This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy
Homemade Calzones are stuffed with melty cheese your favorite toppings and then baked until golden. An easy, customizable dinner perfect for pizza lovers.
Homemade Calzones are the perfect way to enjoy all your favorite pizza flavors in a warm, handheld meal. Stuffed with melty cheese, savory sauce, and your favorite toppings, each calzone bakes up golden on the outside and perfectly gooey on the inside.
Making calzones at home are so much easier than you think! They’re easy to customize, making them great for family dinners, meal prep, or even a fun make-your-own dinner night. You can fill them with classic pepperoni and sausage and cheese or get creative with veggies and different meats. No matter what you fill them with they are going to be a huge hit!
This calzone recipe is super easy to make. The dough is homemade and you have to let it rise, but trust me you can do it! If you have a stand mixer, it literally does all the work. I just turned it one, added the ingredients, and let it go for 10 minutes. Couldn’t be much easier. I love my No Knead Pizza Dough Recipe, but this recipe requires just a little bit more work.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card.
Dough
- Bread Flour
- Rapid Rise Yeast
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Warm Water – 105º – 110º F
Filling
- Italian Sausage
- Garlic
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Pepperoni
- Ricotta Cheese
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
- Egg Yolk
- Dried Oregano
- Salt & Pepper
Calzones
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups warm water, (105 degrees)
Filling
- 1 pound Italian Sausage
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup sliced pepperoni
- 2 cups ricotta
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- For the Dough: Using a stand mixer to mix together flour, yeast and salt. Turn speed to medium-low, add olive oil. Then gradually mix in the water. Once it forms a loose dough, use a dough hook to continue to mix and knead for 10 minutes. You can turn onto a floured surface to knead y hand for 10 minutes.4 cups bread flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons rapid rise yeast, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2 cups warm water
- Transfer to a large oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
- For the Filling: Cook the sausage in a skillet over high heat, breaking it apart. Cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until no longer pink.1 pound Italian Sausage
- Add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for another minute, or until fragrant.3 cloves garlic, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Transfer sausage to a plate lined with paper towel to drain.
- In a large bowl mix ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, pepperoni, egg yolk, oregano, salt and pepper.1 cup sliced pepperoni, 2 cups ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- Fold in the sausage mixture. Put in fridge until needed.
- Preheat oven to 500º F.
- Transfer dough to counter. Divide dough into 8 equal portions of dough.
- Shape each portion into a loose ball. Place on a lined baking sheet. Cover, and let rest for 15-30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface roll out each ball of dough into a 9 inch circle.
- Spread about 1/2 cup of filling into the bottom half of each round, leaving a 1 inch border.
- Fold the top half over the filling, and press the edges to seal.
- Cut a few slits into the top of the dough.
- Brush the tops with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Place on a baking sheet, and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Make Calzones
- Make your dough. For this you just add the flour, yeast, and salt to your stand mixer. Slowly mix in the water and oil until it comes together as a ball. Then just let the mixer doing the kneading for about 10 minutes. You want a super smooth and elastic dough. You need to cover this for about an hour and a half until the dough is double in size.
- Make Filling. Brown the sausage and drain away any fat. Then add it to a bowl with all the cheeses, egg and seasonings. I then just cut in a few slices of pepperoni and mix everything together. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
- Divide Dough. Once the dough is double the size use a bread knife to divide into 8 equal balls of dough. Then just roll each piece into a loose ball (you don’t need to handle the dough too much) and cover to let the dough rest for another 30 minutes.
- Roll and Fill. Once all the rising is done you roll each piece of dough into about an 8 inch circle and put about 1/2 to 2/3 cup filling into the center of each circle. Fold the dough over and pinch the edges to close.
- Bake. Once you have 8 little pouches brush each one with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and then cut 3 slits in the top to let the steam escape when baking. Bake until they are golden brown and the cheese is melted.
- Serve. Remove calzones from the oven and serve with a little pizza or marinara sauce on the side for dipping.
Recipe Tips & Suggestions
- Yeast. When working with yeast there are 2 really important things for success. The expiration date, and the temperature of your water. Use a thermometer to actually test the temperature so you can activate the yeast and not kill it. And make sure it is new enough, it will actually rise.
- Filling. Get creative with your filling! You can swap out the pepperoni and sausage for just about anything. You could even just fill it with the cheese mixture if you wanted. Add whatever you would normally put on a pizza and it will be delicious!
- Folding the dough. When you fold the dough over the filling, you want to make sure you seal the edges together. I find it best to fold over the bottom edge over the top and then pinch in closed. But you can use a fork to crimp the edges. Just make sure it seals, so it doesn’t open up in the oven.
Storage
Store leftover calzones in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, place on a baking sheet and heat in the oven until warmed through. If it starts to get too brown, place foil over the top. You can also microwave them, but the dough will be soft and chewy and not quite the same.
Freezing
This recipe makes 8 calzones, so I usually freeze a few of them so we have another meal later. I like to under bake them by about 5 minutes and then let them cool completely. Once they are cool store them in an air tight container in the freezer. To reheat, let them thaw completely and then bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese and filling is hot and the crust is golden.
This homemade calzone recipe is often requested for birthdays, holidays, or just special weekend meals at our house. It does take time to let the dough rise, but trust me it is so easy and not a lot of hands on work to make these.
More Delicious Dinner Ideas
- Lasagna Soup – all the taste of classic lasagna in a quick and easy soup
- Best Meatloaf Recipe – comfort food at its finest
- Old Fashioned Goulash – a favorite that mom used to make
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta – dinner on the table in just minutes
- Pepperoni Pizza Grilled Cheese – up your sandwich game with a grilled cheese that tastes like pizza
- One Pan Pizza Chicken – the flavor of pizza in an easy one pan dinner recipe
I love calzones and your recipe is great!!! I use cream cheese instead of ricotta. Everyone loves that we can add our own favorite pizza toppings!
I have made this dough twice and can’t get it to rise!! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong 🙁
It is important to make sure that your yeast is not expired and you are using the right water temperature. I made this dough very often, and if those 2 things are good then it always rises. How long are you kneading it for>
Would it be ok to use all purpose flour? With everyone clearing groceries out of stores during this Covid-19 pandemic, I haven’t been able to find bread flour. My daughter did however find all purpose. Help! Thanks in advance.
Yes, you definitely can use all purpose flour. The recipe should turn about almost exactly the same. Bread flour has more protein in it, which produces more gluten in a recipe. In breads that means it is lighter and fluffier. But because you are making a pizza style dough this isn’t as important and you will be just fine. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love calzones and would love to try this recipe. However, due to a medical condition, I am completely gluten free. Over the years, have you had anyone make this recipe gluten free? If so, any advice. If not, no worries, just figured I would reach out. Thank you for your time!
I have not tried it, but really you are making a pizza crust. So if you have a gluten free pizza crust recipe you like, that would work well.
I don’t have rapid rise yeast! How can I make this with Active Dry yeast? I’m assuming just activate it first and follow your instructions for the rest of it?
Yep – I would activate it in 1/2 cup of warm water and then continue with the recipe.
I just made it with active dry yeast but followed your directions and it came out great! This is going to be my go-to dough now!
I made these tonight and they turned out great!
At what point can I freeze the dough before filling them?
I would freeze them after filling, but if you want to free the dough first. I would follow these instructions for how to freeze dough – https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-freeze-yeast-bread-dough-427560
I made these tonight – the crust is perfect I wouldn’t change a thing. I would add a little more red pepper flakes to the filling to amp up the flavor but that’s easy. The recipe for the crust is so easy and delicious it’s worth it’s weight in gold. Thank you!!! Also I have a photo but can’t figure out how to attach it if someone can tell me I would appreciate it.
Unfortunately you can’t upload photos to my site right now. But if you are on IG you can upload it and tag me @dinnersdishes Or you can post on it on my FB wall – https://www.facebook.com/DinnersDishesandDesserts So glad you enjoyed these!
My family and I enjoyed every bit of this meal, thank you so much for sharing!
These sound so amazing! Can’t wait to make