The Beginner's Guide to Outdoor Pizza Ovens

Can anything top the smell of fresh, bubbly pizza straight out of the oven? It’s even more delightful to make a pizza from scratch and cook it outdoors. Its’ this perfect combination: a universally loved food, cooked and eaten under the blue skies that makes adding a pizza oven to your outdoor kitchen or patio one of the best investments in backyard living. This beginner’s guide to outdoor pizza ovens will help you choose the best style for you.

Outdoor pizza ovens are made to cook at extremely high temperatures (up to 900oF) that can cook a pizza in just a few minutes, resulting in a perfectly bubbly crust. They are built to retain heat for rapid cooking: the base and dome use bricks, tiles, or other insulating layers but that’s where the similarities end. First, we’ll explore the ways to heat your pizza oven.

Fuel

There is no clear winner between wood and gas. Both have their pros and cons, and each is better for different uses.

Wood is the classic fuel, with distinctive sights, sounds, and aromas. Pizza purists will insist that nothing gives your pizza a better eating experience that features slightly charred crust and slightly smoky taste. In fact, you can use a variety of fruitwoods that give your pizza amazing flavor. Since wood fires need to be tended constantly, it becomes part of the pizza-making ritual - including the 1-2 hour warmup time. Some find tending the wood fun and an art form of sorts, while others dread it. Having a good supply of the right hardwood or fruitwood on hand can also mean devoting storage to it so it’s dry when you want to use it.

Gas pizza ovens heat up faster (within 30 minutes) and there’s no hassle of gathering and restocking firewood in the fuel box. This set-it-and-forget-it approach appeals to those who love reliability and simplicity. A gas pizza oven could be a good option if you plan on cooking other foods such as roasts or bread. It is also generally less expensive than a wood-fueled outdoor pizza oven.

Types of Outdoor Pizza Ovens

Traditional full-sized pizza ovens are simply clay bricks and a tile floor while more modern units may have layers of various materials, all designed to hold in the heat. These ovens may be integrated into an outdoor kitchen, an outdoor fireplace, or they can be stand-alone features. A full sized pizza oven is the one style that gives you an authentic experience with fast-food convenience (a hot, bubbly pizza done in less than two minutes). Since a full-sized outdoor pizza oven is constructed using masonry on-site, it becomes a permanent feature of your patio: and the return on investment is substantial simply because of the frequency with which you’ll want to enjoy making pizza at home.

Pre-built/precast pizza ovens are constructed off-site, delivered, and then assembled on-site. A precast outdoor pizza oven can also be moved should you want to take your pizza oven along if you relocate.

Modular/pre-cut pizza ovens are kits that you can build yourself onsite. They come with instructions and are suitable for everyday DIYers.

Portable outdoor pizza ovens are smaller and lighter, and can be relocated as you like. These are typically constructed of metal and are gas-fueled although a few allow the use of wood or wood pellets for an authentic wood smoke flavor. The downside is that due to less heat-retaining material, they will rarely get above 700oF so you won’t get the rapid cooking times of masonry ovens. Portable ovens are cheaper, although you won’t get the wow factor of a traditional full sized oven and you can only cook one pizza at a time.

A BBQ pizza oven is designed to sit on top of your gas BBQ; it’s essentially a pizza stone with a cover; the heat is concentrated in the base to cook the pizza, and the cover contains the heat. Amazingly, these little ovens can reach 800oF at a fraction of the cost of full masonry ovens.

Given the huge range of sizes and materials, a permanent outdoor pizza oven could run you between $1,500-8,000 depending on whether you are choosing a kit or having one custom-built. Portable pizza ovens can cost between $150 to $800 depending on the model.