{"id":1923126,"date":"2023-10-23T08:45:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T13:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1923126"},"modified":"2024-03-14T13:28:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T18:28:30","slug":"blackstone-pizza-oven-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/blackstone-pizza-oven-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackstone Pizza Oven Review: A Rotating Pizza Stone Churns Out Fuss-Free Pies in Minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"The Blackstone griddle<\/a> 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<\/a>.\r\n\r\nAs a pizza enthusiast, I make pies once a week in my backyard. I've also tested numerous pizza ovens<\/a>, including the best-selling Ooni Koda 16<\/a> and the all-electric Ooni Volt<\/a>. To see just how Blackstone's pizza oven compares, I put it to the test.\r\n

What is the Blackstone pizza oven?<\/h2>\r\n\"\r\n\r\nThe Blackstone pizza oven<\/a> is a gas-powered oven that hooks up to a propane tank. It utilizes a hose and connector\u2014the 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.\r\n\r\nIt 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.\r\n\r\nThe Blackstone pizza oven is sold with a stand and includes a pizza peel, but all other pizza-making tools<\/a> and accessories are sold separately.\r\n\r\n[SINGLE_AFFILIATE_PRODUCT superlative=\"We Tried It\" product_name=\"Blackstone Pizza Oven\" short_description=\"Two-stone technology with a rotating bottom stone generates even cooking.\" image=\"1924032\" image_credit=\"VIA MERCHANT\" pr_name=\"Blackstone\" pr_url=\"https:\/\/blackstoneproducts.com\/products\/blackstone-pizza-oven\" pr_display_text=\"Shop on Blackstone\" retailers_2_name=\"Walmart\" retailers_2_url=\"https:\/\/www.walmart.com\/ip\/Blackstone-Propane-Outdoor-Pizza-Oven-with-Stand-and-Pizza-Peel\/1930841694\" retailers_2_display_text=\"Shop on Walmart\" retailers_3_name=\"Lowe's\" retailers_3_url=\"https:\/\/www.lowes.com\/pd\/Blackstone-Freestanding-with-16-25-in-Cord-Hearth-Liquid-Propane-Outdoor-Pizza-Oven\/5014303611\" retailers_3_display_text=\"Shop on Lowe's\" retailers_4_name=\"BBQ Guys\" retailers_4_url=\"https:\/\/www.bbqguys.com\/blackstone-products\/pizza-oven-with-stand\" retailers_4_display_text=\"Shop on BBQ Guys\" \/]\r\n

Blackstone Pizza Oven Features<\/h2>\r\nThe Blackstone pizza oven<\/a> 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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.\r\n

How We Tested It<\/h2>\r\nI'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.\r\n

Set-Up and Assembly<\/h3>\r\n\"Closeup\r\n\r\nThe 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.\r\n

Lighting the Burner<\/h3>\r\n\"Burner\r\n\r\nFor 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.\r\n

Cooking<\/h3>\r\n\"\r\n\r\nLooking 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.\r\n\r\nWhile 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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<\/a>!\r\n

Review Update<\/h3>\r\nAfter 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\u2014even in rain and snow.\r\n\r\nCooking 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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<\/a>, 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.\r\n

Pros<\/h3>\r\n