Which Ooni pizza oven is best – gas or wood?
I explore both in this blog.
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Hello everyone, welcome back to another Tom Voyage blog ?
Today I’m comparing the popular Ooni Karu multi-fuel pizza ovens – one runs on gas and the other runs on wood and charcoal.
I’ve had so many comments recently about whether it’s worth investing in a gas Ooni or just sticking with the wood and charcoal mix – so I thought it was time to review both in a head-to-head.
Read on to find out which Ooni pizza oven is best for you!
Prefer to watch a video comparison instead? Hop over to my channel tomvoyageUK.
A fair comparison
So the best way to compare which Ooni pizza oven is best is by seeing in action. After setting them both up side by side, I tested the pizza ovens on the following:
?SPEED: Lighting the ovens and leaving them for a max of 30 minutes to see how long it took them to fully fire up (to see a step-by-step on how the light the ovens, watch from 1.30 mins into my video). A second speed test to see how fast the pizzas cook, giving them an equal amount of turns.
?TASTE: Checking the results out and seeing which pizza tastes better!
?COST: Weighing up the running costs of using each oven.
Before we learn how each Ooni pizza oven performed, let’s look at their features:
Ooni wood & charcoal oven features
- Has a chimney to help with airflow
- Comes with a fuel basket to fill with wood and charcoal
- The door closes while cooking
Ooni gas oven features
- Has a cap on the top to replace the chimney
- No fuel basket to fill – gas is connected via a unit at the back of the oven
- The door is left open while cooking
So… which Ooni pizza oven is best?
- The Ooni wood & charcoal is cheaper but it takes longer to fire up. After 10 minutes of heating time, it reached 110 degrees compared to the gas Ooni’s 350 degrees. I had to add extra lumps of charcoal to make sure the stone reached the right temperature to cook the pizza, too. A little laborious but great to use while kicking back with a beer! I noticed extra charring on the crust, but this doesn’t necessarily affect the taste, which was smokey, authentically woodfired, and with a good crunch to the crust.
- The Ooni gas is faster to fire up but costs more to run. It’s ideal to use when you’re entertaining guests and produces a great pizza with a puffy crust, light charring on the base, and a good level of crunch.
- Both ovens cooked the pizzas in 60 seconds and are great options in their own ways. It depends on whether you want that quick cook or an authentic outdoors cooking experience. Personally, I love using both ovens – the gas oven for fast food after picking the kids up, and the wood & charcoal when I’ve got more time and it’s nice and hot outside.
The cost of running Ooni pizza ovens
I’ve included a breakdown of how much Ooni pizza ovens cost to run (approx.) in the UK. Check it out:
If you’d like to buy any of the Ooni products, here are some handy links for you:
Buy Ooni Karu (UK) – https://bit.ly/38SLvs5
Buy Ooni Karu (EU) – https://bit.ly/2NrboHY
Purchasing via my links doesn’t cost you anything extra but it means I’ll get a small commission, which helps me to carry on making videos for everyone. I appreciate all of the support!
Discover more about the Ooni pizza oven
Watch my YouTube comparison video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_AVnSYBjM
