If outdoor cooking is your idea of a good time, a great barbecue or pizza oven can completely transform how (and how often) you cook outside. From smoky, low‑and‑slow barbecues to blisteringly hot pizza ovens, the right kit makes all the difference.
The good news? You don’t need a professional setup or a big garden to get impressive results at home. With so many options now available, from compact electric grills to crowdpleasing pizza ovens built for entertaining, there’s something to suit every space and budget.
To help you cut through the hype, our reviews team have spent hours testing the best barbecues, pizza ovens and tools around so you can invest with confidence, and focus on what really matters: great food, cooked outdoors.
If you're after a deeper dive into every outdoor cooking product we've tested, you can check out Good Food's guides to the best charcoal barbecues, best gas barbecues, best electric barbecues, best portable barbecues and best pizza ovens. Without further ado...
Every barbecue and outdoor cooking gadget we've tested and awarded a full 5/5
Kamado Joe Konnected Joe
Available from BBQ World (£1999)
A true showstopper in both performance and appearance, this looks as good as it grills.
Its real strength lies in versatility. Whether you prefer the traditional, hands-on ritual of managing the coals or wish to immerse yourself in the new age of barbecuing, with precise temperature control from your phone, the Konnected Joe delivers the best of both worlds with ease.
Installation is the most demanding part; this is no tabletop garden gadget, and hard-to-access spaces can present a challenge. That said, once the Konnected Joe is in place, the effortless cooking experience it provides, along with the confidence that your food is being cooked to perfection, more than justify the initial effort.
Available from:
Gozney Dome XL (Gen 2)
Available from Gozney (£2499.99)
The seriously impressive Gozney Dome XL (Gen 2) is about as aspirational as it gets if you’re serious about pizza. It’s the brand’s largest and most capable (and most expensive!) model to date; it’s truly a statement piece. Designed with entertaining in mind, it can accommodate either one 18‑inch pizza or three 10‑inch pizzas at once. It takes a little trial and error to find the ideal temperature for different styles of pizza, but once mastered, pizzas cooked in as little as 90 seconds, and crisp bases and bubbling toppings were delivered consistently.
Available from:
Weber Premium Gloves
Available from John Lewis & Partners (£55)
Weber’s premium gloves are a smart investment when dealing with temperatures as high as those on a barbecue or pizza oven. They reach nicely up the wrist to offer some forearm heat protection. There are practical non-slip silicone lines across the palm to aid your grip of large barbecue tools.
Available from:
Weber Master-Touch Charcoal Barbecue
Available from Amazon (£314.99)
A true classic in the barbecue world, Weber’s Master‑Touch charcoal barbecue proves that great design never goes out of style. Compact yet capable, it’s easy to light, heats up fast and delivers consistently even results, helped by a reliable built‑in thermometer on the porcelain‑enamelled lid.
Creating different temperature zones by strategically building the coal can take some getting used to. There’s a learning curve, but with the abundance of online tutorials and even Weber’s own classes, it’s easy to master and get the most from your grill.
Simple to clean and built to last, it’s the perfect barbecue to be stored and used year after year.
Available from:
Ooni Koda 2 Max
Available from Ooni (£899)
The Koda 2 Max, Ooni’s largest pizza oven in the range, is built for entertaining. The generous cooking area can handle three 10-inch pizzas at the same time or, if you’re feeling as adventurous as our reviews team, one 20-inch pizza.
There are two separate pizza stones and two burners on each side of the oven. They’re independent from each other so you can cook two different dishes simultaneously without any complications.
It’s a little cumbersome when it comes to storing as the legs don’t fold inwards, but this is a small trade‑off for an oven with such impressive capacity and crowdpleasing capability.
Available from:
Big Green Egg Large Ceramic Grill
Available from Big Green Egg (£1495)
Perfect for those looking to treat themselves and experiment with outdoor cooking beyond traditional grilling, the Big Green Egg offers impressive versatility for ambitious home cooks.
This large ceramic grill multitasks effortlessly as a barbecue, smoker and oven, making it well suited to everything from slow smoking to baking and roasting. It can reach intense searing temperatures or hold a gentle, consistent heat for long cooking sessions. Barbecuing remains a standout strength, coming up to temperature in around 20 minutes and producing some of the best food we’ve tasted. There’s a wide range of optional accessories available – including delivery fully assembled – which can push the price up significantly, but they're often worthwhile additions to truly get the best from the Egg.
Available from:
Ninja FlexFlame Gas BBQ and Outdoor Cooking System
Available from Ninja (£699.99)
Ninja has firmly established itself as a household name in kitchen appliances, and it seems that on their first try at gas barbecues, they're set to deliver the same success outdoors.
The grill comes well equipped straight out of the box, handling grilling, roasting and smoking with ease, and can be expanded further with optional accessories to take on griddling and even pizza cooking. Assembly is best tackled by two people due to the barbecue's weight, but the instructions are clear and easy to follow. Once in place, it’s refreshingly simple to use. The control panel is intuitive, and a built‑in cyclonic fan (noisy but undeniably effective) circulates heat evenly as soon as the lid is closed.
Available from:
Meater Pro Meat Thermometer
Available from Meater (£129), Currys (£129)
To eliminate the risk of any unintentionally rare burgers, you can’t go wrong with a good meat thermometer. Though a number of products might now come with them fitted, they’re a highly recommended accessory for the ones that don’t. For a high-end choice, the Meater Pro scored a full 5/5 due to its six smart sensors and magnetic bamboo charging case.
The Meater app is what really won us over. It guides you through the entire cook, estimating time, sending alerts when you're nearly done, when to take the meat out and when to rest it – removing the guesswork entirely.
Available from:
Witt Etna Rotante
Available from Amazon (£499)
With the innovative addition of a rotating pizza stone, the Witt Etna Rotante is among the easiest pizza ovens to use. Ideal if you’re new to at‑home pizza making – or if you can’t face the faff of more extravagant models.
Lighting is as simple as using a kitchen hob once connected to butane gas, with temperature controlled via a straightforward dial. There’s no built‑in thermometer, but the oven reaches pizza‑ready heat in just 15 minutes. From there, a 16‑inch pizza takes around two minutes to cook, emerging with a well‑risen, mottled crust and bubbling, lightly browned toppings.
Available from:
Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL Electric BBQ Grill & Smoker
Available from Amazon (£350), Ninja (£379.99)
Moving on to electric barbecues, it’s hard to start anywhere other than the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect XL. The most premium electric barbecue we’ve tested, it represents a noticeable step up from its predecessor – which itself earned a full five out of five rating.
The controls are intuitive, and the range of cooking modes makes this one of the most versatile electric barbecues available. Its standout feature, however, has to be the smart meat probe, which connects to an app and allows you to monitor internal temperatures while adjusting cooking settings directly from your phone.
It’s also been tested for safe use in all weather conditions, making it a reliable option year‑round, from damp winter evenings to the all-too-familiar drizzly British summer.
Available from:
HexClad Hybrid Pizza Steel
Available from HexClad (£139), Amazon (£139)
Best known for its hybrid cookware – which combines the convenience of non-stick, the searing performance of stainless steel, plus the lasting toughness of cast iron – HexClad has channelled its clever technology into this slick-looking pizza steel, which has a fast-heating aluminium core to help you produce a super-crisp pizza crust.
It can handle temperatures up to 482°C so can be used on a barbecue or grill. The useful handled design makes removal from the oven safe and easy, and at just over 2kg, it's also one of the most lightweight pizza stones we’ve tested.
Available from:
Ooni Volt 2
Available from Ooni (£499), Lakeland (£499)
Ooni’s latest addition to its pizza oven family reinforces the notion that pizza ovens are no longer an outdoor exclusive. Their second electric model has won us over and earned a full 5/5.
The Volt 2 is designed for indoor use, relying on electricity rather than wood or gas to produce restaurant-quality pizza at the touch of a button – and in as little as 90 seconds. Despite being around 30% smaller than its predecessor, it features a larger viewing window and offers space for more than just pizza, doubling as a compact oven suitable for roasting joints of meat and vegetables.
Available from:
Ooni Perforated Pizza Peel
Available from Waitrose (£54), Amazon (£50), Lakeland (£59.99), Ooni (£50)
An essential accessory for outdoor pizza-making, a metal peel will help you smoothly launch your pizzas inside the oven and safely retrieve them once cooked.
Available in two sizes (12 and 14 inches), this large Ooni peel also has perforations that help steam to escape and excess flour to fall away, helping you to achieve a super-crisp base.
It's made from hard-anodised aluminium so isn't too heavy and even comes with a five-year warranty when you register online.
Available from:
Weber Lupin Compact Electric BBQ
Available from Amazon (£369)
Another versatile option in the world of barbecuing, the Weber Lumin Compact offers a 1166cm² cooking surface that can be used in full to grill up to eight burgers at once, or split to convert one side into a smoking, steaming or keep‑warm zone.
It feels closer to a traditional gas or charcoal barbecue than many electric rivals, reaching temperatures of 250°C in just six and a half minutes and featuring a clear thermometer integrated into the lid. There is a slightly cooler area near the electrical connection, but this proves useful for holding food at temperature while the rest finishes cooking.
Available from:
Ninja Woodfire Electric BBQ Grill and Smoker
Available from Amazon (£259.99), Ninja (£299.99), Argos (£300), Lakeland (£349.99)
This barbecue is well worth considering if you love the smoky barbecue flavour but can’t face the faff of charcoal or gas. It runs entirely on electricity but features a built‑in smoker box that burns wood pellets to deliver an authentic barbecue taste. It’s worth noting that the pellets are only available directly from Ninja, and you must ignite them before the grill comes up to temperature.
Another versatile product, with seven cooking functions including grill, air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate, reheat and smoke, you shouldn't ever be short for ways to cook. Rather impressively for a small piece of kit, the grill plate itself is large enough to fit eight burgers or two full racks of ribs.
Available from:
Gozney Arc Lite
Available from Gozney (£349.99)
Another 5/5 from Gozney, but this time in a more accessible package, the Arc Lite is the smallest pizza oven in the brand’s lineup, weighing just over 12kg and taking up no more space on a worktop than a typical air fryer. And what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in quality. It’s delivered fully assembled and ready to use, able to reach temperatures of up to 500°C in just 20 minutes, and is genuinely quick and easy to fire up.
Its compact size does mean you’re limited to cooking one 12-inch pizza at a time, but that’s hardly an issue when pizzas can be turned around in as little as 60 seconds. It’s also not just limited to pizzas, there’s enough room for a spatchcock chicken, steak, or roasting dishes for fish and vegetables.
Available from:
Joseph Joseph GrillOut 4-piece Stainless Steel BBQ Utensil Set with Storage Case
Available from Joseph Joseph (£85)
An in-house recommendation for the Joseph Joseph barbecue utensil set, these are the go-to for our reviews team when testing out barbecues. This stainless-steel set includes all the barbecue essentials – basting brush, tongs, turner and fork – all completely dishwasher-safe, each with a hook to hang it from and all retractable. Perfect for storing in the foldable case and transporting: great for those with a portable barbecue!
Available from:
Ooni Karu 2 Pro
Available from Ooni (£699), Amazon (£699), Lakeland (£699.99)
Another investment piece for true pizza enthusiasts, the Ooni Karu 2 Pro adds a welcome touch of smart technology to help deliver authentic, pizzeria‑quality results at home.
A considerable upgrade from its predecessor, it introduces useful additions such as a food probe for roasting meats, a larger viewing window to keep tabs on your cook, and convenient app connectivity that allows you to monitor oven temperatures remotely. These thoughtful extras make it easier than ever to dial in consistent results.
Both assembly and operation are a breeze. Once up and running, the the Karu 2 Pro can cook a 16‑inch pizza in just one minute and 45 seconds, emerging with a beautifully mottled crust and crisp, bubbling toppings. With the flexibility to cook over wood, charcoal or gas (unfortunately sold separately), the Karu 2 Pro is far from a one‑trick pizza oven.
Available from:
Somerset Grill Co Asado Go! Portable Grill
Available from Amazon (£995)
More involved than the average barbecue, the Asado Go! Grill embraces the low‑and‑slow cooking style of the Argentinian tradition of asado – a social occasion where friends and family gather around as the host prepares a wood‑fired feast.
Cooking here is a ritual rather than a rush. Expect to spend around an hour building up the embers, and for the best results it’s worth investing in the optional chapa (£75) for vegetables and the ember grill (£85), which creates an additional cooking zone brilliant for searing and frying.
Designed for serious grillers, this is a barbecue for those who enjoy the process of slow, social cooking. The results are worth the wait too, creating smoky and succulent rewards for those willing to invest the time and effort.
Available from:
Ninja ProChef Wireless Meat Thermometer
Available from Ninja (£89.99)
Another 5/5 for Ninja for its wireless meat thermometer, equipped with a rechargeable case and compatible app. The app provides live updates on the temperature of your food and has pre-programmed settings for chicken, beef, pork, turkey, lamb, veal, fish, duck and plant-based ingredients, as well as a manual mode.
It had some trouble identifying how much cooking time was left, though it was able to correctly identify whenever the food was perfectly done.
Available from:
Morsø Forno Spin
Available from Amazon (£465)
A self‑rotating pizza oven, with the welcome addition of a front‑mounted temperature gauge, the Forno Spin is a sturdy and stylish piece of outdoor kit that feels built to last. Its compact footprint also makes it easy to store and bring back out year after year.
Although gas-powered, it does require a power connection to run the rotating base, but setup is a breeze and it's ready to use as soon as it’s connected. Allow between 15 and 25 minutes for preheating, then expect piping hot pizza with gooey cheese in less than two and a half minutes. The rotating stone ensures evenly cooked dough, and while it doesn’t quite achieve the leopard‑spotted crust of some rivals, the results are consistently delicious.
Available from:
Chef iQ Sense Meat Thermometer
Available from Amazon (£54.99)
It's rare to find a dual-probe meat thermometer that allows you to track two food items at once, but this clever Chef iQ gadget is more than up to the task. It's operated via the Chef iQ app, which is packed with customisable features, how-to videos, recipes and step-by-step instructions.
The probes can withstand temperatures up to 400°C so are completely safe to leave in your food whether that’s in the barbecue, oven, air fryer or deep fryer.
Available from:
Weber Traveler Compact Gas Barbecue
Available from Amazon (£389)
Rated the best portable barbecue due to its compact design, glossy lid and ability to be towed along on wheels, the Weber Traveler is the perfect purchase for someone who loves to entertain but is short on garden space, or loves to take their own smoky barbecue flavours to the campsite.
It’s quick to heat up, reaching temperatures of 300°C in just 15 minutes after screwing in the small L gas canister, and has no problem sizzling up to 12 burgers at once, with no sticking. The test recipes all turned out brilliantly and it was a genuinely enjoyable barbecue to cook with.
Available from:
OXO Good Grips Grilling Basting Brush
Available from Harts of Stur (£14.45), Amazon (£20.34)
Although it lacks an accompanying pot, this brush is nicely designed for basting ingredients while they cook on the grill with minimal risk to you. It has a long 34.4cm handle and broad head of heat-resistant silicone bristles that carries an efficient quantity of marinade for each stroke. Its head also angles up, meaning less mess when resting flat on the counter.
Available from:
Related reviews
Best charcoal barbecues
Best gas barbecues
Best electric barbecues
Best portable barbecue
Best pizza ovens
Best meat thermometers
Best barbecue tools, utensils, and accessories
Best pizza oven accessories
Best pizza stones
source https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/review/5-star-outdoor-cooking-gadgets
Comments
Post a Comment