Having been an Amazon.com Kitchen editor for, oh, about nine years, I’ve seen my share of intriguing and interesting items. But even after seeing lots of these eye-catchers, the Presto Pizzazz pizza oven instantly made me do a double-take the first time I saw it. It just looks a little odd: an oven that’s open to the air for the most part. My first thought was: total gimmick, which probably doesn’t work (well, call me a skeptic). My second thought was: wait, I should try it before being skeptical. And then I forgot about it for awhile (we do have approximately 33,000 appliances after all), until seeing it again, going through the first two thoughts again, and then, this time, picking one up so I could test it out. And you know what? It actually works really, really well.
What makes it work are the independently controlled top and bottom heating elements. It looks like what’s cooking would just get heat from the top when it rolled under that element, thereby taking more time, but really the heating is happening all the time, and the cooking happens continually. And, it doesn’t have to preheat, which means it tends to cook faster than a conventional oven. It’s obviously shaped for pizza, and the box swears that it works as well for fresh as for frozen, so the first thing I tried was a homemade pizza (I took it for granted that for frozen pizza it would work dandy). I was pretty unsure at first--mostly because I don’t usually watch something cook in an oven throughout the whole process. The end result was tasty though, with a crisp crust and well-cooked toppings. It did take a touch longer than I thought, but no more than cooking it in a regular oven.
I wanted to try the Pizzazz with some snacks, too, as the box also says it’s not solely for pizza and, well, I like snacks. This had me one afternoon dropping a couple of frozen taquitos and cheese-stuffed-and-fried-jalapeño-popper things on the oven and starting it up. Now, here, is where it really shined, as it had the recently-frozen delights cooked and crispy and ready for snacking about 5 minutes faster than the recommended oven-cooking times listed on their boxes. For snack-intensive days (football games, all-day parties), the Pizzazz is a dream.
A couple final notes: first, the heating element does get hot, necessitating that you’re careful when removing items. And definitely don’t touch it. There is a timer, which helps, and an shutoff function hooked to the timer for added safety, and another automatic shutoff feature that kicks in if over-heating occurs. The Pizzazz is a snap to clean, and super-quick to set up--which means quick snacks, no waiting. This is a good thing, because when that snack craving hits, no one wants to wait around.
--A.J. Rathbun
Lea on October 30, 2009 at 01:36 PM
I agree with A.J.'s review. I too was very skeptical when we received a pizza pazzaz as a holiday gift a few years ago, but it has quickly become one of my favorite appliances. It is very easy to roll out the pizza dough right onto the cookie sheet like mechanism and it works wonderfully with fresh pizza dough (that i cook in my bread maker). Then, because it cooks on the countertop, you don't have to heat up the whole oven and it's very fun to watch the cheese melt as it turns. Also, being vegan, we use soy cheese, and it melts that just as well a cow's cheese! Even better and faster than in the oven. And the pizza never sticks!
KitchenMaus on November 04, 2009 at 12:54 PM
When the pizza is cooking on this it is impossible to look away. Seriously, mesmerizing. I love watching the cheese and sauce bubble ferociously as it moves under the heating element. Worth the price of admission!
Colleen on November 05, 2009 at 07:54 AM
Having 2 kids and often needing quick meals, the Pizzazz has become my most used appliance by far. Pizza is just the beginning. I've found that any frozen foods, especially chicken nuggets turn out perfect everytime, and the kids love watching them go round and round. I've had my pizzazz for 6 years and I hope it last forever. It's a great product!