Sausage & Apple Skillet Pizza with Caramelized Onions & Maple Gochujang Drizzle

Wow!  This word comes to mind when I'm thinking of this pizza.  There seems to be a lot going on, but truly this is an assembly job and all these flavors meld together so well.  (Kinda like our amazing blended family). Each has a part and when they all come together, it's pure fun.

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Caramelized onions kick it off and while you can make them in advance, I do like to be able to remove them from their skillet all sweet and slightly sticky and then immediately add the pizza dough to the warm skillet to start that crust developing a crispy bottom.

If you'd rather do them in advance, no worries though,  One onion makes enough that you'll have extra and I highly recommend adding them to sandwiches,  They're quite addictively yummy.

All ready to bake!

I used my simple everyday pizza dough recipe, but feel free to pick up a ready made dough in the grocery store.  A fresh dough works best for a skillet pizza.

As a surprise, I've used a white bean (Cannellini bean) puree as the base.  No red sauce here, but if you don't want to puree the soft creamy beans (I promise it's so easy), you could substitute a bit of Alfredo sauce.

I just like to stay dairy free for the most part, so have been using a lot of white bean purees lately,  It's a delicious, velvety puree that takes no time at all with the help of an immersion or mini blender.

That crispy crust right out of the oven is something else!

Adding the combo of sweet apple, with super savory chicken sausage is fabulous.  There's a lot of great ingredients all doing their thing in this skillet.

To top it off I drizzle the pizza, hot out of the oven, with a spicy sweet maple gochujang (fermented Korean chili paste) sauce.  Amazing!

Baking the skillet pizza on the bottom rack of your oven ensures for a golden, crisp crust.

Add a little salad & this is a perfectly complete dinner.  Enjoy!

An immersion blender makes speedy work of the white bean puree,  

An iron skillet is crucial for the insanely crispy  bottom to this pizza.  Try this one by Lodge

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You'll also need a great knife set that is quality, yet budget friendly.

And my large wooden cutting board gets used daily.

Sausage Apple Iron Skillet Pizza with Caramelized Onions, White Bean Puree & Maple Gochujang Drizzle


1/2 recipe pizza dough (or can use store bought)
1 yellow onion, sliced into half moon slivers
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 apple, sliced (I like a Fuji or Gala apple for this)
1 Italian chicken sausage, cut into small chunks
1/2 cup canellini beans with liquid
1 garlic clove, grated or minced
1 teaspoon sea salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo chili flake (or other chili flake)
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice (optional)


Maple Gochujang Drizzle
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon Gochujang (Fermented Korean chili paste). Or use any hot sauce you like.


Mix syrup & gochujang & set aside to drizzle over baked pizza.




Preheat oven to 400 degrees F


-Caramelized Onions - You can do this step in advance if you prefer and store the caramelized onions in your fridge for up to a week.  This make extra & they're GREAT on sandwiches.


Add onion to a skillet (an iron skillet works best for this) on low heat with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and saute, stirring occasionally.  When the onion is considerably wilted down, add olive oil and continue to cook on low for nearly 30 minutes or until the onions are looking very obviously caramelized.  


Remove onions to a bowl & set aside , but don't wipe out the pan if you're doing this all in the same time frame.  The residual oil makes for a great crust when baking this pizza.


-White Bean Puree - this can also be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to a week if you prefer.


Add beans, garlic, salt, pepper and chili flake to a mini blender, food processor or use an immersion blender.  Blitz until smooth.


Assembly - In the still warm skillet, spread out the pizza dough so it covers the bottom and part way up the sides of the skillet.


Spread the white bean puree thinly over the bottom of the dough.


Arrange the apple slices around the pizza (no need to be fussy with it if you're in a hurry)


Top with the chicken sausage pieces.


Top with cheese if using.


Place in the preheated 400 degree oven on the borrow rack for about 20-30 minutes or until the pizza is cooked through.  You can broil a couple minutes on the top rack towards the end of the bake time if you've added cheese and want more browned bits.


Cool slightly.  Slice & serve.  The pizza should slide easily out of the skillet so you can transfer to a cutting board for presentation.