Ooni Pizza Oven Review: Bon Appétit Editors Test the Fyra 12

Before I tested the Ooni Fyra 12, I did not think that this would be the year I mastered making pizza. As a denizen of New York City, I have access to a lot of delicious pizza of all varieties and price points in all directions from my home. Wherever I am there is pizza. So beyond throwing together the occasional cast-iron pie, I never felt the need to employ the skill at home. In particular, I assumed the fancy leopard-spotted wood-fired pizza on offer at my favorite restaurants was well beyond my (and my apartment’s) capabilities. Why attempt something I’d never do half as well as the pros?

But the Ooni pizza oven wave has been a tough one to ignore. The Scotland-based company, which burst onto the scene with their first model in 2012, has exploded in popularity in recent years. It now offers seven models that range in price from $349 to $999, from gas-powered pizza ovens like the Ooni Koda 12 to multi-fuel pizza ovens like the Ooni Karu 16 that are compatible with wood, charcoal, and propane. Nearly all of those models are only suitable for outdoor use (the exception is the Volt 12, Ooni’s recently launched electric oven). From the marketing, it would seem that no matter the outdoor space you have access to (photos of fire escape pizzas and camping trip cookouts adorn their Instagram) and your comfort level with live fire cooking, there is an Ooni for you. I decided to take that bet.

Here are some facts about my life that, if purchasing an outdoor pizza oven were like getting a puppy, I would provide to the adoption agency: I have a roof that I can access where I occasionally utilize a tiny charcoal grill, but it is unfinished and a little slanted. There is a table up there, but that’s it. No outlets. No gas hookup. Real sparse vibes. Additionally, I do not like the idea of using a propane tank because they freak me out. The less I have to do in order to keep this oven lit and operational, the better. With all of that in mind, I referred to Ooni’s Compare Ovens page and determined that the Fyra 12 was the match for me.

Lightweight and compact, the Ooni Fyra 12 portable pizza oven can be toted up and down from the roof when needed. It’s the least expensive model the company currently sells. And best of all, it is fueled by wood pellets that you feed into a hopper at the back of the oven. No stoking flames, rearranging charcoal or logs, or (god forbid) touching a propane tank in any way.

When the oven arrived at my house, I made a batch of pizza dough, carried it to the roof, and got baking. The rest—trial and error, many pizzas, multiple rooftop parties, lots of compliments, and a declaration that summer 2022 is the summer of homemade pizza, at least at my house—is history.

Read on for a full Fyra 12 Ooni pizza oven review, including info on how it works, where it is most successful, and the pizza oven’s biggest drawbacks.

Score: 9/10

Pros:

• Actually lightweight and portable
• No propane or charcoal to mess with
• Great flavor and high-quality pizza at home
• Very easy and not spooky to use, even for beginners

Cons:

• Requires some babysitting to stay lit
• Must use Ooni accessory products for best results

The basics

The Ooni Fyra 12 is a relatively small pizza oven that, under the right conditions, can cook 12″ pizzas (among other things) in a minute flat. It weighs 22 pounds, measures 29.1 x 15.4 x 28.5″, and can easily be stored in its box when not in use. It has three main pieces: the carbon-steel shell, which sits on fold-out legs and contains a cordierite stone baking board and grated fuel chamber; the chimney, which has a small lever on the side to open or close the vent; and the fuel hopper, which is where you add wood pellets to keep the fire burning. To operate the oven you need a thin pizza peel, all-natural fire starter, and wood pellets, all available through Ooni but not included with the purchase of a Fyra 12. (They do offer all of the above, plus an infrared thermometer and waterproof carry cover, in one bundle.) As of publication it is the second least expensive Ooni oven at $349 (the Karu 12, which is currently on sale at $299), and it comes with a three-year warranty.

How does the Ooni Fyra 12 work?

To cook with the Ooni Fyra pizza oven, you must set it up outdoors on a flat surface (the company recommends wood, stone or metal tables, which it also sells) at least 3′ from a building. First, pull the metal fuel tray out from the back of the oven and fill it with wood pellets and one fire starter; light the fire starter and slide the tray back into the body of the oven. This will be the base of your fire. After it’s blazing (15-ish minutes, you can peek through a peephole at the front of the oven to check), you’ll add more fuel to the pellet hopper to keep a constant flow of fuel feeding down into the fire. A hopper full of pellets lasts about 15 minutes, and you must constantly replenish it if you want the fire to stay strong. Forget about it for too long and the temperature will drop, which cannot be fixed by simply adding more pellets.

Cooking pizza with the Ooni Fyra 12 is as easy as topping your dough round on a floured pizza peel and, after 15 minutes of preheating, sliding the pizza onto the cooking surface. At full temperature (Ooni says you’re looking for about 950°F, which you can check with an infrared thermometer), you’ll want to rotate your pizza every 30 seconds or so until all sides have some time near the fire. Your pizza will be puffed, perfectly charred in spots, and fully cooked in one to two minutes.

You can also cook other things using the Ooni Fyra 12, provided you have cookware that fits inside the oven slot. Ooni provides recipes on its website for things like duck breasts and banana bread, which you cook the same way you would in any wood-burning oven—rotating to give every angle equal time facing the heat source. A tiny cast-iron pan will work here, but you’ll need to pull it out and rotate the food inside the pan rather than turning the pan itself, since the handle of the skillet will stick out of the oven; Ooni sidesteps this problem by selling its own cast iron skillet that features a removable handle. I think this is fussy (the pan is also a little flimsy and small, IMO), so I will stick to pizza.

What does the Ooni Fyra 12 do well?

The Ooni Fyra 12 makes great pizza. Regardless of the dough you use (I’ve tried a few homemade recipes as well as store bought), the results are puffed, spotted, and cooked in record time—a far cry above anything I could hope to produce in a regular oven, even with the use of a pizza stone. It’s a delight to use for a fun dinner for two and amazing as a centerpiece of a party, once you get a handle on your personal system and best practices. The compact nature of the oven also means that whenever it’s not getting the party started, it can easily be stowed away in its box, which is relatively narrow and stackable. As a hater of one-trick kitchen gadgets and large appliances generally, I was surprised how much I loved the Ooni, and how readily I made space for it in my home—the payoff is just that fun.

My favorite thing about the oven is how easy it is to use. The wood pellets and fire starter combo could not be simpler, and so long as you keep the hopper filled to the top (and don’t, as I did on one occasion, forget about it while eating pizza for 45 minutes), you’ll be rewarded with consistent, very high temperatures. The first time I used the Fyra, I was scared about getting the pizza off the peel and into the oven, not maneuvering the pie around the oven correctly, or otherwise ruining dinner by having no experience working with a pizza oven before, but the entire process was intuitive. Without ever interacting with live fire, you reap all of the flavorful benefits in your cooking.

What are the biggest drawbacks of the Ooni Fyra 12?

It was a huge bummer to receive my Ooni with the plan to make pizza that very day, only to discover that I did not have a bunch of the requisite materials—namely, a pizza peel, fire starter, or wood pellets, none of which come in the box. If you do not buy the pizza peel from Ooni, be sure to get a model that is thin and narrow enough that you can fit it, plus a pizza, into the oven with enough clearance to shake, shift, and angle each direction. I got this one and really like it. You could presumably use a wooden peel as well, but I found I needed the thinness of metal to successfully maneuver.

For my maiden pizza voyage, I sourced all-natural fire starters and organic wood pellets from a local hardware store, which initially seemed to work fine. But the oven never reached the temperatures that the website claimed it could, and the cook time for each pizza was more like 4-6 minutes. When I used the actual Ooni branded starter and hardwood pellets, the fire lit much faster and was much stronger, to the point that I could cook the same dough in a fraction of the time (1-2 minutes total).

The only additional drawbacks about the Ooni Fyra 12 are things I could have anticipated and ultimately felt I could live with. Cleaning the oven is a little fussy, for example. After waiting for it to cool entirely and disposing of the ashes, you can wipe the inside down with a dry cloth (no water can be used) and, as the company writes on their website, scrape off stubborn bits of food or debris from the cooking surface with a pizza brush. I needed to use a fish spatula and some elbow grease to really clean the baking stone, though by flipping it for the next cook (as recommended), I did find that the high heat helped burn any straggling bits off.

How does the Fyra 12 compare to other Ooni pizza ovens?

Ooni now offers a grand total of seven different models, which can fit either 12 or 16-inch pizzas. Whether you prefer the ease of propane, like the uniquely smoky flavor of a wood-fired pie, or want an oven that can be used indoors year round, there’s an Ooni for you. If the wood pellet-burning Fyra 12 isn’t your jam, here’s a rundown of the other pizza ovens in the company’s current lineup.

Size: Fits a 12- or 16-inch pizza, depending on model
Price: $399 or $599
Fuel Type: Gas

If maintaining a steady feed of wood pellets or dealing with the cleanup that comes with a wood-burning fire sounds like too much to bear, the Ooni Koda may be the oven for you. Fueled by a propane gas hookup, the Koda is as easy to use as a standard gas grill—just turn a dial, wait for the oven to heat up, and you’re off to the races. Opt for the larger Koda 16 and you’ll gain two other major pluses. The first is the option to use natural gas as a fuel source thanks to Ooni’s conversion kit. The second is the shape of that gas-fueled flame: Rather than solely providing heat from the back of the unit, the flame of the Koda 16 has an L-shape that means you’ll need to rotate your pizza fewer times to ensure even cooking.

Size: Fits a 12- or 16-inch pizza, depending on model
Price: $299, $429, or $799
Fuel Type: Wood, charcoal, or gas (with converter)

With the ability to burn wood, charcoal, or gas, the Ooni Karu is for the aspiring pizza cooks who want it all. Note that you’ll need to purchase a gas burner converter ($100 on Ooni.com) in order for the Karu to function like the Koda, and that the heat source (regardless of whether you’re using wood, charcoal, or gas) is at the back rather than in that helpful L-shape. All that said, in terms of versatility, the Karu can’t be beat. The newer Karu 12G has a range of fuel options like the Karu 12, but with some of the additional features previously available only from the larger Karu 16 (namely, an integrated thermometer and glass oven door). The Karu 12G also promises increased thermal efficiency. According to the Ooni website, this model uses 36% less fuel than its predecessors. The caveat? A slightly heftier price tag and an added eight or so pounds of weight, making it a less portable option than the original Karu or the even lighter Koda or Fyra.

Size: Fits a 12-inch pizza
Price: $999
Fuel Type: Electric

If you’ve got countertop real estate to spare and fancy the idea of making top tier pizzas from the comfort of your home all year round, look no further: The new Ooni Volt 12 is the first electric oven from the brand, and it’s the only model in the current lineup built for both outdoor and indoor use. With a built-in timer and temperature control, it’s suited for making a whole range of pizzas, from Neapolitan-style to grandma pies. It reaches an impressive 850°F—not quite the 950 degrees promised by the other Ooni ovens, but more than sufficient for delivering crispy, blistered crusts with plush interiors.

Overall…

The Fyra 12 is awesome, with some caveats. The Ooni-branded pellets and fire starters are a must, which is annoying, but your pizza will thank you. And you need to stay vigilant about keeping the hopper full of pellets if you’re making many pizzas in a row. But if you’re down to keep those things in mind, I can’t recommend it more highly. It’s as low maintenance as a wood fired pizza oven can get and produces stellar results in a sleek, compact format that folds away to store when not in use. I am excited to use the Fyra 12 again and again—already planning a pizza party for when my parents visit next month, which is a true testament to how well it works. I could take them for pizza anywhere in New York City! But now the stuff I can make at home is just as good.

This piece was originally published in 2022 and was updated in 2023 by Alaina Chou.