After unboxing your pizza oven, whipping up a few test pies, and perfecting your pizza recipe, you’ve only just scratched the surface of what your new appliance can do. 

Brainstorming what to cook in a pizza oven besides pizza is usually the next step for home chefs after polishing their primary dish. Read on to find some great options.

Meats and Fish

When it comes to meats, pizza ovens like the Model P+ Electric Pizza Oven are particularly great for:

• Searing: To sear meat, simply preheat your pan with a neutral oil. Once it’s blazing hot, place your meat on top, stick it back in the oven, and flip it once it pulls away from the pan on its own. To perfect your sear, we recommend our Current® Cast Iron Sizzle Plates. They make it easy to cook steak like our porterhouse for two. 

• Broiling: This helps crisp up breaded meats, like chicken cutlets or wings, and the pizza oven is built for it. Crank the temperature, keep a close eye on your dish to prevent burning, and flip items as needed for an even crisp.

Roasted Vegetables

Electric pizza ovens aren’t only for the main course. You can also use them to cook vegetables as standalone sides or as ingredients in other dishes.

Standalone Sides

The Cast Iron Sizzle Plates make it easy to roast vegetables of all shapes and sizes. Some roast-friendly veggies include:

• Broccoli and cauliflower: At high temperatures, florets crisp up nicely.

• Carrots: Roasting carrots brings out a caramelized, sweet flavor.

• Asparagus: With crispy tips and soft stalks, roasted asparagus is a must-try.

• Potatoes: Wedges, oven fries, hash browns, tater tots. The Model P+ can crisp them all to perfection.

While they don’t technically belong in the vegetable category, we can’t talk about roasting without touching on:

• Mushrooms: Roasting mushrooms is an excellent alternative to sautéing if you don’t feel like standing over the stove; just stir them occasionally to cook them evenly.

• Chickpeas: Roasted beans, especially chickpeas, take on a whole new texture after high-heat roasting.

Flavorful Mix-Ins

While you can prep a few roasted veggie side dishes to stand on their own, you can also use the pizza oven to roast produce for recipes. 

Some of our favorites include:

• Roasted red peppers: Roasting softens the peppers and blisters the skin, so it peels away easily, perfect for blended sauces.

• Carrots and tomatoes: You can boil carrots or sauté tomatoes before blending them into a creamy soup, but roasting brings out more natural sweetness.

• Zucchini: Roast zucchini before blending it into a green pasta sauce for a subtle smoky depth.

Breads and Flatbreads

To bake the perfect bread or flatbread, you will need an initial high heat to develop the crust. Breads also do best in ovens with top and bottom heating elements so the crust crisps on all sides. 

This is why electric pizza ovens can work so well. The Model P+ heats to 850°F (more than hot enough for bread) and adds heat from all sides.

For a successful bake, we recommend:

• Preheating your oven (and perhaps your baking dish) thoroughly before baking.

• Keeping a close watch towards the end of your bake. Crust browns quickly.

• Waiting for your bread to cool completely before slicing.

Desserts in a Pizza Oven

Don’t forget your final course. While not all desserts are designed for the pizza oven, some are a perfect match for its high heat and smaller space.

• Pastries: Using a pizza oven can help you get a flaky, golden finish worthy of a bakery display.

• Creme brulee: Most people use a handheld blowtorch to crisp the sugar on creme brulee today, but you can pop your ramekins into the pizza oven for browning instead. 

• Lava cakes: To achieve a crisp outside and molten middle, bakers typically bake lava cakes at high temperatures—the pizza oven’s natural state.

• Cobblers: Cobblers are quick to prep and showcase seasonally fresh fruit. Baking them in the pizza oven delivers excellent sugar caramelization and a crispy topping.

• Cookies: Let’s not forget every baker’s staple. You can make delicious cookies like our Chocolate Chip Blondie Squares or Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Tips for Cooking Different Foods

With the above ideas in mind, let’s explore some tips you can use to make the most of your culinary explorations with the pizza oven. 

#1 Watch Closely

When you first start making non-pizza dishes in the pizza oven, keep a close eye on your dishes. While the temperature of an electric pizza oven is easy to control, and you can monitor remotely, cooking with high temperatures can take some adjustment. The higher the temperature, the faster dishes can burn. 

We recommend checking your dishes often through the window as you get used to cooking times. In addition, consider starting with lower temperatures—you don’t have to jump into 850-degree cooking right away. 

As you use your pizza oven more frequently for a wider variety of dishes, you’ll get a feel for ideal cook times and temperatures. Cooking, like any other craft, requires patience and practice. 

#2 Patiently Preheat

Speaking of patience, we recommend following all preheating instructions—both in recipes and product manuals. 

While dishes will start to cook while the pizza oven preheats, using the oven before it reaches your target temperature can lead to less-than-ideal outcomes:

• Recipes may not turn out – Many recipes—especially baking recipes—require precision. Recipes are fine-tuned to optimize cook times, flavors, and chemical reactions.

• Bacteria may form – While this isn’t as much of a concern in a pizza oven (a small space that heats relatively quickly), cooking meat without preheating can lead to bacteria formation. When cooking meat, you want it to reach its target internal temperature as quickly as possible to prevent bacterial growth.

• Food may cook unevenly – Especially for dishes that require flipping to achieve a perfect crisp (like breaded meats), it’s important to wait until the oven preheats completely to achieve an even bake. 

#3 Flip If Needed

Let’s return to flipping—a tactic that may help you achieve more even textures and cook times as you experiment with your pizza oven. 

Of the dishes we’ve discussed above, some may need to be flipped halfway through the cooking process:

• Meats – If you’re searing meats, flipping them is paramount—you want that sear on both sides. The same can be said for some broiled dishes (like chicken cutlets).

• Vegetables – Flipping veggies like broccoli, asparagus, and carrots can help you get the highest possible crisp factor. 

Pizza Styles You Can Make

As you experiment with your pizza oven, remember that even pizza poses plenty of opportunities for variation. If you’ve already mastered your classic pizza recipe, consider making a different style of pizza, like:

• Neapolitan – Thin, tender crust with high, fluffy crust 

• NY Style – Thin, crispy, yet pliable crust that can be easily folded

• Thin crust – Thin, ultra-crisp crust and lightly layered toppings

This list barely scratches the surface. With so many varieties of pizza to try, you’re sure to put your specialized oven to good use. 

Get Cookin’ with the Model P Pizza Oven

Pizza is just the starting point. Between seared steak, roasted vegetables, fresh bread, and creme brulee, your pizza oven can handle a lot more than one dish.

If you're ready to buy your first pizza oven (or make the switch from gas or wood-burning to electric), the Model P+ is built for it. It hits 850°F, connects to the Current® app, and gives you the heat and control to cook way beyond pizza.