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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.
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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
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
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Absolutely delightful receipe to welcome October. Thank you for posting it.
One modification I’ll mention because it wasnt intended but worked out – I roasted the squash a little long and it got pretty mushy. So I stirred it together with a little more honey, cayenne and fresh sage and spread it as a base on the pizza dough, adding the onions, prosciutto and cheese on top. I also used a cheddar-gruyere cheese instead of mozz because I’m kind of obsessed with it. All worked well, and we’re enjoying it!
Hey Kirsten,
Awesome!! Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! Have a great weekend:) xTieghan
One of my first thoughts this month was, “YES, it’s time to make this again!’ Made this for my family and it was a hit. Can’t wait for Round 2!
Hey Kelsey,
Thanks a lot for trying out this recipe. I love to hear that it was enjoyed and hope you have the best week! xTieghan
I’m so excited to share this recipe with my neighbors. I will throw a party on my newly renovated outdoor kitchen
done by the best contractors here in Roseville. I’m sure they will love this! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much Mari Ann! xTieghan
I made this last night and it was the best pizza I think I’ve ever had in my life. The onions did take much longer to caramelize, but wow this was so good we wanted to make it again immediately.
Hey Katie,
I am absolutely delighted that you enjoyed the recipe, thanks for making it! Have the best week☀️ xTieghan
Just made this to use up the last of our butternut squash from the last fall harvest – it was absolutely delicious!
I was a little skeptical but ALL of your recipes are so interesting 🙂 Every ingredient worked together perfectly
Hey Valerie,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try, I am thrilled it was enjoyed! xTieghan
WOW, this was an amazing pizza. I forgot to get mozzarella at the store, so I just used a little extra fontina and topped with the crumbled blue cheese, and the flavor was just fantastic. I’ll try it with mozza next time, but still felt like it was perfect without as well. This pizza was simple and fairly quick to put together, but the rich combination of flavors made it feel like a much more extravagant meal.
Hey Melissa,
I so appreciate you giving the recipe a try, I am thrilled it was enjoyed! xTieghan
Girllll, this pizza is UNBELIEVABLE!!! You keep outdoing yourself with these recipes! This was absolutely ridiculously delicious. Good thing I worked out before eating because I couldn’t.stop.eating.it!!! Thank you a million times for sharing your gift!
Hey there,
I am so glad this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! Have a great weekend! xTieghan
This pizza recipe was absolutely phenomenal. First off- I made my own gluten free pizza crust (absolute best and easiest homemade GF crust- https://www.glutenfreepalate.com/gluten-free-pizza-9-ingredients/) and pre baked it then followed the recipe for the toppings etc. The combination of these ingredients makes the most INTERESTING and delicious pizza. It almost came out like a rich alfredo sauce. Bottom line- MAKE THIS, you won’t be disappointed, and that is coming from someone in the NYC area AKA pizza central with a joint on every corner. This pizza is so worth the time and is phenomenal (as are all of Tieghan’s recipes).
Hey Gab,
I am so glad the recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for trying it out! Happy Sunday! xTieghan
I have a copy of HBH Super Simple – i only have dried active yeast, is there anyway i can use this in place of instant yeast for your No-knead pizza dough?
Hey Rose,
Absolutely, you can mix the active yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water and honey, let that come to a bubble, and then follow the recipe as is. I hope you love the pizza, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I did a slightly simpler version of this for a lazy night and it was delicious! I also added a thin layer of fig butter and it was wonderful! So easy and yummy!
Thanks so much for trying the recipe Sara, I am glad it worked out for you! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
This was one of the best recipes I’ve made all year. It was a huge hit!!
Hey Sarah,
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Omg!! So mine didn’t turn out nearly as beautiful as yours but it tasted AMAZING! Everyone in my family loves it. We also added a little balsamic glaze on top which was great! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Thank you Katherine! I am really glad this recipe turned out so amazing for you! xTieghan
Delicious!!! Its a miracle there was roasted squash left to even MAKE the pizza! YUM! I would totally make the squash as a side for another meal! Caramelized onions were a fantastic addition! (My family might not have been thrilled – but that is why I made ‘regular’ pizza for them!) Super easy to make and put together!
I am so happy you loved this recipe, Julee!! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Any chance this could be done with puff pastry? If so, any insight into instructions? Thanks!
Hey James,
I would not recommend using puff pastry for this recipe. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
We made this it was amazing
Thank you so much Jeanne! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! xTieghan