This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.

This easy calzone recipe features homemade pizza dough and a veggie and two-cheese filling. Dip it in zesty pizza sauce and prepare to be amazed.

Easy calzone recipe
Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Alex and I love making our own pizza, so why not calzone pizza? Wrap our best pizza dough and pizza sauce around a tasty filling, and you’ve got the best calzone recipe. Sharing half of a pizza is nice. But eating that same pizza in the form of your own personal pizza pocket—it’s even more fun! You can use any vegetables you like in this calzone recipe. Even better, use any cooked vegetables or meat that you have on hand, which is the traditional Italian way! Here are all our secrets.

Homemade calzone

What is a calzone?

The calzone pizza originated in Naples, Italy (where all the best food comes from, right?). It’s essentially a giant pizza pocket. They’re traditionally filled with cured meats, cheeses, and whatever veggies you have on hand. Calzones usually don’t have any tomato sauce in them, since you’re supposed to dunk them in sauce before each bite. (This calzone recipe has just a bit of sauce stirred into the filling for a burst of flavor.)

Calzones are folded over and crimped along the edges to seal all the fillings in. Then they’re baked until the outside is golden brown and the cheese filling is bubbly.

how to make a calzone

Tips on making this calzone recipe

How to make a calzone from scratch? Many people mistakenly believe that calzones are a tricky dish best left to the professionals at your local pizza joint. But homemade calzone pizza can be easy to make once you know a few tips!

  • Use our master pizza dough recipe (or shortcut with purchased dough). The part of this calzone recipe that requires the most skill is making the dough. Our Master Pizza Dough recipe is our tried and true method, and has all the instructions you need to break down making pizza dough at home.
  • Fully sauté veggies before filling. Make sure to sauté your veggies before filling the calzone. Sautéing the vegetables releases most of their liquid, so you won’t wind up with a soggy calzone.
  • Don’t overstuff! When filling a calzone pizza, put in less cheese and vegetables than you think you’ll need. An overstuffed calzone will start oozing in the oven and the crust will get soggy. Overfilling it will also make it tougher to crimp the edges of the calzone closed and will make the whole process incredibly messy (it’d still be delicious though!).
Easy calzone recipe
calzone dough recipe

Make ahead instructions

If you’re planning to make this easy calzone recipe for guests, we’d recommend making the pizza dough in advance. Our easy pizza dough recipe can be refrigerated for up to 3 days before making it, and it also enhances the flavor! This way it’s on hand the day you’re ready to start baking: you’ll just need to let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes while making the filling. You can also make the red sauce ahead of time as well, although it’s not much trouble to whip it up while the calzones are baking.

Easy calzone recipe

What side dishes to serve with calzones?

How to make these calzones part of a meal? This calzone recipe is best served with anything you’d serve with pizza, really! Here are a few sides we’d recommend:

This calzone pizza recipe is…

Vegetarian.

Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!
Print

Easy Calzone Recipe

Easy calzone recipe | how to make a calzone | calzone dough recipe | Homemade calzone
Save Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

This easy calzone recipe features homemade pizza dough and a veggie and two-cheese filling. Dip it in zesty pizza sauce and prepare to be amazed.

  • Author: A Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
  • Yield: 8 calzones (4 servings) 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Follow the Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe or Food Processor Pizza Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.) After kneading, divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Brush the bottom of a container with olive oil, then brush the dough balls with olive oil on all sides and place them in the container. Cover the container and allow the dough to rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  2. Meanwhile, make a double recipe of the Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce, but use ¼ teaspoon garlic powder in place of the garlic clove (so ½ teaspoon garlic in all). One cup will be used in the calzone filling, and the remainder will be used as a dipping sauce.
  3. Make the filling: Slice the mushrooms. Mince the garlic. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and sauté the mushrooms, basil, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt until soft, around 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir; sauté for 1 minute. Add the pizza sauce and spinach and cook down until the liquid has mostly cooked out. Remove from the heat. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Stir to combine with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
  4. Preheat the oven to 500°F.
  5. Working dough 2 balls at a time, place the dough on a floured surface and gently press each into a roughly 5 to 6-inch circle (it’s helpful to measure to make sure it does not get too large). On one half of each dough circle, add a ⅓ cup of the filling mixture, making sure to leave ½ inch of space around the edge of the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over so that the calzone forms a half-moon shape. Crimp the edges together using a fork (we used a large serving fork). Use a spatula to transfer the calzones to a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for all 8 calzones, split between two baking sheets.
  6. Beat the egg together with 1 tablespoon water and brush the egg wash onto the top of the calzones.
  7. Bake the calzones until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool, then serve with the remaining pizza sauce on the side.

Did you love this recipe?

Get our free newsletter with all of our best recipes!

Looking for more Italian dinner recipes?

Looking for easy Italian recipes? Here are some tasty Italian-inspired meals you should try:

Last updated September 2019

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

30 Comments

  1. Deb says:

    Do you have cooking instructions for an Ooni Fyra?

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Sorry, we haven’t tried it!

  2. Sandy says:

    Hi, so tasty! Any advice on how to avoid dough coming out super thick? My finished product tasted good, but texture of bread was a little over bearing if that makes sense. Thank you!

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Hi! We haven’t had this issue. Did you make 8 calzones?

  3. Anonymous says:

    how can this be vegetarian when you use a egg wash?

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Many vegetarian eat eggs!

  4. Marylou says:

    Hi, this looks like a great recipe and I want to try them but just wondering if I could prepare the calzones – with filling – ahead of time and freeze them and then just proof them one final time when I am ready to bake? Would this work? I would value your advice, thanks!

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Hi! We haven’t tried it, but the Kitchn has tried it on one of their recipes with good results: “Alternatively, freeze unbaked calzones in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 3 months. To cook calzones from frozen, bake at 400°F for 30 minutes”

  5. Barb Jackson says:

    L,ove the receipe! Sure could use advice on rolling / pressing dough to shape! My dough shrinks back faster than I can roll to desired shape. Help

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Hi! If you let dough rest a minute or two after shaping it into rough circle before stretching again the gluten will relax and not be so springy!

  6. Jennifer Montgomery says:

    Thanks a lot for yet another amazing most delicious recipe. I tried making Pizza dough it turned out to be amazingly soft and everyone just loved it, This time also I tried this recipe and they are asking how come I turned out to be such a chef after being a mediocre cook for soo long..ha ha ! Shhhh ….

  7. Anna says:

    Could you sub pre made pizza dough?

    1. Sonja says:

      Absolutely! Using pre made pizza dough can shortcut the time!

  8. Chelsea says:

    My kids loved helping me make these and they were delicious! I really love how easy it is to customize them too!

    1. Sonja says:

      Thank you SO MUCH for trying out this recipe and I’m so glad it was a hit! What did you do to customize them?

See More Comments