I Tried the Solo Stove Pizza Oven—And It’s the Best Way to Enjoy a Fresh Pie
Updated: Feb. 07, 2024
Pizza lovers, you can now have freshly baked pies anytime with this backyard addition. Read our honest review of the Solo Stove Pi pizza oven.
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Nothing beats a warm, flavorful slice of pizza when a craving strikes. But once you pick up a pizza or have it delivered, it’s not quite as fresh as it could be straight out of the oven. Baking a pizza in your own kitchen is an option, but your oven’s temperature won’t get hot enough to mimic the pies from your favorite local pizza joint. The solution? The Solo Stove pizza oven.
As a professional baker and pizza enthusiast, I adore having a backyard pizza oven. I’ve tested the popular Ooni pizza oven along with its handy accessories and loved it. Armed with that knowledge, I put this oven through a series of tests to make multiple pizzas, with both gas and wood as my fuel sources.
What is the Solo Stove pizza oven?
Solo Stove is best known for its convenient fire pits that put off very little to no smoke. But the brand also offers the Pi pizza oven in its line of backyard products.
The circular oven is made of stainless steel, and it includes a cordierite pizza stone. The pizza oven uses wood as a fuel source, or you can order the gas burner add-on to cook with propane as well. The pizza oven can be set up on surfaces such as brick, tile or metal, with space around it. This oven gets hot, so you don’t want to accidentally melt your patio furniture!
How We Tested the Solo Stove Pizza Oven
I’ve used the Solo Stove pizza oven both with wood and the gas burner to make several pizzas. After setting it up and making multiple pies, here’s what I learned.
Set Up
Setting up the pizza oven requires just a few steps. The pizza oven comes in one large styrofoam-padded box. The entire oven can be lifted out of the box in one piece and placed directly on the surface of your choice. It’s important to make sure there’s plenty of space around the oven for proper ventilation and so you can add more wood.
Lighting the Wood-Fired Oven
The backside of the pizza oven has a small ash tray, and another tray for wood. I used food-safe fire starters to get the fire started in the ash tray. Then, I placed the wood tray with small pieces of wood in it on top. It’s recommended to use small pieces of wood, about two inches wide and five inches long.
It requires a bit of attention to keep an eye on the fire and keep it going to get the pizza stone up to the proper cooking temperature. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for the stone to heat up to 700 degrees.
Cooking in the Wood-Fired Oven
Because the pizza oven is fueled by small pieces of wood, there is quite a learning curve. Between prepping and cooking a pizza and making sure the fire stays hot, it was a lot to manage all at once. It did, however, produce a wonderfully crispy pizza! It’s possible to end up with a few small pieces of ash on your pizzas, but avoiding that comes with practice. The cook on the pizza was beautiful, and I was excited to grab my pizza cutter and dig in.
Lighting the Gas-Fired Oven
The gas burner comes as a separate attachment for this pizza oven, but I think it’s absolutely essential. It attaches to the back of the pizza oven and connects to a propane tank, much like a barbecue. Lighting the oven is quick and easy, and it takes 10 to 15 minutes for the pizza oven to heat up.
Cooking in the Gas-Fired Oven
Cooking with the gas burner attachment provides much more control. You don’t need to worry about feeding the fire and keeping it going. It produces consistent heat, making for a better bake on the pizza. This cooking method also eliminated any ash. The crust was a beautiful texture, with perfectly melty cheese and crisp edges on my pepperoni.
Solo Stove Pizza Oven Product Features
The Pi pizza oven has a beautiful, modern design. It’s close to 21 inches in diameter and just over 15 inches high. The opening of the pizza oven is 13 inches, providing room to fire, turn and pull out pizzas without too much heat escaping. The design promotes airflow to evenly circulate heat. However, when using wood fuel, there is a lot of smoke that’s pushes out the front of the oven, causing soot to gather on top. Any residue easily wipes off once the oven is cool, though.
The oven weighs just over 30 pounds, so in addition to using it at home, you can take it with you camping or over to a friend’s house. I use the shelter cover, which is sold separately, to keep the oven ready in my backyard for whenever a craving strikes. However, it can also live inside a garage or shed.
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Straightforward for cooking
- Cooks pizzas in two minutes or less
- Ability to cook with wood and gas
- Compact
- Sleek modern design
Cons
- Learning curve to cook with wood
- Accessories sold separately
FAQ
How long does it take to cook a pizza in a Solo Stove?
The cooking time of any pizza will depend on the dough you’re using, along with the temperature of the pizza stone. I’ve found that my pizzas cook in under two minutes, with the temperature at 700 degrees.
How hot does Solo Stove pizza oven get?
The oven can heat up to 900 degrees. This will fluctuate more with wood fuel than using the gas burner.
What tools do you need to cook a pizza?
Proper accessories and pizza-making tools will help make delicious, beautiful pizzas. To use this oven, you’ll need a pizza peel for prepping and firing your pizzas, along with a turner to turn pizzas while they’re in the oven for even browning. An infrared thermometer is also helpful to ensure your pizza stone is up to the proper temperature.
What else can you make in a Solo Stove pizza oven?
The space inside the Pi oven holds 12-inch pizzas, flatbreads or calzones. You can also bake your favorite frozen pizza in this oven. Just be sure to let it thaw first to avoid placing a very cold pie on the hot stone.
What Other Reviewers Had to Say
The Solo Stove pizza oven is a backyard must-have. But don’t just take my word for it! Pizza lovers who purchased from Solo Stove’s website share plenty of positive reviews.
Reviewer Amber L. says, “Easy to assemble and so easy to use, fun for the kids great for a date night. Make sure to get an infrared thermometer and pizza peel to go along with it for the perfect pizza. Love it!”
Darrell leaves a five-star review, saying, “Took a few tries to get it figured out but I’ve eaten more pizza now than I have in years. By the time you get it ready, oven is warmed up and only takes a couple minutes. Fun too.”
Final Verdict
For pizza lovers, nothing compares to piping hot, fresh pizza. And it’s even better if you’ve made it yourself with homemade dough, your favorite pizza sauce and the ultimate toppings. The Solo Stove pizza oven makes it easy to achieve restaurant-quality pies at home. There is a bit of a learning curve to using wood, but it’s certainly achievable with practice. Overall, my recommendation is to add on the gas burner attachment for better control and consistent results.
Where to Buy the Solo Stove Pizza Oven
Solo Stove sells the Pi pizza oven on its website, with the wood-only version listed for $625 and the wood and gas version listed for $895. You can frequently find discounts on both models, and shipping through the Solo Stove website is free. The pizza oven is also available from Amazon (browse more pizza ovens on Amazon) and Williams Sonoma. While this backyard appliance is an investment, you’ll save plenty of dough by scrapping ‘za delivery fees for good!
