You are reading this blog post either because you are thinking of buying an Ooni Koda gas pizza oven – or you already have a Koda and want to get the most out of it. If you do not already have one, you might want to check out our Ooni Koda 12 or Ooni Koda 16 reviews.
Ooni’s pizza ovens advertisement makes it easy to see why they stand out among the rest. These reviews will give you tips that will help you shop for the best tools and accessories, deliver the most delicious pizza dough, and make your cooking a breeze.
You can get ideas for cooking your favorite recipes, adding your sauce and toppings, and how to create mouthwatering, delicious and picture-perfect food.
And if you don’t have a Koda or decided to buy a different pizza oven, these hacks work well for any Ooni pizza oven!
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
I argue that the Koda oven is the best portable gas oven, and is a great choice for:
- People that want amazing restaurant quality pizzas at home, as well as all your favorite toppings the way you like them.
- People that want amazing restaurant quality pizzas for camping, tailgating, birthday parties, Super Bowl parties, March Madness parties – I think you get the point!
- OR for people that want more friends!
Even ovens as amazing as the Koda can be made better with the right accessories and tricks. I’ve put together the top 10 hacks to get the most out of your weKoda.
So, let’s get started!
KODA HACK #1: Ooni Koda Carry Cover
You have to get the Ooni Koda Carry Cover!
Nothing says ‘portable’ like duffel bag handles – and you’ll look so cool walking up to the party!
But seriously, the carry cover is one my favorite accessories for the Ooni Koda.
It is so easy to put on and take off. The cover fits snug to the Koda oven and has elastic to keep it wrapped up tightly. The handles continue down into straps that wrap under the oven so you can easily and securely carry the Koda with one hand.
Even with the oven cover, It is recommended that you store your Koda oven indoors. I keep mine in my garage until I’m ready for a pizza party!
KODA HACK #2: Pizza Peel
What is a pizza peel? It is the flat, metal or wood paddle that looks like a giant spatula. The peel is what you use to put a pizza into an oven – or to take it out.
Picking the right peel is an important decision. People often ask ‘what are the best pizza peels’? For you, the best peel depends on how you are trying to use it.
If your goal is ultra-portable, you want a foldable pizza peel that fits inside the Koda – and will be held in by the Koda Carry Cover.
For this purpose, I use a Chef Pomodoro Folding Aluminum Pizza Peel. It folds perfectly within the oven and unfolds to be sturdy with a long, wooden handle.
When at home, and I don’t have to worry about portability, my favorite one is the Ooni 12” Perforated Peel.
There are a lot of perforated peels out there. The perforations mainly just allow for excess flour or cornmeal to fall through so you have less on your stone. Anybody can put holes in a peel and call it perforated, so that in itself isn’t special.
What makes the Ooni perforated peel unique and better than all the rest are the three ridges that run from the back to the front of the peel.
These ridges lift most of your dough off of the peel – creating a cushion of air that keeps your dough from sticking.
I used a standard flat peel to cook hundreds of pizzas and didn’t think about it – it got the job done. Then I used the perforated peel and WHOA! Dough easily glided on and off, and there was no resistance or sticking when I turned the dough on it.
Best choice ever!
BONUS – KODA HACK #2b: Wooden Pizza Oven Peels
Are you listening? Here’s the most important hack right here. Get a wood pizza peel!
Metal ones are great for taking your pizzas out, but you can’t beat a wood or bamboo peel for launching your pizzas into the oven. Here’s why:
- They slide better. If you are using a metal one, you probably either put a ton of flour or corn meal on it, or it sticks. Listen to me – switch to a wooden ones for launching! Prepare your pizza right on it.
- And while you’re cooking one pizza, someone else can be making another pizza on the wooden peel. Get more pizzas done in less time.
If you like to host friends over for pizza parties, you may want to get more than 1 wooden peel.
Call me crazy, but I have eight wooden peels! This makes a pizza party way more fun because more people involved making pizzas at any given time.
And since pizzas only take 2 minutes to cook, it takes less time to cook a pizza than it does to create your own!
I like the Chef Pomodoro Acacia Wood Peel because it is 13 inches wide – not 12 inches – which allows you to cook the largest possible pizza in your Koda oven.
It will also fit inside the Koda oven with the carry case on – so you can further save on packing space to take the Koda oven with you anywhere!
KODA HACK #3: Starting Your Gas Pizza Oven
For some reason, people sometimes have trouble starting the Koda.
The instruction manual tells you to “Push in and slowly turn the control knob counter-clockwise until you hear a click and the burner ignites.”
For me, that doesn’t always work. Instead, I like to prime the gas a little bit.
Here’s how I do it:
- Push in the knob and quickly make a quarter turn,
- Hold in for 2 seconds,
- Then quickly turn it off and back on again.
- You’ll hear the swoosh of the flames if it comes on.
IMPORTANT: You’ve got to keep the knob pressed in for the entire process – and even for 5 seconds after the flames ignite to make sure it stays lit. This is a Koda child safety feature, so embrace it.
KODA HACK #4: Portable Ooni Koda Gas Oven
It’s hard to be super portable with a 20 lb propane tank.
With a 20lb to 1lb valve adapter you can be cooking with a 1lb propane canister – like the Coleman camping gas cylinder.
20lb to 1lb Propane Bottle Adapter
Coleman 1lb Propane Cylinder
How’s that for ultra-portable!?
Make sure to connect the adapter to the Koda oven before connecting to the 1lb propane canister. Also, keep the propane bottle pointing up, not down. I found that the adapter can freeze up if you leave the bottle lying down or upside-down.
How long will a 1lb propane bottle last? I’ve used it to cook a half dozen pizzas and still had plenty of juice for future dinners. This means it will last long enough for you to be the most popular guy on your camping trip!
Warning: The Ooni Koda outdoor gas pizza oven is only designed to work with propane. Do not try to use it with other camping fuels, such as Isobutane, Jetpower fuel, or any other type of fuel – just propane.
Also, the Koda oven is not a natural gas pizza oven, so don’t try that at home either. But if natural gas is your thing, the Ooni Koda 16 has a natural gas adapter. As stated on Ooni’s website their natural gas adapter is only compatible with the Ooni Koda 16.
KODA HACK #5: Koda Gas Pizza Ovens Get HOT!
People often ask me “How hot does a pizza oven get?” or “How hot is a pizza oven?” The Koda can reach temperatures up to 950 degrees, and my experience has given me the same results. Either way, that is well over the minimum temperature of 905 degrees that Neapolitan pizzas should be cooked at.
Ooni recommends pre-heating your Koda oven for 15 minutes. This is just fine if you are cooking 2 or 3 pizzas, but I think it cools off quickly if you are making more than that.
I tend to cook 5 or more pizzas, so I will pre-heat for at least 20 minutes. I’ll pre-heat up to 30 minutes if I am making 20+ pizzas.
I have found that the longer I pre-heat, the deeper the heat seems to go into the stone and the better my pizzas cook – one after the other.
KODA HACK #6: Ooni Hacks to Launching Pizzas
Now it’s time to launch your pizza. That’s cool pizza talk for sliding your pizza into the Koda.
I already told you that a wood or bamboo pizza peel is better for launching pizzas.
Even then, you have to take steps to keep your dough from sticking when you launch it.
Many people recommend putting flour on it to keep it from sticking – I prefer very fine corn meal over flour.
Either way, the concern is that you use too much and you leave a big mess on your stone. You can use less corn meal or flour if you rub it into your wooden peel, and it does a great job at keeping your dough from sticking.
So, you have your wood peel, you’ve rubbed fine corn meal or flour into it, you made your pizza and you’re ready to launch it into your oven. Right before you launch your pizza, you want to give it a shake test.
- Shake the peel gently side to side.
- If any part of the dough is sticking, you want to get it unstuck before you try to launch.
- Sometimes a little more shaking can make it come loose.
- If needed, lift up the part of the dough that is sticking and add a little more corn meal or flour.
When the dough is ready to go into the oven, I like to use what I call the ‘Shake and Shove’ method.
- Put the pizza in ¾ of the way,
- While you gently shake the pizza side to side, be careful not to tip it.
- Give it a little shove and pull the peel out most of the way.
- Make sure the pizza is coming off before you remove the peel.
The pizza will glide off the peel into the Koda
KODA HACK #7: Turn Your Pizza in Time
Because the heat source is coming from one place, you must turn your pizza regularly. You can do this by watching it constantly, but I like time each stage to get a consistent cooking experience.
These are my numbers, but you can figure out the right time for each stage for you. I hope these tips help you.
(I also learned I have to add several seconds on a cold winter day.)
- Put your pizza in – count to 15
- Quarter Turn – Count to 15
- Quarter Turn – Count to 15
- Quarter Turn – Count to 12
- Find a spot that needs more cooking – 5-8 seconds
- Find another spot – 5-8 seconds
- Repeat as needed
Full cooking time is still less than 2 minutes
KODA HACK #8: Pizza Brush is a Must
You want a good pizza oven brush!
It’s great for sweeping off excess cornmeal or flour off the oven pizza stone that builds up and can burn and stick to other pizzas. I like to do a quick sweep after every 2-3 pizzas.
Also, you will get cheese, toppings, and sauce on your stone. I recommend a brush with a scraper at the end to get the cheese, toppings, and sauce off the stone.
I like the Ooni Pizza Brush because:
- It has a long bamboo handle that keeps my hands away from the heat, and the bamboo is more resistant to heat than wood.
- The bristles are a strong metal, but also flexible to protect the stone.
- And it has a solid metal scraper at the end to get cheese, toppings, and sauce off the stone.
The Cuisinart Pizza Oven Brush is a good option as well.
KODA HACK #9: Register to Extend Warranty
The Koda oven comes with a 1 year warranty, but Ooni will extend it to a 3 year warranty if you register your Koda oven within 60 days of purchase.
Register your Koda at https://ooni.com/pages/warranty
You will need to provide:
- Serial number – located on the box or back leg of the Koda
- Place of purchase
- Purchase date
- Make sure you keep your proof of purchase in case of a warranty claim.
KODA HACK #10: Do You Rock or Roll?
What are the best Pizza Cutters: Rocker Cutter or Roller Cutter?
Rocker ‘n Roller
I guess it is a personal choice, but once you use a good rocker cutter, you’ll never go back to a rolling cutter again!
Rocker cutters are faster and just way more fun!
Even among rocker cutters, there are two kinds.
Most rocker cutters are essentially a long piece of steel with a handle that runs along the top of the cutter.
My favorite, however, are the ones that have two vertical handles. I feel like I have better leverage and it cuts through better. I also just think it looks way cooler!
Either way, I recommend you get a rocker cutter with a blade cover – both to protect your hands and the blade while it’s in storage.
You want to look like a pizza expert? Top off the experience with a pizza rocker cutter.
BONUS KODA HACK: Get Your Koda On!
In summary, in the ‘Best Gas Pizza Oven Outdoor’ category, the Ooni Koda cannot be beat for its combination of super portability, ease of use, and great wood fired pizza taste (even without the wood).
So, if you don’t have an Ooni Koda pizza oven yet, click here to get one!
Take it from us! It is the oven among ovens! These tips and hacks will help you over the learning curve so you can enjoy baking in your outdoor pizza oven without making all the mistakes I did to gain this knowledge.
Check out the full lineup of Ooni pizza ovens via our site.
Want to get even more out of your Ooni Koda? Check out our article on Best Pizza Oven Accessories
Tim is a self proclaimed social eater – so it’s not surprise that he’s obsessed making pizzas with his kids, friends, his kids friends, close family, extended family, people with the same last name but aren’t actually family, neighbors, random people in the neighborhood, and complete strangers!
There’s nothing quite like helping other people embrace their creative side as they make their own pizza masterpieces!
