Transcription
Today we're going to be looking at the pizza ovens I tested in 2024 and see which ones stand out. We've got three categories: one, best bang for your buck; two, best with natural gas; three, best oven if price doesn't even matter.
First off, let's go over which pizza ovens we reviewed this last year. We've got the Gony Dome in propane and natural gas. We've got the Ark XL and the Ark. We've got the Rockbox, the Unikota 16, the Unik 16, the Solo Stove Pi Prime. Prime, however you say it. We've got the Chefman electric, which sadly is our only electric one. We were able to do this last year and the Pren uh Pizza Oven as well, which there'll be a video coming out soon comparing this one to the Ark XL.
Before I dive into those winners, I just want to give you a quick overview of the things I really look for in pizza ovens, the things I value in a pizza oven. Which, first and foremost, is heat-up times and recovery times. I want my pizza ovens to heat up fast, not only just to save me time for the initial heat-up, but also to save me time in between pizzas. I have used ovens before and you got a bunch of people over, you cook a pizza, you cook the next pizza, and the bottom is just blah, it's not cooked very well. You have to sit there and let the pizza oven heat up for five, ten minutes to launch your next pizza, which is awful. I want to be able to cook them over and over and over as quick and close together as possible.
Also, I want ones that have a max temp of around 950. I don't cook at 950 all the time, usually I'm cooking at 850 to 900, but I like having the option to have it hotter. So if I want to just get that flame up hot and char the crust really fast, it's nice. Some of the ovens I tested this year didn't quite get to that threshold, and if you've watched any of my other videos, you know which ones those are. This one, we're talking about what the best ones are.
Also, a big one for me is the capability of natural gas. I've got a natural gas hookup. I know everyone doesn't, but it's really nice for me to have that. I get sick of filling up propane tanks with all the testing I do, I'm constantly filling them up. So I kind of have to do it anyways, but if I weren't testing pizza ovens all the time and I just had one, maybe two pizza ovens, mine would be natural gas because I want them just set up and not have to continually go and fill them up all the time.
So let's get into the winners. Let's start with biggest bang for your buck. This category, to me, is in my mind, if someone comes to me and says, "Hey, I'm on a budget, I want to know what's the best pizza oven I can get that's going to heat up fast, it's got great recovery time, it's got all the things I essentially need for a good price and a great value, what should I get?" And we actually have a tie for this one. These two pizza ovens are the ones I recommend the most, which are the Gony Rockbox and the Gony Ark XL.
Now, some people might think I have some kind of bias towards Gony. I don't. I'm not an ambassador for them. These are just, in my mind, the biggest bang for your buck. Obviously, the Ark XL is a little bit more money, a couple hundred dollars, I think it's like 800, and the Rockbox is 500. But they do go on sale. But the features of the Ark XL, like the burner being on the side, having a 16-inch area to cook in, having that front display, there's features in here that are added that I feel like make it worth that amount of money. So both of these, for the price point they're at, especially when you get them on sale on Black Friday, I think the Rockbox is usually 400, and can't remember, I'll put it on the screen what the the Ark XL on sale was. But these two ovens, I have no hesitation recommending to people. Get these, you'll be happy as can be. If you're ever going to cook more than 12-inch pizzas, lean towards the Ark XL. If you're only ever going to be cooking 12-inch, you want to be able to move your pizza oven around really easy, Rockbox is the way to go. Both of these ovens feel like they're built to last. I've transported them a ton, and compared to other ovens, they just feel quality.
Now, onto the second category, best pizza oven with natural gas. We tested a few this year that have natural gas. First is the Dome with natural gas. I actually have that in my kitchen. Second is the Unikota 16. Third is the Unik 16. And fourth, um, we didn't test it with natural gas, but the Proken pizza oven has the option of natural gas as well. So we got four ovens that all do natural gas. The Dome, I've got a video on the Dome with natural gas. The heat-up times are awful, really let down on those heat-up times. But I got a new TUDOR that helps heat it up significantly quicker. So I still use that pizza oven the most because it's convenient. But for me, the number one pizza oven with natural gas is the Unikota 16. I was not impressed with the Kar 16. I've got a video there, you can go and watch. It was not my favorite pizza oven. The Kota 16 started this all. I got this, I want to say four or five years ago, and I cooked on this exclusively for two years, hooked up with natural gas. Love this pizza oven. If you are one that is adamant about having natural gas, which I totally get where you're coming from, cuz that's how I would probably be if I only had one oven, the Kota 16 is a great buy. The stone underneath isn't as thick as I'd like on some of the Gony's. They got those thick stones. The heat-up time on this is great, the convenience of natural gas is great. You've got this 16-inch cooking area, so if you're just starting off, you got a lot of room to play with and make mistakes.
The reason I chose the Ooni over the Proken is the Proken is pretty new. I've tested, I've done initial testing on it, I haven't spent as much time on it. Also, I like to be in control a little bit more. But if you like the rotating stone, um, that might be an option. I'll probably do do a video later doing more in-depth on this one because it is so different than any other pizza ovens. It's the only one you can set a temperature and it will stay at that temperature. None of the other ovens do that. So that functionality is pretty cool. I did notice in testing though, that there's some kind of time limit. I need to figure out what it is. After that time limit, it just goes up to full blast again. So if you were baking something, you weren't keeping an eye on it, it could all of a sudden go up to like 850 degrees. So something to consider. But the natural gas option, Kota 16, definitely stamp of approval there.
Onto our third category, best overall pizza if price doesn't even matter. For me, the obvious choice right now with the ovens I've tested is the Gony Dome. Um, I don't recommend it to a lot of people because it is very expensive. I don't think it's worth the amount they charge. That's why it's not even close on the biggest bang for your buck. I I do see them now, you can see them on clearance, you can see them on classified websites for a lot cheaper. Um, the ability to cook with wood, to bake, um, there's enough room in there that I like to cook. If I'm doing 12-inch pizzas, one toward the back and then one towards the front and alternate, I tend to be able to get my pizzas cooking back to back a lot quicker. Obviously, this isn't if you're only going for one oven and you want to be transporting it to the park or to a family's house. This is not the way to go. This thing is, you wheel it around or or keep it within a small area. You're not going to transport it very easily without people helping you. The oven is built super well. Um, I've loved my Dome. I use it more than any pizza oven. It's my oven I use anytime I'm just going to cook dinner for the family. I'm not doing crazy weird experiments. I lean towards the Gony Dome.
There are some ovens I got my hands on for this year coming up. I've got, uh, a pizza party. Um, I forgot, I'll put on the screen which one it is, but it's on its way. I really wish I could have tested the, um, Unikota 2 Max, but it's like 1,200 bucks and I just didn't have the money this year to do that. So hopefully this next year might be able to get it. I've reached out to Ooni several times and see if they give me some kind of discount. They haven't got back to me. So let me know if there's other pizza ovens you're interested in seeing me doing a review on. Put it in the comments below. Make sure you're subscribed. It really helps out the channel. We're able to get a a discount or our hands on a pizza oven with more subscribers. So the more subscriptions we can get, the more products we can get. Hope that helped. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing my favorite pizza oven accessories for 2024. Comment below if you want to see that. Otherwise, thanks for stopping by.