’ll be serving up a fresh pizza every 4-5 minutes. And not just pizza – you can make flatbreads, focaccia and the like on this too.
In short
Nothing not to like here – affordable, versatile and will deliver you the perfect pizza every time. It comes with a warning to take care not to allow the topping to spill onto the stone (we can verify it will guarantee lots of smoke!).
The Optima Express pizza oven is available from Pizza United (£199).
If money is no object…
DeliVita
If James Bond had a pizza oven, this is the model he’d be rocking. Handmade in Yorkshire, this has Aston Martin sleek, with the clay oven covered in a fibreglass shell in a choice of vibrant red, orange, navy, olive green or black. The oven even stays cool underneath, and surprisingly weighs only 30kg so is portable enough to be enjoyed anywhere. The DeliVita is wood-fired, but you can get it to 500°C surprisingly quickly.
What’s special about it?
The completely waterproof shell means this oven can sit outside in all weathers, with its exterior resistant to cracks. And, because of its size, the DelVita is a great vessel to cook meat, fish and roast vegetables in. The oven takes between 20 and 30 minutes to heat up, but with that price tag, you’ll need to make an awful lot of pizza before you’ve earned your money back.
In short
The largest of the ovens we tested, the DeliVita is a hard-wearing, weather resistant traditional clay oven that’s perfect for those looking for a classic, wood-fired oven that looks chic.
The DeliVita pizza oven is available from DeliVita for £1395.
Have you taken any pizza ovens for a test drive? Let us know your favourites in the comments below.
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