I am a die-hard fan of pellet grills. I bought my first ReqTeq RT-680 about 10 years ago. All the convenience of an oven with the smoke you can only get from wood. I have cooked everything from low and slow brisket to hot and fast steaks but one food item that just never worked well in the pellet grill was pizza. I even went out and bought a pizza stone but the pizza never cooked evenly and the bottom would be burnt but toppings were still not cooked or soggy.
To really cook a pizza you need two things. A really hot enclosure 900F or greater and real even heat from all sides. Most pellet grills can get to 500F but are way short of 900F of a pizza oven. Also, a pellet grill is more like a convection oven blowing hot air around the food. A pizza oven cooks with the radiant heat from the fire. The heat bouncing off the inside walls of the oven crisps the outside of the pizza very quickly. Also when you add the wood pellets you get that wood smoke flavor.
So I was going to make the move and get a wood pellet pizza oven. So I Googled “wood pellet pizza oven” and found one that seems to meet all the requirements. Including the price. The Ooni Fyra 12 Wood Pellet Pizza Oven. Is totally fueled by wood pellets. Can reach a temperature of 950F in 10 to 15 minutes. It can cook a 12-inch pizza in about 60 seconds. Also, it cost $295 with free shipping. The unit only takes 15 minutes to assemble and most of that time is reading the manual.
The other really cool feature is it does not need electricity. So like your pellet grill where you need to plug in this one is totally electric-free. The pellet hopper is easy to fill and start and will get your oven up to over 900F in about 10 minutes. After it is up to the temperature you can produce a cooked pizza about every 60 seconds. We decided to have a party for the grandkids and because I am lazy we got ten 12 inch Papa Murphy pizzas. We had cheese, pepperoni, mediterranean, cowboy, and veggie. We had all 10 cooked in 15 minutes and it could have been faster but we had to slow down so we could cut the pizza to serve.
There are some things you need if you want to use this oven. The first one is really good BBQ gloves. This oven gets really hot. Also, make sure you keep the kids away.
Also, you need a real good radiant thermometer. The ones look like a small gun.
And last but not least you need a pizza peel paddle. Needs to fit 12-inch opening and have a long enough handle to stay away from the heat. Do NOT use a spatula.
So as you can see this is a great way to cook pizza and because it is a radiant oven you can cook a lot of other things. Ooni has a Cast Iron Sizzler Pan that allows the oven to cook meat, seafood, vegetables, and much more.
After using my Ooni Fyra 12 Wood Pellet Pizza Oven for the last month I find myself using it more and more. When it comes to cooking a steak the pizza oven puts a better sear than my grill and in less time.
I highly recommend this oven if you want to take your barbecue skills to the next level.
