Ooni pizza ovens are great for making the best pizzas at home. However, they can sometimes get dirty due to dirt and soot, so here is how to clean an Ooni pizza oven to keep it as clean as possible.
There are many reasons why you should always clean your Ooni pizza oven. However, you do not need to clean them thoroughly every time after cooking a pizza.
Just a little brush here and there to remove food residuals will do.
After many uses, there comes the point where you will truly need to disassemble the pizza oven and clean it thoroughly and this guide is for those moments.
Ooni pizza ovens produce a lot of heat when cooking, and this is the same reason you should not always clean them with water. They can easily rust or create dents with this.
Figuring out when to properly clean your Ooni pizza oven is only half of the job, and you need to know when the pizza oven is not cooking with the same power and accuracy as it usually does.
By the time you read this post, you will be able to figure out when and how to clean your Ooni pizza oven.
So follow and read on to see how you properly clean one of the best pizza ovens.
Table of Contents
Why Do I Need To Clean My Ooni Pizza Oven?
Most pizza oven models from Ooni primarily use charcoal, wood, or pellets as fuel.
Some use gas, but that is hardly the highlight of the post we prioritize in cleaning the ovens here, LOL.
With the use of the ovens, you will notice over time that even the black finish on the pizza ovens can become unaesthetic because of the soot gathering around them, especially on the silver ones.
Soot is not necessarily destructible or harmful to the pizza oven, but it does not put a good look on the oven.
It can also be a platform for bacteria to stick on and eventually degrade the oven.
When there is too much soot on your pizza oven, you will notice that the pizza oven does not produce or heat up as much as it usually does. This, in turn, cooks pizza slower than usual.
Besides soot, some food residuals can stick to the other pizza oven parts, such as the popular cordierite pizza stone. These food residuals create uneven heat within the pizza oven.
When soot gathers on the ceiling of your pizza oven, it can fall on your pizza when cooking.
This gives the pizza an unpleasant appearance and taste as the soot damages the ingredients.
There is not much information about the process of how to clean your Ooni pizza oven on their website. However, it is pretty easy to clean these pizza ovens, and we have a guide for you.
What About My Ooni Pizza Oven With Gas?
If you are using an Ooni pizza oven that uses gas as fuel, you will find for yourself that you do not necessarily need to clean it as often and as thoroughly as the other pizza ovens.
Pizza ovens such as the Koda 12 and Koda 16 use gas as the main fuel and do not gather soot. They do not need to be cleaned thoroughly and frequently, especially on the interior.
The main thing that you should concentrate on cleaning with these pizza ovens is the pizza stone. That is where the food residuals gather and will be the dirtiest part of your pizza oven.
What You Will Need
There are not a lot of tools you need to clean the Ooni pizza oven. There is also no special equipment that you need, and just basic household tools are enough to keep your oven clean.
The first thing you need to get is your garden hose with a spray gun. The spray gun is optional, but I found it was better and more convenient than just the garden hose.
You will also need a bucket of soapy water plus extra soap for later. Get a brush to clean off the thicker soots gathered on the pizza oven and then sponge for the more delicate areas.
Kitchen gloves are optional on some guides, but I highly recommend getting one as you will get dirty from all the soot gathered on the pizza oven. So get a pair before you clean.
Get a large table, then set up everything you need, including the pizza oven somewhere spacious as the soot and other dirt will get everywhere around you.
How To Clean The Ooni Pizza Oven
There are some parts that you will need to focus on more than the others. The main thing you need to clean is the ceiling of the pizza oven, as it is the one that gathers most of the soot.
Step 1: Disassemble The Ooni Pizza Oven
For the earlier models back when Ooni was still called Uuni, the shield on top of the pizza is removable. So if you have those models, you need to get them out of the pizza oven first.
Most parts, such as the chimney and firebox, are removable. So remove them first from the body and separate them keep the parts that need cleaning separately.
For more advanced models, the shield is usually fastened or permanently installed within the pizza oven. To remove every part that you can and then leave the ones installed.
Remove the pizza stone from the oven and place it on a separate table to not get wet. This is crucial as the pizza stone can easily break if you are not careful with handling it.
Step 2: Rinse The Pizza Oven
You will need to soften the food residuals stuck on the different parts of the pizza oven. By spraying them with water, you will be able to loosen up those food residuals.
After rinsing the pizza oven parts, leave them around for about 5 minutes to let the food residuals and other dirt soften a little bit. This will help you remove them from the oven easier.
Step 3: Wash With Soap
Once the dirt and food residuals have been softened and rinsed, get the bucket of soapy water and start cleaning. Brush the insides of the pizza oven, especially the shield on the ceiling.
Remove the thicker soots first, and then use the sponge to clear off the thinner ones and the parts with some grease on. Use the extra soap to remove the grease from the pizza oven.
After you clean the main body of the pizza oven, get to the other parts such as the legs, firebox or pellet hopper, and the chimney.
Make sure to clean the insides of the chimney thoroughly.
How to Clean Ooni Pizza Stone
Once done with the chimney and the other parts of the pizza oven, you need to properly clean Ooni pizza stone. I recommend pyrolyzing it, so it does not crack or gather chemicals.
You can also use warm water to wash it and brush off the food residuals. However, avoid using soap when cleaning the pizza stone as it might absorb the smell and chemicals from the soap.
If there are some food stains on the pizza stone, you can use a sponge to clean it. Let it dry, and then rinse the other parts of the pizza oven before assembling them once they are dry.
There is no need to put oil on your pizza stone as cooking in it will naturally season the pizza stone. Just cook with the pizza oven like how you used to, and it will perfect your pizzas.
Conclusion
It is very important to keep your Ooni pizza oven clean all the time. This will help prolong the life of the pizza oven so it can continue to cook without a drop in performance.
Keeping the pizza oven clean will give you all you need without adding unnecessary aroma or taste to your pizza. So make sure that you wash it every after use.
The light way of cleaning the pizza oven is to just brush the food residuals. Thorough or deep cleaning the pizza oven is unnecessary after every use, so observe when there is too much soot.
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