There’s nothing like the taste of a hot, fresh pizza! There are tons of appliances out there today that make it easy to make restaurant quality pizza right at home. Here at Good Life Pizza Ovens we love the convenience and ease that cooking with gas provides.
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The one way you can make it more convenient is to hook your pizza oven directly to your house’s natural gas source. That way you don’t need to keep lugging around and filling up propane tanks.
A natural gas pizza oven might be right for you if you already have a natural gas stub outside. Getting a gas outlet to the right location can be tricky and expensive. If you don’t have a gas line readily available you may consider getting a propane-fired pizza oven instead.
If you still think you want a natural gas pizza oven, keep reading to find out our top picks.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about gas pizza ovens before you buy. Then, we’ll explore our top picks for the best pizza ovens available today.
What Are the Benefits?
Taste
The main reason people buy pizza ovens of any kind is the superior taste. A pizza oven is a great way to elevate homemade pizza, giving a delicious flavor and flaky pizza crusts that don’t happen with traditional home ovens.
Gas pizza ovens can reach high temperatures, meaning they can cook pizza in less than 2 minutes. Many of them come equipped with cordierite baking stones that wick moisture away from the crust, making it crispy and golden brown. High heat fully surrounds your pizza, perfectly cooking toppings and melting cheese.
Many models will even have chimneys that draw the flames upward over the top of the pizza. This allows for an even cook on both the top and bottom. With a gas pizza oven, you’re creating the most delicious pizza possible.
Easy to Use
Natural gas-powered pizza ovens are fairly simple to use. A wood burning pizza oven would require you to learn how to light and maintain a fire source, deal with smoke and ash, and learn new cooking techniques. With a gas pizza oven, cooking pizza is as simple as turning the oven on, letting it get to cooking temperature, then putting your pizza inside.
General preheat times for a natural gas oven are between 10-20 minutes. Depending on what you are cooking, it can take anywhere between one minute to five minutes to cook a pizza.
Heat Retention
Most ovens have some form of insulation to keep the heat in. They also have a stone or brick that keeps the floor of the pizza oven hot. The better the heat retention, the less fuel you have to use to keep your oven hot.
Cooking Times
Comparatively, gas units cook faster than an electric oven. Although some wood-fired pizza ovens can get as hot as the gas ovens, they take 45 minutes to and hour to preheat. With a natural gas oven, you’ll save a significant amount of time and effort when cooking pizzas.
Their ability to heat up and maintain their cooking temperature will allow you to cook more pizza, faster.
Top 8 Best Natural Gas Pizza Ovens Models
When considering what makes the best model, we assessed what came with the pizza oven, the baking stone, features, and materials used. The first three ovens listed we consider the budget picks as they are the only ones that come in under $1,000.
Then we’ll cover 3 mid-range ovens that come in at around $2,000 or lower. The last two ovens will be considered luxury pricing.
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Most Portable Pizza Oven: Ooni Koda 16
The Ooni Koda 16 is ideal for beginners. It starts around $600 and runs on propane. Consider this a great option if you’re not sure natural gas is easy to get to. You can always buy the natural gas conversion kit later.
It removes the challenges of learning how to bake a pizza using a pizza oven. You just ignite the gas burner and bring it up to temperature. Once the oven is hot enough, you start cooking. It’s that easy
If you would like to put it away after cooking, it only weighs 39 lbs, making it somewhat portable. Just make sure to wait for it to cool down first. The exterior gets hot while it’s cooking.
Read our full Ooni Koda 16 review to learn more about this awesome pizza oven.
You will need the optional natural gas conversion kit in order to use the Koda 16 with natural gas.
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Most Versatile: Ooni Karu 16
The Ooni Karu 16 is an very impressive pizza oven. Out of the box it comes ready to cook with wood or charcoal. You must purchase the natural gas burner to cook with natural gas. There is also a propane burner option as well.
Ooni has improved this oven over previous models with many features. The Karu 16 sports a easy to read built-in thermometer on the front. It also boasts increased insulation and a flip down glass door for better heat retention. Learn more about this pizza oven by reading our in-depth Ooni Karu 16 review.
This is the highest priced oven in the budget portion of our list. For the base model the cost is around $800. Add in the cost of the natural gas burner as you will need to buy it separately.
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Best Value: Bertello Grande Pizza Oven
Bertello first introduced their original pizza oven on Kickstarter and was then featured on Shark Tank. Since then they released the Bertello Grande. The Grande rocks some awesome features that make this oven unique.
With the Bertello Grande you can cook up to a 16″ pizza. It comes with a propane burner which can be swapped with a natural gas burner (sold seperately). This oven starts at around $500 so it is the lowest priced oven on our list.
The coolest benefit that the Bertello Grande has is the wood chip tray. This allows you to cook with gas and wood at the same time. With that you get the wood-fired flavor with the convenience of cooking with gas.
The Bertello Grande also has a portion of the flames that go below the pizza stone. This keeps the stone hot which is critical to evenly cooking a pizza.
To learn more about the Bertello Grande, read our full Bertello Grande review.
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Most Innovative: Gozney Dome
Gozney makes several commercial pizza ovens. Perhaps they are better know for making the Gozney Roccbox, a smaller residential pizza oven. They have now entered the larger residential pizza oven market with the Gozney Dome.
The Gozney Dome comes in several configurations. You can choose wood-fired only, hybrid wood with a propane burner, or hybrid wood with a natural gas burner. We love the fact that you can cook with wood or gas.
Gozney is known for making beautiful ovens. The Dome is no exception. It also packs a lot of features including a built-in thermometer, a simple to use air ventilation system and robust insulation.
The Gozney Dome also has some very interesting accessories available now and in the near future. It has the usual accessories like a cover and stand that are made to fit the Dome perfectly. For instance, you can add a steam injector. The Dome has an accessory port that will allow you to put in future options like a cold smoker.
Overall the Gozney Dome makes an incredible pizza, looks gorgeous and packs a lot of features not found in an other pizza oven.
To brink the Gozney Dome with the natural gas option you’re looking at around $1,800. This is really reasonbly priced when you consider all of the features and the cost of other hybrid ovens.
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Best Value for Bigger Ovens: Summerset “The Oven”
Constructed from high-quality stainless steel (#304 grade), the main burner generates 16,000 BTU/hr which will quickly cook your pizza. The pizza stone will reach a maximum of 700°F in the oven.
Included are a cover, smoker box for wood chips (if you want to use them), two racks with three available positions, a flame tamer, large pizza stone, and grease tray. This oven fits pizzas up to 16”.
At around $1,300 this oven is a good option for those on a tighter budget, but want more of a built-in look.
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Best Overall: Chicago Brick Ovens Hybrid CBO-750
Chicago Brick Ovens are impressive. They are also the most expensive ovens in our list. They are the only oven on this list that are manufactured in the USA.
There are several options from Chicago Brick Ovens. The CBO-750 is their most popular size.
Their trademarked Flame Roll Technology helps heat the oven quickly and evenly. This is the magic that every oven tries to achieve because it creates a more evenly cooked pizza.
The CBO-750 comes in a pre-finished model that comes ready to set on a counter or stand. You can also buy a DIY kit that gets built into your backyard kitchen for the ultimate authentic look.
The Chicago Brick Oven CBO-750 if for those looking for a beautiful oven that can look great as a stand-alone or built-in oven. If you need to cook with wood and gas at the same time, this is a great option. The ability to cook with wood and gas at the same time comes with a cost. At over $7,000 this is a luxury pizza oven for those with deep pockets.
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Most Efficient: Alfa Nano Pizza Oven
Alfa is an Italian company that has been making pizza ovens for over 10 years. They know a thing or two about pizza.
The Alfo Nano pizza oven (also know as the Alfa One) packs a lot of punch in a little footprint.
The Nano heats up to 1,000 degrees in as little as 10 minutes. It’s patented heat deflector is designed to slowly let heat out the flue and maintain most of the heat inside.
It comes with a door that has a peep hole so you can keep the heat and keep an eye on your pizza. The Alfa Nano also has a double layer of ceramic fire insulation.
The Alfa Nano can be used indoors with the proper installation. You must run a double-wall flue through the roof of your house or patio.
The Alfa Nano is perfect for someone who has a small space or wants to install their pizza oven under a roof. The small form factor may not be right for everyone. If you would like a bigger oven, Alfa has other models to choose from that also use natural gas. It is priced at the medium range at just over $2,000.
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Most Traditional: Pro Forno Tonio Pizza Oven
Pro Forno offers a wide variety of authentic style pizza ovens. The old world look of the Pro Forno Tonio is sure to get attention at your next backyard party. It’s also available in three colors, red, white or black.
All of the Pro Forno Pizza Ovens, including the Tonio, come standard as a wood-fired oven. Available for sale as an add-on is a manual or automatic natural gas burner. The burner will allow you to cook with wood, and keep the temperature consistent with gas.
The Tonio Pizza oven is made of brick and refractory cement. This is great for maintaining heat, but also makes the oven weigh 375 pounds. The Tonio is not as heavy as most traditional brick ovens, but you’ll still want some help or equipment to put it in place.
The Pro Forno Tonio Pizza Oven is for anyone looking to cook with wood and gas at the same time. This is a semi-DIY setup as you will need to install the gas burner yourself. At between $4,200 and $5,500 depending on the type of burner you get, this is a higher priced oven.
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FAQ’s
Can I use Natural Gas with a propane burning pizza oven?
No. Propane and natural gas are not the same density. The pressure required to burn wit the two different gases is different. You can ruin your oven and/or seriously hurt yourself by using the wrong fuel.
Can an Ooni Pizza Oven run on Natural Gas?
The only Ooni ovens that allow you to run on natural gas are the Koda 16 and the Karu 16. The Ooni Koda 16 has a natural gas conversion kit, and the Ooni Karu 16 has a natural gas burner available for purchase separately.
Can the Ooni Koda 12 be converted to Natural Gas.
No. Ooni currently does not offer a natural gas conversion kit for the Koda 12.
Which burns hotter, propane or natural gas?
Both gases burn at the same temperature, but propane generates more than twice as much heat. This is because it’s more that twice the density.
Which is a better fuel for a pizza oven, natural gas or propane?
This is a matter of personal preference. Propane generates more heat and burns cleaner. Natural gas is delivered through your home gas system for more convenience.
As someone from Long Island, New York, Thomas knows what it takes to make a good pizza. He understands that it’s a combination of high-quality ingredients, well-rounded pizza ovens, and a little bit of love. From the dough of a Neapolitan-style pizza to the wood that powers a wood-fired pizza oven, he has you covered. Thomas’ love of pizza is what got him here and he hopes that you’ll enjoy pizza as much as he does soon.
