When I went to HPBExpo 2024 back in February, one of the major facets of the event that stuck out to me was the sheer number of pizza ovens and accessories. There is no question that the outdoor pizza cooking niche has exploded recently. What I also saw was an unreleased and unannounced product from an industry titan: the Ooni Koda 2 Max.
That pizza oven was officially announced on Tuesday. The Koda series has been Ooni’s strictly gas-powered lineup featuring a 16-inch and 12-inch model. The Koda 2 Max boasts a 24 x 21-inch cooking area, the largest produced by Ooni to date.
However, don’t think that size is the only notable feature on the Koda 2 Max. Let’s dive in.
Feed the entire family with the pizza oven designed to accommodate every taste, all at once. With the Ooni Koda 2 Max, your backyard is soon to be the hottest pizza joint in town.
Ooni Koda 2 Max Features
We already highlighted the sheer size of this pizza oven. However, don’t mistake this oven as simply just a big pizza oven. Ooni packed this full of features.
Two-Zone Cooking In A Pizza Oven
The sheer size of this oven allowed Ooni to do something unique. The Koda 2 Max has two independent burners so you can actually set up two distinct cooking zones in the same pizza oven.
The burners themselves are even different from past Ooni ovens. Ooni calls it their G2 Gas Technology. The burners are optimized for even heating across the entire burner. So regardless of whether you’re trying to just cook a bunch of pizzas at once or set up two cooking zones, the areas will be heated evenly.
The oven also has a glass shield over a portion of the opening. This helps trap the heat in for more even cooking. However, it is removable if you want to cook larger foods as well.
Digital Temperature Hub
Besides the size, the other most visually distinctive aspect of the Koda 2 Max is the digital screen hanging from the bottom of the oven. It tracks the ambient temperature of the oven so you can know when you’ve reached temp for your pizza or stabilized lower temps for baking bread.
The hub also comes with a temperature probe for tracking internal temperature. So if you want to cook some thick steaks in your oven, you can track temps without any extra equipment.
The temperatures aren’t just displayed on the hub’s screen, either. The hub connects to your phone via Bluetooth so you can step away for a moment during the cooking process or even while preheating and still see what’s going on.
Final Thoughts
Ooni is one of the premier names in outdoor pizza ovens. They have a selection of different sizes and fuel options (The Fyra uses wood pellets, the Kyra line can use pellets or gas, and they even have the Volt electric oven). They also have a host of accessories, some of which I highlighted in my Expo pizza oven recap.
The Koda 2 Max is a unique addition to their lineup due to its size and functionality. Pizza ovens are obviously focused on cooking pizza, but they are versatile due to their wide temperature range. You can sear steaks, cook pizzas, and even bake bread in them.
This new oven makes that even easier than before thanks to the ability to monitor temperatures more easily and even create two distinct cooking zones.
The Ooni Koda 2 Max will officially go on sale in May 2024 for $999.