The Best Indoor Pizza Oven has 1 Outside Edge Over the Competition

After a decade of perfecting pizza in everything from backyard setups to city kitchens, I’ve found the indoor pizza oven that truly stands out. Discover the feature that gives it an outside edge over the competition.

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When it comes to making pizza at home, there’s no shortage of indoor oven options to choose from. But for those of us who want to come close to authentic, wood-fired Neapolitan pizza inside our home kitchens, finding the best indoor pizza oven for our cooking spaces can be challenging, but it’s essential. And I’m here for you!

As someone who’s had the chance to try out some of the best indoor pizza ovens on the market, I can tell you that there’s one that stands out from the rest – not just for its ability to cook an amazing pie, but also for a unique feature that sets it apart from the competition. After years of experimenting with different ovens and pizza-making techniques, I’ve developed a solid sense of what makes the best indoor pizza oven, and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned with you.

Finding the Best Indoor Pizza Oven for Authentic Neapolitan Pizza at Home

I’ve cooked a lot of pizza over the last decade. We’re talking about everything from suburban backyard pizza parties to busy Brooklyn pizza pop-ups. So, yeah, I know my way around a pizza station.

My pizza-making journey began when I picked up a tin box of a pizza oven by a little-known company at the time named Ooni. I got my hands on one of their first-generation pellet-fueled units. The oven was a fun and very much welcomed addition to my growing outdoor kitchen space. I’d fill the hopper with a handful of clean-burning pecan wood pellets, light it up and wait for the unit to reach the perfect temp for one of my humble pizza pies. Yes, I was a blissfully naive rookie at that time.

After some time, I eventually upgraded my outdoor pizza station to a unit that was powered by one of those big propane gas tanks that you typically see tethered to something like a Weber barbecue grill. But my tank was hooked up to my Camp Chef 2 burner system, topped with one of their pizza oven accessory kits. And I have to say that I loved this setup.

I fired up the unit countless times to entertain my friends and family with my developing pizza-making skills. Though now that I think about it, they were probably entertaining me with their expressions of joy and delight with the “quality” of the pies I pulled from the oven. Fun times for all!

From Backyard Pizza Ovens to Indoor Cooking: My Pizza-Making Journey

Flash forward to more recent times and propane powered outdoor cooking appliances are no longer in my life since I traded my suburban life for some time in the city. I missed my Camp Chef setup for a while after moving to my apartment, but I didn’t have to reminisce about my backyard pizzaiolo days for long.

Within a year or so of my new life in the city, Breville shook up the indoor pizza making scene when they released the first of its kind home pizza oven, the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo. And when I saw the specs for this oven (and its sleek looks), I knew it wouldn’t be long before I’d have one happily perched on my kitchen counter.

Making pizza in the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo was a delight. No more lugging around propane tanks that needed to be replaced or refilled after putting the oven to steady use. And the oven’s ability to hit 750° Fahrenheit in about 20 minutes was absolutely amazing. I was able to get my Camp Chef up to ridiculously high temps too, but not without some experimenting to find the optimal conditions and configuration to get close to those ideal 850°+ Neapolitan pizza cooking temps.

The Breville Pizzaiolo was a different experience altogether, and it certainly set a high standard in my search for the best indoor pizza oven. Just turn the unit on, set the temp to max, then let it do its thing for about 20 minutes and you’re ready to make pizza at almost 800 degrees—in your home kitchen; with the TV in the background; with no burning fuel vapors or wood soot. Unheard of!

But then something happened. Specifically, Ooni happened…again.

The Ooni Volt: A Game-Changer in Countertop Pizza Cooking

I think I was flipping through Instagram one day when I saw a post that mentioned “Ooni Volt”. I kept right on scrolling at first, but then it hit me: “Did Ooni just make a move into the indoor electric pizza oven space?”. I hopped back a couple of posts and there it was; a soon to be released electric oven from Ooni. Then came the all-important specs, and one that was sure to grab the attention of any self-respecting, wannabe home Pizzaiolo: 850° Fahrenheit. Where do I sign up? One of the company’s early units was on its way to me in short order.

Why the Ooni Volt Stands Out: Cooking at 850°F for Perfect Neapolitan Pizza

When my unit arrived, the first thing I noticed was that it was larger than the Breville pizza oven—inside and out. I like the additional size and if you’re working with a vertical cook space, the Ooni Volt is a great fit.

The second thing I noticed after powering the unit up was that it was incredibly quiet; something that I was pleasantly surprised about because my trusty Breville Pizzaiolo was a bit noisy for my apartment kitchen. But after using my new Ooni Volt for a few pizza making sessions, one feature that separated it from other home pizza ovens on the market was that the Ooni could be used outside too. At first, I thought that this wouldn’t be something that mattered much to me, but after a few times cooking with the oven on my balcony, the indoor/outdoor flexibility made a lot of sense.

Making pizza outside with the Ooni Volt somehow feels more natural to me though I’m not really sure why. But whatever the reason, being able to make great pizza in my kitchen or out on my balcony shows that I’ve found the best indoor pizza oven for my lifestyle. There’s something about baking a Neapolitan pizza at 850° Fahrenheit out in the fresh air that just feels right. Maybe I’m just not used to a cooking appliance in my kitchen reaching such high temps. Who knows? The unit is at home outside and I’m all about it.

The Verdict: Is the Ooni Volt the Right Electric Pizza Oven for You?

Truth is, I’d absolutely love once again having a dedicated outdoor pizza oven that I can fire up with my favorite chunked hardwood. Nothing beats that cooking experience for me. If I could drop a Gozney Dome into a corner of my balcony, believe me, I would. But that wouldn’t go over so well around here. So, until Gozney steps up their game, and entices me with an electric version of their Arc pizza oven, Ooni’s commitment to bringing indoor/outdoor, high-temp pizza making to almost every cooking space is something to be celebrated; with an any time, any place sourdough Neapolitan pizza party, of course!