Blackstone Pizza Oven Review: A Rotating Pizza Stone Churns Out Fuss-Free Pies in Minutes
Updated: Mar. 14, 2024
You know and love your Blackstone griddle, but does the brand's pizza oven live up to the hype? Here's our honest review.
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The Blackstone griddle is an icon for those who love outdoor cooking, whether it’s used to whip up hash browns for breakfast or a batch of smash burgers. Now, the barbecue brand has entered the line of outdoor pizza ovens with its propane-powered Blackstone pizza oven.
As a pizza enthusiast, I make pies once a week in my backyard. I’ve also tested numerous pizza ovens, including the best-selling Ooni Koda 16 and the all-electric Ooni Volt. To see just how Blackstone’s pizza oven compares, I put it to the test.
What is the Blackstone pizza oven?
The Blackstone pizza oven is a gas-powered oven that hooks up to a propane tank. It utilizes a hose and connector—the same setup as with a regular barbecue. The pizza oven is almost all black with a stainless steel interior and looks very similar to a gas grill.
It has a front ignition switch and heat regulation dial along with a power button. Inside there is a large rotating pizza stone, as well as a pizza stone on the top of the oven. It has a wide opening at the front and space to cook 16-inch pizzas. And, in the right cookware, you can prep other items such as steak, salmon or wings.
The Blackstone pizza oven is sold with a stand and includes a pizza peel, but all other pizza-making tools and accessories are sold separately.
VIA MERCHANT
We Tried It
Blackstone Pizza Oven
Two-stone technology with a rotating bottom stone generates even cooking.
Blackstone Pizza Oven Features
The Blackstone pizza oven is sold either with a stand or a mobile cart. These units are crucial because of the design of the powerful, heavy pizza oven. While this means that the pizza oven takes up more space, the wheeled cart is helpful for moving the pizza oven around your backyard and patio. The oven can also sit on a heat-safe countertop or table, but because of its weight, it’s likely that two people will need to move it together.
The burner is very powerful, putting out a lot of heat. This makes it so the pizza oven’s exterior gets quite hot as well. Even standing two feet away from the front of the oven, you can feet the heat. This burner makes a significant difference in cooking pizzas because the small live flame is housed underneath and to the side of the pizza stone. It eliminates the need to worry about whether the crust of your pizza will touch a live flame.
The rotating stone is operated by a small motor which can be powered by either plugging it in or using batteries. For those who are new to making pizzas in an outdoor oven, it could be a useful tool, eliminating the need to think about turning as often. However, it sill is necessary to stand and watch pizzas cook because the high heat cooks them very fast.
How We Tested It
I’ve been testing the Blackstone pizza oven since September, 2023. In that time, I’ve assembled the oven, cooked multiple pies and cleaned the stone.
Set-Up and Assembly
The Blackstone pizza oven is incredibly heavy, weighing 140 pounds once assembled with the stand. The assembly is definitely best with two people, especially once it’s time to position the pizza oven onto the stand. To get the pizza oven ready for use, you have to attach the feet, screw in the handles, attach pieces for the rotisserie to rotate the pizza stone and attach the motor. Building the stand requires quite a bit of assembly to build the walls and attach the wheels. Once the stand is built, simply lift the oven component on top. Overall, the assembly wasn’t too tricky, but it did take over an hour to put together and ready for use.
Lighting the Burner
For my first few uses, it took several tries to ignite and light the burner. Once I turned the ignition switch, I had to hold the dial in a specific spot to keep it lit long enough to maintain a flame. After a few tries, I got the hang of it, and this was no longer an issue. Once lit, I turned the heat regulator up to high to preheat the oven. The high-pressure burner is incredibly strong and puts out a lot of heat. It’s also surprisingly loud on high. Preheating the oven took only 15 minutes to reach 900 degrees.
Cooking
Looking at the built-in thermometer, the pizza oven was at 700 degrees. However, when I checked the temperature with an infrared thermometer to see what the stone was at, it was over 800 degrees. With the rotating pizza stone powered on, I launched my pizzas into the oven with no issues. The wide opening makes it simple, especially for 12-inch pizzas. The pizza stone rotates throughout the cooking process, which only takes 60 to 90 seconds depending on the toppings used for each pizza tested. This rotation eliminates the need for a pizza turner, making for even browning. The fact that the pizza won’t come in contact with a live flame makes a difference as well.
While the pizzas I tested cooked beautifully on the crust and top, I did have an issue with the amount of char on the base of the crust. For all of the pizzas I make, in any pizza oven, I use coarse organic wheat flour, which helps to prevent the dough from sticking to the pizza. I used the same amount as I would for any other pizza oven. However, because of the incredibly high heat, I ended up with far more charring on the base of my crust than usual. For some, this isn’t an issue, but it does point to just how hot this pizza oven gets.
The high-pressure burner pumps out an incredible amount of heat, even while cooking with it on low. Once I let the pizza oven cool down for a bit, I had better luck cooking pizzas with less charring. The pizza peel included with the pizza oven also played a role in how much flour was transferred into the pizza oven while cooking. Blackstone sells a perforated pizza peel that would help with this issue significantly. It’s one of our favorite Blackstone accessories!
Review Update
After several months of use, the Blackstone pizza oven continues to perform just as well as it did the first day out of the box. I found the wheeled cart to be even more convenient than I originally thought, allowing me to move the oven to just about anywhere I want to cook on my deck—even in rain and snow.
Cooking additional pizzas in the oven allowed me to better learn the design and how to quickly ignite the pizza oven’s powerful burner. With high temperatures of 850 to 900 degrees, it consistently cranks out pizzas cooked in as little as 90 seconds.
The only issue I’ve discovered after more use is how dirty the pizza stone gets. This can become a problem if there is stuck on, burnt cheese or charred flour leftover, which alters the cook and flavor of the next pizza. And of course, you shouldn’t use soap and water to clean a pizza stone. Blackstone sells a pizza stone brush, which has both a bristled brush and a steel scraper at the end, but you could use any other similar tool. Scrubbing or scraping off burnt bits is much easier with this tool. I’ve also found that letting the stone cook on high, without anything in the oven, helps with cleaning. Eventually, these burnt-on bits turn to ash to wipe away.
Pros
- Cooks 16-inch pizzas very quickly
- Unique rotating stone—no need for a turner!
- No live flame within the cooking space
- Comes with pizza peel, but may want to supplement it with a perforated peel
Cons
- Very heavy so it’s not conveniently portable
- Learning curve to maintain temperature
FAQs
How long does it take to cook a pizza in a Blackstone pizza oven?
The time it takes to cook a pie in a Blackstone pizza oven depends on the crust thickness and topping choices. For most pizzas, it will take 60 to 90 seconds to cook. You’ll be able to use your pizza cutter and grab a slice in no time.
Can you put a pizza oven on a Blackstone griddle?
Blackstone sells another type of pizza oven that can be used with a Blackstone griddle. The conversion kit sits on top of a griddle to transfer and retain heat, allowing you to cook pizzas on a stone within the chamber. The stand-alone Blackstone pizza oven cannot sit on top of a griddle.
What else can you cook in a Blackstone pizza oven?
While the Blackstone pizza oven is designed for cooking pizzas at high temperatures, you can use this addition to the backyard to cook just about anything. You can put a cast iron pan in the pizza oven and cook steaks, burgers, chicken wings and salmon.
Product Comparison
The Blackstone pizza oven certainly heats up to high enough temperatures to cook delicious pizzas at home in just 60 seconds. However, in comparison to other popular pizza oven options on the market, it is a significantly different design. Ooni pizza ovens, Solo Stove and the Gozney Roccbox all use gas burners to produce a live flame on their pizza ovens. The heat from this flame radiates throughout the oven to heat up the stone and cook the top of a pizza.
The key difference with the Blackstone pizza oven is that it’s heated by a burner, which is located out of the way of the pizza stone, eliminating any worry about contact with a live flame. The rotation of the pizza stone is also unique to the Blackstone design. This pizza oven produces similar results as others on the market, including Ooni pizza ovens. It has a no-fuss design so you don’t have to think as much about watching or turning your pizza while cooking.
Why You Should Trust Us
A former bakery owner and event planner, I’m a freelance writer and editor specializing in food and beverage, lifestyle and outdoor cooking. I bring years of experience and industry knowledge to Taste of Home readers. When I’m not baking, I keep an eye on the latest food trends and kitchen gadgets, and enjoy cooking outdoors on smokers and pizza ovens.
I’ve tested and reviewed multiple pizza oven models, for Taste of Home, including the Solo Stove Pi Prime, Ooni Koda 16 and Gozney Roccbox. I’ve also covered Ooni pizza oven accessories and the best indoor pizza ovens.
Final Verdict
The Blackstone pizza oven is very different from the other pizza oven models I’ve tested. While Ooni, Gozney and Solo Stove are individually unique, each brand’s pizza oven is relatively similar in design with a live flame and a base pizza stone. Blackstone did something entirely different with its pizza oven design. For those looking for portability, this is not the best option out there. However, for those looking for a no-fuss pizza oven experience where you can rely on a rotating pizza stone to do much of the work for you, this is definitely a good fit. It’s also helpful for those who already love Blackstone griddles and want to complete their outdoor kitchen set-up.
Where to Buy the Blackstone Pizza Oven
VIA MERCHANT
We Tried It
Blackstone Pizza Oven
Temperatures reach over 900 degrees and cook a pizza in as little as 90 seconds.
The Blackstone pizza oven with a stand retails for $799 and can be found at Blackstone, Walmart, Lowe’s and BBQ Guys. Once it’s assembled, you’ll take a bite out of homemade pizza in no time!
Originally Published: October 23, 2023
