- 16 to 20- ounces pizza dough, room temperature (store bought or homemade)
- 1 butternut squash, about 1.5 to 2 pounds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed (about 4 cups chopped)
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons dried sage
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 10 ounces smoked mozzarella (275 g)
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Heat oven to 350°F.
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Roll out half the dough onto a floured surface and let rest until ready to assemble pizza.
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While oven is heating, peel and dice butternut squash into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes. Toss butternut squash with olive oil and salt. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast butternut squash for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender.
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While squash is roasted, remove stems from kale and roughly chop.
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Dice onion and mince garlic.
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Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium and melt butter. When butter is warm, add onion and a pinch of salt. Stir well and let onions cook 15 to 20 minutes until fragrant, translucent and beginning to caramelize. Add sage and garlic and cook 5 to 10 minutes more.
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Optional step: When squash is done roasting, mix ricotta with 1 cup of roasted squash by hand with a fork or in a food processor until well combined to create squash ricotta.
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Increase oven temperature to 450°F for pizza.
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Transfer dough to baking sheet or pizza stone. Layer half of the ricotta, onion garlic sage mixture, raw kale and butternut squash with smoked mozzarella in between layers. Finish with a final layer of smoked mozzarella.
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Bake pizza for 15 minutes until dough is crisp and cooked through.
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Repeat with remaining dough and toppings.
SEASONED SECRET
You could swap out the butter for olive oil to cook the onions but the butter adds a richness to the caramelized onions. You could also use bacon fat to add extra smokiness to the pizza.
VEGAN
Swap out the ricotta and butter for your preferred substitute, or omit entirely. Drizzle a bit of extra olive oil on the dough before topping with ingredients.
GLUTEN FREE
Use your favorite premade gluten free pizza dough or make your own with this mix from Bob’s Red Mill (<-affiliate).
OMNIVORE
While this is a tremendously filling pizza that doesn’t need extra protein, cooked Italian sausage or chicken apple sausage would complement the flavors of the sage and butternut squash.
CHECK THE FRIDGE
Other squash such as acorn or delicata would be excellent with this pizza. Try it with a smoked gouda if you don’t have smoked mozzarella. Even broccoli could be swapped for the kale in this butternut squash pizza.
FROM SCRATCH
Instead of store bought dough, you can make your own dough with this simple pizza dough recipe. Or try my favorite sourdough pizza crust from King Arthur Flour! I usually get 2 pizzas from this recipe, enough for 4 to 6 servings.