Butternut Squash Pizza with Prosciutto and Caramelized Onions

Ingredients + Substitutions

All portions are in the recipe card.

• Butternut Squash – Cut into small cubes for roasting. You can substitute with any fall or winter squash like pumpkin, acorn, or blue hubbard.
• Kosher Salt and Coarse Black Pepper – For seasoning the squash with some olive oil.
• Pizza Dough – If you don’t want to make homemade pizza dough you can use a store-bought version. For a 12-inch pizza, you want the dough to weigh between 260 – 300 grams. Yes, grams!
• Garlic Oil – We mix extra virgin olive oil with a clove of crushed garlic for a homemade oil versus using a pizza sauce. Believe me, that garlic oil will complement the squash and prosciutto so well!
• Prosciutto – You can also use any other cured salami for the added salty flavor but we like prosciutto the best. It gets nice and crispy when cooked on the pizza.
• Caramelized Onions – The added texture and sweetness from the onions is a great balance to the squash. We like using red onions versus yellow or white. But you can caramelize any onion that you like.
• Mozzarella Cheese – Any mild melty cheese is great, we prefer fresh mozzarella (packed in water) versus shredded low moisture.

Preparation

Before making the pizza, prepare the key ingredients so everything is ready before assembling. Much of this can even be done the day before if you want some advanced preparation.

• Cube up the butternut squash. We like to start with a sharp knife and cutting squash in half. Remove the seeds and pulp with a large spoon. Then remove the skin and discard or compost. Slice the squash into small cubes. You need about one cup, or a quarter of one squash, per pizza.
• Make garlic oil by placing 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl. Then use a garlic press or a knife to finely crush the garlic and place it in oil.
• Prepare your homemade dough. Be sure the dough is at room temperature before baking so it’s easy to turn into a pizza round. If the dough is too cold it won’t stretch.

Making The Butternut Squash Pizza

It may seem like a lot of steps, but it’s pretty simple. We just want to pre-roast the squash and then caramelize some onions before assembling the pizzas. This can all be done in advance.

Roast Butternut Squash

Pre-roasted butternut squash in smaller chunks helps with the tender texture on the pizza. If you just throw raw squash chunks on the pizza it won’t roast up enough while pizza is cooking. This is especially true if making Neapolitan or high-heat pizzas.

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. We use the same temperature if we’re cooking inside in the oven or an outdoor pizza oven.
2. In a large bowl place the pieces of butternut squash and then season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine. Place on a baking sheet and bake squash for 15 -20 minutes or until it’s tender and soft. There will be some slight browning.
3. Remove from oven. You can use immediately or let cool and store in an airtight container prior to using on the pizza.

Caramelize Onions

Cut up one red onion into thin slices. In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat add butter and olive oil and add the onions. Stir occasionally until they are a dark color. Add a touch of kosher salt. This should take roughly 30 minutes for a small onion, you can follow our complete guide on how to caramelize onions.

Assemble The Pizza

1. Sprinkle flour on a large cutting board or wooden pizza peel. We recommend using either semolina or bread flour, but you can use all purpose flour too. 
2. Lay out the pizza dough and press the dough flat from the inside out to begin stretching it. As the dough continues to widen, pick it up and use your hands like you are driving a steering wheel to stretch it out to 12-inches.
3. Transferred the pizza to a peel and then brush the base with garlic oil within 1″ of the rim, then layer with mozzarella cheese, roasted butternut squash cubes, caramelized onions, prosciutto, and sage.

Indoor Kitchen Oven Instructions

• Place a pizza stone in the center oven rack and preheat the oven to 550 degrees. When the oven reaches temperature, allow the stone to continue to warm for an additional 20 minutes before putting the pizza on it. This allows the entire stone to be really hot.
• Slide the pizza with your peel onto the preheated stone. Close the oven door and bake for 6 minutes. Then rotate the pizza 180 degrees and finish for an additional 6 minutes.

Optional Finishing Ideas

You can top the pizza with Maldon salt or try a finishing glaze like aged balsamic or even hot honey.

Recommended Tools

You can see all of our pizza tool recommendations or make sure you have the following:

• Pizza Stone or Pizza Oven
• IR Thermometer
• Pizza Peel and Pizza Turning Peel

Additional Squash Recipes

Since you’ll have more squash left over consider making our Smoked Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese or our Butternut Squash Soup.