Pizza is a deceptively complicated thing to make at home. At its core, it’s just dough, sauce, and cheese. It’s not necessarily hard to make—it’s just hard to make well.
There are so many opportunities for error: the dough is too thick, the sauce is too abundant, the texture is too wet and limp, and the list goes on. You can invest in high-quality ingredients and practice your technique. There is, however, one glaring issue that can ruin your homemade pizza—your oven.
New York City slice shops keep their ovens at around 600°F. Over in Italy, Neapolitan pizzaiolos crank the heat as high as 950°F. The oven in your home kitchen? It can reach maybe 500°F on a good day (and the temperature gauge is probably inaccurate anyway).
So, if you really want a restaurant quality pizza at home, you’ll need a dedicated pizza oven. Outdoor electric pizza ovens have boomed in popularity over the past decade. All you need to do is plug it in and press a button to get a perfect pie. Some large models can cost upwards of $1000, but Ninja has thrown their hat in the ring with a low-profile version that’s much more affordable: the Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven.
What’s more, it’s currently on sale at 33% off (!) for Prime Day from now through July 11. We tested the appliance so we could break down how it works and determine if it’s worth buying (spoiler: it is). Here’s what you need to know.
How Does The Oven Work?
The Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven boasts five different functions and the ability to reach up to 700°F, but it’s packed in a relatively small package. The dimensions add up to about 2.4 cubic feet—so it’s not much larger than a small charcoal grill. The machine itself only weighs 30 pounds for easy transportation. But if you to avoid hauling it back and forth, it’s also designed to be weather-resistant. Ninja does, however, recommend investing in a cover for more protection from the elements.
The oven comes with a pizza stone that rests at the base of the appliance, which retains heat and helps the bottom of your crust develop a golden, crispy exterior. Ninja also includes a 12″ baking dish for making pan pizzas or other recipes besides pizza. What they don’t include is a pizza peel—an essential tool for this project, IMO—but you can buy one from them for $40.
The oven is designed to be able to sit on heat-proof surfaces, but you can also ball out on an adjustable outdoor stand and attached side table. They’re fun upgrades, for sure, but not ones that are worth shelling out $100 if you don’t absolutely need them.
Next, let’s assess the settings. The Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza oven comes with 5 built-in settings: pizza, bake, proof, broil, and warm. The first is self explanatory, but within that, you also can choose from 5 pizza presets with their own times and temperatures. The bake and broil settings operate just like a standard oven and allow for custom time and temperature control.
The warm setting automatically keeps food at 170°F, which is great if you’re multitasking during a backyard barbecue. But the underrated star of this machine is the proof setting, which creates the ideal environment to help your dough rise before it’s baked. The appliance offers a lot of flexibility, but how exactly does it deliver on all of its promises?
How Well Does The Oven Work?
It goes without saying, but this pizza oven gets hot. But, more impressively, it gets hot fast. I opted for the Thin Crust Pizza preset, which reached 550°F in just 10 minutes. In the short time it took to preheat, I started building my pizza. And I might be a little rusty, so my pizza didn’t end up being as perfectly round and thin as I would have liked. But ugly pizza is still good pizza, right?
The hardest part of using this appliance was placing the pizza on the stone without injuring myself. The peel made things easier, but it still required some finesse (and a lot of flour). And I didn’t think it was possible, but my ugly pizza somehow got uglier with my pathetic use of the peel.
But once the timer was up and I took my pizza out of the oven, all of my aesthetic concerns faded away. This pizza ended up being beautifully cooked.
The cheese on top was bubbly and covered in brown spots. The crust was deeply browned on the top and bottom. And despite the thin crust, the slices held their shape (no droopy centers here!).
I didn’t work with any fancy ingredients—just the premade pizza materials from Whole Foods—but I can only imagine how much better a pizza from scratch would taste in this oven. (May I suggest our homemade recipe?)
The heat retention of this oven, thanks in part to the pizza stone, makes it easy to cook pies back to back with virtually no wait in between. I’ve only tested this appliance with pizza, but I think this oven is versatile enough to be a great addition to any outdoor kitchen. Whether you’re hosting a pizza party or want to add an oven to your grilling station, the Ninja Artisan Outdoor Pizza Oven is a worthwhile investment. And with the 33% discount, it’s basically a no-brainer.
