10 Fall Pizza Ideas to Try This Season

Fall pizza works best when the toppings get a head start before they ever touch the dough.

Squash, sweet potato, onions, mushrooms and sausage all need cooking first, because a hot oven only gives them 8 to 15 minutes.

Each one below has a pin so you can see what you’re aiming for, and a link to a recipe that has actually been made.

Ten of them.

1. Roasted Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza

Slice the squash about 1/4 inch thick so every piece cooks at the same rate; a mandoline slicer makes this fast.

Roast the slices at 400°F for about 20 minutes until fork-tender before they go on the pizza, since raw squash will still be hard when the crust is done.

Use ricotta as the base instead of tomato sauce, because it keeps the squash from drying out and suits the sweet, nutty flavor better.

Fry the sage leaves in hot oil for about five seconds and drain them on paper towels, as they crisp almost instantly and turn bitter if left longer.

Scatter the crispy sage over the pizza after baking, not before, or it burns in a very hot oven.

A pizza stone preheated for 30 minutes is the easiest way to get a browned bottom in a home oven.

The pin is Alexandra’s Kitchen’s Butternut Squash and Crispy Sage Pizza, which tops no-knead dough with roasted squash slices, fresh ricotta, garlic, thyme and Parmigiano, bakes it at the oven’s highest setting for 8 to 10 minutes, and finishes it with fried sage.

2. Caramelized Apple and Cinnamon Dessert Pizza

The pin recipe shortcuts the caramelized apples with canned apple pie filling, which gives you the same cinnamon-apple layer without cooking anything first.

For fresh apples instead, cook thin slices in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon for 5 to 7 minutes until soft and glossy, then let them cool before spreading.

Cut the cold butter into the crumble only until it looks clumpy, because those clumps are what bake into crunchy bits; a pastry blender does it in a minute.

Bake at 350°F rather than normal pizza heat, since the sugar in the filling and topping burns at 500°F.

Let the pizza cool about 10 minutes before drizzling the glaze, or it melts and runs straight off.

A rocker pizza cutter presses through sticky fruit topping without dragging it off the crust.

The pin is My Incredible Recipes’ Easy Apple Pie Pizza, which covers a shelf-stable pizza crust with a 21 oz can of apple pie filling and an oat and brown sugar crumble, bakes it at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, and finishes it with a powdered sugar glaze.

3. Pear, Gorgonzola, and Walnut Pizza

Slice the pear thin, about 1/8 inch, so it softens in the short bake instead of staying crunchy.

Pick a firm-ripe pear like Bosc or Anjou, since a very ripe pear releases juice and makes the center soggy.

Gorgonzola is strong, so keep it to about 3 oz and let mozzarella do the melting underneath.

Toast the walnuts in a dry pan for a few minutes first, because they barely brown sitting on top of a pizza.

Drizzle the honey after baking, not before, since it scorches at 500°F.

A pizza peel dusted with semolina lets you slide the pizza onto a hot stone without losing toppings.

The pin is Imperial Recipes’ Gorgonzola, Pear, and Walnut White Pizza, which uses 6 oz low-moisture mozzarella, 3 oz gorgonzola, one pear, 1/3 cup walnuts, honey and fresh thyme on 1 lb of dough, baked at 500°F for about 11 minutes with a turn halfway.

4. Sweet Potato and Kale Pizza With Balsamic Drizzle

The sweet potato works as the sauce here, so cook it until very soft and mash it smooth with a splash of milk, salt and pepper; a potato masher gets it there without lumps.

Strip the kale off its stems, because the stems stay tough in a short bake.

Rub the kale leaves with a little olive oil before they go on, so the edges crisp instead of drying out.

For the drizzle, simmer 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar until it coats a spoon, and watch it closely because it goes from syrup to burnt fast.

Take the glaze off the heat while it still looks a little thin, since it thickens a lot as it cools.

A bottle of balsamic glaze skips the stovetop step entirely.

The pin is Jessica in the Kitchen’s Sweet Potato and Kale Pizza with Balsamic Drizzle, a vegan pizza with a mashed sweet potato sauce, kale, sliced onion and vegan mozzarella, baked at 375°F for about 10 minutes; regular mozzarella works if you don’t need it vegan.

5. Fig and Prosciutto Pizza With Goat Cheese

Fresh figs are in season from late summer into early fall, so this one has a short window.

Out of season, spread a thin layer of fig spread as the base instead of using fresh fruit.

Cut the figs into rounds or quarters so they lie flat and cook evenly.

Prosciutto baked on top turns crisp and salty, so if you prefer it soft, drape it over right after the pizza comes out.

Goat cheese softens in pockets rather than melting into a sheet, so crumble it evenly across the whole pizza.

Stir the honey, thyme and a little lemon juice together while the pizza bakes, then drizzle it on as soon as it comes out.

The pin is Fetty’s Food Blog’s Prosciutto and Fig Goat Cheese Pizza, which layers 6 sliced figs, 4 slices of prosciutto and 2 oz goat cheese on homemade dough, bakes at 475°F for 12 to 16 minutes, and finishes with a honey, thyme and lemon drizzle.

6. Pumpkin and Ricotta White Pizza

Canned pumpkin on its own is too thick and flat to use as sauce, so work it into a white sauce: butter and flour cooked for a minute, milk whisked in, then pumpkin and Parmesan.

Use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which is already sweetened and spiced.

Season the ricotta with thyme, parsley, rosemary and a pinch of salt, since plain ricotta tastes bland on pizza.

Drop the ricotta on in spoonfuls rather than spreading it, so you get creamy pockets between the melted cheese.

Preheat your stone or a cast iron pizza pan at 500°F for at least 30 minutes, because a short preheat is the most common reason for a pale, soft bottom.

Truffled gouda is hard to find in some stores, and smoked gouda or fontina work in its place.

The pin is Pink Parsley’s Creamy Pumpkin Pizza with Truffled Gouda and Herbed Ricotta, which uses a pumpkin white sauce, spinach, onion, truffled gouda, mozzarella and dollops of herbed ricotta, baked on a stone at 500°F for 10 to 12 minutes.

7. Cranberry, Brie, and Arugula Pizza

Fresh cranberries are too tart to scatter on raw, so roast them with maple syrup and thyme at 375°F for about 15 minutes until they burst into a jammy topping.

Leftover whole-berry cranberry sauce works as a shortcut if you have it.

Brie slices much more cleanly cold, so put it in the freezer for 15 minutes and use a soft cheese knife; the rind is edible and can stay on.

Naan or store-bought flatbread keeps the bake to 5 to 10 minutes, which is just enough to melt the brie.

Add the arugula after baking, tossed with a little olive oil and lemon, or it wilts down to nothing in the oven.

Chopped pecans and a drizzle of honey on top balance the sharpness of the cranberries.

The pin is The Soul Food Pot’s Cranberry Dessert Pizza, which spreads maple-roasted cranberries on naan with 4 oz goat cheese and pecans, bakes it at 375°F for 5 to 10 minutes, and tops it with arugula, pomegranate and honey; swap in 4 oz sliced brie for the goat cheese to match the heading.

8. Sausage, Apple, and Cheddar Pizza

Cook the sausage completely before it goes on the pizza, because 8 to 10 minutes in the oven is not enough to safely cook raw pork.

Remove the casings and break the meat into small pieces as it browns; a meat chopper makes this quick.

Drain the cooked sausage on paper towels so the fat doesn’t pool on the pizza.

Cut the apple into matchsticks so it softens slightly but keeps some crunch, and choose one that holds its shape, like Honeycrisp or Pink Lady.

Shred white cheddar from the block with a box grater, since pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking starch that melts grainy.

Fresh thyme scattered on before baking ties the apple and sausage together.

The pin is Colavita Recipes’ Apple and Sausage Pizza, which uses 4 crumbled pork sausage links, 8 oz white cheddar, a matchstick-cut apple and fresh thyme over two rounds of dough, baked at 500°F for 8 to 10 minutes.

9. Mushroom and Truffle Oil Pizza

Sauté the mushrooms over high heat in batches until their liquid cooks off and they brown, because raw mushrooms release water and make the pizza soggy.

Hold the salt until they’ve browned, since salting early pulls the water out and steams them.

A mix of varieties tastes better than one, with shiitake adding depth and cremini adding body; a mushroom brush cleans them without soaking.

Most truffle oil is olive oil with added truffle flavoring, and heat kills the aroma, so it goes on only after baking.

Start with about half a teaspoon of white truffle oil for a whole pizza, because too much tastes chemical.

Let the cooked mushrooms cool before topping the dough, so the raw crust doesn’t start to steam.

The pin is A Beautiful Plate’s Mushroom Pizza with Havarti Cheese, Fresh Herbs, and White Truffle Oil, which uses shiitake and baby bella mushrooms deglazed with dry sherry, aged Havarti and fontina, rosemary and thyme, baked at 500°F for 8 to 10 minutes and drizzled with truffle oil straight out of the oven.

10. Maple Bacon and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Caramelize the onion slowly in butter over medium-low heat for at least 15 minutes, since high heat burns them before they sweeten; a cast iron skillet holds steady heat for this.

Par-cook the bacon until the fat renders but it’s still bendy, because it finishes crisping in the oven.

Use pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup, which is mostly corn syrup and tastes flat.

Stir the maple syrup with a couple of pinches of kosher salt and drizzle it after baking, since sugar burns in a hot oven.

Thin apple slices are optional but add a fresh bite against the rich bacon and onion.

Make the onions a day ahead and keep them in the fridge, which turns this into a 20-minute weeknight pizza.

The pin is Kumquat’s Caramelized Onion, Bacon and Apple Pizza with Salted Maple Drizzle, a gluten-free pizza with caramelized onion, part-cooked bacon, half a Honeycrisp apple, 8 oz mozzarella and Parmesan, finished with 3 tablespoons of salted maple syrup; the recipe doesn’t set a temperature because it depends on your crust, so follow your dough’s directions.

If you’re feeding a group this fall, these savory fall snack ideas fill the table while the pizzas bake.

For a pizza and movie night, pair them with these cozy fall movie snacks.