Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven Review, Tested by Food & Wine

In our house, we divide our life in the suburbs into two phases: pre-pizza oven and post-pizza oven. After living in New York City for over a decade, we were hard-pressed to find a slice that lived up to our standards once moving further north. Our DoorDash history was a mashup of local pizza joints in a feeble effort to find a pie that we liked enough to stick with, but nothing lived up to the Neapolitan- and New York-style pizzas we loved.

That is until we got an Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven. We’d been dancing around buying one for a while (it is a big investment, after all) but finally bought one after one too many rubbery, greasy deliveries that left us disappointed and jonesing for the real deal. Even if you don’t consider yourself a particularly talented at-home chef, Ooni makes cooking delicious pizza easy thanks to its innovative shape and user-friendly design. We even named it the best outdoor pizza oven in our tests — and trust me when I tell you, that accolade is well-deserved. 

In the year since we brought our Ooni home, our quest for delicious pizza has ended. Instead of ordering subpar takeout, we can fire up our Ooni Koda 16 and score the perfect slice in 90 seconds.

How I Tested the Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven

The Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven has quickly become a staple in our house on Pizza Friday. We can cook all kinds of Neapolitan-style pies, from a traditional margarita to a meat-lovers version that my husband and son adore. While the Ooni is marketed primarily toward pizza making, that’s not the only type of cooking it can tackle. You can prepare almost anything in the oven, from roasted vegetables and meat to gooey skillet cookies. 

Ooni’s Koda pizza oven is powered by natural gas or propane, which makes sense for our lifestyle, but there is an alternate version (the Ooni Karu) that can be used with wood or charcoal. I recommend going with the 16-inch design over the 12-inch, which will grant you more flexibility for what you cook and how big of a pizza you can make. We decided to go all-out with our Ooni purchase and bought the dedicated stainless steel stand, plus other pizza tools (more on that later). The stand is durable and brings the oven up to height so you can easily monitor your pie while it cooks. The height also creates leverage to maneuver the pizza peel and other tools. It looks right at home alongside our gas grill on our patio, and so far it has held up great to the elements. 

What I Love About the Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven

There’s not much I don’t love about my Ooni oven, but its user-friendly functionality is at the top of my list. It makes creating a pro-worthy pie so seamless that I don’t even mind when my kids request pizza night twice per weekend. You hook the oven up to a fuel source (we connect ours to our grill’s propane tank, which is nearby), turn the front knob to preheat the oven to your desired temperature, and get to cooking. Plus, with interior temperatures that can reach 950°F, your pizza cooks fast (around 90 seconds), so making pies for a crowd is easy. We’ve hosted several pizza parties, and guests are always impressed by the pizza’s taste and cooking performance with an Ooni — it’s dinner and a show. 

Beyond that, I love how the Ooni Koda is subtle yet effective. If I were to consider installing a true wood-burning pizza oven in my home, I’d be looking at a lot of time, money, and square footage, but Ooni makes it easy to achieve the same results with a small footprint, even when using gas. The key is in the base stone and unique L-shaped burner, which combine to crisp up my pizza quickly and evenly, leaving me with a pillowy crust, a sturdy bottom, and the telltale bubbles signature of an Italian-style pie. I can move the oven around easily or take it on a trip; we’ve taken ours down the Jersey Shore for a family vacation because it’s become that beloved. 

How It Compares

When we lab-tested the best outdoor pizza ovens, the Ooni Koda rose to the top of the pack, earning the title of the best overall pizza oven. We loved how easy it is to assemble out of the box (attach the legs, then hook up to your propane source) and found it user-friendly. The results were impressive. During testing, we cooked up pro-worthy pies in under two minutes, with control over how crispy they got. While we acknowledge there is a learning curve with the Ooni, the results are worthwhile. 

The Caveats

When you first bring home your Ooni oven, expect to burn a few pies. Even though it is straightforward and user-friendly, it will take time to perfect your pizza-making skills and get used to how your oven distributes heat (and, honestly, just how fast it can cook your dough). We went through our fair share of char-crusted pizzas until we nailed our cooking method, but once you have it down pat, you’re good to go. Another factor to consider is propane usage. You will need to preheat your oven for at least 15-20 minutes before cooking to ensure the base stone is hot enough to cook your pie; while this is on par with preheating a grill, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that you will go through a decent amount of propane.

All praise aside, there’s no denying that the Ooni Koda is an investment. However, the brand runs sales often, especially those pegged to shopping holidays like Black Friday, Cyber Money, or Labor Day. The oven also makes a great gift idea for home cooks, whether you’re looking to celebrate a milestone birthday, congratulate a friend on a new house, or spoil a pair of newlyweds. Ultimately, our Ooni oven has held up incredibly well over the years and has more than paid for itself considering the amount of money we spent on subpar takeout pizza.  

Tips and Tricks

• Consider splurging on the accessories that Ooni suggests pairing with your pizza oven. We have purchased their dedicated stainless steel storage tower, two different types of pizza peels, and the protective cover, all of which help us use (and care for) our oven better. 
• An infrared thermometer is an essential tool to have on hand. Not only will it help you determine if your pizza stone is hot enough to begin cooking your pie, but it’ll ensure you keep tabs on your oven’s heat so you don’t end up with burnt spots or worse, a fried pie. 
• Mind the thickness of your dough. Too thick can lead to an uneven cook, raw pizza, or a pie that’s so heavy it becomes impossible to turn in the oven, causing a burned-on mess. 
• The fewer ingredients, the better. Too many wet toppings (like a ton of sauce) can lead to an uneven cook or burned pizza. It’s best to keep your layers light and avoid overdoing it on all that cheese. The same goes for how much flour you use — you want enough so that your pizza doesn’t stick to the peel, but too much and you’ll end up with a burnt flavor. 
• The oven’s L-shaped burner is oriented at the back left corner of the gadget, so turning your pizza periodically is essential for getting an even cook on your crust. 

The Verdict

Ooni’s Koda 16 Pizza Oven is a worthy splurge and one I’d recommend to anyone looking to upgrade their weekly pizza takeout to something homemade. It helps you achieve restaurant-level pizza at home, and it provides versatility in your routine by cooking chicken wings, whole branzino, cornbread, or caramelized fruit. Setup is easy, the footprint is small, and the learning curve is brief — what more could you want from an outdoor pizza oven?

Our Expertise

Alyssa Longobucco is a freelance writer, editor, and stylist with a background in food, interior, and lifestyle content. She has over a decade of experience in the digital and magazine industry creating unique and innovative content for storied brands such as Food and Wine, House Beautiful, HGTV, The Knot, Domino, Apartment Therapy, Real Simple, Food52, Good Housekeeping, and more.