Hands-on Review: NEW Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven

Ooni pizza ovens fly off store shelves and regularly sell out online for good reason. These versatile outdoor cooking appliances are some of the most impressive pizza ovens money can buy. With advanced technology, a wide range of features, and a sleek, modern design, the Ooni Karu 16 is the latest, and arguably the greatest Ooni pizza oven to become available.

If you are looking for low maintenance, full flavor, and high performance, look no further. The Ooni Karu 16 has all that and so much more.

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The Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven

The Ooni Karu 16 is a multi-fuel pizza oven and the latest oven released by Ooni. It is compatible with wood, charcoal, or gas for ultimate cooking versatility. It preheats to 932 F (500 C) in just 15 minutes and cooks pizzas in as little as 60 seconds. Its mounted temperature display and innovative glass door are just two of the features that make cooking with the Ooni Karu 16 delightfully easy.

Our First Impressions

• The addition of a mounted temperature display and full glass oven door caught our eye the moment the Ooni Karu 16 came out of the box. These features are unique to the Karu 16 and enhanced the cooking experience.
• The oven is quite heavy, but we still found it to be perfectly portable. The legs fold in and the chimney can be removed so that the Karu 16 can still be taken on the go.
• The Ooni Karu 16 preheated so much quicker than we are used to with other ovens.

The Good & Bad

Good 👍

• Supreme versatility – With the Ooni Karu 16, you can cook with wood or charcoal right out of the box, or with gas when you buy the Ooni Karu 16 Gas Burner (sold separately). Also lending to its versatility is the portable size and mounted digital thermometer for ultimate temperature control.
• Design – The Ooni Karu 16 features a new hinged oven door with the brand’s trademarked ViewFlame technology. This full-glass oven door lets you watch your pizzas as they bake and maintains internal temperatures with improved insulation. The door is just one of the many enhancements included in this new pizza oven that gives it an overall impressive design.
• Performance – The Karu 16 by Ooni reaches an impressive 932 F (500 C) in just 15 minutes. It bakes a fresh, 16-inch flame-cooked pizza in just 60 seconds.

Bad 👎

• Price – The Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven has replaced the flagship Ooni Pro as the most expensive Ooni Pizza Oven. It will cost you $799, so this appliance isn’t cheap. However, it is a high-quality pizza oven that works just as well, or even better, than an authentic brick pizza oven that would cost several thousand dollars minimum to build.

Key Features

• Ready to use with wood or charcoal – to use with gas, the Ooni Karu 16 Gas Burner must be purchased separately
• Reaches 950 F (500 C) in just 15 minutes
• New hinged oven door design with ViewFlame™ technology that lets you keep an eye on your pizza as it cooks
• Mounted digital thermometer shows the temperature inside the oven (batteries included)
• Large cooking surface can accommodate a pizza up to 16 inches in diameter

Ooni Karu 16 Specs and Technical Features

What’s Included with the Ooni Karu 16

When you order an Ooni Karu 16 pizza oven, the following items come in the box:

• Ooni Karu 16 pizza oven main body
• ViewFlame™ glass oven door
• Cordierite pizza stones
• Ooni Karu 16 chimney
• Chimney cap
• Burner tray and grate
• Draft defender plate
• Fuel hatch
• Digital thermometer
• Ooni essentials guide

Be aware that the Ooni Karu 16 gas burner is not included with the standard model. It is an optional upgrade that can be purchased separately.

Design and Build Quality

Each of the pizza ovens from the Ooni collection is carefully and thoughtfully designed to maximize performance and ease of use. The Ooni Karu 16 is the newest and most impressive example of the brand’s attention to detail.

The Ooni Karu 16 pizza oven features unique engineering to optimize airflow. The carbon steel shell and high temperature-resistant powder-coated finish offer improved insulation and ultimate weather resistance, so that you can use your Ooni Karu 16 in various conditions, without worrying about it breaking down with regular use.

A new feature that has been added to the Ooni Karu 16 is the full glass oven door with ViewFlame™ technology. This hinged door lets you keep a close eye on your food while it cooks, without compromising the temperature inside the oven, thanks to improved insulation.

SummaryNo detail was overlooked with the Ooni Karu 16. From its carbon steel with powder-coated finish shell to the new full glass oven door with ViewFlame™ technology, this pizza oven boasts an impressive, high-quality design in a way that has never been before.

Ooni Karu 16 Performance

To cook with your Ooni Karu 16, you can choose between wood, charcoal, and gas. The ability to choose what type of fuel you want to cook with gives you more control over what you cook and how you cook it. However, please note that the Ooni Karu 16 comes with the charcoal/wood burner but if you want to cook with gas, you will need to purchase the Ooni Karu 16 Gas Burner separately.

The Ooni Karu 16 reaches 932 F (500 C) in just 15 minutes. The mounted digital thermometer displays the internal temperature so you can know exactly when your oven has finished preheating. You can then cook a fresh 16-inch pizza in as little as 60 seconds. And because of the improved insulation, you only have to wait 2-3 minutes for the oven to reach cooking temperature once again before cooking your next pizza.

SummaryWhen cooking with the Ooni Karu 16, you can choose between wood, charcoal, and gas. Regardless of which type of fuel you use, the Ooni Karu 16 heats to 932 F (500 C) in just 15 minutes.

Ooni Pizza Oven Accessories

To enhance your Ooni Karu 16 cooking experience, there is a large collection of Ooni Pizza Oven accessories available for purchase on the Ooni website. From helpful tools and gadgets to fun gear, there is plenty for you to enjoy. Some of the most popular Ooni Pizza Oven accessories include:

• Ooni 16” Pizza Peel ($59.99)
• Ooni 16” Bamboo Pizza Peel and Serving Board ($39.99)
• Ooni Pizza Cutter Wheel ($19.99)
• Ooni Infrared Thermometer ($39.99)
• Ooni Dual Platform Digital Scales ($49.99)
• Ooni Cast Iron Sizzler Pan ($34.99)
• Ooni Gas Burner ($89.99)
• Ooni Modular Table – Large ($249.99)

And so much more.

About Ooni

Ooni is a multi-award-winning business that was founded by husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland. Before Ooni, Kristian and Darina were operating an education company with a focus on solving problems within school communities. But when Kristian became frustrated with a different kind of problem, the idea for Ooni was born.

Kristian enjoyed making pizza but was frustrated by his inability to make homemade pizzas with restaurant-quality taste. He knew that what he needed was high heat and his conventional oven wasn’t up to the job.

Kristian then set out to find a wood-fired pizza oven he could use in his backyard, but was quickly disappointed when he discovered that the only products on the market were bulky and expensive. Despite having no background in inventing, engineering, or product designing, Kristian took his idea and came up with a series of sketches and prototypes. After numerous tests in his backyard, Kristian came up with the first-ever portable wood-fired pizza oven. Thus, the incredibly fast and cost-effective wood-fired pizza oven was born.

The original Ooni was launched on Kickstarter in 2012. Since then, the company has launched numerous variations of the original Ooni Oven. There are six different Ooni pizza ovens available, including the new Ooni Karu 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven.

What began as one frustrated man’s desire for a better-tasting pizza has since bloomed into one of the top pizza oven companies in the world. Ooni is the only domestic pizza oven maker certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), the international authority responsible for protecting the authenticity of Neapolitan pizza.

SummaryOoni was founded by a husband-and-wife team that wanted to give the average pizza lover the opportunity to make restaurant-quality pizza at home. The original Ooni Pizza Oven was launched on Kickstarter in 2012 and the brand has since grown into one of the top internationally recognized, multi-award-winning businesses in the industry.

Overall Thoughts

The Ooni Karu 16 is Ooni’s latest and greatest option for anyone looking for a high-quality, versatile pizza oven. It’s sleek, heats up in just 15 minutes, cooks fast, and gives food the delicious flame-cooked flavor you desire. It’s the most expensive of all the Ooni Pizza Ovens, but the Ooni Karu 16 boasts such a long list of impressive features that it’s easily worth every penny.

Review: 5/5