What to Buy Cookware The 5 Best Pizza Stones of 2023, Tested and Reviewed These top performers ensure even heat distribution and retention for crisp, golden results. By Clarissa Buch Zilberman Clarissa Buch Zilberman Clarissa Buch Zilberman is a freelance Commerce Writer at Food & Wine, specializing in product reviews and roundups. Her work has also appeared in Travel + Leisure, Bon Appétit, Entrepreneur and Realtor.com, among other print and digital titles. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 5, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email In This Article Expand Jump to a Section Our top picks Reviews Our Favorite The Tests Factors to Consider FAQ What Didn’t Make the List Our Expertise We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Food & Wine / Russell Kilgore The perfect pizza crust is crispy along the edges, doughy at the center, and has just the right puff-to-crunch ratio. You've likely experienced it at your favorite pizza joint, but have you ever tried to recreate that perfect pie at home? Making restaurant-caliber pizza at home takes the right tools, and one of the most important tools you’ll need is a pizza stone. The best pizza stones essentially transform a traditional oven into a brick oven. Compared to the metal surface of a baking sheet, a pizza stone — most commonly made of ceramic, clay, cast iron, or cordierite — heats the dough evenly to ensure every inch of your pie is crisp. A pizza stone absorbs and radiates heat, meaning the pizza gets evenly cooked both on the top and bottom. When a pizza is placed on a pre-heated stone, it essentially jolts the dough with a burst of warmth, leading to a puffy, perfectly crisp crust. Now that you're convinced you need this tool, you might wonder how to choose the best pizza stone for your baking needs. One important tip: Don't buy a pizza stone only for pizza. These stones can do much more, from baking flaky pastries to homemade sourdough. All pizza stones are baking stones, but not all baking stones are pizza stones, so it's critical to purchase the right one. That's why we tested over a dozen popular products to determine the best pizza stones for home cooks. Read on for our favorite picks. Our Top Picks Best Overall: Dough-Joe The Samurai Baking Sheet at Amazon Jump to Review Best Lightweight: Emile Henry Pizza Stone at Amazon Jump to Review Best Stone: ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone at Amazon Jump to Review Best value: Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles at Amazon Jump to Review Best for Grilling: Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan at Amazon Jump to Review Best Overall Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-inch Steel Baking Sheet Dough-Joe View On Amazon View On Fallsculinary.com Pros: The heat retention and consistent performance of the Dough-Joe is unmatched.Cons: This stone requires gentle care to preserve its seasoning. Our experts agree that the Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-inch Steel Baking Sheet is one of the best-performing baking steels they’ve ever tried. It consistently exceeded expectations across every test they performed. This durable sheet provided exceptional heat retention capabilities compared to traditional sheet pans, yielding even heating without burning or over-browning. It performed similarly to more expensive baking sheets, making it an affordable alternative for home cooks on a budget. During testing, this steel produced consistent results for both pizza and flatbreads, creating a crusty exterior with a light and chewy center every time. It left our testers confident that it could handle any type of bread or pizza dough and produce a similar outcome. It’s large enough to accommodate a 12-inch pizza or several flatbreads at once. Instructions claim there is no need to wash the steel, though we recommend cleaning any noticeable debris. If you do wash it, immediately and thoroughly dry it, reseason it with flaxseed or olive oil, and bake for 90 minutes at 500-550 degrees. Price at time of publish: $112 Material: Carbon steelDimensions: 15-inch diameterWeight: 16 pounds Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Will Dickey Food and Wine / Will Dickey Best Lightweight Emile Henry Pizza Stone 4.6 Williams Sonoma View On Amazon View On Williams-Sonoma View On Sur La Table Pros: This pizza stone is lightweight, compact, and easy to maneuver.Cons: Because this stone is so lightweight, it can easily crack or break. The Emile Henry Flame Top Pizza Stone creates evenly browned, crispy dough with a perfectly chewy, steamy interior. The enameled surface retains heat, and you can slice directly on the stone without damaging or scratching the surface. Once cooled, it’s like wiping off a countertop. Plus, this pizza stone is dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup. It delivers on all the most important aspects, mostly that it retains heat well. You can also throw it on the grill and use it for baking, making it a universal kitchen item. It helps that it’s very lightweight compared to most pizza stones and includes handles, making it easy to maneuver. Some testers worried that it was so lightweight, an accidental drop might cause a crack or chip. Price at time of publish: $60 Material: CeramicDimensions: 14.5-inch diameterWeight: 6 pounds Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Will Dickey Food and Wine / Will Dickey Food and Wine / Will Dickey Best Stone ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone 4.3 Amazon View On Amazon Pros: The heat retention is even and controlled.Cons: This stone can be difficult to clean, so you’ll want to stay away from wet dough. Whether you’re a pizza-making pro or looking for a reliable sheet to reheat leftovers, the ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone is consistent across the board. Our testers said the crust invariably developed a nice crisp during testing, while the bottom of the dough was evenly baked, and the interior was chewy with dispersed bubbles. Testes noted the crust was so even and crispy, they could lift the entire pizza without bending or ripping it. Our testers found one downside: This pizza stone is difficult to clean. Water might not be enough here, so expect to use a plastic bench scraper to get the excess crumbs and grease off before rinsing. Steer clear of metal as it might damage the surface, so no metal scrapers or brushes. Also, no soap or detergents as the stone is porous and will transfer those flavors to whatever you cook. Price at time of publish: $66 Material: CordieriteDimensions: 16-inch diameterWeight: 9 pounds Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Food and Wine / Russell Kilgore Best value Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles 4.6 Amazon View On Amazon Pros: With this set, you’ll get four individual pizza stones for the price of one. Cons: Because you’re mixing and matching stones depending on the size of the dough, the stones might leave an uneven or unsightly mark on the crust. With the Outset, you get four small stones for the price of one. You can use them interchangeably or together to make one large stone. Either way, you can expect a very even bake on your pizza, with a chewy center, consistent bubbles, and a nice crust. That’s why our testers recommend buying several sets to expand your cooking surface. The price-to-performance ratio is noteworthy, especially for home cooks looking for a versatile pan that allows for all types of baked goods like larger bread loaves, biscuits, and calzones. Our testers would recommend the Outset to anyone. You can buy a few sets to use in a professional setting or start with one pack for your home. However, note that because they don't sit flush with each other, it can leave a crossed mark under food. Don’t clean it with soap either, as the material is porous. Price at time of publish: $30 Material: CordieriteDimensions: 8-inch diameterWeight: 2 pounds Food and Wine / Will Dickey Best for Grilling Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan With Loop Handles 4.8 Amazon View On Amazon View On Walmart Pros: You can use this versatile pan to cook pizza, steak, and veggies.Cons: This pan doesn’t retain heat as well as some of the other pizza stones on our list. Lodge's Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan isn't technically a pizza stone, though you can use it to whip up a homemade pie quickly. Our testers weren’t overwhelmingly impressed with how this pan cooks pizza, but they were surprised with how well it prepares and grills other foods like steak and vegetables, similar to a plancha. We recommend this option to the home cook who is interested in a multi-functional kitchen tool. The pan offers even temperature distribution, but it doesn’t retain heat as well as some of the other stones, so the dough crust isn’t as crispy as it could be. It performs less like a product designed for pizza and more like a cast iron pan in the shape of a pizza stone. It does get bonus ease-of-use points for the handles and naturally nonstick surface. Price at time of publish: $75 Material: Cast ironDimensions: 14-inch diameterWeight: 10 pounds Food and Wine / Will Dickey Our Favorite The Dough-Joe’s The Samurai 15-inch Steel Baking Sheet performed better than our testers could have imagined. If you’re looking for consistent, deliciously-cooked pizza at a fair price point, the Dough-Joe will get you there. Our experts even said they’d consider paying more for this stone if the price was a bit higher — that’s how good it is. The Tests In addition to baking flatbreads and pizzas on each stone or steel, our testers also performed a control test for each scheduled shift to bake a flatbread and pizza on an inverted baking sheet to compare their baked flatbreads and pizzas to the control tests. In each test, they analyzed how evenly and thoroughly the pizza stone or steel cooked a thin flatbread and a traditional, at-home pizza at high heat. They looked at factors like appearance, crispiness, texture, and heat retention. They also performed a cleaning test to determine how easy it is to clean each pizza stone when following the manufacturer’s instructions. Factors to Consider Material Pizza stones for use in your home oven or on your grill come in several formats. From stone, ceramic, and terra cotta to metal versions in cast iron or steel, finding the right material for you might be complicated. Many of the “stone” options are made with cordierite, a synthetic stone designed to retain consistent heat without hot spots and resist thermal shock cracking. It can be used in a home oven or on a grill, making it a flexible choice. These stones tend to not be overly heavy, which can be a boon for those who plan on moving them in and out of the oven or grill frequently. Ceramics are another option that can be used in the oven or on the grill, but also can be used safely on the open flame of a gas stove. This makes them versatile for making things besides pizza, like homemade tortillas, naan, English muffins, or other stovetop bread. Terra cotta, which often comes in tiles or bricks, does a good job of providing consistent heat, and the smaller sizes allow you to create the size and shape that works best for your needs. They are the lightest of all the options, but that makes them the most delicate and prone to cracking and chipping. Cast iron and steel baking “stones” can provide terrific crisp crusts with good “leoparding”, or those desirable dark spots on your crust edges, and they do a great job of retaining consistent heat. They can heat up to extremely high temperatures, so you do risk burning the bottoms of very thin crusts. They are also the heaviest option and can be awkward to move. They stay hot the longest after the oven is turned off, so these might not be ideal if you need to use your oven for other things on the same day. Size/Shape Pizza stones are generally either round or rectangular and range from 12 inches to large stones of 18 inches or more. Depending on where and how you intend to cook your pizzas, you will usually want to buy the largest size available that fits your space, so that you have the most flexibility in the size and shape of your pizzas. Egg-style or kettle-style grills will require round stones, while your oven and regular grills will accommodate the rectangular style. Features Looking for added features of your stones can often be the tipping point on a purchase. Whether you are looking for handles for ease of transport, ridges underneath that grip your oven rack for a secure fit, or even a special base that allows them to go from oven to table for serving, added specialty features can make your pizza experience that much better. Frequently Asked Questions How do you clean a pizza stone? “My favorite way is to open all the windows on a breezy spring day, turn the oven up to 500 or as high as it will go, and let the oven bake out the solids until they are charred,” says Chef Paul Fehribach, owner of Big Jones restaurant in Chicago and multiple James Beard Award semi-finalist and cookbook author. “Cool in the oven with the door shut at least overnight and brush it off with a pastry brush in the morning.” Do you have to season a pizza stone? Follow the manufacturer's instructions. Most pizza stones for home use do not need to be seasoned before use, and the act of baking on them consistently will naturally season the stone over time. If the stone you have chosen does indicate that seasoning is needed, it should give you specifics on how to do it. When in doubt, don’t pre-season, since some seasoning methods could damage the stone. How long should you preheat a pizza stone? Anyone who makes homemade pizza knows you want as much heat as you can get. Professional pizza ovens often run 1000-1200 degrees, and most specialty pizza ovens for home use should get over 900. Part of the benefit of using a pizza stone in your home oven is that it helps to concentrate that heat since most home ovens top out at 500 degrees. Fehribach’s advice? Preheat for longer than you might think. “For most stones, aim for at least an hour or even up to two depending on your oven.” If your oven tends to run cool, err on the side of a longer preheat, and your pizza will thank you. What Didn’t Make the List Strong Contenders NerdChef Baking Steel ($110 at Amazon) The Original Baking Steel ($119 at BakingSteel) Weber Gourmet BBQ System Pizza Stone with Carry Rack ($64 at Amazon) Ooni Baking Stone ($40 at Ooni) King Arthur Baking Steel($225 at King Arthur Baking) Results Still Simmering PizzaCraft All-Purpose Baking Stone ($40 at Amazon) Honey-Can-Do Rectangular Pizza Stone ($66 at Amazon FibraMent-D Rectangular Home Oven Baking Stone ($142 at Amazon) Low Performers Fiero Casa Italian Pizza Stone ($150 at Fiero Casa) Cuisinart Alfrescomore Pizza Grilling Stone ($25 at Amazon) Cast Elegance Pizza and Baking Stone ($47 at Amazon) CucinaPro Pizza Stone ($44 at Amazon) Our Expertise Clarissa Buch Zilberman is an acclaimed food writer with nearly a decade of experience. She has written for Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Visit Florida, and more. Stacey Ballis contributed our factors to consider and the FAQ using her research and advice from chefs and pizza experts. 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