logo
The best pizza ovens for 2025, editor-tested and chef-approved

The best pizza ovens for 2025, editor-tested and chef-approved

Yahoo07-02-2025
National Pizza Day (Feb. 9) is fast-approaching! And what better way to pay homage to the Naples-born, universally beloved food than by treating yourself — and any lucky dinner guests — to a shiny new oven that will enable you to whip up fresh, brick-oven-style pies right in your kitchen or on your outdoor patio? The best pizza ovens for 2025 include gas-, wood- and electric-fueled options that not only reach sizzling temperatures (upward of 950℉) but serve up delicious, bubbly, crispy delicacies, stat.
"The consumer pizza oven has come a very long way since the days of a pizza stone being your only option, evolving to the point of being able to produce almost the same level of pizza as a restaurant," says Anthony Mangieri, chef and owner of the Una Pizza Napoletana restaurant in New York City and owner of Genio Della Pizza, a new line of frozen pizzas handmade in Italy. "Also, what a great centerpiece to a party — at-home pizza-making in a cool home pizza oven."
To help you choose, we tapped seasoned pizza pros — including well-known chefs, pizza bloggers and even World Pizza Champions — for the lowdown on the indoor and outdoor pizza ovens they've owned and used. We also peeled (sorry, couldn't help it) through hundreds of reviews and tested some of the most popular gas, electric and wood-fired models in the biz to assess how easily, quickly and tastily they could deliver the piping-hot goods. Keep scrolling for a roundup of chef- and editor-approved pizza ovens, just in time for National Pizza Day, along with more info on our review criteria and how to select the best pizza oven for your needs.
More ways to embrace your space: The best grills for 2025 | The best fire pits for 2025 | How to choose an outdoor patio heater
Best pizza ovens for 2025
What to look for when choosing a pizza oven
How we evaluated these pizza ovens
Pizza oven FAQs
Meet our experts
Update, Feb. 7, 2025: We checked all product prices and availability, and updated our top-rated Solo Stove pizza oven to reflect the latest model. Our number-one pick for best pizza oven remains unchanged.
Selecting a pizza oven is no easy feat. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind:
Size: The bigger the oven, the more space it takes, but you'll generally be able to make larger pies. Smaller ovens are ideal for smaller areas and traveling, though they're typically reserved for 12-inch pizzas. We also had to be more cautious when peeling pizzas, as more compact ovens meant they were closer to the fire.
Weight: Heavy-duty ovens tend to be made of more durable materials, the downside being they can be harder to maneuver outside. We suggest springing for a wheeled stand, like shown above with Solo Stove and Gozney, for more mobility, and opting for a lighter option, such as the Ooni Koda, when you want to take your pizza oven for a ride.
Fuel type: Electric ovens tend to be most controlled, delivering even, often predictable pizza results (no peeling required). Electrical appliances should be kept from water, but don't usually involve a live fire. Gas ovens are fairly straightforward, but require you to have and attach a propane tank. You'll have to peel your pizza to ensure each part is getting enough — but not too much — time in front of the fire. Wood-fueled ovens can take a bit more tinkering to get started and keep going but are more convenient in instances like camping when there isn't a gas or electric source nearby. They also lend a smoky flavor to a pie.
Warranty: Many retailers, as noted above, offer warranties on certain parts or entire ovens so you can feel more confident that you'll be able to enjoy your pizza oven for a long time.
The chefs and other pizza pros quoted in this roundup have spent years testing, tasting and making pizzas — including for renowned pizza shops and restaurants.
Our internal testing group was made up of Yahoo Life editors and writers with a background in researching and testing appliances, tech and outdoor gear, including some with professional culinary training and baking experience. Testers used the same dough and sauce from Trader Joe's, plus all-purpose flour, following the same guidelines to ensure consistency. Here is what we considered:
• Ease of setup/use: Is the pizza oven practical to build, manage and maintain, factoring a new-equipment adjustment period? (Or, as many pizza oven testers on the internet put it when referring to the familiarity stage: "You may burn before you learn.")
• Accuracy/temp retention: Does the oven get as hot as manuals indicate, for the desired results, in the promised time? Does it maintain enough heat for multiple pies?
• Durability/accuracy: How likely is it that the pizza oven will last, given its materials and engineering? Does it feature a coating to keep it from getting too hot?
• Overall value: Does the price seem fair for what you're getting, taking into account special features and included accessories?
Regardless of the fuel type (standard 20-lb. propane tanks worked for our gas models and you can typically purchase wood from a hardware store), you'll be handling a hot appliance. More compact ovens mean pizzas will be situated closer to the flame, so you'll want to be extra diligent when inserting and turning pies. In addition to fuel, you'll likely need dedicated pitching and turning peels (we recommend steel or aluminum over wood to reduce the risk of burning).
Most of these pizza ovens reach quite high temps — ranging from 700℉ to 950℉ — and promise to yield delicious pies in about one to three minutes.
We found the quality and timing of the pizzas came down to user skill (or rather, practice) and ingredients: the more attentive and peel-happy the chef, the more even the bake; the thinner the crust and lighter the toppings, the faster the take!
Anthony Mangieri, chef and owner of Una Pizza Napoletana
John Gristina, a member of the World Pizza Champions and owner and operator at Pizza Fenice
Michael Ayoub, executive chef and owner of Fornino
Craig Agranoff, founder and editor-in-chief of WorstPizza.com
The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Follow the red sauce to Burbank's best Italian deli
Follow the red sauce to Burbank's best Italian deli

Los Angeles Times

timea day ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Follow the red sauce to Burbank's best Italian deli

When I want to feel closer to my late grandmother — and to my great-aunt, aunts and cousins — I drive to Burbank. I head directly to the cookie case at Monte Carlo Italian Deli, passing beneath the wooden puppets that line the walls, and scan the rows of sweets for pignoli. I wander the aisles, still dumbstruck after all these decades: the countless jars of giardiniera, every twist and shape of dried pasta on offer, the familiar buzz of customers around the deli case all waiting for their number to be called. By my count at least four generations of the Petrucelli line, by blood or by marriage, have loved shopping here, where retro neon signage welcomes you to a cornucopia of Italian excellence. On one side of the building is Monte Carlo, a well-stocked market and importer, and on the other, Pinocchio's: what feels like the last vestige of 1960s red-sauce, cafeteria-style dining. It's a relic and a palace, built of sausage links, frozen manicotti, gasoline-like canisters of olive oil and a confounding Pinocchio theme. It should be made a local landmark and protected for as long as Los Angeles remains standing. Informed by her New Jersey-born mother-in-law, in the '90s my own mother would cart me along to the deli, where the staff would gift me and every child a long, spindly breadstick, as is still their tradition. In adolescence I would line up at Pinocchio's and pick out affordably priced wedges of lasagna and eggplant parmesan or the house-made Italian sausages with wilted green peppers over pasta, always served on muted pink cafeteria trays, and always with my favorite side dish: the tart marinated mushrooms, boiled in vinegar then coated in oil and flecked with spices. Now in adulthood, it's where I find solace and connection to my family. Sometimes I'll meet my cousin Victoria, sipping sub-$5 glasses of wine and sliding into well-worn leather booths in one of the brick- or wood-accented dining rooms. Now expecting her own child — who'll undoubtedly become the fifth generation of our family to fall in love with this magical market — she asks me to send photos of the heaps of garlic bread when unable to muster the strength for her own visit. She doesn't know it yet, but I'll be stopping by for that garlic bread on the way to her baby shower in a few weeks. The legacy of shopping at Monte Carlo isn't limited to the Petrucellis. According to co-owner Tony Scuticchio, many of the customers here are multigenerational; he's seen children grow up and begin their own lineage. He estimates 80% of his patrons live in the San Fernando Valley, but some make the pilgrimage from Las Vegas to shop four or five times a year, while others come from Palm Springs whenever they're in town. 'The customers make it so pleasant,' he says. 'They're so appreciative and they love it. We have a lot of Italians that come in here, old-school Italians, and they even go back to, 'When I was in Italy, we did this,' 'When I was in Italy, I did that.'' It's been a family affair since 1969, when Croatia-born Mark Brankovich Sr. purchased the 1950s-founded Monte Carlo deli. Though not himself Italian, 'He always felt that he was more Italian than the Italians were,' Scuticchio says with a laugh. Brankovich spoke Italian, and lived in Italy during World War II; at one point, the family lore goes, he was arrested by Mussolini's troops, then released after his uncle called in a favor. After moving to the U.S., he never returned. But he did buy an Italian deli along Magnolia Boulevard. In 1971 he also purchased the adjacent liquor store, flipping that into Pinocchio's, and eventually bought the next-door bar to expand his dining room. When he died in 2001, his daughter, Laura, took the reins, and not long after that, she fell in love with Scuticchio, who operates the business. Scuticchio had owned his own grocery stores in Los Angeles and his own father — born in Italy — operated restaurants at the Santa Monica Pier in the 1960s. Sliding in to take over the deli was, he felt, right in line with his own work experience and heritage. Now he and Laura have a 19-year-old daughter who has helped scoop the gelato through the years. Their kitchen whips up 2,500 meatballs and between 3,000 and 4,000 sausages every week, plus 80 gallons of meat sauce and 30 gallons of the marinara each day. Preparation begins at 7 a.m. daily. The bread is made freshly for the deli around the corner, by a bakery that the deli used to also own. But no time is as busy as the holidays, when the deli hums from morning to night. 'Christmastime is so busy because everybody gets back to their roots,' Scuticchio says. 'You have people that say, 'My grandmother used to make lasagna,' or 'My grandmother used to make these raviolis,' 'My grandmother used to make manicotti.' Everybody just gets back to what their family has done. So I think that's really unique.' Some form of stuffed pasta in red sauce can be found on my own family's table, be it Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. A few years ago I placed a call to my Aunt Carol, who was organizing the holiday feast; I was heading to Burbank anyway, and would she like me to pick up anything from Monte Carlo for the dinner? No need, she told me. She'd already made the trip for frozen ravioli the day before. Monte Carlo Italian Deli and Pinocchio's are at 3103 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank.

Woman snags $10,000 and 60 invasive snakes in record-breaking Florida Python Challenge
Woman snags $10,000 and 60 invasive snakes in record-breaking Florida Python Challenge

CBS News

time6 days ago

  • CBS News

Woman snags $10,000 and 60 invasive snakes in record-breaking Florida Python Challenge

When it was all said and done Wednesday, a woman emerged as the top snake slayer of the 2025 Florida Python Challenge. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announced Taylor Stanberry removed 60 invasive Burmese pythons and claimed the $10,000 Ultimate Grand Prize. The FWC announced that 934 participants from 30 states and Canada removed a record 294 pythons during the 10-day competition. This year marked the first time Everglades National Park was included among the eight official competition locations. Florida authorities said the competition plays a crucial role in preserving Florida's natural biodiversity and gives residents an active role in environmental protection. Stanberry, a Naples, Florida resident, alongside her husband, Rhett, runs a Facebook page dedicated to snakes and hunting. The couple also has a YouTube and Instagram page. The Florida Python Challenge, now a yearly event, includes public education. "The python, animal that can get 20 feet long and weigh 200 pounds, is destroying the natural food chain. Under the leadership of the FWC, we started the Python Challenge," Ron Bergeron, South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) governing board member, said. The goal is twofold: reduce the impact of the invasive species and raise public awareness about the threat these animals pose to native wildlife in the Greater Everglades ecosystem, state officials said. "The Python Challenge is not just catching pythons. That's a part of it. It's educating the public so that when you're in the Everglades, all of the groups that recreate in the Everglades learn how to remove a python safely year-round," Bergeron said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store