An electric pizza oven with no flame and no need to rotate the pizza may seem sacrilegious to purists, but the Ninja Artisan electric outdoor pizza oven solves many of the hassles of outdoor pizza making. There’s no lighting or monitoring a flame, no need to keep adjusting the heat, and no need for a turning peel, bulky gas bottle or constant use of an infrared (IR) thermometer (although you may still want one – read on for details). Equipped with four presets – Artisan, Thin Crust, New York, Pan – plus a custom setting to enable you to bake your pizza exactly how you like it, the Ninja Artisan is as effortless as can be, even next to the simplest plug-and-play gas oven.
As you might expect from Ninja, it’s a multipurpose cooker, too, transforming into an outdoor air fryer with a capacity to turn out up to 1.3kg of french fries, or bake six chicken breasts. Being electric also means fast heat-up – useful if a rain shower is looming. In tests, it reached 370C in 14-15 minutes, and pizzas were perfectly cooked in just two minutes, despite the three-minute preset.
At an RRP of £314.99 (but £229.99 at the time of writing), it costs about the same as a compact gas oven but is cheaper to run, using less than 1kWh of electricity after an hour at full temperature. I tested the Ninja Artisan electric outdoor pizza oven & air fryer MO201UK in the same way I test all pizza ovens I review for the Filter, although the temperature range here is different. As well as judging the quality of pizzas cooked with different toppings – cheese and tomato at 370C; a veggie pizza with onion, pepper and tomato at 220C to slowly caramelise the toppings; and a salami pizza at 245C – I rated the oven for ease of assembly, overall usability, temperature control and how easily it could be stored.
I also recorded how long it took the oven to heat up to its maximum temperature of 370C (which is lower than the maximum on gas and wood-fired ovens). Those with gas or wood-fired ovens are likely to need to plan pizza nights, ensuring they have enough fuel and that the weather will hold out long enough for both the oven heat-up and the cooking time. With the Ninja Artisan electric outdoor pizza oven, you can be more spur-of-the-moment.
Simply plug it into an outside socket, and heat-up is fast, with a beep to signify it’s ready to use. And because there’s no flame and the heat is evenly distributed, there’s no need to even rotate your pizza mid-cook. You’ll need to keep a close eye on cooking time, however.
I was caught out with my first pizza, so I shortened the cook time for the next. The Artisan’s door also takes some getting used to: unlike standard open-fronted pizza ovens, you’ll need to factor in time to open it to check or remove your pizza before the base or crust starts to char. Dimensions: 40.31 x 57.2 x 31.39cm (WDH) / mouth 34 x 12cm (WH) Running cost for one hour on maximum: 25p (£0.25/kWh x 0.989kWh; 15-min heat up, 45mins at 370C)Maximum capacity: 30 x 31cm pizza stone (working capacity 12in pizza) Features: four functions: Pizza, Bake, Air Fry & Prove; 30cm sq bake tray, pizza peel, air-fry basket Fuel: electric, 1,760W Dishwasher safe: noSpare parts: replacement stones, base unit, bake tray, air-fry basketWeight: 13.98kg Beyond its preset programmes and ability to cook more than pizza, the MO201UK Ninja Artisan electric outdoor pizza oven’s standout feature is its rapid heat-up time.
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