Best Fuel for a Pizza Oven NZ
If you're running a backyard pizza oven, the fuel you use matters — for heat, for flavour, and for food safety. This page covers the options NZ pizza oven owners actually have, and which one we'd recommend.
The short answer
For most NZ backyard pizza ovens, untreated wood briquettes (also called wood pucks or fire logs) are the best fuel. They reach high temperatures fast, hold heat steady, produce minimal smoke, and — critically — are food-safe because there are no glues or chemicals.
The options
Wood briquettes
Best for: high-heat, low-effort cooking.
How they perform: reach pizza-cooking temperature (300°C+) quickly. Steady, predictable burn. Minimal smoke once running. Light pine scent that doesn't overpower food.
Food safety: only if you buy untreated, no-additive briquettes (like ours — 100% NZ pine, no glues, no chemicals).
Hardwood firewood
Best for: traditional Italian-style cooking.
How it performs: reaches high temperature with proper firing technique. Quality depends entirely on moisture content. Wet logs smoke and underperform.
Food safety: safe as long as it's untreated.
Charcoal
Best for: high-heat searing in compact ovens.
How it performs: very hot, very fast. Not the best for the long bake of a Neapolitan pizza.
Food safety: safe — just don't use briquettes with binders or accelerants.
Gas
Best for: convenience and consistency.
How it performs: reliable, fast to fire up. Loses the wood-fired flavour entirely.
Food safety: totally fine but no smoke flavour.
Why we recommend wood briquettes
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Food-safe — ours are 100% untreated NZ pine with no glues, binders, or chemicals.
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High heat fast — reach pizza-cooking temperature quickly.
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Clean burn — minimal smoke, light pine flavour.
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Easy to handle — uniform blocks, no bark, no splinters.
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Stack tight — store a season's supply in a fraction of the space firewood takes.
How to fire a pizza oven with briquettes
- Stack 5–7 briquettes in the centre of the oven floor.
- Add a natural firelighter underneath.
- Strike a match. They catch first try because they're bone-dry.
- Let the fire build for 20–30 minutes until the dome turns white (around 350–80°C).
- Push the fire to one side and slide your first pizza in.
- Add a fresh briquette every 30–40 minutes if you're cooking for a crowd.
Order wood briquettes for your pizza oven
Our Wood Fire Pucks are sold:
On weekly subscription — free local delivery across the Waikato. Try the subscription →
At Bunnings nationwide — 10L retail boxes. Find at Bunnings →
For more on what's in them, read our guide to wood fire pucks.
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