Isn’t that a pretty pizza? I can honestly say that this Grilled Yellow Squash Pizza is as good as it looks. When you have an abundance of yellow squash (as we have had this summer), you need to come up with unusual ways to use them. One can only eat sautéed squash so many times before it starts getting boring. The calabacitas quiche was a great change and this pizza is just as good and a lot easier to make.
In the summer, Bobby grills our pizzas. He uses a 14 inch cast iron skillet that goes directly on the grill, acting as a pizza stone. The pizza crusts I normally use fit right inside. (There is more on this process in the recipe.)
Speaking of pizza crusts, I used to always make my crusts from scratch as well as the pizza sauce. However, now I try to use quality ready-made products to save on time and energy. Our local coop sells pizza crusts and sauce from Rustic Crust. I love the Italian Herb crust and Classic Sourdough. Rustic Crust also make a wonderful pizza sauce that is just the right amount for a 12″ crust. You should be able to find these products at any natural or organic grocer and possibly other stores such as Sprouts. (No, I am not being sponsored to say this. I just like these products.)
Now for the pizza!
A delicious savory pizza with a light pizza sauce, sautéed summer squash, onion, fresh sage and feta. A great summertime pizza.
See Kitchen Notes for more information, related links and substitutions.
- 1 12" pizza crust*
- 1 cup pizza sauce*
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small to medium yellow squash*, sliced thin
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced thin
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Several leaves of fresh sage, coarsely chop half of them
- 1 cup feta cheese or goat cheese, crumbled
Place a 14" cast iron skillet* on the grill and start the grill at high heat. Close the lid to the grill and let things heat up.
In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over a medium heat. When hot, add the squash and onion.
Cook the squash and onion until the onion is translucent and the squash is semi-soft.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Place the pizza crust on a cookie sheet or pizza paddle and spread the pizza sauce over the crust.
Top with the coarsely chopped sage, followed by the feta cheese.
Lay the squash slices with the onion onto of the feta. Start with an outer circle of squash about 1/2 inch away from the edge of the crust. Continue to add the squash/onion in smaller circles until the pizza is covered.
Spread the remaining whole leaves of sage across the top of the pizza.
Once the grill and cast iron skillet have heated at least 15 minutes, slide the pizza into the skillet. Reduce to a medium heat if possible.
Close the grill and let "bake" for 12 – 15 minutes until the edges of the crust have started to brown.
Remove from the skillet, let cool for about 3 minutes, cut and serve.
Cast iron skillet – If you have a pizza stone that can be used on a grill, then use it, but be sure to check. Some stones will crack due to the open flame of a grill. You could also just place the pizza directly on the grates, but we find that the pizza “bakes” better in the cast-iron and the crust gets crispy, but not burnt.
Pizza crust and Pizza sauce – If you like to do everything from scratch, you can make your own pizza crust and sauce. However, nowadays I use quality shortcuts for some items. For ready-made pizza crust and sauce I use Rustic Crust. The crusts and sauce are both excellent and are made with quality, natural products.
Yellow Squash – You can substitute with any other summer squash or combination thereof.
This yellow squash pizza recipe was originally inspired by The View From Great Island’s Goat Cheese and Summer Squash Tart. When I found the tart recipe I was actually looking for a galette with yellow squash. I used a modified version of the recipe to make a very tasty galette. The main changes from the original recipe were to eliminate the potato slices and add fresh sage which made a huge difference. I also cheated and used a ready-made pie dough. It turned out very pretty (as you can see) and quite tasty.
The only problem with the galette is that it requires the oven, which is not desirable with the temperatures in the high 90F’s. The solution to being able to make this again, but not heat up the house, was to turn it into a grilled pizza. Again, another couple of changes, but with excellent results.
Below are some nice summer salads that one can serve as a side to this pizza.
Hi MJ – thanks for participating for so long in Food on Friday – I have decided to put it on hiatus for now. I will however once a month pick someone’s recipe to profile – I’ll be selecting from my regular Food on Friday friends. Cheers
Thank you Carole for all of your support!!!! Enjoy your hiatus.
Wow! I love this! It’s also like a vegetarian pizza, plus with feta! Brilliant!
Thanks Mimi! It is definitely vegetarian, just not vegan, but who can live without cheese? 🙂
That IS a gorgeous pizza. I’m on board with buying a pre-made crust, even if it is fun to make your own. You got to choose where to invest your time and energy.
Thanks Jeff! I’m totally with you nowadays. Time and energy can be spent doing other things. 🙂
You’re right, MJ, that is one beautiful pizza. I think it’s great that Bobby joins you in your culinary endeavors! I haven’t grilled pizza for a year and you’ve just inspired me to do so . . . the weather is cooling here in SC to welcome us back outside. I’ve been absent from blogging and commenting due to my promo at work (that I am learning not to like very much) and working literally 24/7. I miss chatting with all of my blog friends and hope to catch up. Be well my friend!
Thanks so much Roz! I’m so sorry that you are having to work such long hours and that the promo isn’t quite working out for you. That’s a bummer! I hope you are getting well compensated for those long hours. Please take care of yourself and try to rest when you can. I’ve been there and rest and breaks are SO important. XOXO
MJ,
This is a handsome, good looking pizza definitely. I loved how you have used cast iron skillet to make this pizza, I agree the skillet keeps the pizza more crusty without charring it. I always find squash to be so generous and forgiving that it takes up every other ingredient’s flavour so well. I bet adding sage has done wonders to this recipe.
Thanks Hasin! The cast iron is really just perfect for cooking pizza on the grill. Like you, I was never a fan of charring the crust so this does just keep it crispy and crunchy. If you’ve never tried summer squash with sage, then you should give it a try. It’s quite delicious!
That pizza really is pretty. And you used an alluring combination of ingredients, especially the sage and feta. Thanks for the tip of using cast iron.
Thanks Jeff! Your welcome on the cast iron tip. My husband came up with that after several battles of grilling pizza. 🙂
What a great summery pizza! I love the you added some sage here too (I have SO much in my garden this year). Looks delicious!
Thanks Amy! Sage and yellow squash is one of my favorite combinations and when, like you, I have a lot growing, I don’t hesitate to use it. 🙂
I would never have thought to make a squash pizza but I do know that I would enjoy it. 😊
Thanks Karen!
MJ, your so right about checking if the pizza stone to see if it can be used on the grill. I learned the hard way, by using mine on my gas grill. Yep, it cracked and went to pizza stone heaven. I have a new stone that’s supposed to be good for the grill, but I’m not testing it. So, Bobby’s cast iron pan idea is brilliant.
If we could get nice yellow squash, I’d sure give this a try. But, I will try it with our local Magda squash.
Thanks Ron! Thanks for the story about your pizza stone. My husband insisted that it would work but I showed him the “uses” for the particular stone we have which caused him to back off and pull out the cast iron. It’s works great, so he’s happy. 🙂
I had to look up Magda squash and YES, it would definitely work! I’ve bought that before, so I am familiar with it. Just didn’t know what it was called.
A beautiful looking pizza, I don’t think I’ve ever had zucchini on pizza before but it definitely sounds delicious! I always think our homemade pizza is boring because I’ve been only making the same thing for almost 10 years, only what the kids want and they always want the same. I might try grilling pizza in the cast-iron skillet as well. 🙂
Thanks Adina! Well, I guess if you make the same thing every time it would get boring. 🙂 Because it’s just Bobby and me, I’m always changing up my pizzas and trying new toppings. The problem with that is that we end up eating A LOT of pizza. 🙂
grilled squash is my favorite one but with pizza I have never tried before.
Well, I hope you try it. I had never tried it before either and was thrilled as to how it turned out. 🙂
Totally love this idea. I made squash fajitas with goat cheese some time ago and it was delicious. (Or at least, I remember them fondly.) http://eliotseats.com/2010/06/18/the-squash-is-going-nuts/ (Don’t judge my early, early posts!)
Thanks Debra! Your recipe for the squash fajitas sounds wonderful!!! I have more squash so I’ll be trying that this week. Thanks for the link.
What a wonderful summer pizza. It is too hot to turn on the oven! I just bought a pizza stone and have been experimenting with finding the bar style pizza I grew up with in Illinois. After looking at this, I just might have to try this first!
Thanks Abbe! Thank goodness it has cooled here a bit, but still, by not running the oven, we don’t have to run the cooler. YAY! I froze some squash and hope to make this in the oven on my pizza stone in the winter. Just not sure how frozen squash will turn out.
I love how this pizza has turned out. I couldn’t take my eyes off those lovely captures. Brilliant flavours of feta and adding zucchini is a clever idea to bring some more added moistness to the whole pizza. Thanks for an amazing recipe.
Thanks Hasin! I can honestly say that it tastes as good as it looks. 🙂
Such a tasty pizza, MJ! And a brilliant idea for cooking with squash. The cast iron skillet you grill it in – does using it on the grill damage it in any way? Do you use it only for the grill or is it just fine for stovetop cooking after it has been cleaned?
Thanks Kelly! NO, the cast iron skillet holds up to the grill very nicely. We use it on the grill a large propane burner for blackened catfish and on the stovetop. A large one like this is quite heavy but that makes it a great skillet for dishes like pizza and blackened fish or chicken. Also cooks steaks quite well.
Absolutely great idea to top pizza with yellow squash ! Feta and onion make it irresistible MJ !
Thanks Dovarka!
Wow that looks pretty, never had thought of using squash on a pizza but certainly will do now
Thanks Raymund! Hope you enjoy!
this looks so delicious and so pretty. i would never have thought of adding squash (is this the same as zucchini?) to a pizza. good idea.
Thanks Sherry! Yellow squash is a summer squash like zucchini, but a totally different flavor. Some people refer to it as yellow zucchini, but to me the taste is so different, that I just can’t call it zucchini 🙂
Bill is all about the meat lover’s pizza where I love a veggie topping. So you win in my book! I love summer squash, but never thought of using it as a pizza topping!! Yum!
Thanks Liz! Luckily Bobby loves a veggie pizza as much as I do so it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. 🙂
Oh my goodness, work of art MJ! Frame it and put it up on the wall tout suite. And so creative too, I would have never thought of a yellow squash pizza, what a great idea. Those cast iron skillets are so handy for the grill, that’s what I use to make mini eggplant caprese, works like a charm. By the way, you inspired me to make an olive oil crust with our quiche the other night, first time ever and it turned out great (used almond flour). I will check out Rustic Crust, I see that they have a cauli crust, fun! ps: love Sue’s blog, I was recently gawking over her baked feta with lemon/olives…
Thanks Kelly! Bobby actually shot the pictures with his iphone. It was a spur of the moment thing and as always, he made it a beautiful photo. 🙂 I have never had a grilled eggplant caprese, Thant sounds wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed the olive oil crust. For quiche, it works great IMO.
This is such a fun and unique recipe. Great way to use all those summer squash. Great idea for a Friday evening with a little salad and a glass of Chardonnay.
Thanks Bobbi! Pizza, salad, and wine – how can you beat that? 🙂
First, I would never have thought of putting squash on a pizza. Second, I would never have thought of tomato sauce and yellow squash. But, obviously, both work and work well. As you know, we love sage with yellow squash. Here it’s too hot to cook on the outdoor grill so we are forced to use the oven. But with the new AC unit, it turn out ok, as long as you don’t leave the oven on too long. I think this and the squash tart look wonderful. I made a tomato tart the other day and, much to my surprise, Brynn loved it. She will eat squash so maybe I can get away with this too. JT, on the other hand, I don’t think will touch squash. Maybe with the tomato sauce underneath he’ll give it a try. BTW, he hopes to be here by the 28th.
Thanks Nads! Squash is a very strange ingredient for a pizza, but it works. I agree – Sage and yellow squash is an awesome combination and one I usually use for just sauteed squash, so it worked quite well on the pizza. I’ve been tempted to try a tomato tart. We still have lots of tomatoes, so I might just have to give one a try. Thanks for the suggestion. I’m surprised that JT won’t touch squash, but then when I think about it, I use to hate squash because mother would cook it to death. It’s all in how it’s cooked IMO. 🙂 XOXO
That’s one gorgeous pizza MJ!! Using the skillet on the grill makes it appear like a deep dish pizza. I will have to remember that! Another great idea for your summer squash!
Thanks Jan! It does look like a deep dish, but the crust is actually almost a thin crust. I’m not a big fan of a really thick crust.
That pizza looks absolutely gorgeous! I must try it soon.
Thanks Lea Ann! I hope you do get a chance to try it. It’s really good.:)
SO pretty! And I love the idea of this — really fun pizza topping. We usually get takeout when we crave pizza, ’cause we live just a few minutes from several different great places. But none of them offer yellow squash topping! So we’ll have to make this ourselves. 🙂 BTW, we’re turning more and more to good quality ready-made products, too. That time and energy thing is become kinda real for us, too. Anyway, terrific recipe — thanks.
Thanks John! I have to say that it’s hard to resist an Italian pizza place here in town, but I manage to resist them but for once a year – my birthday. Then I just have to have Giavanni’s meat lovers pizza. 🙂 Other than that, homemade pizzas are fun and a lot healthier. There are so many possibilities.
Absolutely irresistible! I love how pretty this pizza looks and the combo of yellow zucchini and feta.
Thank you Angie! It did turn out quite pretty and just as tasty. I was pleasantly surprised.