Kevin Hansen
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It’s bigger, it’s hotter, and it’s more versatile–this is the Ooni Koda 2 Pro. It’s the second generation follow up to the ever-popular Koda 16 from back in 2020. One look at the flame and you can see the difference with its blazing dual-side burner. Ooni sent me a media sample, and I put it through its paces, so I can give you my honest opinions with no BS. I’ll tell you how it goes cooking different kinds of pizza, and we’ll directly compare it to the first generation Koda 16.
Unboxing & Design: Koda 2 Pro vs. Koda 16
Once you get the box, the increased size is obvious. The Koda 2 Pro has a larger stone with an effective cooking space of around 18.5” x 18.5”. That’s right, you’ll be able to make monster-sized 18” pizzas in this version of the Koda. That’s about a 25% increase in cooking area over the Koda 16. Plus the stone is about 33% thicker. So with the increase in size, you get an increase in weight. Once unboxed, the Ooni Koda 2 Pro weighs about 60 pounds compared to the previous version’s 40. That’s a lot of pizza oven.
The new burner design is visually striking when you first fire it up. In the new oven, the flame lights on both sides with a powerful 33,000 BTU burner. Compared to the Koda 16’s old L-shaped burner, the Koda 2 Pro heats the stone more evenly since the heat hits the surface from both sides. But with the larger, heavier stone, it does take longer to get up to full temperature. The Koda 2 Pro took me about 35 minutes to get the stone up to 940 degrees, and this was on a warm summer day. Make sure that you have a turner and peel with a long handle because when the flame’s cranked up to maximum, the amount of heat coming out of the oven is intense.
One last thing I’d like to mention about the physical design is that the opening on the Koda 2 Pro is bigger than its predecessor. If you remove the glass cover, the opening is over five inches high compared to 4.3” on the Koda 16. That gives you more wiggle room if you’re trying to cook steak or place other pans into the oven.
Koda 2 Pro Performance
I started cooking by making my usual 62% hydration dough that I use for New York style pizza. I wanted to test the oven by making full-sized 18” pies. Since I don’t currently have a peel big enough to launch a pizza that large, I bought an 18” pizza screen for the job. Once the stone was around 650 degrees, I put in the pizza and killed the flame for a few minutes. When the dough firmed up, I pulled out the screen and let it continue cooking. Once the bottom started getting dark enough, I turned the flame back on and started rotating until my pizza was done. The pizza turned out great. I like a darker undercarriage, so next time I’d get the stone closer to 700 degrees.
It takes a moment to get used to the oven’s heat coming from both sides, which means that you need to be more aware and rotate accordingly. But I still prefer the new design to the L-shaped burner on the Koda 16. In my experience, it’s easier to get even browning in the Koda 2 Pro.
Moving on to Neapolitan-style pizza: I made my poolish 65% hydration pizza dough. The first batch of pizza I made, I wasn’t super happy with. I had the flame up too high and launched the pizza too deeply into the oven. While the bottom of the crust was wonderful, the top got darker than I like.
So a few days later, I made more pizza and got better results. If you’re making Neapolitan, I suggest keeping your pizza closer to the front when you launch. Once my stone was hot enough, I kept the flame level just over half way up. My pizza cooked nicely in almost exactly 90 seconds. Look at the finished product and decide for yourself. I especially liked this pizza with cheese and maitake mushrooms, and I know the neighbors did too!
Final Thoughts
What’s my takeaway? The Koda 2 Pro is a monster of an oven. I can’t overstate how intense the heat from the dual burners is. They heat the stone more evenly than the Koda 16, and the power is more than enough for any style of pizza. I don’t test ovens for cooking steak, but I looked at some other people’s experience with steak in this oven, and the burner is hot enough to produce a steakhouse-worthy crust. The oven takes longer to get hot than the older Koda 16, and it’s also quite a bit heavier. But other than that, the Koda 2 Pro is an upgrade in every other way and is probably my favorite of all of Ooni’s ovens.
