I tried Ninja’s pizza oven and it's the ultimate multi-functional outdoor cooking gadget

Foodie gadget brand Ninja burst onto the scene in 2009 with a single blender that, it turns out, was the start of an empire. In the 15 years since, the brand has taken over the hearts and kitchens of UK consumers, becoming famous for everything from air fryers through to its Creami dessert maker , videos of which have racked up more than 1 billion views from devoted ice cream fans on TikTok.

When Ninja launched their first outdoor gadget, the Woodfire Electric Grill , last year it immediately sold out, came back into stock, sold out again and then within months was officially named the UK’s best-selling BBQ.

At a huge international event in Palma last week Ninja , alongside its sister vacuum brand Shark , announced more than two dozen new products British shoppers can look forward to in 2024 including (spoiler) plenty more items perfect for gardens, patios and balconies once the weather finally brightens up.

But before that, they have unveiled their Electric Outdoor Pizza Oven and, with National Pizza Day looming, it felt like the perfect time to give it a try.

While for many of us a barbecue has been a garden staple for a while, in recent years there has been a surge in popularity for pizza ovens, powered by superbrands Ooni , Gozney and Witt . It was perhaps inevitable that Ninja would come for a slice of the (pizza) pie but in doing so they’ve brought something new to market that, in my opinion, has a wider appeal than its pricier but higher spec competitors.

While when it was first announced, the Woodfire Electric Outdoor Oven was pitched very much as Ninja entering the pizza oven market, the first thing I noticed when it arrived was it has been given a subtle rebranding, presumably to tempt consumers wondering if they’ll get enough use from such a specific piece of kit.

Because as well as making a range of pizzas (from thin to deep pan and even Calzone if you’re feeling fancy), the Woodfire has a surprisingly versatile range of additional functions for its £349.99 price tag, allowing you to roast, grill, bake, smoke and dehydrate in the oven.

Ninja Woodfire Electric Oven setup and first impressions

Barring removing some packaging and plugging it in, the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven was ready to use straight from the box

Having put both the Gozney Dome and Witt Etna Rotante through their paces over the last few months for Mirror Choice, the most notable thing about setting up the Ninja oven was how straightforward it was in comparison.

It is lighter and less bulky than both of these admittedly pricier and more specialist pieces of kit, and was ready to preheat within a few minutes. The only delay was because we had to move around the garden slightly to work round the fact the cable was relatively short and we needed to plug it in through the window.

That minor quibble aside, pretty much 20 minutes after we first opened the box the Woodfire had preheated and we were ready to put our first pizza in it.

Using the Ninja Woodfire Pizza Oven

After around 15 minutes of pre-heating the first pizza was ready to go in

Cooking pizza in the Woodfire Oven is an incredibly straightforward process. Ninja has stuck to the formula which works with many of its other gadgets – right down to the pinging noise that marks the start and end of the preheating process sounding exactly like the noise of the Speedi when it does the same thing.

You choose your setting depending on the kind of pizza you want, press the button to start a preheat cycle – ours lasted around 15 minutes to get the oven to 370 degrees which, notably, is considerably less than the other pizza ovens we’ve tested. When it’s ready the oven pings to let you know it’s time to put the food in.

We chose the artisan pizza setting for our tests and used the same shop-bought dough we’d used for the other Mirror Choice tests to ensure there was no risk of my sub-standard baking skills causing an issue with the end results. We also rolled the dough out onto polenta to minimise the risk of sticking and bring an extra, much-welcomed, crispiness to the base.

The one thing that takes some getting used to with cooking pizzas in the Woodfire is that when you’ve put your pizza in and closed the door, that’s your lot. You can’t see inside in the way you can in an open-mouthed traditional pizza oven so you’re reliant on a countdown timer that tells you when your food is done.

The pizzas cooked in around two and a half minutes with no need to turn although we did notice by the time we cooked a third pizza we had to rescue it ten seconds or so before the timer beeped at the point the oven started to smoke a little. You’ll definitely want to stay close by to make sure you don’t risk your creation ending up charred.

All in all though, and even with our two young children taking time to top their own creations before they went in the oven, we were able to preheat, make and cook four pizzas in around half an hour including the preheating – and they turned out really well.

The pizzas were crispy, the toppings perfectly cooked and the dough had puffed up into the perfect chewy, yet crispy artisan pizza that we’d have paid a fortune for at our local takeaway – and the results were comparable to the more expensive ovens we’ve tested.

Final thoughts

If you are an aficionado who secretly dreams of chucking everything in to become an artisan pizza maker in Napoli then there are higher-spec, posher pizza ovens out there that will bring you joy.

But the fact is the Ninja Woodfire is an incredible piece of kit that comes in at £900 cheaper than the Dome and around half the price of many of the most popular Ooni models and it will revolutionise your outdoor kitchen because it does so much more than either of those products.

You don’t need to worry about the additional cost of gas for it and you can use it to smoke ribs, roast meat or grill steak. It’s light enough that if you wanted to you could take it round to a friend’s house or even take it camping as long as you had somewhere robust to plug it in.

I fell in love with the Gozney Dome and have spent the winter out in the cold experimenting with it most weekends, but I was genuinely blown away by how versatile the Woodfire Oven is and the excellent results you can get from it for its relatively modest price tag.

If you’re worried that you don’t eat enough pizza to make buying a special oven for it worthwhile, then saving hundreds of pounds and picking up Ninja’s latest outdoor oven big hitter is a no brainer.

This is a clever, versatile gadget that will keep everyone fed and happy. Not only can you make good pizzas in it but it brings a remarkable number of other options to your (outdoor) table.

What’s more, it refreshingly comes as standard with various racks, trays and accessories to do all these things without having to buy pricey additions or conversion kits, even giving you a couple of bags of wood pellets so you can experiment with smoking your creations (although we drew the line at smoking pizza).

I’m sure purists will quibble at whether, under the pure definition of the word, you could call this a traditional pizza oven. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating and, either way, Ninja has brought its trademark innovation to another new product type and plenty of us will be eating home made pizza in our gardens this summer courtesy of its latest gadget.

The Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven is out now and costs £349.99 . Ninja is also giving away a free pizza peel worth £29.99 with every purchase. There is also a special bundle that means shoppers can get the oven with a stand and cover included for an additional £50 – making for a combined price of £399.99, a saving of £130 on buying the items separately.

The Woodfire Outdoor Oven is also available from John Lewis and Currys for £349.99.