Any outdoor cooking website worth its salt needs to consider the joys of wood-fired pizza, and this one is no different. Our weapon of choice is an Ooni pizza oven and below you will find our favourite Ooni recipes, both pizza and Ooni recipes not pizza related.
Ooni Pizza Recipes
There are so many different styles of pizza out there, many of which you may not even have heard of. Neopolitan pizza may likely be the most popular style worldwide, but various other different styles have been experiencing a bit of a revival too.
Lesser known Italian pizza styles have also become more well known in recent years including Sicilian pizza (which is baked in a pan and served as the original influence for Detroit pizza), Roman pizza (pizza with a thin base which is cut into squares), along with a few other approaches such as Marinara pizza (which is without cheese) or White Pizza (Pizza Bianca) which doesn’t have tomato sauce.
Although pizza obviously originated in Italy it has been adapted wherever Italians have gone across the world leading to various different regional styles in the United States alone. From Detroit style pizza baked in a pan to the thick crust of Chicago style pizza, not to mention the larger and more bread flour based New York style pizza there are plenty of options for you to try in your Ooni pizza oven or other oven of your choice.
Ooni themselves have definitely helped to pioneer the popularity of these various different styles, and we would like to include our own tried and tested recipes in our own Ooni oven below.
Detroit Pizza
Detroit style pizza has become very popular in recent years. Ooni even have a useful Detroit style pizza pan with a stainless steel lid for proving and helping the pizza bake more quickly.
Although initially influenced by Sicilian pizza (which is also baked in a pan) it has evolved in its own way to be a style in its own right. Traditionally the cheese that is used is a type of cheddar – Wisconsin brick cheese, and because it is of the way it is cooked the edges crisp up along with the cheese to give it a distinctive taste.
The pizza sauce is often spooned on top of the cheese (instead of underneath) in 3 parallel lines almost like racing stripes. The topping of choice is usually lots and lots of pepperoni.
Detroit Style Pizza in the Ooni Recipe.
Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Chicago is well known for its deep dish thick crust circular pizzas which are done in a pan or dish. There’s a lot of eating in them because the crust is so big and this makes for more room for toppings as well. These pizzas are also called ‘pies’ because of their shape.
The tomato sauce is placed on top of the cheese and toppings as the picture below shows.
Have a look at our Chicago pizza Ooni recipe to get all the information you need to reproduce this popular style of pizza at home.
Diavola Pizza
Diavola pizza (or Devil’s pizza) is so called because of the chilli heat that comes from fiery ‘Nduja sausage, spicy salami and freshly chopped chillies. If you haven’t heard of ‘Nduja it’s a delicious spicy and spreadable sausage that comes from the region of Calabria in Italy.
It isn’t for the faint-hearted but will definitely suit the chilliheads out there!
If that sounds good to you try our Ooni Diavola Pizza recipe.
Sicilian Pizza
Sicilian Pizza ( or ‘Sfincione’ which translates ‘Thick Sponge’) comes from Palermo and like Detroit pizza it is baked in a lightly oiled rectangular tray in the oven. The crust is much like focaccia bread – airy, crispy and thick.
The cheese tends to be put on first which helps make sure the crust doesn’t get soggy, next comes the pizza sauce and then finally the toppings. There are often quite a few toppings unlike some other pizza styles such as Neopolitan.
If you like the sound of this pizza check out our Sicilian style pizza recipe.
Roman Pizza Ooni Recipe
The Roman style pizza is probably the second most popular style in Italy after Neopolitan. It is served in squares in bakeries and delis all over the capital city and beyond.
This pizza style has a thin and crispy base because it is rolled out with a rolling pin, contains olive oil and is cooked in a thin rectangular tray.
If you like a thin crispy base and nice square slices this could be the one for you.
Ooni Pizza Dough
Every good pizza starts with a good dough recipe. This article revisits the classic Ooni dough recipe and doubles it so you use up exactly 1 bag of flour for more dough to use another time and general convenience.
Ooni Pizza Dough Recipe Revisited
Ooni Recipes Not Pizza
You do so much more in an Ooni oven than just make pizza. The wood-fired taste and high heat suit all sorts of different foods including steak, breads, lamb or pork chops, kebabs, potatoes, veg and plenty more.
Check out our Non Pizza Ooni Recipes article for plenty of ideas to keep you going.
If you are looking to cook something meat related you could also have a look at our meat recipes and ideas for the Ooni post.
Cast Iron Recipes
Due to the high heat of a pizza oven it’s best to use a cast iron pan when cooking anything other than pizza in it.
The high heat resistance and versatility of a cast iron pan make it the perfect tool for the job.
You might enjoy our article Cast Iron Recipes for the Ooni Oven dedicated to specifically cooking this way.