It’s not every day you have a proper excuse to host a pizza pop-up, but when I got my hands on the Ninja Artisan Electric Pizza Oven, I knew I had to put it through some rigorous testing. As such, I took it upon myself to cater my in-laws’ Memorial Day weekend pool party.
I made a dozen pies for their guests, and let’s just say the Ninja didn’t disappoint. It heats quickly, maintains temperatures well, and churns out pies one after another. To be clear: It’s not an indoor pizza oven; it’s an outdoor pizza oven that happens to be electric, and the Ninja pizza oven is on sale.
The Takeaways
It Gets Piping Hot, Quickly
Serious Eats
The Ninja reached 714°F (higher than its stated maximum of 700°F!) in just 13 minutes. It was a dreary and rainy New England day during this test, but that didn’t faze the oven. The sturdy, insulated door traps heat, allowing the pizza oven to maintain a high temperature between pizzas. Thanks to its door, once the Ninja preheated, it churned out pizza after pizza with no waiting period between pies.
It Makes Great Pizza
Serious Eats
I made Neapolitan-style pizzas using sourdough and regular yeasted doughs; the resulting crusts came out fluffy and nicely charred, with noticeable leopard spotting on the bottoms. I especially appreciate that there’s no need to turn pizzas since the top and bottom heating elements cook pies evenly.
It’s Easy to Use
Serious Eats
Using this pizza oven was incredibly simple, thanks to the clearly labeled control panel and LED panel. The “mode” button toggles through settings like pizza, bake, proof, broil, and warm, while a large dial cycles through more specific options. For example, under “pizza,” you can select from Neapolitan, thin crust, New York-style, pan pizza, or custom. You can also set a custom temperature or timer outside of the presets.
The Neapolitan setting automatically sets every cooking cycle for three minutes, which I found to be (almost) too long, so I kept an eye on the pizza itself instead of relying on the predetermined timer.
There are other bells and whistles that I found useful with this oven, such as a little jingle that plays when it finishes preheating, letting you know it’s ready for food. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that it has an oven light, making it easy to track the progress of pizzas by pushing the light bulb button on the control panel.
It’s Super Portable
Serious Eats
For something so powerful and efficient, it’s surprisingly compact and light, weighing just 25 pounds. Its 21- by 16- by 12-inch body is also small enough that I was able to easily carry it to the car myself and transport it in the trunk from my house to my in-laws’ home. The oven also comes with a cover to protect it from the elements if you store it outside.
Do I Recommend It?
Ninja Artisan Outdoor Electric Pizza Oven
Amazon
I was skeptical about relying on the Ninja Artisan pizza oven to make pies for over 20 people, but the oven’s performance blew me away. I barely had to wait for it to preheat to over 700°F and was able to cook back-to-back pizzas without trouble. They came out pillowy and flavorful every time. If you’re looking to upgrade your homemade pizza setup (AKA ditch your kitchen oven), but don’t want to spend a whole lot on a dedicated pizza oven, the Ninja is on sale for $230—a fraction of the price of other pizza ovens we’ve tested—and makes excellent Neapolitan pies in minutes.
Explore More Serious Eats-Approved Pizza Ovens
Gozney Roccbox Outdoor Pizza Oven
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Ooni Volt 12 Electric Indoor Pizza Oven
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Ooni Koda 12 Gas Pizza Oven
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Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo
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Why We’re the Experts
- An Uong is a writer for Serious Eats.
- An has been testing kitchen gear for Serious Eats for over two years.
- She’s been making pizza for over 10 years and daydreams about one day opening up a pizza shop.
