Big Green Egg Vs. Ooni Pizza Oven: 1 Winner Here

Trying to decide between a Big Green Egg and a dedicated pizza oven?

I get it and I went through the same dilemma. In my research, I found many points worth sharing and hopefully this helps you make a good buying decision. 

Pizza is a top choice when it comes to the world of culinary arts, well maybe not that fancy, but it’s the top of my list! It’s one of those foods that holds a special place in most people’s hearts.

When you want to enjoy a perfect snack, pizza is an excellent choice. 

A reliable grill is also crucial when it comes to enjoying barbecue, and wanting to take your skills to the next level. 

You can practice your pizza and barbecue-making skills on any oven or grill. However, having a perfect grill and pizza oven will take it to the next level.

The Big Green Egg and the Ooni Pizza Oven are both desirable options if you’re planning on having a backyard cookout. 

Most ordinary grills tend to be versatile. You should go for a cooker that offers terrific design, affordability, and excellent speed in preparing your meals. 

We’ll have a look at the two; their features, what makes each outstanding, and which one you should invest your hard-earned dollars on.

OONI PIZZA OVEN

If you aren’t able to have a pizza oven in your backyard for one reason or another, then you should probably get the Ooni. 

They’re pizza ovens designed to offer you accessibility in a compact and sleek design, as well as affordability. You’ll especially enjoy setting it up.

The oven is fully assembled when you purchase it. It’s small enough to fit in any backyard patios. 

It’s approximately 25 inches in length and about 16 inches wide. That’s perfect, because most home and industrial pizza ovens are often considerable in size.

It mainly relies on a slim, powder-coated, carbon steel shell, and the pizza stone. The oven comes with tripod legs, a hose for screwing onto the propane tank, and a cordierite pizza stone.

The slide-in stone is of high-quality and heats up quickly, in only 15 minutes. 

This doesn’t hinder the lightness and portability it offers. Moving it around isn’t a laborious task.

The Ooni oven is gas-powered, therefore you can easily turn it on through the ignition knob. While being used, it surprisingly remains cool enough to touch.

It maintains this even after the interior temperature reaches 800 degrees.

The oven’s door is approximately 3.5 inches in height and 13 inches wide, that’s wide enough to fit a 10-inch cast iron skillet, if you happen to be using one.

You can decide to order the oven with the Ooni Classic pizza peel or have it come without it. 

This is basically just an aluminum baking sheet that’s thin and edgeless. You also get a guidebook with the oven, so it’s easier to operate. It covers all the major things you need to know. 

The oven has some outstanding capabilities, it can cook a pizza that’s as big as 12″ in a matter of minutes, with pre-heating included.

This type of convenience is fantastic if you don’t want all the hassle and process involved in installing a fancy oven in your yard.

You’ll still enjoy making pizza for your family or friends without spending a lot on the oven. 

However, you won’t be able to make a bunch of pizzas at once, so if you want a pizza party, it might not be the one for you. It’s small and portable, it can only make you one Neapolitan pizza size at a time. 

Not only can you make pizza with the Ooni oven, the company also claims it can make burgers and even chicken if you pop them in a cast-iron skillet.

It’s a fantastic oven for you to make some awesome summer meals in your backyard, when heading to the beach, or to the park.

THE BIG GREEN EGG

Unlike the Oonie Pizza Oven, the Big Green Egg is a charcoal grill. It’s a kamado-style grill, it’s made of ceramic and has an oval shape.

It has thick walls, hence it can store more heat than most charcoal grills, hence it can radiate around the food while cooking. 

It’s also possible to lower the temperature and use the stored heat to turn the grill into an oven or a smoker. You can also use it as a normal grill for high temperature cooking. 

The thick walls are the main feature that really stands out with the Egg. You’ll have a lot of leftover charcoal compared to when you use other grills.

The large model has an 18-inch grill space, you can fit lots of burgers and up to six chickens when cooked vertically. The Egg has a temperature control feature. 

You can get the temperature to as low as 150 degrees, and the charcoal won’t go off. Opening up the vent ignites the coal and goes as high as 700 degrees. 

It doesn’t take much time to turn off the grill. It’s well insulated, therefore when you close the vents, it removes all the air inside it, this extinguishes the charcoal extremely fast. 

Something you will really enjoy when using the grill is the fact that it uses very little coal. When you do a lot of cooking within a week, you might only use around 10-15 pounds of charcoal.

VERDICT

As much as the fans love their Big Green Egg, if you are a true pizza fan, the Ooni Pizza Ovens are the winner in this comparison. 

You can grill with it and even use it as an oven. It also saves up on the amount of charcoal you use. It’s definitely worth it if that’s what you’re looking for.

However, the Ooni Pizza Oven is the best when the two of them are compared.

It uses gas instead of charcoal, a much cheaper alternative. It’s lightweight and portable, hence offering more convenience. 

The thick walls of the Big Green Egg make it heavy to carry around. It also takes time to cook down compared to the Ooni.

Cleaning the ashes from the charcoal grill can be a bit of a pain. You have to open the bottom vent and take the ashes. 

The Egg is also fairly costly compared to other charcoal grills. Therefore, despite offering a bit of convenience and versatility, the Big Green Egg isn’t the optimal choice.

It’s much wiser to buy the Ooni Pizza Oven. Countless satisfied customers would agree!