This All-in-One Pizza Oven Is Under $200

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As summer approaches, we're prepping our outdoor spaces to spend more time outside — getting the grill in tip-top shape, making sure the fire pit is ready to go, and maybe buying a few new pieces for our backyard setup to really help savor the season. The afternoons and evenings of dining al fresco are more and more commonplace, and few foods beg to be enjoyed on the porch like homemade pizza right out of the oven. After all, pizza night is so much more fun when everyone can customize their own pie with their favorite toppings and then pop it into the oven themselves!

If you've ever tried making homemade pizza in a conventional or convection oven, then you know the results are nowhere near as tasty as the restaurant-style pies cooked near open-flame in a true pizza oven. That's because most household ovens can't reach the extremely high temperatures needed to quickly cook pizza. A typical pizza should cook in 60-90 seconds, meaning that the oven will need to reach at least 800 degrees F, a far cry from the 500-600 degree F max most household ovens can reliably reach. In short, you need a true pizza oven to get a truly restaurant-quality pie.

Pizza oven popularity has skyrocketed in the last few years, so there's more than a few options on the market. And while this might seem great for consumers, it can make it difficult to narrow down which oven is the best for you. You'll most likely be spending $200-$500 on a pizza oven, so you want to be sure that what you're getting is not only the best quality, but also that your oven is suitable for your needs. For instance, you may want to splurge on the best-quality, stand-alone pizza oven if you never plan on moving it from your backyard. But if you want to take your pizza game on the road, then portability should be top concern.

Lucky for you, we've researched and tested more than a few pizza ovens on the market right now, and we've narrowed down the best of the best for every different situation.

The Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens

3-in-1 Pizza Oven

Fuel type: Propane

Weight: 45 lbs.

Temperature Range: 700°F

Opening: 25 in.

It's hard to beat a pizza oven that doubles as not only a grill but also a griddle. The Cuisinart 3-in-1 makes for a great purchase for those who want the most out of any cooking appliance they buy, whether it be for space or efficiency needs.

And, for the record, it makes a pretty darn good pizza, if we do say so ourselves. Reaching up to 700° F, you'll get a far crispier crust than using your oven and a pie that's more akin to what you'd expect at a restaurant.

Not to mention, this pizza oven could not be any easier to use. You light it just as you would a grill and it only takes about 15 minutes to fully heat. It takes a bit longer to cook than most the other models we tested, coming in at about 6-8 minutes for a totally done pie.

Assembly is as simple as pie (get it?). It's a one-man job to put this pizza oven together, light it up, and you'll have a pretty good pie out in no time.

KettlePizza

Fuel type: Coal and hardwood

Weight: 7 lbs.

Temperature Range: up to 750°F

Opening: approx. 17 inches

Coming in as the least expensive pizza oven on our list is the KettlePizza, which is an attachment for Weber charcoal grills. Though it's not a traditional pizza oven, the KettlePizza is incredibly easy to assemble and use, and it produces an amazing pizza.

The KettlePizza isn't the fastest cooking oven on our list, but it's fairly quick, with a cook time of 2-3 minutes. For best results, our Food and Crafts Director Charlyne Mattox recommends starting with an entire chimney full of coals. "Once the coals are ready, put them into the grill and top with the assembled KettlePizza, including the pizza stone; allow to heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Next, quickly remove the top and add several pieces of chopped up dry hardwood (cut into 4-inch chunks). At this stage, the temperature of the grill should spike very quickly. Once it has reached 700+°F (ours will often go beyond the highest temperature range on the thermometer), it’s time to get cooking!"

With the KettlePizza being totally unique in its use, you may want to watch a few videos for tips and tricks from others and follow our top tips listed in the introduction.

Pi

Fuel type: Wood standard, but we used gas attachment

Weight: 30.5 lbs.

Temperature Range: 900°F

The Pi pizza oven is ready to go with you anywhere and everywhere for delicious pies on the go. It's one compact unit without any chimney or legs to worry about and weighs a hair over 30 lbs., so it shouldn't make too much of a dent in your cargo space.

One of the biggest pros to the Pi oven is the unique airflow technology that allows both the stone and the dome top to reach high levels of heat. After 10-20 minutes of preheating, you can pop out a pizza in 1-2 minutes that has nicely charred, crisp edges and perfectly melted cheese.

Out of the Gozney, Ooni, and Solo Stove, this oven has what we consider to be the most unique design. It's incredibly low-profile and compact, making it easy to cover and store away, though it's aesthetically pleasing enough to be left out.

The fairly wide opening of the Solo Stove pizza oven makes it easy to clean. You'll most likely still want to invest in a long-handled grilled brush, but you could go without one if you'd prefer.

Another unique feature of the Pi oven: a lifetime warranty. These stoves are designed to last a lifetime, making them worth the heftier price tag than we've seen on other models.

Karu 12

Fuel type: Wood standard, but we also used gas attachment

Weight: 26.4 lbs.

Temperature Range: 950°F, though we only achieved about 650°F with wood, and closer to 575°F with gas

Opening: 14.5 inches

Similar to the Gozney model, the Ooni Karu comes ready to use straight out of the box—no assembly required. The standard model is wood-burning, though we also tested the gas attachment.

As with any wood/gas pizza oven, using the gas attachment made for a quicker, easier experience overall. If you use the standard out-of-the-box model, you'll need to use small wood chips, which means lots of cutting or purchasing separately. With the gas attachment, the oven fully heats in about 10-12 minutes, but takes a bit longer using just wood, coming in at 15-20 minutes. If you do purchase the gas attachment, it's incredibly easy to swap in and works like a charm, gently singing the edges of the pie like you'd expect at a restaurant.

The Karu has a stainless steel casing, so it'll blend with almost any outdoor décor style. It's sleek and almost futuristic looking, with our Senior Food Editor Chris Michel saying, "I can see using it for years, and it only looking better as it ages."

The only two downsides we found to the Karu are clean-ability and portability. You'll want to invest in a long-handled grill brush to reach every corner of the pizza oven to make sure it's totally clean. Also, while the Karu is under 30 lbs., packing it up is surprisingly difficult. While the legs and chimney fold down, it is bulky and the doors don't latch, meaning they need to be carried separately.

by Gozney

Fuel type: Gas (wood burner accessory available, as well)

Weight: 44 lbs.

Temperature Range: up to 950°F

Opening: 12.2 inches

Designed to tote around wherever you want to pop out pies, the Gozney ROCCBOX involves zero assembly and weighs in at under 45 lbs. The gas burner is standard on every model, but you can buy the wood burner attachment if you prefer.

The ROCCBOX is one of the easiest pizza ovens to use on our list, especially if you opt for the standard gas attachment. After hooking it up to a propane tank, allow it to burn for 20-30 minutes to fully heat before popping your pizza in (per usual, we'd recommend heating a bit longer before first use). Pies cook incredibly fast, standard for a traditional pizza oven, in about a 60-90 seconds. The opening is just large enough to fit one standard pie, but you could continuously pop pies in and out without losing heat.

This pizza oven was also designed to last. The stainless steel oven is covered in a silicone exterior shell so it's safe to the touch when in use. It's shape is sleek and it comes in two different colors, olive and gray.

Since the ROCCBOX reaches such high heat, it's pretty easy to clean. If you use the gas burner, you'll just need to worry about bits of the pizza left over, which should slide out easily with a grill brush since they'll be charred.

Nano Pizza Oven

Fuel type: Wood burning

Weight: 125 lbs.

Temperature Range: 1000°F

If you're thinking about truly restaurant-quality pies, then the Italian-made ALFA Nano is probably the closest you're going to get—but it comes at a price. This is a heavy duty pizza oven. It's fairly straightforward and easy to use, as a pizza oven should be, but it is large. This is not the oven you want to take back and forth on vacations to the lake and beach. This is the pizza oven you want in your outdoor kitchen to toss out pies when friends come for tailgate parties and backyard get-togethers.

Lighting the wood-burning Alfa Nano is easy as can be. Simply build a small tinder bed and add kindling or a food-safe fire starter. We built the fire in the center of the oven and then moved it to the side right before putting the pizza in to make sure the oven heated evenly and the stone was scalding hot to get the crust crunchy. Don't take your eyes off your pizza once you put it in: it only takes about 90 seconds to completely cook.

Our only major complaint about the ALFA Nano isn't even about the oven itself, but the assembly of the base. The directions were lacking and it was a tough job for one person, but our tester managed to assemble it in about an hour.

What to Look for in a Pizza Oven

Fuel Type

There are two main fuel types for at-home pizza ovens: gas (through a natural gas line or propane hook-up) and wood. Many models include the option to upgrade or purchase separate attachments so your oven can be both gas and wood-burning, and both fuel types have their pros and cons.

Wood-burned pizza has the most authentic, delicious taste. Similar to grilling over charcoal vs. gas, it's hard to beat the taste of a pie that comes from a wood-burning pizza oven. The downside? Wood-burning pizza ovens are much more of a hassle. You'll most likely need some sort of starter to get your fire going, and wood-burning ovens take longer to heat up. They're also going to produce more smoke than a gas-fueled oven and require more cleanup due to ash.

Gas-fired pizza ovens are easier to use and heat up faster than their wood-burning counterparts. They're also a breeze to clean. You'll usually just need to scrape out the charred bits leftover from the pizza in a gas-fueled pizza oven.

Portability

Are you planning on leaving your pizza oven stationary on your patio or deck or do you want to take it on vacation, camping, or store it away easily when not in use? If you want to take your pizza oven on the go, then look for one that's not only lightweight but also has multiple fuel capabilities and is compact. Folding legs and chimneys make traveling with a pizza oven easier.

Temperature Range

To get the quality of pizza you'd expect at a restaurant, you'll want an oven that can reach 800-900ºF or higher. These temperatures quickly singe the outer edges of the crust and melt the cheese while leaving a fluffy bread base. Ovens that can't reach temperatures that high can still make good pizza, but it won't be the top-notch quality you may be looking for.

Durability

You're investing a good bit of money into this pizza oven, so you definitely want one that will last. Most of the pizza ovens we've included on this list are made of durable stainless steel so you can expect them to last you years to come, but many also come with 1 year-lifetime warranties for extra assurance.

How to Make the Best Pie in Your Pizza Oven

Perfecting your pizza can take a bit of trial and error, but there are some surefire ways to get the best pie possible:

• Always allow your oven to heat longer on the first use. There might be residue leftover from manufacturing on the interior of the oven, so it's best practice to give the oven 20-30 minutes of extra burn time to make sure everything is singed off.

• Assemble your pizza on the paddle. This is the easiest way to pop it right into the oven without risking getting your hands too close to the open (and very hot) flame.

• Cornmeal is your best friend. Dough is, of course, very sticky, so dust your pizza paddle heavily with cornmeal before placing the dough on top to make sure it slides easily into the oven.

• Turn your pie consistently while cooking. At 800-900ºF, these pizza ovens cook incredibly fast, so you'll want to have a long-handled turner ready to go immediately. Give your pizza 10-15 seconds for the bottom of the crust to cook and loosen up from the stone and then start rotating the pie.

• Use fresh dough. Make your own if you can (it's so easy!) or see if your local supermarket makes some fresh. This is not the time and place for canned dough.

• Never take your eyes off the pie. Like we mentioned, these pizzas cook fast. We're talking cook times of 60-90 seconds for most of these ovens. So, always have an eye on your pie to make sure it doesn't burn.

Why Trust Us?

We put each and every one of these pizza ovens through rigorous testing by multiple members of the Country Living team to ensure that they are top-quality and make the restaurant-quality pies we expect. If any product didn't meet our strict standards, you won't find it here.

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