Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (2024)

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Homemade calzones are easy to make at home and you will love these veggie calzones! They are stuffed with kale, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese. Serve marinara sauce on the side for dipping! This calzone recipe is a dinner winner!

Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (1)

Family-FriendlyMeatless Calzone

I always ask Josh what he wants for dinner. I really don’t know why I ask for his input because we rarely make what he wants. Don’t feel bad for Josh because he eats well:) I just don’t want to make for dinner every night. Josh alwayssuggests pizza. He never gets tired of pizza.

Last week when Josh asked for pizza, I compromised and suggested calzones. Josh loved the idea. He asked what kind of calzones and I told him Kale, Mushroom, and Ricotta Calzones. I could see the look of disappointment in his face when I didn’t mention sausage or pepperoni. I told Josh to cheer up because these meatless calzones were going to be incredibly tasty and I was right! Even Josh didn’t miss the meat!

Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (2)

How To Make Calzones

You can make homemade pizza dough or you can use store bought dough for this recipe. If we are feeling lazy, we buy Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods pizza dough. Their refrigerated pizza doughs are excellent!

Once you have your dough, you can get started on the filling. I am on a kale kick and can’t get enough. I cooked the kale with onion, garlic, and tossed in some mushrooms.

Next, I stirred together ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. A trio of cheese, please! I added in a little crushed red pepper, dried basil, salt, and pepper. I added in the kale and mushroom mixture and our filling was ready to go!

Josh rolled out the pizza dough into circles and we filled our calzones with the kale, mushroom, and ricotta filling. We folded the dough over the filling, pinched the edges, and brushed them generously with olive oil. Into the oven they went and 20 minutes later, our calzones were golden brown and ready to be devoured.

We served our calzones with our Easy Marinara Sauce. Our Slow Cooker MarinaraSauce would also be good with the calzones! We had fun dipping and dunking our calzones!

Kale, Mushroom, and Ricotta Calzones are perfect for Meatless Monday…or any night. Josh already asked if we could have these calzones for dinner again and I think I will have to say yes!

If you like this calzone recipe, give these pizza recipes a try!

  • Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pizza
  • Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
  • Garlic Knots
  • Easy French Bread Pizza

Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (3)

Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (4)

Vegetarian

Kale, Mushroom, and Ricotta Calzones

Calzones filled with kale, mushrooms, ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese. Serve our Easy Marinara Sauce on the side. These calzones are fun to dip and delicious to eat!

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh pizza dough homemade or store-bought
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil plus additional for brushing
  • 1/2 yellow onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 cups chopped kale ribs and stems removed
  • 1 cup mushrooms
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • All-purpose flour for dusting the counter
  • Easy Marinara Sauce for serving

Instructions

  • 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Make sure your pizza dough is at room temperature. Set aside.

  • 2. To make the calzone filling, in a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the kale and mushrooms, cover and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

  • 3. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses. Stir in the kale and mushroom mixture. Add the dried basil, crushed red pepper, and season with salt and pepper.

  • 4. Divide the pizza dough into 4 equal portions, and shape each portion into a ball. Lightly flour your work space. Start with 1 ball and roll it out into a circle, about 7 inches in diameter. Brush the edges of the round lightly with water. Place about a ½ cup of the kale cheese mixture on half of the round, leaving a 1-inch border. Gently fold the dough over so the edges meet and pinch the dough together with your fingers. Pierce the top of the calzone with the fork and carefully transfer to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Brush each calzone with olive oil.

  • 5. Place the calzones in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the calzones cool for about 5 minutes. Serve warm.

  • Note-I like to use Trader Joe's Kale that is already chopped. Great time saver! And if you don't want to make pizza dough from scratch, we love Trader Joe's and Whole Foods refrigerated pizza dough.

Have you tried this recipe?

Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram. Tag @twopeasandpod and hashtag it with #twopeasandtheirpod

Healthy Calzone Recipe {Veggie} (2024)

FAQs

What is veg calzone made of? ›

These vegetarian calzones are filled with fresh veggies like kale, onions, mushrooms and bell peppers plus ooey gooey cheese. Don't forget the tasty pizza sauce for dipping!

Are calzones healthy? ›

Calzones aren't exactly healthy food, especially if they are stuffed with meat and large amounts of cheese. A calzone typically uses the same amount of pizza dough as a pizza crust and is meant to serve four people. Eating a whole calzone yourself can mean eating more than your recommended calories for the day.

How many calories are in a veggie calzone? ›

Ledo Pizza Veggie Calzone (1 serving) contains 97g total carbs, 91g net carbs, 63g fat, 38g protein, and 1100 calories.

Is there a difference between pizza dough and calzone dough? ›

Both are prepared with flour, water, salt, and yeast; that's the solution. In contrast, the eggs and olive oil used in most calzone dough give it a deeper flavor and a softer texture. Eggs and oil are not common ingredients in pizza dough, contributing to its crispiness and durability.

Is calzone more unhealthy than pizza? ›

Did you know that a standard calzone has over 1000 calories? On the other hand, a slice of pizza is around 300 calories. So just because they're technically the same in terms of ingredients and taste, they're not! A calzone can equal 3 slices of pizza so choose wisely!

Should a calzone have sauce? ›

Calzones never have tomato sauce inside the dough. They're always dipped. While stromboli is also dip-able, it's totally cool to put some sauce inside stromboli, pre-roll. Whether you're team stromboli or team calzone, these distinctions shouldn't inspire hate.

Why calzones are better than pizza? ›

While you can stock up on the healthy ingredients in a calzone, there's little you can do about the number of carbs you'll intake because of the amount of dough that's used. That said, Calzones tend to hold more flavor in and insulate the temperature of the other ingredients much better than a pizza can.

Do calzones always have ricotta? ›

Calzones usually contain the same ingredients as pizza: tomato sauce, mozzarella, and (almost always) ricotta. Stromboli is typically made without ricotta. Most chefs prefer to use just low-moisture mozzarella to keep moisture at bay.

Are calzones 1000 calories? ›

The number of calories in a calzone can vary significantly based on its size, ingredients, and preparation methods. On average, a typical restaurant-style calzone can contain anywhere from 500 to 1,000 calories or more, depending ...

How many carbs in a spinach calzone? ›

Luigi's Spinach & Cheese Calzone (1 serving) contains 14g total carbs, 13g net carbs, 4g fat, 7g protein, and 120 calories.

Is veggie pizza low calorie? ›

Veggie Pizza: Meat-loaded pizzas tend to have higher calorie counts due to the fat content in meats like pepperoni, sausage, or bacon. Veggie pizzas, on the other hand, are generally lower in calories owing to the abundance of nutrient-rich vegetables.

Is a stromboli the same as a calzone? ›

A stromboli is larger and longer than a calzone and is baked as one piece and then cut into slices for serving a crowd. Calzones also start with pizza dough, but instead of forming a large rectangle, a small or medium ball is rolled or stretched out into a round.

How do you seal calzones? ›

Fold and crimp the edges of the dough.

Fold the dough over the filling, making sure not to pull the dough too tightly. Press the edges tightly to seal and roll the bottom edge up and over the top, crimping the dough to seal.

Does a calzone take longer to cook than a pizza? ›

Calzone does take slightly longer than standard pizza to cook because of the folded dough, so allow a couple of extra minutes.

What's the difference between a pizza puff and a calzone? ›

Pizza puffs are similar to panzerotti. They are also somewhat like calzones, but calzones are baked instead of fried, and do not always include tomato sauce. Some Italian restaurants and casual dining establishments make their own pizza puffs from scratch.

Do calzones have cheese inside? ›

What is a calzone? Originally from Naples, Italy, calzones are a handheld take on pizza. Pizza dough is formed into a flat circle and topped with fillings like meat, vegetables, and cheese. Ricotta cheese is the most common and is sometimes paired with mozzarella or other cheeses.

What's the difference between a calzone and a pizza pocket? ›

Did you know that calzones and pizza pockets are essentially the same thing, they just have different shapes? This was news to me. Calzones are a half moon shape and pizza pockets are rectangular in shape. Whichever you prefer, you'll love these.

Is a calzone the same as a pizza pocket? ›

A Calzone can be simply described as an Italian style folded stuffed bread that is made with a leavened pizza dough. For this reason, it is also often referred to as a 'turnover' or more popularly as Pizza Pockets or Calzone Pocket.

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