Easy Chicken-Spinach Calzone

5 from 4 votes

Super easy homemade calzone recipe using a quick real food pizza dough that is ready in just 1 hour. Use the chicken and spinach filling or create your own Italian version with pepperoni - or go vegetarian.

Prep Time42

Cook Time18

Total Time1

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: calzones

Calories: 375kcal

Author: Jami Boys

Ingredients

1 batch pizza dough use this quick recipe or use your favorite
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion about 1/2 of a large onion
3 cloves garlic minced
4 cups spinach chopped (or 10-oz. frozen spinach)
1½ cups cooked chopped chicken from a whole slow-cooked chicken or rotisserie
1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or to taste (optional)
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
tomato sauce for topping: pizza sauce, roasted tomato sauce, or your favorite

Instructions

Make pizza dough according to recipe and let rest 15-20 minutes. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Meanwhile, make filling: heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add onions and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add spinach (if using fresh, stir & cook for about a minute until it wilts; just stir thawed frozen spinach in), remove from heat and add all the remaining ingredients (except the sauce used for topping). Stir well.
Make Calzones: Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a slightly flattened circle. Evenly divide the dough into 6 cut triangles. Use a rolling pin and your hands to roll out each piece of dough into a 6-8" circle-ish shape.
Scoop 1/6 of the filling (about 3/4 to 1 cup) onto one half of a dough circle and bring the other half over the filling, gently stretching as needed. Seal the edges by bringing the bottom dough up over the top edge and rolling with your fingers to seal. (You can cut slits in the tops of the calzones if you want, but I don't bother and haven't had any leaking problems.)
Transfer each calzone as you make it to a lined or greased large baking sheet. When all are ready, bake in the preheated 450 oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake until nicely browned, 5-8 minutes more.
To serve, spoon some of the tomato sauce over the top and pass the rest at the table.

Notes

To Freeze: These are great for meal prep - you can freeze them unbaked and thaw in the fridge overnight before baking OR you can freeze them fully baked, thawing and reheating in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes or until warmed through.

To Make Ahead:

You can keep the unbaked calzones in a refrigerator for a couple of days until you want to bake them, then proceed with the recipe.

Filling Variations:

Italian Sausage or Pepperoni: mix seasoned tomato sauce with cooked bulk Italian sausage or pepperoni and spread about 1/2 - 3/4 cup onto calzone - top with shredded mozzarella and close.
Vegetarian Three Cheese: mix tomato sauce with three different cheeses, mozzarella, fontina, and parmesan. Fill as usual.
Pesto Cheese & Vegetable: mix 6 ounces of prepared pesto with chopped artichoke hearts, olives, and dried tomatoes. Add to calzone dough and top with mozzarella or parmesan cheese before closing. Also good with chicken added.

Nutrition