The 8 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens for Perfect Pies at Home
For pizza parties and easy dinners alike, these hearths make pristine pies every time.
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While we love tending to the grill and gathering around a fire pit, theres something we (and your party guests) may love more: Pizza. Baking your pie in the oven can yield good results, but there’s nothing like the crunchy crust and smoky flavor of a pizza made in a proper hearth. If you’re hoping to replicate your favorite restaurant’s pies, an outdoor pizza oven can take your homemade slices from decent to genuinely artisan.
Outdoor pizza ovens reach much higher temperatures than regular ovens, and in less time. That high heat is exactly what you need for a perfectly cooked pizza crust, and our tests found that many of our recommended models can cook up your pie in as little as 60 seconds—a genuine game-changer for frequent party-throwers or big family pizza nights.
Plus, many of the outdoor pizza ovens we recommend are suited for other tasty foods, just like a real hearth. You can make fish, meat, roasted vegetables, and even bread in these countertop and standalone ovens—excellent for anyone who loves entertaining on the patio.
The Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens
- Best Overall: Ooni Karu 16
- Best Budget Option: Big Horn Outdoors Pizza Oven
- Best for Beginners: Solo Stove Pi Prime Pizza Oven
- Best for Neapolitan Pizza: Ooni Karu 12
- Best Dual Fuel: Bertello Grande Outdoor Pizza Oven
What to Consider
How Outdoor Pizza Ovens Work
Outdoor pizza ovens use gas or wood to create flames across the top that radiate intense heat downwards, heating the pizza stone. Once the stone hits cooking temperature, throw your pizza in the oven—because the stone is as hot as the “roof” of the hearth, the pizza cooks evenly and quickly from both the top and bottom. While it cooks, those flames up top produce a golden crust that’s crispy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. Because the pizza only takes a minute or so to cook, you can make a few with different toppings one after another.
Size and Temperature
The oven’s size dictates the maximum temperature the unit can reach, as well as the size pie you can cook in it. Many outdoor pizza ovens are designed for 12-inch pies. Our Best Overall pick, though, can accommodate pizzas up to 16 inches for big, restaurant-like slices.
Pizzas are typically cooked at a minimum of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Classic Neapolitan pizza requires temperatures over 900 degrees (these are the ones with golden crusts, mottled with dark leopard spots, that you often see on Instagram).
The pizza ovens we recommend have max temperatures that far exceed 500 degrees, but note that an oven with a relatively low maximum temperature will still give you a delicious, cooked-through pie—it just may not look quite as picture perfect.
Fuel Type
Wood is the traditional fuel of choice for pizza ovens, favored for the smoky flavor it imparts in the crust and toppings. However, wood (or charcoal) fires take longer to heat up and require more attention to maintain the right temperature. That may not be an issue if you’re only making a couple of pies, but it can become a hassle if you’re cooking multiple pies for a large group, or entertaining a party while you cook.
Propane fuel can heat a pizza oven up quickly with just the turn of a knob. The convenience of firing up the oven on high and being ready to cook a pie within 15 minutes is hard to deny, as is the ease of clean-up when there’s no ashy firebox to empty. However, propane ovens won’t give you the wood-fired flavor.
Luckily, you don’t have to pick just one: Many of the brands we recommend offer extra accessories you can buy to accommodate a different fuel type. There are even some options with combined fuel, so you can heat up your oven fast with the propane and imbue the pizza with wood-fired flavor, too.
How We Selected
To find the best pizza ovens, we looked at models with good features and designs and called in a handful to try ourselves. We selected pizza ovens that use a variety of fuels, including gas, charcoal, and wood. We tested several, too, including the Ooni Karu 16, Ooni Karu 12, Gozney Roccbox, Bertello, Bertello Grande, Alfa Nano, Solo Stove Pi Prime, and Cuisinart 3-in-1 pizza ovens.
For testing, we heated each oven for 30 minutes to season them and burn off any oils or contaminants from manufacturing, then let them cool completely. Fifteen minutes after firing up each oven on high using propane burners, we measured the temperatures on the pizza stones with an infrared thermometer.
Then, we made pizza, using the same dough each time, with propane and oak firewood as our fuel. During cooking, we noted how well each oven performed, different features, and their ease of use. Finally (and most enjoyably), we assessed, a.k.a., ate, the pizza. We recommend these ovens based on our experience and, for the ovens we haven’t gotten our hands on yet, we evaluated specs, features, and user reviews to ensure their quality.
Danny Perez is a Commerce Editor for Popular Mechanics with a focus on men's style, gear, and home goods. Recently, he was coordinator of partnership content at another product journalism outlet. Prior to that, he was a buyer for an independent men's shop in Houston, Texas, where he learned all about what makes great products great. He enjoys thrifting for 90s Broadway tees and vintage pajama sets. His spare time is occupied by watching movies and running to impress strangers on Strava.
Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer specializing in home, kitchen, and pet products. In her four years as a product tester, she's tested hundreds of items firsthand, and her work appears in publications such as Forbes, USA Today, The Spruce, Food52, and more.
Brad Ford has spent most of his life using tools to fix, build, or make things. Growing up he worked on a farm, where he learned to weld, repair, and paint equipment. From the farm he went to work at a classic car dealer, repairing and servicing Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and Jaguars. Today, when he's not testing tools or writing for Popular Mechanics, he's busy keeping up with the projects at his old farmhouse in eastern Pennsylvania.
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