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This Roasted Butternut Squash Prosciutto Pizza with Caramelized Onions is the perfect autumn pizza for any night of the week. Fresh pizza dough topped with cider caramelized onions, three kinds of cheese (YUM), salty, crispy prosciutto, and spicy sage roasted butternut squash. Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly, and the prosciutto is perfectly crisp. The key to this pizza is to bake it on a sheet pan at a high temp until the crust becomes just a little crisp and the cheese is melty. As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, slice, eat, and ENJOY. Every last bite of this pizza is delicious and will leave you wanting more. It’s savory, a touch spicy, and the perfect mix of fall flavors.
I love a Monday pizza. It’s just good food on a day of the week that doesn’t always feel that special. Pizza on Monday is something to look forward to. Not only that, it’s something fun to do to…assuming you have fun making pizza, which I definitely do!
Little Monday story for you? I was lucky enough to be able to make the third round of this pizza with my sister, Asher, on Saturday night.
She’d been asking if I’d make pizza with her for a couple of days but work things kept getting in the way. I’m so happy we were able to find some time to carve out. Making pizzas with her was surely the highlight of my weekend. She’s the sweetest (but don’t worry, she does have her “sassy” moments too). I had fun helping her push the dough out into the “perfect” pizza with a nice thick crust, just the way she loves it most. I love that I get to be one to teach her how to cook and bake. It’s so much fun helping her and watching her in the kitchen. She’s not nearly as interested in cooking as I was at her age (she just turned 12). But we do have fun cooking together!
She topped her pizza the classic way with tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, while I opted for this fall pizza.
Both are delicious, but mine wins…100% this pizza wins. It is so DELICIOUS!
Start with the dough.
I like to use my homemade pizza dough recipe from the HBH Super Simple cookbook. It’s the easiest to make and truly delicious. If you can think a few hours ahead of time, I’d recommend making your own dough. If not, store-bought pizza dough works great too (Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s both have great options)!
For those of you who prefer a thicker crust pizza, I recommend using closer to three-quarters or even one pound of pizza dough. I prefer a thinner crust, so I only use a half-pound of dough.
Now, let’s make some pizza.
First up, start preheating your oven. You’ll want to get it pretty hot. And if you have a pizza stone, start preheating it!
Now grab that ball of pizza dough and place it on an oiled quarter sheet pan (or a sheet pan of similar size). Let it rest, the longer you can let the dough sit on the pan, the better. Fifteen to thirty minutes will do the trick. This allows the dough time to get puffy, and creates wonderful air pockets.
While that dough is resting, roast up the butternut squash. I love to make the squash spicy with just a touch of heat. I toss it with honey, sage, cinnamon, cayenne, and a pinch each of fennel red pepper flakes too. Roast everything up until it is just tender, it will finish cooking on top of the pizza.
Onto the onions. These are not your typical caramelized onion. Instead of caramelizing the onions in the traditional manner, with sugar, I like to use apple cider. The sweetness from the cider helps the onions take on a really deep golden color while also adding a nice spiced cider flavor. It’s kind of sweet, kind of savory…and kind of really good.
Hear me out. I know it may sound odd, but something about the savory onions and the sweet cider, together with the roasted squash and cheese is just so delicious.
And you guys? It really is the onions combined with the roasted squash that make this pizza so good. It’s all things savory, salty, and spicy, mixed with a touch of autumn sweetness.
Assemble and bake.
Push the dough out onto the baking sheet, add the onions, the cheese, the prosciutto, and all the roasted squash. Bake in the upper position of the oven (this is key), and in less than fifteen minutes you’ll have amazing pizza.
And your kitchen will smell incredible. The squash roasting away with the onions is such a warming and delicious scent.
As soon as the pizza comes out of the oven, slice, and eat. The onions are jammy, the cheese is warm and melty, the squash is spicy and roasted, and the prosciutto is salty and crisp. All together it’s beyond good…think roll your eyes back, go for that second (or third) slice, GOOD.
Most importantly, you’ll have a delicious pizza to enjoy for dinner, turning your average weeknight into something fun and special. That we can all look forward to!
Looking for other easy pizza recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Easy Sheet Pan Tomato Herb Pizza
Artichoke Pesto and Burrata Pizza with Lemony Arugula
Lastly, if you make this Roasted Butternut Squash Prosciutto Pizza with Caramelized Onions, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Roasted Butternut Squash Prosciutto Pizza with Caramelized Onions
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 450 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound pizza dough, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cups cubed butternut squash or pumpkin
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper use to your taste
- 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup apple cider
- 1 cup shredded whole milk mozzarella
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
- 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn
Instructions
- 1. Position the oven rack in the upper 1/3 position. Preheat the oven to 425° F. If you have a baking stone, start preheating it. 2. Place the ball of pizza dough on a lightly oiled quarter sheet pan. Lightly drizzle olive oil on top of the dough ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest.3. On a baking sheet, toss together the olive oil, butternut squash, honey, sage, cinnamon, cayenne, and a pinch each of crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until the squash is just tender and remove from oven. Increase the heat to 500° F.4. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook 3 minutes, until softened. Add half the apple cider, season with salt and pepper and continue cooking another 5 minutes, until the cider has mostly evaporated. Add the remaining cider and cook another 5 minutes or until the onions are golden and caramelized. Add a pinch of crushed red pepper, cook another minute. Remove from the heat.5. To assemble. Remove the plastic wrap. Gently press the dough until it covers the entire sheet pan. Drizzle the dough lightly with olive oil. Top with the onions, you may not need them all. Add the cheese, then the prosciutto. Arrange the butternut squash on top. 6. Slide into the preheated 500° F oven and bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pizza, and bake another 3-5 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted. Top the pizza additional crushed red pepper flakes. ENJOY!
Notes
Quarter Sheet Pan: this is the exact USA Quarter Sheet Pan I use. You can use any sheet pan you have that’s of similar size, it does not need to be exact.
This pizza is out of this world delicious!! It’s such a nice change from the traditional tomato sauce version. It tastes like fall on a Pizza! Highly recommended!!
I am so happy you loved this one!! It is definitely fall and one of my favorites! Thank you for trying it Lola! xTieghan
Perfect pizza for fall. I’m not a huge onion person but the caramelized onions in Apple cider are a must! Already can’t wait to make again.
Thank you so much Amber! I am really glad you enjoyed this one! xTieghan
This was amazing!
Thank you Jennifer! xTieghan
Made this this weekend and it was delicious! I used whole milk mozzarella and burrata cheese cause they’re my faves. Such a simple pizza but so good. Also, I didn’t have apple cider so I used unsweetened apple sauce with some water (LOL) for the onions and they still came out so good. I even put them in an egg scramble the next morning. I also used acorn squash because I already had some roasted.
I am so glad this turned out so well for you, Jessica! Thank you so much for trying this one! xTieghan
Great recipe! Made it with a volunteer B s
Hi! Thank you! I am really glad you liked this one! xTieghan
We really enjoyed this twist on pizza. Thank you for the delicious recipe. It’s another Halfbaked Harvest Keeper!
Thank you Jayna!! I am so happy to hear that! xTieghan
Hi?
Is there any way to get the link for your pizza dough for this recipe?
I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
Thanks!
Hi Theresa! The recipe for the pizza dough can be found in the link below! I hope you love this recipe! xTieghan
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/french-onion-mushroom-pizza/#bo-recipe
OMG! This was amazing! The caramelized onions, the sweet butternut squash, the hint of blue cheese… Everything comes together so beautifully; a sweet and savory party in your mouth!
Love that! Thank you so much for trying this one, Michelle! xTieghan
Forgot to rate!
This pizza was fantastic. You have me trying new flavors I would never think of on my own! I never knew how much I loved butternut squash until now. I have seriously been making 3-4 of your recipes a week since March. It has been the highlight of my year and a life line during quarantine/Covid. Thank you for all the incredible content. Super simple is THE BEST cookbook I have ever owned.
Hi Abby! I am so happy this pizza turned out so well for you! And I am really glad you have been enjoying my recipes during this pandemic! Thank you so much for continuing to try them all! xTieghan
Made it. Sooooo good.
Thank you so much Allison! I am really happy to hear that! xTieghan
Made this pizza for my family tonight for dinner. Two things that should be noted/I learned the hard way:
1. In Step 4 – onions do not caramelize in 3 minutes. I am a novice cooker and usually follow directions to the T but quickly found out that that “3 minutes” should say 30 (or a minimum of 15 – depends on what kind of skillet) before adding any liquid. Luckily, I was able to fix this part but really though, don’t rely on that cook time – it is not accurate. Once I did get the onions to caramelize they were FANTASTIC, thanks to the apple cider.
2. This one was more on me for not reading carefully but – 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper “USE TO YOUR TASTE” should be big, bold, underlined, italicized letters. Learned the hard way to double check the ingredient list. I used the full 1/2 tsp and it was WAY, WAY too much (at least for me and some members of my family).
Other than those 2 issues, the pizza was delicious – the fontina cheese really makes a difference!
Hi C! I am glad you enjoyed this recipe, but I am sorry you had some trouble with it! I hope this turns out better for you the next time, if you choose to make it again! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with as well! xTieghan
Amazing!!! Made this last night for friends and everyone LOVED it! Fun and easy to make with a lot of flavor!
Love that! Thank you so much Virginia! xTieghan
Hi!
Do you think it would be ok to roast the butternut squash and carmalize the onions a few hours a head of time?
Thanks!
Kate
Hey Kate,
Yes that would be fine to do. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I just made this tonight and it was delicious!