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Ooni Karu vs Ooni Pro Pizza Oven Review and Comparison [2023]

This is my Ooni Karu vs Ooni Pro review, two of Ooni‘s multi-fuel pizza ovens. Both run on real wood, charcoal, and gas (attachment needed) and both reach those amazingly high temperatures you need for proper pizza baking.

The Ooni Karu pizza oven is the smaller of the two ovens. It’s best for portability, weighing only 26.5 lbs. The Ooni Pro oven is the perfect heavy-duty backyard pizza oven for family pizza nights.

Both come with a 3-year guarantee if you register your oven with Ooni, and they’re shipped free to mainland USA.

Ooni Pro Comparison

As always, I’ve created a comparison table of the two pizza ovens. Tables make it easy to see the features of each Ooni pizza oven, their size, the types of fuel you can use with them, etc.

Here’s my Ooni Karu pizza oven vs Ooni Pro pizza oven comparison:

ooni-karu-vs-ooni-pro-pizza-oven-comparison
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Ooni Pro Differences

Let’s look at the differences first to determine which pizza oven suits us best.

The price difference between the Ooni Karu and the Ooni Pro is rather big.

That’s nearly double the price. Let’s look at each pizza oven’s features to see if we can figure out why.

Ooni Accessories

Ooni Pro Pizza Oven Review

The video below explains the features of the Ooni Pro oven very well.

The Ooni Pro is incredibly versatile. You can cook on real wood, charcoal, and on gas with the gas attachment. You can run it at a wide range of temperatures because of the two vents.

The Pro oven has a chimney vent and a ceiling vent. Closing the ceiling vent allows the heat and smoke to billow around the front of the oven, before going out via the side channels and the open chimney.

This allows you to cook at slower, lower temperatures. For high-temperature pizza cooking, keep both vents open for maximum heat.

You can cook a huge range of dishes in the Ooni Pro oven. It has a bigger cooking surface than the Ooni Karu oven. You can cook 16″ pizzas in the Pro and 13″ pizzas in the Karu.

The Pro actually fits 2 of Ooni’s cast iron sizzle pans in it, so you can bake bread and vegetables at the same time.

Check out all my other Ooni comparisons and reviews too, in the Ooni pizza oven category.

Pro 16 Multi-Fuel Pizza Oven

The temperatures you can reach in the Pro are extremely high. It goes up to 932F, twice as hot as a normal oven.

It has a high-grade stainless steel body with thick insulation so you’re keeping the heat in. The chimney draws flames and heat forward and right through the oven so you get even heat distribution.

  • Check out the Ooni pizza oven bundles before you buy an oven, you can get bundles with gas attachment and peels for a great price!

The Ooni Pro is easy to transport as well.

Although it’s almost twice the weight of the Ooni Karu (Pro is 48.5 lbs and Karu 26.5 lbs), you can take the chimney off with the quick release clip and fold the legs up. Remove the baking boards first to make it a bit lighter and easier to move or store.

Get the free Ooni pizza cooking book, “Cooking with Fire”!

Click on the image below and scroll down the page 🙂

ooni-outdoor-pizza-oven-cook-book

Ooni Karu Pizza Oven Review

Let’s look at the Ooni Karu now to see if the Pro is worth an extra $300! Another video so you can see the features in “real life”:

The Ooni Karu oven is the ultimate pizza oven for portability and versatility.

You can still cook with real wood, charcoal, or gas (with the attachment), but this oven is half the weight of the Ooni Pro oven, at 26.5 lbs. That’s light enough to put in the back of the car, take it camping, take it to a friend’s house, or take with you in an RV.

The chimney is detachable with the quick-release hitch (just like the Pro) and the legs fold up. You can then get the carry bag for it to make it even easier to take with you.

Don’t miss these Ooni pizza oven reviews:

It still reaches extremely high temperatures, just like the Pro. The Karu also has a chimney vent so you can adjust the airflow and temperature inside the oven. It’s self-cleaning due to the high temperatures it reaches, but this is exactly the same as the Pro.

Karu Wood and Charcoal-Fired Portable Pizza Oven

You still get that authentic wood-fired pizza flavor and it heats up quicker than the Pro by 5 minutes. That’s not a lot, but when you have hungry kids, every minute counts. Pizzas aren’t the only thing you can cook in the Karu, you can use the cast iron sizzle pans in it too, for meat, fish, nachos, wings, and vegetable dishes.

The Karu pizza oven does have a smaller cooking surface, so a 13″ pizza is the max you can cook inside. It comes with the same high-quality cordierite baking boards. A Neapolitan pizza takes 60 seconds in either pizza oven, so there’s no difference in speed.

The difference in price seems to mainly come from the construction. The Pro is twice the weight and that weight has to come from somewhere. It’d be safe to assume the extra weight comes from the quality of the construction materials and the strength of it.

  • The Karu oven is a fantastic choice if you want portability.
  • If you want a pizza oven for your backyard and you’re going to cook for hours on end, go for the Pro oven.

Which Pizza Oven is Better – Ooni Karu or Pro?

Pro Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven
  • If you’re looking for ultimate portability with the versatility of cooking on wood, charcoal, or gas, the Karu oven is your pizza oven. You can’t beat the weight of this pizza oven, weighing only 26.5 lbs. With the removable chimney and foldable legs, it fits anywhere, the back of the car, in your RV, or store it in the shed over winter.
  • For a more heavy-duty, backyard, family pizza oven, go for the Pro oven. You can’t beat the extra space for cooking more stuff at the same time and bigger, 16″ pizzas. This is your go-to if you want to park it in the backyard for family pizza night or flame-grilled steak.

Which Ooni pizza oven will you choose?

Easy Comparison
Find Your Perfect Ooni Pizza Oven!

Easily figure out which Ooni pizza oven is best for you, with comparisons of price, pizza size, fuel type, weight, fuel consumption, gas consumption, and much more.

Compare!
We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Our Favorite Pizza Ovens for 2021

Author

  • Elle

    Jack of all trades, master of some. Wild garden grower. Loves creating stuff. From food forests and survival gardens to soap and yoghurt. A girl on a farm with two kids and one husband (yep, just one - although another one would be handy). Weirdly enjoys fixing fences and digging holes. Qualified permaculture teacher and garden go-to.

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