We adore pizza ovens, as you’ve probably noticed if you’ve browsed King of the Coals. We enjoy being able to produce beautiful, handcrafted pizzas in a matter of minutes utilizing a genuine wood fire.
When we discovered a pizza oven that can produce excellent pizzas using a gas burner and an automatically rotating plate, we were enthralled. The Blackstone pizza oven does precisely this at a price point well below those of today’s wood-fired pizza ovens.
We’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the Blackstone oven and whether we think it’s worth your money.
What’s Included with the Blackstone Pizza Oven
- Main body of the oven
- Two 16 inch cooking stones
- Rotating pizza tray
- Pizza tray motor
- Power cord for the motor
- Legs with wheels
- Base plate for propane bottle storage
- Side handles
- Side shelves
- Hood thermometer
- Wire rack for storage
Dimensions: 45.5 x 25.5 x 53 inches (115.6 x 65 x 134.6 cm)
Weight: 103 lbs (47 kg)
Features
The Blackstone Pizza Oven’s primary feature is its resemblance to a traditional patio grill. It has tall legs with wheels for mobility, two side shelves, a bottom shelf for the gas bottle, and a main cooking area with a thermometer, which are all typical features. So far, things appear to be fine.
What’s even more fascinating about the Blackstone is what’s lurking beneath the main cooking area. The 16 inch rotating pizza tray is the most notable feature. This is driven by a tiny motor that uses 2 D batteries or a direct connection to the mains. It rotates the pizza tray slowly so as to ensure uniform cooking.
We’ve never seen anything like it on a commercial item before, and we can confidently state that it works effectively. It removes any anxiety of overcooking one side of your pizza.
There’s also a second pizza stone on the roof of the oven to reflect heat back down onto the top of the pie, ensuring that it’s cooked equally as well.
The Blackstone oven is heated by a 60,000 BTU burner. It takes around 10 – 15 minutes to heat up and can reach temperatures of about 900°F (480°C). It may be started with the push button igniter.
The Blackstone features a Koldfront Mark 7 heater for quick, efficient heating throughout your home. It also has a dial to change the temperature inside.
This is a fantastic function for those searching for a simple and easy approach to manage their pizza cooking. We recently tested the Uuni 3 Pellet Pizza Oven, and one of the major flaws with it was that it was impossible to change the temperatures quickly.
Build Quality and Design
The design of the Blackstone is quite nice. It has the look of a classic stove and usually appears to be rather appealing. Having wheels to move it about and a separate shelf for a 20 pound propane tank makes the entire unit seem more compact and portable. The legs appear flimsy, but the add-ons are satisfactory overall.
The Blackstone’s main unit is well-made. The stainless steel front panel and the contents are composed of a mix of high-quality materials that effectively contain the heat from the burner. A detachable front door/lid would have been nice, but it does keep temperatures stable.
Some consumers, though, have run into problems. The first of these is a problem with the rotating tray mechanism. Because it’s a moving component, there will be alignment issues and breakages in general. The push button igniter is another major issue.
We just discovered that this gadget isn’t working for us, we replaced the battery, took it apart, but ultimately settled for using a regular lighter. It isn’t anything major; however, it is a little disappointing.
Ease of Use
Another complaint has been the lack of assembly instructions. There have been reports of components not fitting correctly, or parts missing. Others claim that putting it together was simple. We didn’t personally build the one we tried, but we were informed that assembling it would be much easier.
It’s a simple procedure to get the motor up and running. Simply insert the steel chuck and slide the motor into the mounting bracket. This should line up with the rest of the rotisserie system, and when switched on, it will begin turning the pizza stone.
After you’ve finished installing the Blackstone oven, it’s a pleasure to operate. Simply make sure everything is connected up and turn on the motor, then the burner after 10 minutes of heating. Even if the tray was spinning, loading and unloading pizzas was simple.
There’s just enough space for you to slide your pizza all the way in. The rotating tray makes it one of the simplest pizza ovens to operate. You don’t have to worry about checking on the pizza throughout the cook, and you can simply relax while the oven takes care of business. After two minutes, return it to its original position.
A couple of shelves and a rack make moving numerous pizzas about much easier, as well as allowing you to cook many in quick succession.
What we Like About the Blackstone Pizza Oven
- Our favorite element is the rotating tray. When it’s working, the tray makes things a lot easier and more fun. I could spend all day staring at pizzas leisurely revolving and cooking.
- This pizza oven is large enough to cook 16 inch pizzas. You won’t find another pizza oven in this price range that can produce pizzas of that size.
- The cooking of pizzas is quick and efficient with this. Having two pizza stones ensures that the heat stays consistent, resulting in evenly cooked pizzas every time. When we really cranked up the heat, we were able to easily get our pizzas to cook within 90 seconds.
- Due to the fast cooking time, simple loading and unloading of pizzas, and no need to rotate them during cooking, the Blackstone is ideal for preparing a large number of pies in a short period. In an hour, you may easily produce 20-30 top-quality pies.
- We appreciate that you can get all of this for around $300. You won’t find many of the more distinctive features on pizza ovens that cost four times as much!
What we Don’t Like About the Blackstone Pizza Oven
- The build quality could be better. If Blackstone can address the minor flaws with the rotating tray and igniter, then it will be quite flawless.
- The cooking chamber is too tall to cook other things on it. If you’re searching for an all-around outside oven that can cook a variety of foods, this isn’t the one for you.
Conclusion
In general, the Blackstone Outdoor Pizza Oven does a lot of things well. We appreciate that they’ve attempted to break the mold with the rotating tray and have mostly succeeded. The cooking chamber’s design makes it easy to make some of the simplest pizzas we’ve ever had, as well as some of the finest.
It comes with a slew of useful features, such as shelves and adjustable temperatures, which make food preparation on it so much easier than using a regular wood-fired oven. And if that’s not enough for you, then you’ll adore the fact that this model lasts an incredible 12 hours after being fully charged.
There are, however, a few drawbacks. The problems with the building and low quality might be enough to scare you away. If Blackstone can simply update this model with a few modifications, it will be an easy no-brainer. However, as things stand, we still believe that it is worth buying because the benefits greatly outweigh the flaws.
How to make the most of your Blackstone Pizza Oven
- Before you fire up the oven, make sure the rotating pizza tray motor is switched on. This will ensure that the pizza stone heats evenly throughout the warming up period.
- While a built-in thermometer is convenient, they are typically inaccurate. We recommend that you check out our list of the best infrared thermometers to get a more precise temperature reading in your pizza oven.
- We’ve also compiled a list of the greatest pizza oven accessories, including pizza peels and cutters.
- To protect it from the rain, use a cover.
- We recommend using this for all pizza oven pizzas. Keep your bases thin and avoid piling on the toppings. A thin base will cook more effectively in your pizza oven, and fewer toppings will make it simpler to slide the pizza onto and off of the peel.
- Between pizzas, scrape the pizza stone clean. A little bit of fallen tomato sauce on the base might cause the following pizza to stick.
- Between each use, clean your pizza peel. This just helps to clear any leftovers from the previous pizza and makes sliding the next one on as straightforward as feasible.
PROS
- The spinning tray is fantastic
- Relatively inexpensive
- Cooking times are quite quick
CONS
- Relatively unreliable