Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven Review (Testing + Comparison)

The Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven is one of the most excellent solutions; it is a conveniently compact, light, and portable pizza oven. It is the top pick in our category for “Best Outdoor Ovens Under $500.” You’ll struggle to find a portable oven that produces pizza in the Neapolitan style or with a wood-fired flavor that compares to this one.

Even though it isn’t flawless, it’s unquestionably one of the most significant purchases on the market. The Ooni 2S is too adorable to use. The 2S model was developed by Ooni, a well-known Scandinavian manufacturer of pizza ovens, using cutting-edge technology.

With the Ooni 3 Pizza Oven, they improved upon their wildly popular predecessor, which was notorious for selling out. The model is complicated to locate, though. I would advise utilizing the Ooni Koda 12 in its place if you didn’t find it. In their Ooni 3 model, Ooni demonstrated that even beautiful things could be enhanced. The Ooni 2S has undergone even more revolutionary features with this evolution.

Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven Review

Authentic wood-fired pizza ovens used to be the exclusive domain of the wealthy or skilled carpenters. Today, everyone can choose from a wide variety of pizza ovens. We looked at the top pizza ovens for every price level, and the Uuni 3 ranked among the finest in the mid-range class.

Launched on Kickstarter in 2012, Uuni (now known as Ooni) was an immediate hit. By the end of the campaign, it had raised 220% of its financing target, surpassing its initial funding target in just two weeks. Since then, it has expanded and is quickly rising to the top of the list of pizza oven manufacturers. Our Uuni 3 Pizza Oven Review will examine the positive and negative aspects.

Features

The body of the Uuni 3 is made entirely of stainless steel. This has been insulated to aid in more effectively retaining heat. The Uuni 3 now has a new wood pellet burner intended to improve temperature control and consistency in cooking. The Uuni can achieve temperatures of 932°F (500 °C) because of this and its stainless steel body.

This implies that a pizza can be prepared in as little as 60 seconds. The new wood burner and insulation also make it easier to heat the Uuni more quickly. From cold, it may achieve its maximum temperature in 10 minutes.

The Uuni gets its energy from wood pellets. These are identical to the wood pellets used in pellet smokers. Both of these have a high energy density. They are created from regular wood that has been crushed into highly dense pellets after being shredded into tiny pieces.

It’s just wood; there are no binders or other materials. Green and excellent for cooking. For every Uuni Three bag of pellets sold, Uuni is going one step further with its sustainability mission by promising to plant a tree.

A new clip on the chimney makes taking it off exceedingly simple. This, along with the Uuni’s modest weight and small size, make it incredibly portable. It’s simple to transport anywhere. The Uuni 3 only has three legs.

The previous design had 4. The new design has lowered the weight, which has also increased stability on uneven terrain. Now that it can lay flat on various surfaces, the Uuni is ideal for outdoor cooking. The Uuni 3 is ideal for storage and transportation because the legs can also be folded.

Build Quality And Design

The Uuni 3 has a relatively straightforward design. An excellent heat flow is produced by the front chimney and the back fire pit. For a wood-fired oven, it’s normal for the sides to become hotter than the center.

Overall, it has a beautiful finish, is sleek, and looks fantastic. The heat, though, will make the finish short-lived. Given its strength, stainless steel can easily resist extremely high temperatures. Although it feels flimsy because it is so light, you can be assured that it is comprised of stainless steel and will last. We would have liked higher-quality hardwood handles, but you can’t have everything.

The wood pellet burner has some excellent design elements. The pellets are kept in a slide-out tray, making it simple to add the first batch and clean. A beginning cube can be placed in the tray and placed on the burner to light them.

Alternatively, you can use a blow torch and light the pellets using the blow torch hole while the tray is in place. There is a unique pellet shot, making it very simple to add more pellets. The central chimney’s top cover, which serves as a rain deflector and pellet scoop, is made of metal beautiful, effective use of resources that functions well.

The bottom of your pizzas will have a fantastic finish thanks to the cordierite baking stone’s excellent ability to withstand high heat. Because it is so effective at retaining heat, cordierite is one of the most excellent materials for baking stones.

Ease Of Use

The portability of the Uuni 3 was a design priority. It is straightforward to disassemble into smaller pieces, which makes it simple to transport and store. This implies that the first construction is likewise relatively straightforward. Utilizing the provided instruction booklet will take approximately 10-15 minutes.

The Uuni 3’s simplicity of use is its most vital feature. That does not imply that you will consistently achieve fantastic results. There is always a learning curve when cooking with fire, which is no exception. However, it’s one of the best pizza ovens for beginners, and with a bit of care and attention, you’ll be able to produce excellent results.

The Uuni is exceedingly simple to light. It will ignite quickly because it uses pellets, and having a blow torch hole is excellent for doing so. Moving your pizzas is quite simple if you have a pizza peel explicitly created for your pizza oven.

Overall, an easier wood-fired pizza oven to use won’t be found. The fire is relatively well controlled with the firebox and pellets, so you don’t need to worry too much. You can tweak it to make the perfect pizza every time you start to understand how your Uuni cooks and where the hotter and colder spots are located.

How does It work?

Because you can put pizzas into the front of the oven while the burner is at the back, you should use the oven on a table that allows easy access to both the front and the back when cooking.

The oven can reach a temperature of 932 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius) in about 10 minutes, permitting you to cook a pizza in the Neapolitan manner in as little as one minute. You may quickly determine the oven’s temperature by aiming a thermometer pistol at the cordierite stone.

Assembling The Oven

The majority of the time, the oven’s setup is likewise straightforward. The assembly instructions are illustrated with photos in the instruction booklet. Overall, putting the oven together and preparing it to cook shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. Below is a helpful video that will lead you through the fundamentals of setting up the oven if you need any extra assistance.

Turning It On

The task of lighting the oven is also simple. You can use cooking pellets from the Ooni brand or any other brand; all you need to do is slide out the combustion chamber and load it with pellets. The oven can then be lit by passing a blowtorch through the tiny opening on the side of the combustion chamber. Even under ideal circumstances, we discovered that the oven takes a little longer to preheat than the recommended 10 minutes; therefore, budget closer to 15 minutes.

Cooking Capabilities

Keep in mind that the back of this oven frequently gets hot while cooking the pizza, and you might need to spin the pizza at some time to cook it more evenly.

The one drawback is that the oven is relatively small, making it difficult to spin the pizza using the pizza peel, nearly as large as the oven’s mouth. We suggest using a rotating peel slightly smaller than the one with the pan for more consistent cooking and to get around this problem. Doing this makes the pizza not need to be taken out of the oven to be rotated.

Editors Choice

4.4 out of 5 Stars

Testing

I’ve now been making 20 Neapolitan-style pizzas in the little oven, which I’ve used for approximately a month. There are various distinctions to consider when compared to the electric oven, which most of us undoubtedly use.

So I left my first pizza in Uuni 3 unattended for too long, almost immediately turning into a chunk of charcoal (i.e., 1 minute). That alarmed me a little, so I got an infrared thermometer to check the temperatures on the stone and take appropriate action. Pizza number two showed a steady improvement, and now I believe I got the recipe.

The key, in my opinion, is to rotate the pizza every 10 to 15 seconds because the stone heats up unevenly due to the top heat. Temperatures can reach 480°C directly behind the burner, although only 350°C is heated in front of the hatch. Naturally, this results in the pizza baking faster in the back than in the front.

Keep an eye on it, which is easy to do with the door open, and turn the pizza as soon as the area behind the gas burner becomes too dark. In reality, this is simpler than it sounds. In theory, you remove the pizza temporarily, flip it 1/4, and then re-insert it.

This is not a lot of work because the entire baking procedure takes about 90 seconds, and the results are apparent (see picture). High heat causes the pizza’s base to be crisp, but the thinly rolled dough ensures that the pie stays pliable. She also produces lovely black spots, which I had never managed to do with my home oven.

Together with the buffalo mozzarella and tomato sauce, these dark patches give the pizza a delightful, bitter, nutty flavor. With this oven, I’ve consumed more margaritas than ever before. They used to be dull, but the intense heat has made them enjoyable.

Comparison

The Ooni 3 is made of 430 stainless steel and cordierite pizza stones. The wood-burning oven gives the pizza a unique, wood-fired flavor. It’s lightweight, so you can take it wherever you want pizza.

The cordierite pizza stone baking board is sturdy and can resist high temperatures. This pizza oven is great if you want an authentic wood-fired pizza, but if you want to prevent pellet burner difficulties, use a gas burner.

In our opinion, ooni Karu 16 is the best pizza oven money can buy. We are pretty satisfied, especially with the quality. Even if you’re cooking for your complete family, the cooking procedure is straightforward and produces the highest-quality pizza.

Final Verdict

The exterior design of this oven is ideal for withstanding the outdoor elements it will unavoidably encounter. People who have had theirs for more than a year have not noticed any rust. The Ooni 3 has demonstrated its ability to last for a very long time and be durable.

The Ooni 3 Outdoor Pizza Oven‘s pellet burner might not produce the most satisfactory results, but a gas burner with temperature controls will work just as well. The Ooni 3 should provide years of dependable use thanks to its quick preheating, simple setup, and high-quality construction, especially considering its low price. You should add a handful of these extras to go along with your Onni 3 purchase.