7 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens for Homemade Pizza, According to Testing

Gozney’s newest portable pizza oven is truly portable, unlike others that are heavy, bulky, or awkward to carry. It weighs under 30 pounds and has two handles on top of the oven that let you hold and transport it easily. The double handles offer a good grip and help balance the oven's weight in your hands.

The Tread fits a 12-inch pie and can reach 950ºF. It’s fueled by gas and turns on with a knob on the right side of the oven, where you can also clearly see the analog thermometer. The heating element is located on the left side of the unit, with a guard to prevent pizza from hitting it directly.

You can purchase accessories for the Tread, including a carrying case, a roof rack, various peels, and more.

When I tested it, I liked how easy it was to turn on and how you could control the temperature with the smooth dial. It turned out nice pizzas with good charring on the crust and golden coloring on the bottom of the pie. One consumer noted that it took longer to heat on windy days.

Gozney released two upgraded versions of its Dome pizza oven, including this Gen 2 model. (The other is called their XL, and it’s even bigger than this one.) It has an oval shape, unlike the original Dome, which was more rounded. The shape allows you to fit a 16-inch pie or two 10-inch pies, according to the brand. I personally like the shape because it lets me push my pies far away from the fire to prevent accidental burns.

The Gen 2 has a digital control panel with large lettering that lets you track the oven temperature and the stone temperature. It also comes with two temperature probes if you want to keep an eye on the internal temps of food while you cook. It can be used with wood, charcoal, or propane.

Our consumer tester was impressed with the build quality of this oven, though she noted that the user guide suggested using four people to assemble it. In terms of performance, she said, “After figuring out the best method, the pizzas came out with crisp crusts and very little to no flop! The undercarriage was nicely cooked and didn’t burn.”

My one gripe: The outside of the oven gets ashy, but it doesn’t affect its performance in any way.

If you’re new to pizza making, live in an area where you can’t cook over an open flame outdoors, or are looking for a pizza oven you can use both indoors and outdoors, look no further than the Current Model P. It’s an electric pizza oven that reaches 850ºF and operates like any toaster oven or full-size oven. It has a large, digital control panel that’s easy to adjust with the knob. It features various settings, including Neapolitan, New York, Thin Crust, Detroit, Frozen, Bake, Sear, and Broil, each programmed with a suggested cooking temperature and time.

When I tested this model, I particularly liked how it alerted you when it reached the desired temperature It was also easy to set the timer. Pizza charred nicely and got a crisp crust.

The temperature alert was especially useful when cooking multiple pizzas in a row because it reminded you to wait until the oven returned to the set temp, for consistent results. Some testers noted that the temperature dropped significantly between bakes, but I found it returned to temp. pretty quickly.

The oven fits on a countertop and has a large, square interior. It can fit a 12-inch pizza.

This steel pizza oven (that weighs over 300 pounds!) is made in Italy and offers a classic design. It features a thick 1.25-inch stone that can withstand temperatures up to 1,000ºF, according to the brand. It can be used with wood or gas, and won a Good Housekeeping Home Renovation Award for its premium design.

One analyst commented on the artfully crafted design and attention to detail. Even the cover, he said, featured meticulously designed details like breather holes concealed by pockets that allowed moisture to evaporate without letting rain in.

He also said it stood "at the perfect height" when set up on the stand, though it is very heavy.

Our Chief Food Director, Kate Merker, noted that this model got very hot in her tests, maintained temperature, and that the outside of the oven stayed relatively cool. She used it to churn out dozens of pizzas for a kid's birthday party and was very impressed.

I was surprised by how well this pizza oven worked during testing. Its design is a little commercial, and the knob felt a little loose, but it powered up quickly and got nice and hot. It has a control panel that displays the temperature and includes arrows you can use to adjust it. The best part of this pizza is its rotating pizza stone, which lets you skip turning the pizza yourself while it cooks. It works by launching your pie into the oven onto the stone and then turning it on to start spinning. Just remember to stop it from turning when you’re about to remove your pizza.

In our tests, the pizza got nice and charred with an evenly browned bottom. It also retained heat well, and the subsequent pizzas came out just as evenly cooked as the first.