This post may include affiliate links; for details, see our disclosure policy.
This homemade calzone is an Italian and Mexican fusion, stuffed with roasted poblano peppers, onions, corn and gooey cheese.
So many recipes are a mix of serendipity and what we happen to have in our refrigerator. Alex and I ended up with some extra pizza dough, and had some poblano peppers in our fridge from our farmers market. Alex suggested the idea of a homemade calzone, which seemed like a nice switch from the standard pizza. After a long debate over whether the filling should have Mediterranean or Mexican-style flavors, Mexican won out. Life is good when your biggest disagreements are over which spices to use in your calzone, right? Keep reading for our homemade calzone with roasted poblano peppers and corn!
Related: Want a homemade calzone of a different flavor? Simple Italian Calzone Recipe
What is a calzone?
Calzones originated in Naples, Italy and are essentially a giant pizza pocket. Although they can be packed with anything you’d like, they’re traditionally filled with cured meats, cheeses, and whatever veggies you have on hand. Calzones are folded over and crimped along the edges to seal all the fillings in, and are baked until the outside is golden brown and the cheese filling is bubbly.
How to make a calzone
A homemade calzone is surprisingly easy to make! They require a bit more energy than pizza due to the folding and crimping, but you really don’t need a lot of specialized skills to make one of these bad boys.
For this homemade calzone we’ve used our best easy pizza dough. You’ll need to mix up the dough about 1 hour before you hope to make the calzones, because it requires a 45 minute rest. You can also make the dough a few days in advance and refrigerate until serving: the dough will still need a 30 to 45 minute rest to come to room temperature before stretching.
While the dough is resting, you make the homemade calzone filling. You’ll broil the poblano peppers with red onions for about 20 minutes total, until they are tender and charred. Then you’ll mix them with fresh corn and spices. This step is also something you can do in advance and then reheat, to speed up prep time.
The hardest part of making a homemade calzone is stretching the dough and filling it! Once the dough is ready to stretch, you’ll gently stretch it into a circle. 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. Then you’ll place the cheese and filling on top, 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. After you’ve transferred the calzones to a baking sheet, you’ll brush them with an egg wash that helps to brown the dough. Then bake for 10 minutes in a 500F oven, and that’s it!
How to serve calzones
Homemade calzones are best on a lazy afternoon or evening when you have a few hours to spare, but come together fairly easily. They’re novel enough for a dinner at home or a dinner party with friends. These calzones would be perfect with a salad, like our Black Bean Salad, Tossed Salad, or Best Kale Salad. You can even make them ahead (fully bake them and store them in the refrigerator or freezer, then reheat at about 350°F for several minutes before serving), but they’re best straight out of the oven. Enjoy!
Looking for more pizza recipes?
Outside of this homemade calzone, here are some of our favorite pizza recipes that you can also make with that delicious dough!
- Best Margherita Pizza Recipe
- Pesto Pizza
- Perfect Neapolitan Pizza
- Spicy Vegetarian Diavola Pizza
- Loaded Mexican Pizza
- Our Best Vegan Pizza
- Egg Pizza with Pecorino
- Easy Calzone Recipe
- Homemade Easy Pizza Sauce
- KitchenAid Pizza Dough Recipe
- Best Pizza Stone & Best Pizza Oven
- All Homemade Pizza Recipes!
This homemade calzone recipe is…
Vegetarian.
Roasted Poblano and Corn Calzones
- Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 calzones (4 servings) 1x
Description
This homemade calzone is an Italian and Mexican fusion, stuffed with roasted poblano peppers, onions, corn and gooey cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Best Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe or Food Processor Pizza Dough
- 4 poblano peppers
- 1 red onion
- Olive oil
- 1 ear corn
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese
- 1 egg
Instructions
- 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.
- Slice the red onion into thick slices. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Place the whole peppers and sliced onions on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil; rub the oil onto the peppers and mix through the onions. Broil the peppers and onions on high for 10 minutes; flip the peppers, stir the onions, and broil for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven. If desired, place the peppers in a bowl and cover to steam off the skins, then remove the skins. When cool, slice the peppers into strips.
- Cut the corn off the cob (if possible, use a bundt pan: place the corn cob in the center ring and cut the corn down into the pan). Place all vegetables in a bowl, then stir in ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon oregano, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon chili powder, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F.
- 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, place shredded cheese, vegetables, then more shredded cheese, 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 to make all 8 calzones, split between two baking sheets.
- Beat the egg together with 1 tablespoon water and brush the egg wash onto the top of the calzones.
- Bake the calzones until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then serve.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian Mexican Fusion
Made these for some friends last week and they were deeelicious!! And they were surprisingly really easy to make. Thanks so much for sharing, I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!!
Beautiful, as always. And delicious sounding, as always. I am going to have to go to Indiana one day just so I can eat with you!
Yes, please! We’re always happy to host visitors! :)
Who knew these would be so easy!! Love this!
These look awesome! I love roasted poblano peppers can corn, so there are perfect!