Butternut Squash Flatbread Recipe (with Apples, Pecans & Kale) (2024)

Fall’s best flavors come together in this delicious recipe for Butternut Squash Flatbread. The base is a butternut squash puree with warm cinnamon and sweet maple syrup. It’s topped with apples, pecans, shallots, and kale. This flatbread can be served as an appetizer or as the main dish.

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Let’s talk about this Butternut Squash Flatbread shall we? I knew I wanted to make a vegetarian flatbread that would pretty much define everything that a fall recipe should be – basically a fall harvest in pizza form.

Butternut Squash, apples, and pecans really bring the best fall flavors to this recipe. Kale adds a pop of color and some healthy benefits, and the goat cheese, while optional, gives you that extra little tangy zing in every bite. It’s a perfect combination of sweet and savory.

And, yes, I’ve made this recipe many times – it’s my absolute favorite flatbread, especially once autumn rolls around.

Why This Recipe Works

This is a fairly quick and easy recipe. It takes about 45 minutes and uses just 10 ingredients.

This is also a really versatile recipe. You can swap out butternut squash for acorn squash, pecans for walnuts, the shallot for an onion or goat cheese for feta. If you’re not vegetarian, you can even add bacon or pancetta.

I’ve made this recipe with both a flatter, crispier crust, and with a thicker, chewier crust. I promise you, it’s delicious either way.I use homemade pizza dough, but you can buy dough from the grocery store and it will work out just as well.

How to Make Butternut Squash Flatbread

Ingredients

• 3 cups butternut squash, cubed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1 small shallot
• 2 cups kale
• 1 granny smith apple
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 12 ounces pizza dough
• 1 tablespoon goat cheese, optional

The entire recipe and instructions can also be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. You can also print the recipe from the card, if needed.

Prep!

This recipes uses an already prepared pizza dough. You can usually find pre-made pizza dough in store, but if you’d rather make your own, you will need to do that first.

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Peel and cube the butternut squash until you have about 3 cups.

Create!

In a medium bowl, add the butternut squash, cinnamon and maple syrup. Toss to coat.

Spread the the butternut squash out on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes or until fork-tender.

While the squash is roasting, finely chop the shallot, kale, apple, and pecans. Add to a bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.

Chef’s Tip: chopping everything a bit smaller will make it easier to bite into.

After the squash is done roasting, transfer it to the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth and creamy. This is now basically your “sauce.”

Chef’s Tip: if you don’t have a food processor, you can use a potato masher or a fork. Your butternut puree will be a bit chunkier, but still just as good.

Stretch and/or roll the pizza dough out into desired shape. Transfer the dough to a pizza stone that’s been lightly coated with olive oil (or place on a parchment paper-line baking sheet).

Raise the temperature of the oven to 425°F and bake the dough for about 7 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Spread the butternut squash puree over top of the dough, leaving about 1/2-inch of dough uncovered around the entire outside edge.

Add the apple mixture to the top of the butternut squash puree.

Note: you may have a little extra puree and apple mixture, depending on the size of your flatbread.

Return the flatbread to the oven and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is just golden brown.

Present!

If you are using goat cheese, add it immediately after removing the flatbread from the oven.

Cut your flatbread in 8 pieces and serve warm.

Tips and Techniques

• There are a few shortcuts you can take when making this recipe. You can look for already cut butternut squash in the produce section of your local grocery store and pre-made pizza dough can be found in either the frozen or refrigerated section of most grocery stores.
• This recipe is easily modifiable. Try walnuts instead of pecans, acorn squash instead of butternut, or an onion instead of shallots. You can also opt for feta or blue cheese instead of goat cheese. It’s a fun recipe to make your own.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Use within 3-4 days.
• Freezing leftovers is not recommended for this recipe.

FAQ’s

What Is The Difference Between Pizza and Flatbread?

The short answer is that pizza is flatbread, and flatbread is pizza, but a flatbread is usually smaller. In fact, flatbreads are often called flatbread pizza as to not confuse them with other flat breads like naan and pitas.

If you want to get really technical about it, you can say that flatbread crust should be more of a crispy nature, but then there’s also thin crust pizza, so it’s pretty much still the same thing. Some people will also debate that the toppings are different, but really, anything you can put on a flatbread, you can put on a pizza (and vice-versa).

Is Flatbread Healthier Than Pizza?

No. How healthy a flatbread or pizza is depends entirely on the ingredients. Both typically use the same crust.

Do You Eat Flatbread With You Hands?

Yes! You would eat a flatbread the same way that you would eat pizza.

More Butternut Squash Recipes

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If you try this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would please leave a comment and star rating. Thanks!

This recipe was originally published on October 24, 2018. It was updated with new images, more thorough instructions, and FAQ’s in August 2020.