Gas vs Wood Pizza Oven: Best Option for Homemade Pizzas

Everyone loves pizza! 

That’s just the honest truth. It’s possibly the best food ever, and I’d be lying if I denied eating it at least once a week. 

The best compromise I managed with my partner luckily didn’t mean sacrificing my pizza habit – only the cost of it! 

Now we make our own pizzas weekly and have found it to be cheaper, healthier, and so much tastier than storebought varieties. 

In this article, I’ll give you the rundown of the most important choice in our decision to make homemade pizzas: gas or wood-fired pizza oven? 

I’ll cover all the major factors, including:

• Heating time and performance
• Size and weight
• Cooking Time
• Flavor
• Cleaning, maintenance, and safety of pizza ovens
• Cost.

Let’s get cooking!

Gas Vs Wood Pizza Ovens : Differences

	Gas Pizza Ovens	Wood Fired Pizza Ovens
Heating Time	Faster (15 minutes)	Slower (under 5 minutes)
Size	Smaller, portable	Larger, fixed
Weight	Lighter	Heavier
Cooking Time	Faster (5 minutes)	Slower (15 minutes)
Flavor	Neutral	Smoky, natural
Cleaning and Maintenance	Easier to clean	More maintenance
Safety	Slightly safer	Requires monitoring
Cost	Higher initial cost	Lower initial cost
	Lower maintenance cost	Higher maintenance cost

Heating Time and Performance

Wood pizza ovens technically heat up faster, as they can go from ignition to cooking temperature in under five minutes. 

Gas ovens generally take around fifteen minutes to get to the optimal cooking temperature. 

Gas pizza ovens can get to a much hotter temperature in the same time period than wood pizza ovens, which has a significant impact on overall cooking time. 

Size

Both styles of pizza oven vary massively in size. However, if you’re looking for something small and portable, gas is the way to go!

Generally, wood-fired pizza ovens are significantly larger and are fixed in place. 

Weight

Similar to the above, wood-fired pizza oceans are usually heavier – weighing up to a ton in some cases! 

This depends largely on the materials you use. Wood ovens, especially when DIYed, are made of bricks or cinder blocks.

On the other hand, gas pizza ovens are often made with stainless steel or other lightweight materials. 

Cooking Time

Wood pizza ovens take around fifteen minutes on average to fully cook a standard pizza. 

On the other hand, gas ovens take around five minutes – but can also be as fast as fifty to sixty seconds (under a minute)! 

This means that when it comes to hosting large numbers frequently, a gas pizza oven could be the better choice due to the rapid turnaround time. 

Flavor

When it comes to flavor, wood-fired pizza ovens are the clear winner. 

The smokey, natural palette infused in the crispy dough of wood-fired pizzas is incredibly popular for a reason – it’s absolutely scrumptious! 

You can also vary the type of smokiness by changing the type of wood or wood chips used in your wood-fired pizza oven.  

On the flip side, if your family or guests dislike char on their pizza, gas fires could be the better option as they are easier to control and more neutral in taste.

Cleaning and Maintenance of Pizza Ovens

In general, gas-powered pizza ovens are a lot easier to clean. 

This is because of their stainless steel interiors, the lack of having to supply your own wood and clear out ashes, and the modern surfaces of most gas-powered gas pizza ovens. 

As mentioned previously, the brick or cinder construction of wood pizza ovens can make them quite difficult to clean properly or maintain.

Safety

Both types of pizza ovens are very safe as long as they’re well-monitored. 

However, if we really had to establish a winner, gas is the slightly safer option. 

This is because you can power off gas pizza ovens with the flip of a switch, whereas wood pizza ovens work with live fires. 

This means wood ovens do possess slightly higher risk due to embers, sparks, and clean-up risks. 

Cost

Hypothetically, wood-fired pizza ovens should always be cheaper. In fact, you could even make a wood-fired pizza oven yourself!

Retail prices for gas-fired pizza ovens are slightly higher; you’d be looking at around 

$400 minimum for a gas oven, as opposed to around $350 for a purchased wood-based oven. 

However, keep in mind that wood ovens do have higher long-term maintenance costs due to having to buy wood and for cleaning.

Which One is Better For You: Gas or Wood Fire Pizza Oven?

Although you now know how gas and wood fire pizza ovens differ from each other, you may still be scratching your head over which one is better for you. 

Since the biggest difference lies in the cleanliness and maintenance of the oven, this will be an important tiebreaker for many people. 

While wood fire pizza ovens can leave your pizza with a tempting aroma and that delectable hint of smokiness, it does come with the price of requiring more effort to clean out the ashes, logs, and soot.

Another obvious concern is that wood ovens require a lot of resources. From building the oven itself to the firewood you use, these ovens can burn through your supply in no time at all! 

If you’re impatient or don’t have time to monitor the pizzas, wood ovens are a no-go as you do need to keep an eye on the oven at all times. 

With all that extra elbow grease, however, you’ll be able to serve a pizza that guests will have a hard time finding anywhere else!

If you’re more interested in the idea of popping pizzas into the oven and not having to pay any attention to them till they’re done, gas ovens are what you should be looking at. 

Unlike wood ovens which can be finicky and provide unpredictable heat at times, gas ovens are fairly stable and will make sure your pizzas cook evenly all throughout.

Another advantage of gas ovens that should be considered is their compact build. All you need to do is hook it up to natural gas plumbing, and you’re good to go! 

And since gas ovens don’t take up a lot of space, it’s a perfect choice for those with smaller kitchens or outdoor spaces.

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