I’m pretty excited about this post. It features some of my favorite ingredients: butternut squash, caramelized onions, and sage. And it’s perfect for fall! But best of all, it’s a collaboration with an amazing food photographer, Rikki Snyder. Oh, and it has a concept too! A concept!
After emailing back and forth for a while, Rikki and I decided to work together on a few posts. I’ve always felt that my strength as a food blogger is recipe development; while I love taking pictures, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a struggle at times. And since Rikki takes gorgeous photos, it seemed like a fun idea for me to develop some recipes and for Rikki to photograph them. Today I’m posting the first recipe, a Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Flatbread, and tomorrow Rikki will be publishing a recipe for Penne with Butternut Squash & Kale on her blog.
The common denominator in the recipes? Butternut squash! (And caramelized onions too.) Fall is typically a busy time. The lazy, relaxed days of summer are over. Now the kids are back in school, days are shorter, and easy meals are much-needed. Well, here are two meal ideas to make life a little bit less hectic–at least around dinnertime.
Both the pasta and the flatbread start with roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions. You can make these over the weekend or the night before. You’ll use half of them in each recipe. While the roasted squash and caramelized onions take a little bit of time to make, they’re fairly hands-off recipes. With both of those prepared in advance, the pasta and flatbread are each done in 20 minutes or less.
The best thing about these two meals is that not only are they easy, but they’re delicious. Because even though fall is a busy time, rushed meals don’t always have to come out of a box or a can–with a little bit of planning, you can have a quick homemade meal like this rustic butternut squash flatbread. And trust me, having eaten many meals from a box in my day, this flatbread is way better.
Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Flatbread

Make a batch of roasted butternut squash and caramelized onions ahead of time and get two meals out of them: this Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Flatbread and Penne with Butternut Squash & Kale.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
Ingredients
Roasted Butternut Squash
- 1 extra large butternut squash, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- salt + pepper to taste
Caramelized Onions
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 3 large onions, halved & thinly sliced
- salt + pepper to taste
Flatbread
- 1 prepared pizza crust
- 1/2 of caramelized onions
- 1/2 c. shredded Fontina or Italian blend cheese
- 1/2 of roasted butternut squash
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. sage leaves, cut into ribbons
- 2 tbsp. chopped toasted walnuts (optional)
Instructions
Roasted Butternut Squash
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide squash onto 2 rimmed baking sheets; drizzle each sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until tender. Reserve half for penne recipe.
Caramelized Onions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add onions and a pinch of salt. Cook until completely caramelized, stirring occasionally at first and more often as onions begin to brown. Depending on your stove, this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. Season with freshly ground pepper. Reserve half for penne recipe.
Flatbread
- Preheat oven to temperature indicated on pizza crust package. Top crust with caramelized onions, cheese, and squash. Bake for time on package or until squash is heated through and cheese has melted.
- While pizza is baking, heat oil in small skillet over medium high heat. Add sage leaves and saute, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes or until leaves are crispy, but still green. Sprinkle sage leaves and walnuts on pizza before serving.
Notes
Prep and cook time are for flatbread only. If you’re making the caramelized onions and butternut squash on the same day you’re making the flatbread, allow about an extra hour.
79 Comments
Sharon | Chinese Soup Pot
September 24, 2012 at 10:59 pmHi Kiersten, this flatbread pizza looks so appetizing, and the photos are beautiful. This is a great collaboration between you and Rikki! I have to say though that the photos on your other posts are not bad at all – they are in fact quite good! =)
Kiersten
September 26, 2012 at 9:58 amThank you. ๐ I’ve worked really hard to get better with my photography, but I’m still learning so it can be a struggle–sometimes things just aren’t right with a photo and I don’t know how to fix it!
Brenda Williams
September 25, 2012 at 12:10 amReally good recipe and the photos are great! Loved this post.
Katie (The Muffin Myth)
September 25, 2012 at 8:56 amGorgeous photos! And what a fun collaboration! I love the flavours of butternut squash and sage together, but I’m not sure I’ve ever thought to put them together on a flatbread before. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Kiersten
September 26, 2012 at 9:57 amI will put anything on a flatbread or pizza. Anything! ๐
Meg
September 25, 2012 at 11:37 amFirst thing I have to say is YUM! I saw this post yesterday and literally started drooling…the food, the styling, the photography. I am not an OMG kind of girl but when your post came through it was totally an OMG moment. I am going to have to make this over the weekend!
Kiersten
September 26, 2012 at 9:55 amThank you! I was so excited about Rikki’s photos too–I wish she could photograph all of my recipes. ๐
Jennifer
September 25, 2012 at 12:19 pmoh wow, this looks absolutely amazing. as always, your pictures are truly perfection
Kathy - Panini Happy
September 25, 2012 at 1:28 pmWhat a fabulous collaboration! So excited that it’s butternut squash time again. ๐
Julia
September 25, 2012 at 8:53 pmWhat a wonderful recipe for a Fall season. I love the colors of this dish!
Richa
September 25, 2012 at 9:55 pmoh my., i need to find a photographer to do this with me.. how gorgeous are these pictures, the composition, the colors! i am in love. as if the caramelized onions and butternut squash werent enough.. i am double in love!
Kiersten
September 26, 2012 at 9:49 amRicha, I love your photos!
Heidi @ Food Doodles
September 26, 2012 at 5:36 pmOoooh this looks so yummy! And I love the colors too, such beautiful fall colors ๐
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
September 26, 2012 at 9:32 pmA fast, easy dinner, now that’s my language, and the photos are just beautiful Rikki!
Courtney Rae Jones
September 26, 2012 at 9:49 pmOh yum! This looks amazing. Caramelized onions and butternut squash sound brilliant as pizza toppings! I’m going to make this pizza this weekend. Love that you added walnuts too!
Kiersten
September 27, 2012 at 1:41 pmI hope you like it! ๐ I was going to drizzle walnut oil on the top, but ended up doing walnuts instead at the last minute. ๐
megan
September 27, 2012 at 12:19 pmI am totally making this tonight! Any suggestions of good pizza crusts to use? Do you use one of that premade or make your own dough?
Kiersten
September 27, 2012 at 1:25 pmI hope you enjoy it! ๐ I like using the whole-wheat crust from Rustic Crust.
Christine
September 27, 2012 at 5:06 pmGreetings! I just discovered your blog recently and absolutely love it! Thank you for always giving me a little something to read while I am on break at work. These recipes looked so amazing online that I stopped at the store on the way home and bought the ingredients. I made the pasta last night and plan on making the flatbread tonight. The pasta was so amazingly delicious! I like butternut squash and kale and never thought of putting the flavors together; honestly I couldnt’ stop eating it! Looking foward to dinner tonight ๐
Kiersten
September 28, 2012 at 1:50 pmAw, thank you! ๐ I’m so glad you liked the pasta–I hope the flatbread was just as good!
Rachel @ Rachel's Giveaways
September 28, 2012 at 2:36 pmI made the penne pasta last night for dinner and it was fabulous! Unfortunately, I realized it is still waaaay too hot to be roasting vegetables here in FL. We have fall vegetables in the stores and pumpkin spice lattes etc but the weather still doesn’t FEEL like fall yet ๐
Kiersten
September 29, 2012 at 8:29 pmYay, I’m glad you liked it! It is finally starting to feel like fall here, although I suppose temperatures in the 70s aren’t exactly fall-like either. But it’s not in the 80s anymore! ๐
kellypea
September 30, 2012 at 4:26 pmLove these flavors in pasta — need to try them with flatbread now. So gorgeous and delicious!
Shirley
September 30, 2012 at 11:50 pmOh my gosh, I love all those ingredients, especially together! I am so making this.
Photos are beautiful too. And I could never tell the photography was a struggle for you — yours are always sharp and in focus, well and evenly lit, and well composed. Wish mine would come out so perfect every time!
Kiersten
October 1, 2012 at 2:43 pmI guess my issue is that I’m uncomfortable with the learning process. I used to always think that I loved learning, but I’ve realized that what I really love is knowing. I don’t like the process of getting there. And that’s where I am with photography right now.
Russell van Kraayenburg
October 1, 2012 at 6:05 pmMy oh my this looks wonderful! What a great recipe. And such lovely photos from Rikki – what a fun collaboration.
Jess
October 1, 2012 at 6:21 pmThis looks so gorgeous. Can’t believe I’m just stumbling upon this blog now. I put together a meal planning newsletter every week and would love to feature some of your recipes – our subscribers are all looking to eat less animal product.
Kiersten
October 2, 2012 at 10:29 amI got your email and I will reply to it this afternoon! ๐
Rehana
October 2, 2012 at 7:33 amHi Kiersten! My first time visiting your blog! I must say, that flatbread pizza looks VERY appetizing! Believe it or not, i have NEVER had Butternut Squash or Kale before! I’m guessing from all the posts that these are fall veggies! Any suggestions on replacing the crust?? I’m trying to go “grain free” for some time and would love to have something like this but without the grains.
hope you can help! :o)
Kiersten
October 2, 2012 at 9:39 amYup, butternut squash and kale are both fall veggies, although you can buy both year-round too. ๐ Have you tried making a cauliflower pizza crust before? I think that would work really well with the flavors in this recipe. If you haven’t made it yet, here’s a link that will show you how:
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2012/07/recipe-for-cauliflower-crust-vegetarian.html
If you make it this way, let me know how it turns out!
lynn @ the actor's diet
October 3, 2012 at 12:35 pmLOVE butternut squash on pizza – will have to try this!
Monique
October 8, 2012 at 8:38 pmI made this tonight on a garlic Naan. It was fantastic! I’m a newbie vegetarian and I’m having a blast experimenting with different flavors. I will surely follow your blog and make this again! Thanks for sharing!
Kiersten
October 9, 2012 at 4:21 pmYay, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Experimenting is definitely the best thing you can do as a new vegetarian. ๐
Shelbi
October 27, 2012 at 10:54 pmLoved this, came out great! I also loved how beautiful it looked!
Kiersten
October 29, 2012 at 9:29 amI’m so glad you enjoyed it! ๐
Michelle Ritchie | Delicious Karma
April 21, 2013 at 3:36 pmWOW…so delicious sounding! MUST make this ne as well…as I love butternut squash and caramelized onions!!!! Added this one to our “Flatbread & Pizza” Pinterest board as well…as I want to keep this one to make for sure. Perhaps this weekend!
Kiersten
April 22, 2013 at 10:52 amThanks for the pin! ๐
Michelle Ritchie | Delicious Karma
April 22, 2013 at 12:27 pmMy pleasure! LOVE your stuff!
Arthur in the Garden!
September 9, 2013 at 3:01 pmYum!
jennifer
November 25, 2015 at 1:46 pmI’m a little late to this post, but if I bought raw dough from a bakery, do I need to bake that first? Then follow your instructions?