Apple cider caramelized onion pear & blue cheese pizza is the best seasonal pizza. Tender pears with zesty, sweet caramelized onions, and creamy blue cheese topped with baby greens and prosciutto make for one unique pizza.

Today, I pose to you my friends, a question. Is this a pizza?

No. This is not some existential riddle. I am not losing my mind. I can see the photos of the food I inserted into this post.

This is a pizza to me.

Ask my lovely brother and husband and they will tell you, in fact, that this is NOT a pizza.

Pizza is defined as a flat, round dough base topped with tomato sauce and cheese along with vegetable or meat toppings baked at a high temperature. Now, I guess if you go off the literal definition, then no, this is not a pizza.

Hold up, though. I’m not giving up that easily.

Let’s go through the requirements. First off, pizza dough in a flat circle, CHECK! Secondly, tomato sauce. Ok. I don’t have that one.

Instead I have apple cider caramelized onions, which is basically a sauce like coating to the crust. Next up, cheese.

Duh!

I would never skip the cheese on a pizza.

As I am typing this, I can kind of see their point and my case is unraveling before my eyes.

The last requirement according to the dictionary is toppings of meat or vegetables. I chose fruit. Now, I can kiiiind of see what they are saying. I did throw on some meats and veg after baking though.

I sort of redeemed myself.

But both of these guys only eat pepperoni pizza. They turn their noses up at any pizza with toppings outside the basic. Again, I ask myself, as a food blogger and cookbook author, how are these the kind of picky eaters I am surrounded by?

If it’s not a pizza, then what is it?

I still say pizza. Maybe it’s like a fancy, girly pizza.

Apple cider caramelized onion pear & blue cheese pizza is a pizza. It’s my type of pizza. My type of pizza is also a pizza with a salad on top.

Call me crazy, I care not. Pizza is a pizza and this one is delicious!

Apple Cider Caramelized Onion, Pear, & Blue Cheese Pizza

Yield: 1, 12-14" Pizza

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Thin crust pizza topped with apple cider caramelized onions, pears, & blue cheese. Then baked to perfection and topped with thinly sliced prosciutto and baby greens for crunch.

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Ingredients

• homemade pizza dough
• 2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup unfiltered apple cider
• 1 bartlett pear, cored and sliced
• 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 1 cup mixed baby greens
• 3 oz prosciutto

Instructions

1. Prepare the pizza dough according to the recipe instructions. Let the dough come fully to room temp if you are using store bought dough. Once the dough has started its second rise, prepare the caramelized onions.
2. Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the thinly sliced onions. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent. Reduce the heat to medium/low and cover the skillet with a lid. cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. After 10-15 minutes, remove the lid, add in half the apple cider. Increase the heat back to medium. Mix to combine the onions with the cider. Once the cider has cooked down, mix in the remaining cider.
4. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F with a pizza pan or pizza stone in the oven.
5. After all the cider has reduced and the onions are caramelized, about 20-25 minutes, remove the pan from heat.
6. Stretch the dough out to 12-14 inches. Top with caramelized onions, pear, and the blue cheese. Bake the pizza in the oven for 10-12 minutes until crisp and golden.
7. Once the pizza is removed from the oven and slightly cooled, top with baby greens and prosciutto. Slice and serve.

Apple cider caramelized onion recipe inspired by Nosh and Nourish.