Sausage and Bell Pepper Calzonewith Italian house salad
Is there anything better than warm, comforting Italian flavors all wrapped up in a delicious golden crust? You'll love these calzones with sausage and bell peppers served with a hearty Italian house salad on the side.
Smarts: Calzones are freezer-friendly - stash away leftovers or make some extra calzones to enjoy later.
Ingredients
- Pizza dough - 1 lb
- Flour - 2 Tbsp
- Onions, medium - 1, sliced
- Bell peppers, red - 1, sliced
- Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
- Eggs - 1
- Water - 2 tsp
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Sausage, Italian raw - 8 oz
- Thyme leaves - 1 tsp, leaves torn
- Cheese, shredded mozzarella - 4 oz
- Cheese, ricotta - 1/2 cup
- Red pepper flakes (opt) - 1/4 tsp
- Tomato or marinara sauce - for serving (opt; if you want sauce for dipping calzones use homemade or store-bought)
- Lettuce, romaine - 2 hearts, chopped (sub green leaf or iceberg)
- Tomatoes, medium - 1, diced (sub half a cup cherry or grape tomatoes for each medium tomato)
- Black olives, sliced (2.25 oz / 63 g) - 1 can, drained and rinsed
- Mayonnaise - 1 Tbsp
- Vinegar, red or white wine - 2 tsp
- Oregano, dried - 1/4 tsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Pizza dough - Divide dough in half (make 2 calzones for 4 servings; adjust if customizing), cover in flour, and let rest for at least 30 minutes outside of fridge before rolling out. This is tip #1 to good pizza / calzones - resting dough gives gluten time to chill out, which makes the dough much more pliable.
- Onions / Bell peppers / Garlic - (If prepping right before cooking, get oven heating before continuing with prep.) Prep as directed. Combine onions and bell peppers. Store garlic separately. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Lettuce / Tomatoes - Prep as directed.
- Olives - Drain and rinse.
- Make egg wash - Whisk eggs with water.
Make
- Heat oven to 425F / 218C degrees with sheet pan inside.
- While oven is heating, heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then onions and pepper. Saute until tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add sausage. Saute, breaking sausage apart, until starting to brown.
- Continue to saute until sausage is cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in garlic and sprinkle thyme leaves over top. Saute for 1 minute more. Drain any excess oil / liquid from pan.
- Transfer onions, bell peppers, and sausage to a mixing bowl and let cool for a few minutes. Combine with mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and red pepper flakes.
- Watch this video to see how to assemble calzones. Roll each portion of pizza dough out into an oval shape (if you have a pizza paddle, do it on that, so you can easily ease the calzone onto a sheet pan). Divide the filling between prepared dough, leaving about a 3/4” / 2 cm edge.
- Brush the edges of calzones with egg wash, fold dough over the filling and crimp with a fork.
- Brush heated sheet pan with some oil and transfer first calzone to sheet pan. Repeat for remainder of calzones.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden.
- While calzones bake, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and oregano. Add olive oil while whisking. Toss with lettuce, tomatoes, and olives.
- Serve calzones with tomato or marinara sauce for dipping if you’d like. Enjoy salad on the side.
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Reviews
This meal has 29 reviews
Absolutely loved the filling. I wish I had made more to freeze for later!
This was true comfort food! I served the calzones with homemade pizza sauce on the side. I made extra filling and used it as a topping on gluten-free pizza crust for my child who needs to eat GF.
LOVED the simple oregano dressing for the salad so much I went back for seconds after the kids went to bed.
I did it as a pizza instead of calzone but ended up having to eat it with knife and fork anyway. Very tasty!
I added a can of diced tomatoes so it would be more pizzaish. It was simple and good- going into our regular rotation!
Tasted good, though as always seemed like a lot of bread for dinner. Made an easy tofu-ricotta and it was delicious. Also used 3 pizza crusts and baked on parchment paper.