We love to celebrate fall flavors and this butternut squash and sausage pizza is the perfect way to do it. It’s a delightful twist on traditional pizza, combining one of our favorite seasonal ingredients!
We are lucky enough to live in Southern California where mild winters (often more like a very long fall). So we get to enjoy fall seasonal foods very late in the year. And we love doing this pizza as a flatbread, as it makes a wonderful appetizer to share with guests over!
For this fall favorite, we’ve once again partnered with A Food Lover’s Kitchen to bring you a recipe that’s a great alternative to the typical toppings you think of on a pizza.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This flatbread pizza is:
- Perfect for Fall & Winter: With squash in peak season, this recipe makes the most of fresh, local ingredients.
- Versatile: Serve it as a starter, appetizer, or even a main dish.
- Easy to Share: Thin crusts cut into smaller pieces make it great for parties.
Ingredients For Butternut Squash & Sausage Flatbread Pizza
For one 12-inch thin-crust flatbread pizza:
- Dough: 1 ball of thin crust pizza dough (12 ounces will make the equivalent of a 14″ round pizza)
- store-bought, we recommend trying Trader Joe’s pre-made dough
- homemade: try our Easy Peasy dough recipe or our thin crust pizza dough recipe
- Butternut squash:
- chopped into small cubes so you can sauté them with the sausage and onion before adding to the pizza.
- Italian sausage – You can use any ground pork you like, doesn’t have to be Italian sausage. I like Jimmy Dean sage sausage.
- Onion – White or yellow onion works best.
- Pizza Sauce – while you could use a typical tomato sauce, we’re going make a lemon butter sauce!
- Butter, flour, milk, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and salt.
- Mozzarella Cheese & Parmesan Cheese
- Rosemary – fresh or dried
Fun Topping Alternatives:
- Want to go vegetarian? Try Beyond Meat sausage!
- Want more tangy? Try adding 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese.
- More savory? Add a teaspoon of fresh sage.
- A little more sweetness? Add a drizzle of honey.
- Can’t find butternut squash? Try using pumpkin or sweet potato.
How to Make Butternut Squash and Sausage Pizza
There are three things you need to do before preparing the pizza:
- Chop and sauté the butternut squash, sausage and onions.
- Make the pizza dough and spread it out to the size you want. While we like this as a flatbread, you can also make a regular pizza or even personal-sized pizzas – whatever you like.
- Make the cream sauce, which only takes about 5 minutes – so you can do this while your dough is rising or warming up to room temperature.
Once you have all the topping ingredients ready, all you have to do is dress up the pizza and bake it.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Preheat Your Oven
- Preheat your oven to the temperature recommendation of your pizza dough.
2. Prepare the Squash, Sausage, and Onions
- Add the sausage to a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat and cook until browned, breaking the pieces up into small bits with a spatula.
- Add the butternut squash and onion to the pan and stir to combine. Continue to cook over medium heat for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Prepare Your Dough
- Make sure your dough is at room temperature.
- Stretch or roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface.
- You can make it any shape you like, but a flatbread is typically an oval.
- You might want to dock the dough if you prefer it to be really flat.
- Place the dough on your peel or pizza pan.
4. Make the pizza sauce
- Add the butter to a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
- Once melted and sizzling, add the flour and whisk together. Allow to cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the milk and salt and whisk rapidly to combine.
- Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Whisk to combine.
5. Top Your Pizza
- Spread the sauce evenly on the pizza dough.
- Distribute the mixture of squash, sausage, and onion over the pizza.
- Then top the pizza with mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake the Pizza
- Transfer the topped pizza to the oven.
- Bake for the time per the dough recipe, and until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly on top, and the crust underneath is browned and firm.
- Allow the pizza to rest on a cutting board for 3 to 5 minutes for the cheese to set.
- Add some fresh grated parmesan cheese to taste.
- Slice and serve immediately!
Tips & Notes for Butternut Squash and Sausage Pizza
- To save time you can buy packaged butternut squash that has been peeled and chopped.
- You can add roasted butternut squash to elevate the flavor and texture. Try using this recipe to cook the squash in the air fryer.
- Docking the dough will keep it flatter during the baking process.
Butternut Squash and Sausage Flatbread Pizza
Getting some fall flavor into a fun flatbread pizza!
Equipment
- 1 Outdoor pizza oven Optional
- 1 Pizza stone/Pizza steel/Pizza Pan Also optional for cooking your pizza in your indoor oven
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Pizza dough Try using Trader Joe's pizza dough if using pre-made or try our Thin Crust Dough recipe if making yourself.
For the sauce
- ½ tablespoon butter
- ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the topping
- 1 cup butternut squash chopped into small cubes
- 4 ounces Italian sausage
- ½ small white onion chopped
- ¾ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1 teaspoon rosemary fresh or dried
- 1 teaspoon parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
Preheat Your Oven
- Preheat your oven to the temperature recommendation of your pizza dough.
- Prepare the Squash, Sausage, and Onions
- Add the sausage to a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat and cook until browned, breaking the pieces up into small bits with a spatula.
- Add the butternut squash and onion to the pan and stir to combine. Continue to cook over medium heat for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside to cool.
Prepare Your Dough
- Make sure your dough is at room temperature.
- Stretch or roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface.
- You can make it any shape you like, but a flatbread is typically an oval.
- You might want to dock the dough if you prefer it to be really flat.
- Place the dough on your peel or pizza pan.
Make the pizza sauce
- Add the butter to a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
- Once melted and sizzling, add the flour and whisk together. Allow to cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the milk and salt and whisk rapidly to combine.
- Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Whisk to combine.
Top Your Pizza
- Spread the sauce evenly on the pizza dough.
- Then add the mixture of butternut squash, sausage, and onion.
- Top with the grated mozzarella cheese.
Bake the Pizza
- Transfer the topped pizza to the oven.
- Bake for the time per the dough recipe, and until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly on top, and the crust underneath is browned and firm.
- Allow the pizza to rest on a cutting board for 3 to 5 minutes for the cheese to set.
- Add some fresh grated parmesan cheese, slice, and serve!
Nutrition
Calories: 421kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 17gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 1286mgPotassium: 275mgFiber: 2gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 3929IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 201mgIron: 3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Todd’s cooking skills have revolved around the grill since about age 12, when he developed a love for grilling and took over for Mom at the BBQ. He worked at Wendy’s and at Earl’s Tin Palace (a restaurant chain in Canada) but never really did any sort of baking…until he and Heather started making pizza together! Now he’s often making dough in the mornings and pizza in the evenings.