Ninja just dropped the brand new Artisan – the brand says it's 'game-changing', but can an electric pizza oven really rival the competition?

Ninja shocked the world of outdoor cooking last week with its first ever outdoor grill, but the surprises don't stop there: the brand just dropped a brand new electric pizza oven.

More compact than their current offer, the Ninja Woodfire outdoor oven, Ninja claims that this oven 'offers game-changing ease'. At first glance, the brand might be right - this oven has more presets than any other pizza oven we've tested.

We've yet to sample this new pizza oven, but the listed specifications offered some tantalizing glimpses into how it might perform. This is everything we know so far about how this new contender measures up against the best pizza ovens.

What's new?

Unlike most other pizza ovens on the market, this oven is electric, using an electric filament to heat the pizza. Ninja claims that 'Unlike any other outdoor pizza oven on the market, the Ninja Artisan bakes and broils with electric heat at 90-700°F using Ninja’s proprietary Complete Temperature Control Technology.' While it's the only oven to use this proprietary tech, it certainly isn't the only electric oven on the market; it's preceded by dozens of ovens that heat using electric filaments.

At first glance, the Ninja Artisan seems like a more compact version of the older Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Oven, an 8-in-1 pizza oven and smoker we tested a couple of years ago. The new Artisan, however, has ditched the smoker for dedicated pizza settings, with options for custom, Neapolitan, thin, New York, and pan presets for different styles of pie.

The first potential issue with this oven, however, is the use of an electric filament to cook the pizza. To be fair, we haven't tested this oven yet - it could be exceptional. However, every electric pizza oven I've tried tastes inferior to gas- and wood-fuelled pizza ovens. Electric ovens aren't as hot as wood or gas. The Artisan, like the Woodfire, only reaches 700°F. That sounds blisteringly hot, but in comparison to the industry standard - where most ovens top 900 or even 1000°F - it's cool.

This lower temperature makes for worse pizza. The dough cooks more slowly, so the crust is heavy, closer to bread than pizza dough. The cheese doesn't broil as it should, and the air temperature doesn't evaporate wetness from the sauce, making for a soggier, denser pizza than you get from a wood or a gas oven.

You can still make pretty good pizza, but it lacks the smokiness and char of a gas or wood oven. The pizza you make in one of these ovens doesn't taste that much different from a pizza you can make in a typical kitchen oven. However, we haven't tested this oven; I could be completely wrong.

More intriguing are the dedicated pizza settings. This isn't an innovation - you can find similar settings on the Breville Pizzaiolo and a temperature guide on the Cuinsart Indoor Pizza oven. However, these settings make it much easier to make different styles of pizza, especially if you're new to making pizza at home.

Another interesting feature is the proof setting. The '5-in-1' functionality is a little disingenuous since these are all functions that any oven can do. However, most pizza ovens struggle to maintain a consistently low temperature, so the 90°F proof setting could be a simple way to improve your dough.

How does it compare?

The fairest comparison for the Ninja Artisan is against a similarly priced pizza oven, the Ooni Fyra, and the Breville Pizzaiolo, another electric pizza oven:

The comparison table above shows us that the new Artisan has a few more settings than the other ovens. However, a pizza setting is really just a preset temperature; if you learn the right temperature for deep-dish and NY-style pizza, you can make the same pizza in the Ooni Fyra.

The wood-fuelled Fyra is much faster than either electric oven. Ninja says that the Artisan cooks 'hands-free, customized 12” pizza in as quick as three minutes.' This is much faster than in a standard domestic oven and slightly faster than the electric Breville, which takes four minutes, but it's three times slower than the Ooni.

This slowness likely translates into a worse pizza. The indoor Breville oven makes pretty good pizza, but it's nowhere near the light, crisp crust and perfectly broiled cheese you get in the Ooni Fyra, and it may be the same issue with this Ninja oven - but we need to test it.

While the Ooni Fyra is the cheapest, the Ninja oven is competitively priced. $279.99 is a fair price for an electric oven and hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Breville oven, and it's also hundreds cheaper than Ooni's electric oven, the Ooni Volt 12.

Pizza ovens are some of the most expensive appliances you can buy, so it's smart to consider your options. There's a huge range of indoor ovens that might be a better choice for pizza chefs without outdoor space, but you should weigh up the benefits of a pizza oven vs a regular oven to work out if such a big price tag is worth it for slightly better pizza.