Which Oven Cooks Better Pizza? Ooni Koda 16 vs Halo Versa 16 Backyard pizza cook-off

This week we had a full-on Royal Rumble in the Koons backyard. We put the Ooni Koda head to head with the new kid on the block- the Halo Versa 16. It was a close fight but be sure stick around till the end to find out, once and for all, which oven actually cooks better pizza. We hope you enjoy!
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[@GamesAndMoreGamesAndMoreGames]

Man. Im glad I came across this oven. Im a fan of the NY crispy undercarriage, i must do this over the ooni. Thank you!

[@NightSprinter]

Just based on the music you're using, regardless of which one you like better, all I have to say is: A Winner Is You.

[@willd6215]

I'd love any one of these

[@victorlebron4575]

yesss finally I get what I was looking for you and I have the same taste for pizzas it has to be crunchy on the bottom thank you 1000 times brother

[@Ecohen52784]

Koda 16 much better for the more experienced pizza baker. The size is very easy to turn your pie. Very nice review. Thank You. You did great for your first bake with the Halo.

[@kenklassen9577]

Well presented... excellent... totally Pro...thanks...!

[@JonToons0208]

Mmm they look very yummy

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

🤌🏼🤌🏼

[@roboslug7582]

The Halo has a hollow double-wall dome that can be filled with mineral wool insulation to hold more top heat. If you still want more dome heat, you could rig up a heavyweight pizza steel above the stone. That would probably make the lid a bit unbalanced, but would significantly improve the cook, as long as you preheat it sufficiently. And if you really want to go nuts, you can even make your own pizza stone. You can buy cordierite clay as a powder, mix it yourself, and add either insulating ceramics or perlite to decrease its thermal mass and conductivity. You just have to play with different mixes until you find the one that suits your cooking style and equipment. I have a group of friends who all got really deep into pizza making years ago, and most of them have built their own ovens or heavily modded a commercial unit. A couple of them have made their own stones and they just get them fired at a local pottery place. So basically, if you're super into pizza, don't hold yourself back. Mod those ovens until they're unrecognizable and keep chasing the perfect pizza. It's well worth the effort. Or in my case, it's well worth being friends with someone who has made the effort. 😀

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

Dude thank you for sharing! So many great ideas. Might have to look into insulating the dome to get a little more of that top heat.

[@overnightclassic2]

Metal ovens don't hold nearly as much top heat, even with insulation. They have very little thermal mass. You can see the original ooni ovens had pretty much no insulation and top heat was a non issue. The problem with this oven is the flame doesn't roll over the ceiling which is what you need. If you look at the karu 16, even when you dial the flame to almost the lowest position, the flame still rolls across the ceiling, giving you an even top/bottom heat. Also the IR burner in the halo makes the stone too hot. IR burners are not necessary and this one even more so is not controllable

[@goocherrific]

Leave the temperature up?

[@boatdesigner12]

You should try the halo at high heat. Maybe it would match the bottom burner by cooking the top faster and not burning the bottom.

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

It was because I didn’t have the rotating function enabled during the preheat. That’s why there was a hot spot on the stone causing a small section to burn the pie. The halo is still the favorite for the pizza I like to cook. Great cook bottom and top!🤘

[@Sackenstein]

Any mods for the Halo?

[@johnr5545]

Thanks god bless

[@squirrelavengerr31]

That song just hit me back to 1985... what video game is that from????

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

Wrestlemania

[@bgnPrinceton]

How did just one spot on the bottom burn using the Halo? Was the stone not turning during the preheat? I would think if the stone was hotter on the Halo the whole bottom would have burnt evenly.

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

Im pretty sure the rotation was on for the preheat. I think what got burnt was the part of the pizza that was in the center of the stone and closest to the uv heat for longer than the rest of the pizza. I probably should have rotated the pie sooner, but this was the first pie I cooked in here and was definitely a learning experience.

[@bgnPrinceton]

@@AlexKoonsPizza it would be interesting to see if there are any hotspots on the stone if it's rotating throughout the preheat and cooking time. Ideally there shouldn't be any significant differences across its whole surface.

[@notapizzeria]

yessirr

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

yezzirr!

[@rbiv5]

A lot of people make the mistake when they purchase the high heat ovens thinking it will be easier to get the crispy crust they desire. The ovens were designed to make Neapolitan pizza, a soft and tender crust pizza. You can get a NY style crust easily in a home oven. All you need is a 500 degree F and a simple NY style dough recipe.. But if you want to cook outside and use gas and get a NY style pizza, with the Halo, that will be more easily achieved.

[@tthams73]

My Versa gets to 900 degrees super quick. Which is way too hot! I have to turn it down and it holds tight around 700 for me.

[@MandalorianFanboy]

How long did you preheat the second oven I didn't hear that if you said it.

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

I let it preheat for 45 minutes. It’s not necessary to go that long, but I wouldn’t put a pizza in any of these ovens with at least a 20 min preheat. Especially if you’re making multiple pies.

[@bradfordmckenzie9917]

Can you try the Halo with a pizza screen??

[@adamthompson8140]

The Halo works amazingly with screens. All my NY pizzas are launched on a screen. Mostly because I don’t trust myself to launch a 16” pie onto a 16” stone. The use of a screen is almost a requirement for NY pizzas. Bake on the screen for 2 minutes, off the screen and onto the stone for another 3-4 mins and that’s all she wrote. Perfect NY pie every time.

[@JoshGeorge-wj1yn]

first of all you put the halo on low, 2nd the halo is not designed for neapoloitan pizza, its for NY stle pizza, third you need to only pre-heat stone for 5 min and make sure its rotating when you pre heat or you'll burn it like you did

[@overnightclassic2]

Metal ovens don't hold nearly as much top heat, even with insulation. They have very little thermal mass. You can see the original ooni ovens had pretty much no insulation and top heat was a non issue. The problem with this oven is the flame doesn't roll over the ceiling which is what you need. If you look at the karu 16, even when you dial the flame to almost the lowest position, the flame still rolls across the ceiling, giving you an even top/bottom heat. Also the IR burner in the halo makes the stone too hot. IR burners are not necessary and this one even more so is not controllable You can get a crisp pizza in the ooni what you have to do is cook with high flame, heat the stone hot, then lower the flame to min, and then turn the flame up and brown the top at the end

[@thebkydpalate]

Interesting perspective. I've cooked 50 pizzas back-to-back in a Versa for a wedding and every pizza came out beautifully- charred toppings and crisp, leopard undercarriage. Not a single pizza came out burnt underneath or undercooked on top. I've cooked with an Ooni- that process you describe of getting the stone hot, cooking on low, and dial high for charred toppings only works for 1 pizza. After that pizza, you need to wait a good 5 minutes for the stone to get back to temp. The infrared burner in the Versa grants me ZERO recovery time, so I can Iaunch pizza after pizza. And the turning stone is brilliant with the dual-burner system. I can shape out and top another pizza while one cooks. Efficient process, no waiting for the stone to reheat, and very forgiving. If you're burning the underside of your pizza, that's user error.

[@overnightclassic2]

Your issue is that the halo underfloor burner is only useful for commercial use. It's not a thing you need at home. Your floor will absolutely get too hot. Also halo versa does not have proper top heat. use an oven with top heat like a deck oven and you will see a clear difference Ooni ovens are just as fast as halo but only at doing neapolitan which I make a lot of. For crispy pizzas the karu 16 definitely outperforms the halo but of course it is slower to bake in@@thebkydpalate

[@keithblake1718]

I put a rotating stone in my Ooni

[@SmoothBassVO]

Have you done other Halo vids where you perfected it?

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

I didn’t have the brick circling during the preheat. That was why I had one hot spot. The oven is pretty cool proof. Stop the wheel to load the pizza after preheat, pop that sucker on rotate and let the magic happen.

[@yuleowens6441]

​@HOT TONGUE TV what's the cook time on the halo? You think thin crust would cook pretty quick?

[@Jaykav99]

You can 100% get a crispy ny style in the Koda you just gotta work for it more. and I also bought the heat guard but ended up stop using it since I make 16” pizzas the guard IMO gets in the way and takes up space based on how it’s built

[@D.D.T.123]

My halo is cooking the bottom too fast

[@casmor08]

You have to wait 45 minutes to preheat? Thats a long time

[@halopg]

It only takes 12 minutes to preheat (on high)! 950F ambient temp, 650-750 stone temp.

[@piykum7]

ooni is better in spite of that rotating stone.

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

Whatever is better for you is best!

[@RobBanks81]

Why not wait until you know how to use the oven before making a video about it?

[@AlexKoonsPizza]

Every experience is a learning experience.