Now, then. Are you the sort of family for whom pizza night is sacred? And it’s not just a weekly endeavor, but a multiple-times-a-week event, including hemming and hawing about toppings, style of dough, rise time, et cetera? Well, welcome to your new obsession: the Ooni Karu 16.
This Ooni is an outdoor countertop oven that can produce the blistered-crust Neapolitan pie you know and love in 60 seconds flat. It’s what’s called a “multi-fuel” oven, meaning you can prop it up somewhere. (It can sit on heatproof surfaces outside, but read the fine print to stay safe!) Choose among wooden fuel, charcoal or propane.
There’s a lot to love about this gadget. Not only does it cook at extraordinarily high temperatures (for such a compact beauty!) but it can also do right by steaks, veggies and everything else you want to pop in there. Each Ooni Karu 16 comes with a digital infrared thermometer and a stone on which to cook your pies. Ooni used special ViewFlame™ technology and big window, so you can watch your pies to make sure they’re done precisely to your liking when you pull them (without letting heat out!) And the oven heats up in just 15 minutes.
Perhaps our favorite aspect of this new beauty? The fact that you can change your mind and fuss around with the fuel source. Want to experiment with hardwood for a toasty wood-smoked pie? No problem. Craving coal oven pizza? This can be that, too. And if you don’t want to overthink it, gas is the way to go. The Ooni is easy to load up with your fuel of choice.
While you may want to do cedar plank–smoked salmon at some point down the line with your Ooni, it’s OK to get pumped about pizza first. Here are four lovelies to try right out of the gate, all featuring our signature, five-star, food-processor pizza dough.
1. Corn, Zucchini and Green Olive Pizza
Hellooo, summer in pizza form. This love child of salad and pizza has your name on it. All the farmstand heavy hitters come out to play: squash, zucchini, corn, and basil are here, plus green olives, mozz, and ricotta. The Ooni helps the veggies get just tender enough to make them go down real easy.
2. Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza
It’s probably been a minute since you’ve had the beloved Italian combo of arugula and prosciutto together in a sandwich, salad or on a pie, so we’ll give you a second to remember just how good it tastes. Yep, that’s right. Incorporate garlicky pizza sauce, lots of mozzarella, a flurry of red pepper flakes, and you’re in heaven. Here’s the recipe you want.
3. Spicy Broccolini Pizza
Broccolini! Thinly sliced red onions! Zesty little Fresno and jalapeño chiles! This is a pie intended for fire-breathers, so bust it out for the spice lovers in your family. Melted Parmesan and mozzarella take the edge off the heat, so everyone in the family can enjoy it. (The spice nuts can douse it with more red pepper flakes.) Everything gets wilted to just the right extent under those Ooni flames.
4. Tomato and Corn Pizza
You saw this pizza, put on your swimsuit, and went running pell-mell towards the nearest body of water, right? Yeah, us, too! So summery it hurts, the combo of freshly shucked corn, cherry tomatoes still on the vine, pepperoncini, Kalamatas and mozz is equal parts beauty and brawn. The olives and peppers add welcome bite; the rest is all fresh crunch and dreamy meltiness. Summer, we are so ready for you, and so is our Ooni Karu 16.
