Homemade Chicken Calzone Recipe, rustic pizza dough stuffed with chicken parmigiana, fresh mozzarella, thick arrabiata sauce and fresh basil!
Who is in the mood to try my chicken calzone recipe today?!
With a cool front in California, it was the perfect occasion to crank up the oven as high as it would go.
Not to mention how therapeutic it is to actually make your own pizza dough. Yes of course you can order a great pizza many places nowadays, but it still won’t come close to the one your hands will make. It’s pure magic i tell you !
Did I ever mention that my rustic pizza dough recipe is one of the most popular recipes on the blog ? So excited about that, I had to make some more haha
So what is a chicken calzone ?
In the most simple terms, it really is just a pizza pocket. A pizza folded over on itself so it is easy to hold and eat, even for little hands.
I tend to make this when i have some leftovers of my easy chicken parmigiana and extra marinara or arrabiata tomato sauce.
Speaking of sauce, you must use a very thick sauce in a calzone. Otherwise, this chicken calzone won’t turn out as amazing as it should. It might just be a soggy mess and that’s the last thing you want.
So even if you use a store-bought sauce to make this, just simmer it on the stove top for a little bit until it reduces to a thick consistency. The sauce is indeed one of the most important steps to execute the perfect chicken calzone recipe.
You can use a whole chicken tenderloin or slice it up into small pieces, your call. Wanna go vegetarian ? No problem! Just replace the chicken in the recipe with a spinach and ricotta mixture, or sautéed wild mushrooms, or your favorite veggies and cheese.
You can really take this chicken calzone recipe any direction you like, I know you won’t be disappointed.
Like in the case of a fire kissed pizza, if you want some charred marks on the crust, just throw the calzone under the broiler for a minute.
Chicken Calzone Recipe
Easy breezy, this chicken calzone recipe is worth it all the flour all over your kitchen.
- 1 batchrustic pizza dough
- 6 chicken parmigiana tenders
- 1 1/2 c arrabiata tomato sauce thick, or marinara sauce
- 16 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
- 5 leaves sprigs fresh basil only
- 1/2 c all purpose flour for dusting
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Make one batch of the rustic pizza dough and divide it into 6 pieces just as instructed in the rustic pizza dough recipe. Let them sit at room temperature for 2 hours in a draft free area.
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Meanwhile preheat your oven with a pizza stone in it as high as it would go, for at least 45 minutes.
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Sprinkle some flour on your kitchen counter and set one of the pizza rounds on top. Sprinkle with a little flour on top and using your palm press it down gently to desired thinness. You don’t want them too thin because you want them to hold all those goodies inside without breaking.
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Have your pizza peel or cardboard box top ready sprinkled with some flour or cornmeal. Transfer the dough gently to the pizza peel, making sure not to tear it.
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Spread 1 tablespoon of the tomato sauce on one side of the calzone dough making sure to leave about 3/4 inch away from the edges.
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Top it with one of the chicken parmigiana tenders and some of the mozzarella cheese, the basil leaves and another spoon of sauce.
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Fold one side over the other to create a nice snug pocket. Fold and pinch the sides over on themselves to seal the calzone tightly.
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Repeat the process with the remaining of the pizza dough and one by one transfer them to the hot pizza stone. Make sure to sprinkle the pizza stone with some flour just before transferring the calzones to it.
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Bake the calzones for about 15 minutes until golden brown to your liking. Transfer to a wooden board and let it sit for about 5 minutes for the cheese to set, before biting into it.
Serve with extra tomato sauce on the side for dipping.
You’ll Also Love:
Rustic pizza dough
Chicken Pesto Pizza
Pesto Sauce Pizza
Vegetarian Calzone
Im totally in the mood to try your chicken calzone recipe, looks crazy delicious. Love that you can use up the left overs and create a stella feed too. Perfect tukka to get one over the winter blues. It’s really cold here in Aus at the moment, and its not even winter yet.
Weather is crazy, feels like Christmas is around the corner here in SoCal. Insane ! And yes, I would only make this with leftover chicken and stuff, or this project would take way too long. I’m lazy that way lol
I love love LOVE calzone but I’ve never tried to make it at home! WHY not is beyond me!!! This is so cool, thanks Florentina!
Nagi, you have the bread and cheese thing on lockdown! Calzone is mandatory ! xo’s
It might be an east coast thing but I never put sauce IN my calzone, always on the side. Yours looks so good I can’t wait to try it just the way you made it.
Thanks so much Maureen ! Sauce on the inside only works if it is thick, otherwise it becomes soggy. I do both on the inside and a big bowl for dipping haha