Earlier this year I bought the Ninja woodfire outdoor oven. I had been seeing them pop up online a little, but couldn’t find many honest reviews of them as they’re quite new. My main motivations for buying it were, hopefully being able to make nice pizzas and having a way to cook outside which is quicker and easier than the BBQ (as I rarely have the time to fire it up and then clean it down after).
Below I’ll share my honest first impressions of it after owning it for a few months. I hope this helps, and any questions you have I’m happy to answer in the comments below! This review is 100% my own and I used my own money to purchase the oven. This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
I ordered directly on the Ninja website as they had the best deal and also their customer support has been great when I’ve used them in the past, it’s not a cheap item so I like to have support if anything goes wrong (I bought this with my own money, this is NOT a sponsored or gifted post by the way).
It was also on an offer where I got a stand for a bit cheaper too, I think. At the moment direct with Ninja, they offer the stand for free in the checkout, too – so that’s a great reason to buy direct as they’re not cheap to buy separately and you’ll need a stand.
As soon as it arrived I set it up and read through the manual. Whilst it is a large item, I think the terracotta colour is lovely and makes it look nice in the garden – not overwhelming like a black or grey one might be. I thought the pizza stone looked a little small when I first looked at it, but after using it for months I think the size of pizza it makes is perfect actually, it’s ample to share 1 pizza with sides, or fire up 2 pizzas (on artisan mode it’s only a couple of mins per pizza and once reheated you can continually make pizzas back to back quickly).
Cooking on it
So, the oven has several modes, at this point in time I’ve only used the pizza modes (various ones!) and roasting – and have been really happy with everything I’ve made in there. I haven’t yet used the woodchips to make anything wood-fired, but that’s next on my to-to so please keep following for how that turns out and any recipes I share.
Making pizza in the Ninja Woodfire Oven
When I first tried it on pizza mode I was surprised to see so many pizza settings – there’s artisan, thin, deep dish, NY style which all have different temperature settings. They all have different time and temperature settings which do make such a difference in the end result of the pizza. See below pics of some pizzas I’ve made with the same dough and ingredients but different pizza modes:
I actually had mixed expectations of the Ninja oven for pizza, I have of course see the Ooni and Gozney pizza ovens which look amazing and are dedicated to the job with open flames (they look lovely too, especially the Gozney). I initially thought, if I get good at making pizza and make it often with the Ninja woodfire, I might also invest in one of the other more traditional pizza ovens. However, now I’ve had my Ninja for a few months I don’t think I ever will – the pizzas my Ninja is making is great, I love all the different modes and that it has a timer/beeper, and, I don’t need to turn the pizza throughout cooking. I am really happy with it!
Here’s the first time I tried the oven:
Roasting mode
The other setting I tried has been the roasting mode, I made a peri-peri roasted chicken whilst I played outside with my young child. It was really nice to have it cooking away, not making the kitchen any hotter and not having to watch the BBQ. It turned out great and I’ll be testing roasting using the woodchips later this week, too.
A note on cleaning
It is worth noting it’s quite difficult to clean inside really. My pizza stone got stained on day 1 with an accident getting the pizza off the peel, and you can only clean a pizza peel with water so that’s there to stay (which I don’t mind now it’s got more stains, but at first I was sad it didn’t look as perfect as it once was).
I also find the inside of the oven quite tricky to clean somehow, the door has seals which you need to clean around if anything drops, and I have also seen people discuss how hard the tray which comes with the oven is to clean – so maybe line this with a little foil or use another pan if you want easy clean up.
Storing the Ninja Outdoor Oven outside
One of the main questions I get from friends when they ask about them (and then later that day buy them haha) is how does it need to be stored. Ninja say it’s ‘weather-resistant for year-round outdoor use, however you should store indoors when not in use for long periods.’ So, I’ve been keeping it covered when not in use and will likely pop it in the shed or garage once the weather turns for winter. I don’t think I’ll be able to go all winter without a homemade pizza now though, so it’ll be in and out a bit I’d imagine!
Be careful – it’s hot!
Another, final thing to note – which I know sounds silly as we’re all adults and know an oven is hot – but, on artisan and the ‘pro’ settings, it really is so much hotter than a traditional oven so be very careful when handling items and what you cook in there. I once pre-heated for artisan pizza without removing the cooking tray which comes with it – so I had to move that out when it was VERY HOT, it almost burnt through my kitchen baking gloves, burned my hands and they had to go in the bin – in a very quick amount of time.
I’d recommend getting higher temperature-safe baking gloves like these, and having a surface near the Ninja where you can easily put hot pans etc. if you need to. Never store stuff inside, as you’ll likely forget when you go to reheat again (like I did). I now just keep the pizza stone in there all the time.
First impressions
Overall, I really have enjoyed using this and doubt I’ll be using the BBQ at all this year now really. I’m really happy with it and for the price point think it’s well worth it. If you are interested in getting one do check out the Ninja store directly (link here) as they do often have good deals and great customer support. But also have a shop around as many retailers stock them and you maybe able to find a code elsewhere, too.
Any questions, or if you have one and would like to share you experience – please comment below!
