If you’re looking for a pizza oven that’s smaller than average but doesn’t compromise on quality, this model from La Hacienda might just be the ideal fit. More of a nifty BBQ accessory than a standalone pizza oven, this clever contraption sits on the grill of an existing gas or charcoal BBQ, letting you add authentic Italian pizzas to your garden party with ease. Key specs – Dimensions: 47 x 53 x 41cm (WDH); Weight: 20kg; Fuel type: Wood, gas; Portable: Yes; Max pizza size: 12in While Danish brand Witt may not have the name recognition of competitors like Ooni or Gozney, we can safely say it deserves to. This stylish pizza oven impresses from the first glance with its sleek, modern design and striking range of colour options. Coming largely pre-assembled, the Etna Fermo is also simple to set up, needing just a AA battery and a bottle of butane to get it going. The ovens’ ceramic pizza stones, when heated, can hold very high temperatures, giving your pie a nice char on the bottom. The main differentiator in our tests was the heat source and how it affected the cooking on top of the pie; without a high temperature, you won’t get the dotted char known in the industry as “leoparding” (because it looks like a leopard, get it?). We found that the gas ovens with an exposed flame — the Ooni Koda 16 and the Gozney Roccbox —were best for getting a nice char.

Another note on becoming a pizzaiolo. Even if you’re not an expert at making pizza dough —we certainly weren’t! — you’re better off trying your hand at making homemade dough or buying dough from a local pizzeria that specializes in thin-crust pies than buying store-bought refrigerated or frozen dough. In our tests, both store-bought doughs we tested (Trader Joe’s for refrigerated, Wegman’s for frozen) were difficult to roll out to a desired thinness, and had a tendency to burn on the outside while not getting fully cooked inside. If you do use store-bought dough in one of these ovens, a good rule of thumb is to use a floured rolling pin to try to get it as thin as possible before cooking. (But really, avoid it if you can.) The BakerStone Pizza Oven Box pulls double duty: Since it was originally designed as a box to place on a grill, you can actually detach the top portion from the bottom “firebox” and do your pizza-cooking on a grill. The interior of the oven, composed of five sides of pizza stones, performed surprisingly well when up against the open-flame Ooni Koda and Gozney Roccbox. Because the five stones maintain and radiate a lot of heat, the pizzas we made came out with a good amount of char and were cooked evenly.Accessories: take a look at which accessories your chosen pizza oven comes with. In our eyes, a pizza peel is an essential, but some brands don't provide these as standard, and this will be an additional cost. Can’t I just cook pizza in a regular oven or in a cast-iron pan? Of course and you can achieve some great results too with the right techniques. However, unless you have a proper pizza oven, you’ll never be able to duplicate that authentic wood-fired taste in exactly the same way. The Ooni Karu is one of the more portable pizza ovens on this list, too. The fibre-insulated ceramic body weighs only 12kg, the smoking chimney can be removed and each of the four legs can be folded away for easy carrying. The overwhelming majority of pizza ovens are wood-fired because pizzas cook optimally in short, fierce blasts of heat. Cooking time usually takes between 30 seconds and five minutes, and the finished result is simply unachievable in a gas or domestic oven. Another thing that might be worth investing in is an infrared or laser thermometer to measure the temperature of your stone (Ooni makes a good one); you’ll want one that can measure temperatures up to 1,000 degrees F if you plan on making Neapolitan-style pies.

Safety: Pizzas require incredibly high temperatures to cook so we looked for excellent insulation and safety features to make using the pizza oven easy to use. Product images are for illustrative purposes and even though we do our outmost to depict the items as accurately as possible the images may differ slightly from the actual product in some cases.

Types of pizza oven accessories

Key specs – Dimensions: 50 x ​​81.5 x 83.7cm; Weight: 28kg; Fuel Type: Wood, gas and charcoal; Portable: No; Max pizza size: 16in Each time you use the pizza oven, you’ll want to start it at least 15 minutes before throwing a pie into the oven; you need to give the pizza stone at the bottom of the oven time to heat up, so you get that nice char on the bottom. And, you’ll want to let it “recharge” between each pizza, too. Outside of price, the biggest factor to consider when buying a pizza oven is the fuel source. Ovens can be heated by either propane, charcoal, or wood pellets (there are also electric options for indoor models). Before choosing an outdoor pizza oven, decide which heat source is right for you. In our tests, the propane ovens were easier to control, but pizza ovens that used either wood, wood pellets, or charcoal gave the pies a smoky flavor reminiscent of good grills.Plus, it's easier to carry a bag of charcoal or wood pellets than it is a tank of propane, especially if you're planning to bring your pizza oven to a camping trip or tailgate.