We Tested 17 Pizza Stones and Steels for the Perfect, Crispy Pie — These 7 Are the Best
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The Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-Inch Steel Baking Sheet was the clear winner
People / Russell Kilgore
Think about your most recent food deliveries and takeout pick-ups. If pizza is at the top of your list, you may have considered making custom pizzas at home and investing in a pizza stone. After all, baking a delicious pie isn’t as difficult as it may seem, so long as you have the tools to ensure even heating for the perfect chef-quality crispy crust. That’s where pizza stones come in — whether they’re made with genuine stone (like ceramic or cordierite, a naturally-formed mineral used in ceramic stones, which is also often manufactured), steel, or cast iron, these pans are manufactured to streamline the pizza-cooking process.
Related: The 7 Best Pizza Ovens 2023, Tested and Reviewed
Of course, not all pizza stones are created equally. That’s why our testers set out to uncover the best pizza stones of 2023. To do so, they began by researching the most popular products on the market and came up with 17 pizza stones and steels. From there, they rigorously tested each one to determine how well it performed, how easy it was to clean, and its value overall. In doing so, they found that the Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-inch Steel Baking Sheet is superior to all the other stones on the market. But that’s just one of seven impressive pizza stones they uncovered.
Ahead, discover the best pizza stones of 2023.
Best Overall: Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-inch Steel Baking Sheet
Pros
Creates a crispy crust that’s delectably doughy on the inside.
It has optimal heat retention, which lends to an even, crispy crust.
It’s easy to clean, as it can be scraped or burned off.
Cons
If you do wash it with soap and water, it has to be reseasoned.
The Dough-Joe The Samurai 15-Inch Steel Baking Sheet is made of seasoned, carbon-blasted steel that’s beloved for its heat retention, even baking, and ease of cleaning. When we put this pizza stone to the test, we examined how well it worked for cooking both classic pizza and flatbread. In both cases, we found that it made for the most even bake, with a perfectly crispy crust that pulled apart to reveal a deliciously doughy center. While it practically perfects the crust, we did notice that it doesn’t offer much in terms of dough rise, but the end result was tasty nonetheless.
Performance aside, the ease of cleaning the Dough-Joe is notable. Since it’s seasoned, it’s suggested to be scraped or burned off, as opposed to traditionally washed. That said, if you do choose to wash it with soap and water, it’s important to immediately and thoroughly dry it before then re-seasoning it with flaxseed oil or olive oil and baking it for 90 minutes at 500 to 550 degrees.
We found that, overall, it’s very easy to clean and touts very consistent performance, which makes an obvious purchase in our books. "We all want consistency and a fair price point and the Dough-Joe is all encompassing," said our tester. Finally, the consistency of this steel stone makes us confident that it would perform well with any kind of bread dough or pizza dough.
Price at time of publish: $89
Size: 15”x15” | Material: Steel | Shape: Square
Best for Crispy Crust: Nerd Chef Steel Stone
Pros
Creates evenly-cooked flatbread crust without hot spots.
It cools off quickly.
It’s a great option for aspiring home chefs — so long as you follow the instructions precisely.
Cons
We found that following the manufacturer's instructions actually did not yield a perfect pie.
The steel stone bakes hot and is inconsistent from bake to bake.
The NerdChef Baking Steel is a square stone that’s a quarter of an inch thick. Straight out of the box, it comes pre-seasoned with flaxseed oil.
However, we found the manual to be quite cumbersome: it calls to position the oven rack in the second highest position, heat the oven to 500, bake the pizza for four minutes on 500, spin the steel, and turn on the broiler to high for two to five minutes. When following these instructions to a tee, we found that, while the undercarriage of the pizza was the best we've tasted, the cheese was borderline burnt and the center of the pie was raw and doughy. Because of this, you'll need to do your own research to find the prime rack setting for your specific oven — and when you do so, you’ll find that this steel can absolutely produce chef-quality pizzaa. “I was impressed enough with the performance, and saw enough potential here, to warrant further examination with just a more standard procedure,” our tester stated. For our oven, we found that eight minutes on the middle rack at 500 degrees, without any turning, was the perfect approach. With this method, the crust across the bottom was evenly browned and baked and the top had bubbly cheese with crispy edges.
Performance aside, this steel stone is very easy to clean. “I personally rate baking steels higher across the board than the ceramics or stones for ease of cleaning and getting any stuck-on cheese off,” our tester admits. “You can hammer at these things with [scrub pads] and metal spatulas, etc.” Just remember that after washing it, it’s important to dry it immediately and re-season it with oil.
One last bonus of this best-selling baking steel is its design — its thinness and dimensions make it easy to imagine you could store it with all your other baking sheets. It also has holes for hanging on a hook.
Price at time of publish: $110
Size: 14.5"x16" | Material: Steel | Shape: Rectangle
Best Fast-Baking: Baking Steel The Original
Pros
The heft and weight of the steel help to retain heat and evenly bake across the board.
It takes just six minutes to fully (and deliciously) cook a flatbread.
It can be scraped clean and washed with light soap and water.
Cons
The color of the steel darkens with each use, developing a black patina.
It doesn’t have consistent heat retention, but it still bakes well.
It has to be reseasoned after every soapy wash.
The Original Baking Steel is rectangular and weighs 16 pounds — and it can make a mighty fine pizza or flatbread. It comes pre-seasoned with the brand’s proprietary oil, which lends to non-stick baking that keeps flatbreads and pizzas intact.
After cooking a flatbread, we found the outcome to be very chewy and moist — the edges were crisp and the inside was chewy and fully cooked. Similarly, baking a pizza on the stone made for a deliciously chewy crust with a slight crisp to the edge. The bubble structure was very even throughout with a good rise and bake.
As much as we enjoyed the end results of baking with the pizza steel, the heat retention was something to note. “This steel made a phenomenal pizza but it did not hold heat like I would expect it to,” our tester shared. “There was a waiver of about 50 to 60 degrees between the edges and the center even after baking.”
When it comes time to clean your pizza steel, the task couldn’t be much easier. “Using a mild soap and water, the steel was incredibly easy to clean,” our tester raves. “All excess came off without much in terms of scrubbing.” While it can be rinsed well with water, if you use mild soap in the mix, you'll need to re-season after each wash. (If you are only using water, it shouldn't be an issue, though.) If properly taken care of, we imagine that this steel should last a long time.
Price at time of publish: $119
Size: 16”x14” | Material: Steel | Shape: Rectangle
Best Multi-Use: Emile Henry Pizza Stone
Pros
It’s one of the more affordable (and effective) pizza stone options.
It’s sold in three colors.
It’s very easy to clean — especially because it’s dishwasher-safe.
Cons
It stays hot for up to an hour post-bake, which can be a potential hazard.
The finished product was not as good as other pizzas we made.
The Emile Henry Flame Top Pizza Stone is the perfect kitchen add-on for family pizza night. We found it to be approachable and forgiving — while the end result pizza was not the best of the bunch that we made in our lab, if your goal is to feed your family in a no-fuss manner, this will more than fit the bill.
That being said, the food still came out tasty. “The flatbread was perfecto — it was restaurant quality,” our tester said. “Evenly browned and crispy but not brittle; perfect chewy interior with a myriad of bubbles evenly spread throughout the steamy interior."
He thought the pizza was delicious, too. “Quality home pizza experience here — not like NY-authentic but all of the elements are there,” he admits. “Crispy (but not the crispiest) undercarriage, an interior hinting at chewy, and a few smaller bubbles around the edges. All the key roles are in attendance."
Beyond its stellar baking performance, this pizza stone was particularly easy to clean. The reason? The enameled surface is similar to wiping off a countertop. But that’s not all! It’s also dishwasher-safe — a useful addition to your repertoire of baking essentials, like cake and muffin pans.
All in all, we felt that the perfect flatbread and very good home pizza experience coupled with its ease of use (it's the most lightweight one we tested and has handles) make this a very appealing purchase. And if bang-for-your-buck is a determining factor for you, then go ahead and put this in the cart with no reservations.
One thing to keep in mind is that it takes a while to cool off post-cooking — it holds heat for quite awhile so the only downside is that you have to wait about an hour to clean it, which could be a potential hazard in homes with kids (or unaware adults).
Price at time of publish: $60
Size: 14.5” | Material: Ceramic | Shape: Circle
Best for Brick Oven-Style: ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone
Pros
It has built-in handles.
It’s double-faced, so it can be used on either side.
It’s extremely consistent, delivering delicious pizzas and flatbreads each time.
Cons
It can’t be washed with soap, which can sometimes make cleaning a challenge.
It shouldn’t be used with particularly wet dough.
If your goal is to recreate your favorite brick oven pizza at home, the ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone is the way to go. We found the heat retention to be very even and controlled. The crust was so even and crispy to the point where we could actually lift the entire pizza up without bending the pizza at all. Despite being very crispy, once bitten into, the pizza was chewy with good rise and a dispersed bubble structure. “This surpassed my expectation for how consistent and even everything was coming off the ROCKSHEAT Pizza Stone,” our tester noted.
The main shortcoming of the stone is that, since it’s porous, it can only be rinsed with water, otherwise the detergent could potentially taint anything that’s cooked on the stone thereafter. We recommend a plastic bench scraper to get the excess crumbs and grease off before you rinse (metal might damage the surface).
Even though it’s a bit more challenging to clean, for less than $60, you're getting an incredible-performing stone. Consistency across the board is what you should be looking for in terms of performance — and the performance on the ROCKSHEAT was at the top of our test results.
Price at time of publish: $53
Size: 14”x16” | Material: Cordierite | Shape: Rectangle
Best Value: Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles
Pros
They heat up very consistently.
They can be used for pizzas, flatbreads, loaves, and more.
They’re very affordable.
Cons
The tiles don’t come with detailed instructions.
They’re more challenging to clean since you can’t use soap.
Hoping to host a pizza-making night? The Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles are a great option, considering you get four 8-inch squares for less than $25. While the even-heating stones work well for individual mini pizzas, they can also be placed together to accommodate one large pie, which we found surprising but understandable.
The Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles are one of the most consistent stones we tried, likely because it essentially has four different heat sources. Overall, these tiles make for a very even and complete bake on the pizza and flatbread. We noticed very consistent bubble structure throughout the crust with a chewy finish. (Although, while the texture is tasty, the pizza crust did lack crisp.)
The biggest downfall of the Outset Pizza Grill Stone Tiles is that they come with very vague instructions, which can make the first use a bit of a guessing game. No suggested temperature setting was given — you are just instructed to preheat the stones for 15 minutes in your oven or on your grill.
Another challenge of the stones is that they’re not the easiest to clean given their porous nature. Like the ROCKSHEAT, you should scrape off any baked-on crumbs with a plastic scraper or spatula, then rinse the stone with warm water but do not immerse the stones in water.
Price at time of publish: $23
Size: 8.27”x8.27” | Material: Stoneware | Shape: Square
People / Will Dickey
Best Cast Iron: Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan With Loop Handles
Pros
It retains heat evenly (but doesn’t stay hot enough to make super crispy pizza).
It can be used for pizza, flatbread, and more.
Cons
It makes for less of a traditional pizza feel — more like doughy, chewy bread with a light crispness to it.
It can’t be washed with soap.
If you prefer the doughy, bread-like texture of deep dish pizza, you’ll love the result of baking on cast iron. “My kids and I love to make pizza at home and we use a very large Lodge cast iron pan to make incredible pizzas,” says celebrity chef Brian Malarkey. “We preheat it to high broil (550 degrees) and spray or drizzle my Chef’s Life Cooking Oil ($9) on the pan. Once heated, l gently pull out the cast iron by the handle and place the pizza dough in it. I then build the pizza in the pan and place it back in the oven. This is as close to wood fire heat you will ever get at home.” Beyond the stellar slices the Lodge Cast Iron Baking Pan makes, Malarkey points out that it’s also great for multi-use cooking, given it’s the perfect surface for grilling steaks, veggies, and seafood, among other things.
Don’t just take a chef’s word for it, though. We put the Lodge Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan to the test and found that it's very durable with an even temperature (in terms of distribution) resulting in an evenly cooked product. The outside texture of the pizza was browned in appearance and the texture was crispy, bordering on brittle in spots. The interior is properly cooked and moist, with a good chewy crust and ample small bubbles throughout.
While the pizza was tasty in the end, we think it’s important to note that this cast iron pan is better suited for those looking for a more focaccia bread-like pizza with sauce and cheese on top. There was no quick-action bubble/rise to give that authentic pizza feel — it gave way to more of a bread-like texture. Due to its surface area and shape, it can stand in for a pizza stone, but shouldn't be your sole purpose for purchasing.
Outside of how it performs in the oven, the Lodge Cast Iron Baking Pan isn’t the easiest to clean, as it can’t be used with soap. (Some say that it can, but since it’s porous, it’s best to stick to water alone). After washing, make sure to fully dry it and rub with vegetable oil while still warm.
Price at time of publish: $41
Size: 14” | Material: Cast iron | Shape: Circle
How We Tested
Our lab team scoured the market for the most highly-rated pizza stones. In doing so, they uncovered 18 stones they felt were worth putting to the test. Then, we brought them into our test kitchen to see how well they baked both a flatbread and a pizza separately. We also baked both foods on an inverted baking sheet to serve as a control and measured the control against each stone/steel.
After following the manufacturer's instructions for each stone/steel, we set the oven's broiler to high and preheated the stones to each product's suggested temperature which was measured with an infrared thermometer. For the flatbread, we lightly dusted a baking sheet with flour, placed the flatbread on the sheet, then transferred the flatbread to the stone/steel and let it bake until the dough crust was golden-brown and puffed, about 3 to 5 minutes, then flipped the dough and baked for and additional 3-5 minutes (or until the flatbread was thoroughly cooked).
For the pizza, after pressing out and stretching a 1-pound portion of dough onto a pizza peel, we covered it with sauce and sprinkled cheese on top, then transferred the pizza to the stone/steel and baked the pizza for 8-12 minutes, or until the cheese was melted with some brown spots and the crust was golden-brown and puffed. We taste-tested both the flatbreads and pizzas (the best part!) and took note of each food's appearance, texture, chewiness, flavor, etc.
When we were done taste-testing and the stones/steels had cooled off for an hour, we cleaned them according to the manufacturer’s instructions and measured how easily any residual crust could be removed.
Each of our testing criteria was given a rating of one to five. Once all the data was collected, our testers whittled down the original sample size to the top seven contenders.
Things to Consider
Material
When it comes to traditional pizza stones, celebrity nutritionist and chef Serena Poon, founder of Just Add Water®️ & Culinary Alchemy®️, says that there are two main material options: ceramic (which is often made out of clay) or cordierite, like the ROCKSHEAT stone. “Cordierite is going to be a better surface when it comes to longevity, but they are sold at a slightly higher price point,” she says. That said, nowadays, the idea of a pizza stone has extended beyond just stone and includes steel and cast iron, too. When shopping for a pizza stone, you’ll want to think about longevity and crust benefits. Generally speaking, cast iron is the most durable and retains the most heat (though we found in testing that it offered more of a bread-like texture than a crisp crust). But if you’re set on a pizza stone, Poon says to opt for cordierite.
Ease of Cleaning
Think about how much effort you want to put into cleaning your pizza stone. Where steel stones can be washed with soap and water, stone and cast iron should be washed with water alone — which can sometimes feel unsanitary and can in turn lead you to want to scrub it even further in hopes of dislodging any food remnants. While both washing options aren’t inherently difficult, you’ll just want to consider what you’d be most comfortable with. Something that may help you decide is knowing that stones are much more likely to stain than steel sheets or cast iron.
When to Buy
Pizza stones occasionally go on sale but they’re not the type of product that will, without a doubt, be marked down on big sale dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As such, if you see a great deal and you’re in the market for a pizza stone, don’t pass it up.
People / Will Dickey
Frequently Asked Questions
What stone is best for a pizza stone?
As Poon mentioned above, the best stone for a pizza stone is cordierite. In addition to being durable, it’s strong enough to withstand high temperatures (even over 500 degrees), which means cordierite pizza stones make for faster cooking times. That said, since cordierite is porous, like cast iron, it should never be washed with soap.
Is it worth buying a pizza stone?
It depends who you ask. “If you like making pizza at home, absolutely,” Poon exclaims. “Pizza stones are a game-changer in terms of ease of use and creating an even, crispy crust.” Plus, when not being used to bake pizza, you can sub them in as a cookie sheet.
That said, if you prefer pizzas with lots of sauce and heavy toppings, stones might not be the best fit for you. “I don’t think pizza stones are worth purchasing,” Malarkey admits. “The problem with a pizza stone is that they are flat and ingredients can run off; they’re very one-dimensional.”
Do you put pizza directly on a pizza stone?
Since many frozen pizzas come on cardboard rounds, many people incorrectly assume that they’re meant to be baked on them. According to Poon, pizzas — both frozen and fresh — should be placed directly on the stone. If you’re at all worried about the dough sticking, she says that sprinkling a light layer of flour on your stone prior to placing the pizza will prevent it from happening.
Another mistake many people make is waiting to put the stone in the oven until the oven is fully pre-heated. When it comes to true ceramic and cordierite stones, Poon says that it’s best to heat your oven to 450 to 500 degrees with the pizza stone in it to avoid cracking. “Some stones have heat limits, so make sure you read the instructions for your specific stone,” she adds. “Once the oven is ready, you simply place your pizza on top of the stone with a pizza peel and cook until the cheese starts to turn brown — about 10 to 12 minutes.”
What is the difference between a pizza stone and a baking stone?
When shopping for a pizza stone, you may find that names seem to be used interchangeably. “Pizza stones and baking stones serve essentially the same function — to distribute heat evenly through dough, but pizza stones are usually round and baking stones are usually rectangular,” Poon says. “You could use them interchangeably as long as everything fits on the stone.”
What’s the best way to care for a pizza stone?
It varies based on the material your pizza stone is made of. That said, if you have a true stone pizza stone, it’s important to be mindful of their heat- and soap-sensitivity. “Pizza stones are really sensitive to temperature change so it is a good idea to preheat the oven with your stone in it and let it cool off inside of the oven,” Poon says. “Similarly, you won’t want to put cold water on a hot pizza stone. In fact, it’s often not a good idea to get your pizza stone wet at all (different manufacturers will have different instructions, though) as the stones are porous and will hold onto the moisture.” If your stone can’t be washed with water, let alone soap, Poon says you can clean your stone with a scraper, a damp cloth, and a bit of baking soda mixed with water (just make sure it’s not drenched).
Why Trust PEOPLE?
Rebecca Norris is a full-time freelance writer living in the Washington, D.C. metro area who has worked in beauty editorial for a decade. She joined the Byrdie team as a nail expert in 2019 and contributes to several lifestyle publications. She is a graduate of George Mason University, where she earned a B.A. in Media: Production, Consumption, and Critique, along with a minor in Electronic Journalism. Based on our testers’ feedback, she compared several of the most popular pizza stones and baking steels based on factors like price, size, material, versatility, ease of cleanup, and performance. For additional insight into buying and cooking with pizza stones and baking steels, Norris spoke to Brian Malarkey, one of the country’s most successful and sought-after celebrity chefs and Serena Poon, celebrity nutritionist and chef, and founder of Just Add Water® & Culinary Alchemy®.
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