A pizza oven is far more versatile than most people use it for. Once you’ve mastered pizza, the same high heat that blisters a Neapolitan base in 90 seconds opens up a full range of cooking — roasting, baking, grilling, smoking, and braising. Here’s what works well and how to approach each.
Steaks and Chops
This is one of the best things you can cook in a pizza oven. At 400–500°C, a thick ribeye or T-bone develops a deep crust in under a minute per side while staying rare or medium-rare in the centre — far harder to achieve in a domestic pan or grill. The key is a cast iron pan or a solid steel plate preheated inside the oven for 15–20 minutes before the steak goes in. See our full guide to cooking steak in a pizza oven for temperatures, timings, and technique.
Whole Roast Chicken
A 1.5kg chicken roasts in 40–50 minutes at 200–250°C — roughly half the time of a domestic oven — with noticeably better skin. The domed interior radiates heat from all directions simultaneously, cooking the bird more evenly than a conventional oven that heats from below. Let the fire die back after your pizza session, close the door, and allow the temperature to drop to around 220°C before putting the chicken in. A cast iron roasting dish or a standard roasting tray both work. Add a handful of garlic cloves, lemon halves, and fresh thyme.
Roast Vegetables
Vegetables cook fast and well at pizza oven temperatures. Peppers, courgettes, aubergines, and tomatoes all char beautifully at 300–350°C in 8–12 minutes in a cast iron pan or on a heavy tray. Potatoes cut into wedges take 20–25 minutes at a similar temperature and come out with crisp exteriors and fluffy centres. Root vegetables (carrots, parsnips) benefit from par-boiling first, then 15 minutes in the oven to colour up.
Bread and Focaccia
Wood-fired bread is exceptional. At 250–280°C with the door partially closed and some steam present (place a small container of water in the oven), a sourdough or country loaf bakes in 20–30 minutes with a thick, crackling crust and an open crumb. Focaccia is simpler — press into an oiled cast iron tray, top with rosemary, salt, and olive oil, and bake at 230–260°C for 12–15 minutes until golden and puffed.
Fish
Whole fish (sea bass, bream, mackerel) cooks beautifully at 280–320°C in 8–12 minutes depending on size. Score the skin, season well, drizzle with olive oil, and cook directly in a cast iron pan or on a wire rack over a tray. The high heat crisps the skin without drying the flesh. Fillets cook in 4–6 minutes — keep a close eye as they go from done to overcooked quickly at these temperatures.
Desserts
As the oven cools toward the end of a session (150–180°C), baked desserts come into their own. Crumbles, cobblers, and skillet cookies bake in 15–25 minutes. A cast iron pan apple crumble or peach cobbler works particularly well — the residual heat from the iron keeps the base bubbling while the top browns from the dome. Nutella pizza — a stretched dough base spread with Nutella and folded, then cooked for 60–90 seconds at 400°C — is a crowd favourite and takes no additional prep.
Managing Temperature for Different Dishes
The practical approach for a full cooking session: start hot (450–500°C) for pizza, then work your way down the temperature ladder as the fire dies back. Steaks and flatbreads at 380–420°C; roast chicken and fish at 220–280°C; vegetables and bread at 230–260°C; desserts and slow dishes at 150–200°C. You’re essentially getting multiple cooking methods from a single fire.
The only thing you need that you may not already have is a cast iron pan or skillet — it preheats fast, handles extreme temperatures, and can go straight from the oven to the table. A 26–28cm cast iron skillet covers most of the dishes above.
See also: cooking steak in a pizza oven | pizza dough recipe | sourdough pizza dough recipe | Margherita pizza recipe
