Ooni Koda 2 Pizza Oven Review

Tom's Guide

Kate sets up and tests the Ooni Koda 2 14-inch pizza oven, comparing it to the other Ooni pizza ovens on the market. It's a well-rounded update that's definitely geared towards beginner pizza oven users, with super easy setup and a fast heat time powered by propane. The only downside truly is the low entry that might limit what you can actually make in this pizza oven. But for making quick pies, this is a great pick. Just don't take your eye off the prize — this $449 oven cooks pizzas up fast.

Transcript

00:00Today we're testing out the Ooni Coda 2 pizza oven. This is the 14-inch version and this is

00:05the latest of Ooni's gas-powered pizza ovens. Here we've got some upgrades to the original

00:11Coda that you might have at home or maybe you ended up on this video because you're looking

00:16to make your very first pizza oven upgrade and you want to know if the Ooni Coda 2 is right for

00:22you. I've got the oven fired up, I've got pizza ingredients ready to go, so let's find out if

00:27this is worth the buy. This honest to God has to be the easiest pizza oven I've ever had to set up

00:34but I've seen with some other pizza ovens that you actually have to screw on the legs but nope with

00:40the Coda 2 these are already attached. You just got to flip them out and the one last thing we got to

00:46do is pop in a battery for the ignition. The pizza stone is going to add some weight in terms of

00:51portability but it's still not too bad. We're just going to slide it in and it should drop in

00:59just like that and be level with the pizza oven's edge right here. Now full disclosure in this video

01:06I'm using a glass table. Do not do that. I only did it because the lighting was great and this is just

01:12what I had for this day in particular but yeah glass or plastic generally a big no for pizza ovens. You

01:18want a stable heat safe surface. Just be mindful things get pretty hot. This is a gas grill so you're

01:25either going to want to get a dedicated propane tank but you also have the option to get a model that can

01:31hook up to a natural gas line in your home if you have one. Me personally I don't go out and buy a whole

01:36separate propane tank for my pizza oven. I just kind of swap between my grill or griddle whatever I'm using

01:41and then bring it over when I'm ready for pizza night. It's pretty easy to switch them back and forth.

01:45Speaking of heat, this oven moves. It features a new patent-pending tapered flame gas burner system

01:52that apparently delivers 200% better heat distribution than the previous gen COTA oven.

01:58We gave it just under 20 minutes to preheat and that was more than enough. I used a temperature gun

02:02to track the stone and we were in fact getting a nice even heat across the base. But if this is your

02:08first time using the COTA 2 or any pizza oven really, give that stone plenty of time to heat all the way

02:14through. Honestly, consider a longer preheat at the start just to really break it in. You'll thank yourself

02:19when you launch your first pie.

02:21One of my colleagues who's also very big into his pizza oven, about a year ago he did a video where he tested

02:29whether he can get his pizza from delivery faster or if he can use his Ooni pizza oven and make a pizza from

02:35scratch faster. And he gave me a really great lesson in that video that you should go check out, but it's

02:41about the sauce. Don't overdo the sauce was his tip for people who are making pizza at home for the first time.

02:48And honestly, it's helped me greatly. We're going to make a simple margarita style pie. Do we like basil on our pizza?

02:56Let me know in the comments. Going in. I'm not walking away from my pizza. I know that this is going to cook

03:06in about 90 seconds. If you don't turn it properly, it will burn on one side. And I do think a good amount

03:12of people who are going to end up on this video are looking for their first pizza oven purchase. I'm telling

03:16you, you're going to burn a couple of pies as you're learning with an outdoor pizza oven. So just do some

03:22practice. Make sure you're watching it. Get even with it. And just like that, we can see that the back of the

03:28oven is a little bit warmer. So we're going to make sure that all of our pizza gets a little bit time back there.

03:37Phone eats first, obviously.

03:40This is more of a 12-inch pie. I'm not measuring my pizza with a ruler, but I'm going to try going to a bit more

03:45of a 14-inch because this is Ooni's first 14-inch oven. For this one, we're doing a favorite in my

03:51household, and that is barbecue chicken. Now let's talk about size. One of my favorite updates here

03:57is the 14-inch interior capacity. It hits that sweet spot between the classic 12-inch and the larger,

04:04more cumbersome 16-inch models. It still feels totally portable. I didn't struggle to move it

04:09around with it weighing 35 pounds. And the added space makes a big difference in what kind of pizzas

04:14you can make. I think depending on the grill you have, the footprint might even be small enough to

04:18perch it on one of the side shelves. There we go. Nice, easy launch. That's just to say I'm convinced

04:25that 14 inches is the sweet spot for an entry-level pizza oven. There's also an Ooni Kota 2 Pro 18-inch

04:32version that costs $749, so $300 more for the option to make even bigger pizzas or possibly even cook

04:40something else alongside a pizza. But at that point, I might suggest the Kota 2 Max for $1,200.

04:46It's huge, it's super versatile, a really epic pizza oven overall.

04:54Can you see under there? That leoparding right there is exactly what we're looking for. That

04:59means that the pizza stone is properly preheated, say that 10 times fast, doing its job and making

05:04sure that the bottom of the pizza is cooking at the same rate as the top, which is going

05:09pretty freaking fast. Look at that already. Damn. So I'm going to turn the heat down just a little bit

05:17because while the stone's nice and hot, I'm realizing that the top of my ingredients are burning a little

05:22bit. And I think there's kind of two factors at play here. Maybe the heat is just a little too high for

05:27the pies that I'm cooking. But also, I'm noticing that there's not a huge amount of space between the

05:33stone and the top of the oven compared to some of the other pizza ovens you'll find out there.

05:39It also limits what you can actually cook in the oven. This oven is very pizza specific,

05:43I would say. You're probably not roasting a chicken or throwing a big cast iron pan in there.

05:48It just doesn't have the space. So yeah, amazing for pizza, not super versatile beyond that.

05:53But if pizzas are what you're here for, it absolutely gets the job done.

05:56If you take anything away from this video, besides for the review of the actual pizza oven, of course,

06:02it's that hot honey is the most underrated pizza condiment out there. Not sponsored by Mike's Hot

06:09Honey. Wish we were. That would be my dream collab. But we got regular hot honey or we got extra hot.

06:14I haven't seen this one before, so I think I want to go in with this one on top of our pepperoni pie.

06:20You might see some pizza places refer to this as the bee sting because honey hot bees get it,

06:26love it. We're gonna put it on our pizza. You know, disclaimer, taste is gonna depend on the type

06:32of dough and ingredients that you use. I think if you follow some of the recipes that we did in here,

06:37you'd be on a good way. But getting good dough, that is key.

06:42Oh yeah. Ooni actually recently came out with a stand mixer specifically for making pizza dough at

06:49home. Just a little bit more easy. You don't have to do any of the kneading. That thing takes all the

06:53work out of it for you. I'll make sure to link that in the description in case you're interested.

06:58Sunny day, fresh pizza, hot honey. There's really nothing better than this.

07:03I would say that the Ooni Coda 2, the 14 inch version, was a needed addition to Ooni's pizza oven

07:10lineup. A couple of upgrades go a long way and the fact that this is still portable makes it the perfect

07:16arrival in time for summer. I know I mentioned it a couple times in this video, but I would say this

07:21oven really is geared towards first time pizza oven users. But if you do already happen to have an

07:26oven like this, drop your favorite pizza making tips in the comments. Let's have a conversation

07:31and help each other on our pizza making journeys, okay? Also let me know if you've enjoyed all the

07:36outdoor cooking videos this year on the channel so far. I'd love to do more of them and subscribing

07:41and turning on those notifications would really help with that. I appreciate you for checking out

07:45this video. It's dinner time for me, so I'm going to go enjoy some of the fruits of my labor.

07:51Thanks for watching. I'll catch you next time.

08:05It's so rude of me to be talking and eating.

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