Owning a pizza oven is a journey: After unboxing your oven, whipping up a few test pies, and perfecting your pizza recipe, you’ve only just scratched the surface of what your new gadget 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. So, after pizza, where should you start?

Meats and Fish

Throughout this guide, we’ll be talking about the Current® Model P Smart Pizza Oven—it’s a versatile, accessible fan favorite. But if you have a different type of pizza oven, like a gas or wood-fired pizza oven, you can still experiment with non-pizza dishes—like meats and fish. We also recommend the Current® Cast Iron Sizzle Plates, which include the perfect pre-seasoned grill pan with built-in ridges.   

When it comes to meats, pizza ovens are particularly great for:

• Searing: Pizza ovens get hot—really hot. All you have to do to sear meat in a pizza oven is 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. 

• Broiling: Broiling can help crisp up breaded meats (like chicken cutlets or chicken wings), and the pizza oven is tailor-made for broiling. Crank the temperature, keep a close eye on your dish to prevent burning, and flip items as needed for an even crisp.

Roasted Vegetables

If you’re wondering what to cook in a pizza oven and want to start with something simple, vegetables should be your go-to. You can prepare them on their own or use them as ingredients for other dishes. 

 Standalone Sides

Roasted vegetables make excellent standalone sides. The Current® 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.

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

• Potatoes – Wedges, oven fries, hash browns, tater tots—the pizza oven can crisp them all to perfection.

• Mushrooms – Roasting mushrooms is an excellent alternative to sauteeing 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 – When you roast red bell peppers, they soften and the skin begins to blister and peel away. To make blended sauces with red peppers, removing the skin is a must—roasting makes this process super simple.

• Carrots and tomatoes – While you can boil carrots or sautee tomatoes before blending them into a creamy soup, roasting them only improves the flavor profile.

• Zucchini – Like carrot and tomato soups, green pasta sauces packed with veggies are easy to blend up—especially with refreshing veggies like zucchini. Roasting zucchini will add a slight char flavor to your pasta sauce. 

Breads and Flatbreads

Have we mentioned that pizza ovens get hot? Even a countertop electric pizza oven can reach temperatures over 800 degrees. While bread doesn't bake anywhere near as a high of a temperature, there are some shared qualities between it and pizza crust, as bread: 

• Needs an initial high heat to develop crust, though bread temps will usually be lowered to ensure it cooks all the way through 

• Crisps on the top and bottom

• Thrives in ovens with top and bottom heating elements

In search of the perfect bread-baking setup, the pizza oven fits the bill. 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 (patience pays!)

Desserts in a Pizza Oven

Since you’ve learned about some savory items to make in a pizza oven, now it’s time to get to the sweet thing–desserts. 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 (which usually has heating elements on the top and bottom of the oven) can help you get a flaky, golden finish worthy of a bakery display.

• Creme brulee – Today’s culinary coterie mostly uses handheld blowtorches to crisp the sugar atop a creme brulee. However, old-school bakers simply used their oven broilers: It may have taken slightly longer, but it was just as effective. Instead of browning them with a blowtorch, why not pop your ramekins into the pizza oven for a brulee blast?

• 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 - Quick to prepare and spotlight seasonally fresh fruit, using a pizza oven for cobblers can deliver excellent sugar caramelization and a crispy biscuit or crumb topping. 

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

A pizza oven is a purpose-built machine: an ultra-hot oven with a small volume designed specifically for pizza making. But, between seared steak and creme brulee, there are countless dishes to make in the pizza oven—this is a chance to flex your creativity. 

If you’re looking to buy your first pizza oven (or switch from gas or wood-burning to electric), check out the Current® Model P Smart Pizza Oven. With advanced heat technology (both graphite and electric coil heating elements) and app connectivity, this pizza oven offers simplicity and undeniable performance. 

Plus, you can use it indoors or outdoors. Wherever you work your culinary magic, the Model P is the perfect sous chef. Check out the full specs now. 

Sources: 

Chef Billy Parisi. How to Sear a Steak. https://www.billyparisi.com/how-to-sear-a-steak/

Food Network. Roasted Red Peppers. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-red-peppers-recipe-1923836 

The Sourdough Journey. The Secrets of Baking Temperature and Ovenspring. https://thesourdoughjourney.com/the-secrets-of-baking-temperature-and-ovenspring/ 

Betty Crocker. Creme Brulee. https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/creme-brulee/67864cdb-de54-48b0-adca-02b9839ba033 

Food Network. Chocolate Lava Cakes. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chocolate-lava-cakes-2312421 

Real Simple. Do You Really Need to Preheat the Oven? We Asked the Experts. https://www.realsimple.com/how-long-does-it-take-an-oven-to-preheat-7510632