Things To Cook In A Pizza Oven
Ever dreamed of delicious, doughy pizza and perfectly crusted bread that makes your mouth water just by smelling its freshly baked aroma? How about moist, yet crispy-skinned salmon filet or a juicy, savory piece of steak that just melts in your mouth when you bite into it? Heaven.
You can make all those dreams and more come true when you realize what can be cooked in a pizza oven. An outdoor Wood Burning Pizza Oven is the ultimate cooking accessory, perfect for satisfying almost any craving, any time, any day!
This article will help you expand your list of pizza oven recipes with 11 popular dishes when you're wondering what to make in your pizza oven.
- Rib-eye steaks
- Barbecue ribs
- Italian-style focaccia
- Roasted summer vegetables
- Seasoned potato chips
- Basque burnt cheesecake
- Neapolitan Pizza
- New York-Style Pizza
- Detroit-Style Pizza
- Sicilian Pizza
- Chicago Deep Dish Pizza
Here's the deal:
A traditional old-school oven is so versatile! There are a variety of methods you can utilize to cook your food including roasting, grilling, and baking. Backyard BBQs will never be the same when you go from cooking meat in a wood-fired pizza oven to amazing pizza oven desserts!
As shown in the video below, cast-iron skillet cornbread and baked fish dish cooked in the Maximus Prime wood-fired oven locks in so much more flavor due to the high-heat cooking technique.
What Else Can You Cook In A Pizza Oven?
You’re probably wondering what can you cook in a pizza oven besides pizza? The answer is PLENTY! Anything you can make in your conventional oven or on the grill, you can make even better in a traditional brick wood-fired oven; from chestnuts for snacking to fish for lunch, to warm and hearty stews for dinner.
Pizza Oven Recipes Not Pizza
While many first-time wood-fired chefs start with a simple Neapolitan Pizza, their meals soon grow to embrace cuisines from all over the world. In addition to baking any pizza of your choice, you can enjoy a wide range of incredibly delectable pastries like galettes, calzones, and bread with a crust that you would never achieve in a regular oven.
Let's check out 7 recipes you'll want to try in your pizza oven.
Recipes To Cook In A Pizza Oven
- Rib-eye Steaks
- BBQ Ribs
- Italian-style focaccia
- Roasted summer vegetables
- Seasoned potato chips
- Basque burnt cheesecake
Rib-eye steaks
Of course, you can’t possibly bypass the fact that you can grill meat in your outdoor oven! Cooking steak in a pizza oven will spoil you! Imagine watching your steak disappearing into the flames only to arrive again with a unique, smoky flavor and infused crunch that will surely leave you and your guests wanting more!
The ribeye cut is a popular piece of meat that often has an extra dose of flavor and moisture. If you think your ribeye off the grill is delicious, just wait until you up your game to wood-fired cooking!
This recipe from Chicago Brick Oven offers important tips offered for seasoning and cooking the perfect Rib-Eye steak!
Barbecue ribs
Well-cooked ribs of any kind are a point of pride for pitmasters at any cooking level. However, these delicious cuts of meat are finding their way off the grill rack and into the smoky wood-fired oven!
Barbecue ribs require a lot of heat and a lot of time, which makes them the perfect food to cook in a wood-fired oven capable of supplying both of these things.
With the right combination of searing oven temperature and some culinary chops, this delectable baby back rib recipe will make a mouthwatering addition to your book of wood-fired recipes!
If these aren't enough recipes to get your mouth watering and your pizza oven fired up, check out our recipe book with even more wood-fired recipes!
Side Dishes For Your Pizza Oven
By now, you’ve probably realized your pizza oven has a lot more versatility than you originally thought it did. There’s quite simply a lot you can do with an open flame and some inspired craftsmanship, and that provides ample opportunity to cook full meals, sides included, along with delicious pizza!
How about an extra homey take on side dishes such as fire-roasted potatoes, fresh veggies, and creamy soups (yes, soups!), and you can even dive in your own seafood-induced platter filled with buttery shrimp, scallops, salmon, clams, mussels, and squid!
It’s also important to note that many of these require some delicate temperature management in order to avoid burns or undercooking. While your oven’s built-in thermometer should work fine in most cases, the added precision of a handheld infrared temperature gun may lend some peace of mind for these recipes.
Here are some of our favorite ideas for side dish wood-fired recipes you can cook alongside your pizza in your wood-burning oven.
Italian-style focaccia
Your authentic pizza oven can handle all kinds of baked goods; that’s what pizza is, after all. But one bread that stands out both on its own and as a delectable side is the traditional Italian focaccia, a yeast bread that combines Mediterranean flavors like olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and other herbs.
Inspired Taste has a simple recipe for homemade focaccia that will truly shine if baked inside the smoky confines of a pizza oven, boosting both its natural flavors and giving it a golden-brown outer roast that truly cannot be beaten. Mangiamo!
Roasted summer vegetables
One of your oven’s hidden superpowers is the smoldering coals that its fire leaves behind, which can be turned into the perfect bed for fresh vegetables seasoned with choices like dill, salt and pepper, thyme, garlic, and countless other variations wrapped in foil and placed in the red-hot.
Esquire featured a recipe for these roasted vegetables that emphasizes their smoky, sweetened flavor and complements it with soft cheese and toasted sunflower seeds. It’s a recipe that screams summer!
Seasoned potato chips
Chips make the perfect side to a pizza dinner; they’re a crunchy complement to a pizza’s often tender and chewy outer crust and are highly versatile in what their flavors can be. That being said, potato chips out of a bag are often fried in oil and end up becoming sad reflections of the proud potatoes they once were. (Opening a bag of potato chips at a homemade pizza party isn’t the most impressive look, either.)
Thankfully, your pizza oven is here to save the day once again! Martha Stewart’s recipe uses salt and cracked pepper, but you have all the control in what seasonings go on your chips after they’ve been sliced. Experimenting with different oils, herbs, seasonings, or even essences can lead to a mouthwatering creation of its own merit.
Basque burnt cheesecake
While this more accurately is classified as a dessert, we can’t seem to recall any law prohibiting you from eating this at the same time as dinner. This recipe from Bon Appetit was inspired by a tradition found in the Basque nation that straddles the western coasts of northern Spain and southern France. It calls for high heat and a final consistency full of exterior roasting, cracks, and pops while maintaining a divinely soft interior.
In short, this is the cheesecake your pizza oven was made for. Though this recipe is a little more involved, it is certainly worth it; the smoky flavors of your oven and the unparalleled ability of open flame to create perfect charring will mean this cheesecake might steal the spotlight from the pizza at your next party.
Want more ideas? Check out our 7 Days of Wood-Fired Oven Recipes ebook for more recipes to get you started with pizza oven cooking! Use the code EBOOK5 to take $5 off the Recipe Book's price.
5 Popular Pizza Styles
Most people would agree, pizza is the most iconic invention of all time. Sweet blessings to those Italian bakers who thought, “Hey! Let’s invent pizza!”.
Since its invention, pizza has gotten explosively popular all around the world. Here in the USA, it has become one of the most commonly eaten food, and rightly so.
Compared to other foods, pizza offers near-limitless flexibility and creative possibilities. This is why there are so many types of pizzas which all have a legitimate claim as the best pizza ever!
But there are some pizzas that have stood the test of time. Many people have depended on these pizzas to get their taste buds rejoicing and have their bellies rumbling in appreciation. The pizzas have been around for so long, and they show no signs of going out of our menus anytime soon.
5 Most Popular Pizza Doughs
- Neapolitan Pizza Dough
- New York-Style Pizza Dough
- Detroit-Style Pizza Dough
- Sicilian Pizza Dough
- Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Dough
Neapolitan Pizza Dough
🍕 Unique Characteristics:
- Soft and airy with a slight chew
- Charred, puffy crust with leopard spotting
- Minimal ingredients for a pure flavor
🥣 Type of Flour:
- 00 flour (finely milled, high-protein Italian flour for elasticity and a tender crust)
🔄 Best Mixing Method:
- Mix by hand or with a stand mixer on low speed to avoid overworking the dough
- Use a long fermentation (24–48 hours) to develop flavor
- No oil or sugar added—just flour, water, salt, and yeast
2. New York-Style Pizza Dough
🍕 Unique Characteristics:
- Thin, foldable crust with a crisp yet chewy texture
- Slightly oily with a balanced flavor
🥣 Type of Flour:
- Bread flour (higher protein content for a chewy, structured crust)
🔄 Best Mixing Method:
- Mix using a stand mixer with a dough hook until smooth
- Cold ferment for at least 24 hours to enhance flavor
- Includes oil and sugar for extended freshness and browning
3. Sicilian (Focaccia-Style) Pizza Dough
🍕 Unique Characteristics:
- Thick, airy, and soft with a crispy bottom
- Baked in a rectangular pan with a generous layer of olive oil
🥣 Type of Flour:
- High-hydration bread flour (for a light, fluffy structure)
🔄 Best Mixing Method:
- Use a high-hydration, no-knead method for open crumb structure
- Stretch and fold technique instead of aggressive kneading
- Allow long fermentation (12–24 hours) for deep flavor
4. Detroit-Style Pizza Dough
🍕 Unique Characteristics:
- Thick, airy crust with a crunchy, caramelized cheese edge
- Baked in a deep, rectangular steel pan
🥣 Type of Flour:
- All-purpose or bread flour (moderate to high protein for structure and chew)
🔄 Best Mixing Method:
- Mix until smooth and allow bulk fermentation at room temperature
- High-hydration dough; spread in a well-oiled pan and let it rise for a few hours before baking
- No need for heavy kneading—gentle mixing is key
5. Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Dough
🍕 Unique Characteristics:
- Buttery, flaky, and rich crust that resembles a pie dough
- Thick crust that holds layers of cheese, sauce, and toppings
- Baked in a round, deep pan
🥣 Type of Flour:
- All-purpose flour (lower protein than bread flour for a tender, flaky texture)
🔄 Best Mixing Method:
- Mix with a stand mixer or by hand until just combined—don’t overwork
- Fat (butter or oil) is mixed into the dough for a short, tender crumb
- No long fermentation needed—short resting period (1–2 hours) for easier handling
It's almost agonizing for us to leave some other pizzas out of this list. If we could have our way, this list would be endless, as there are just so many other pizzas that are worthy of making it to this list. And, so many pizza sauce recipes to try!
Enjoy life outdoors and feel like a chef in your own backyard by impressing your family and friends with your awesome wood-fired cooking skills in a traditional Brick Pizza Oven handmade in Portugal.
Make any dish as savory and delicious as can be by finding the right recipes and ingredients. Click here for tons of great wood-fired recipes!
Want more ideas? Check out our 7 Days of Wood-Fired Oven Recipes ebook for more recipes to get you started with pizza oven cooking! Use the code EBOOK5 to take $5 off the Recipe Book's price.
What will you try in your oven?
