Sausage and Bell Pepper Calzone
with 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.
Unlock this meal along with hundreds of smart meal plans and never stress about "What's for dinner?" again
Try for freeLearn More
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.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
31 reviews
The calzones were hard to make. The filling was easy, but it was hard for me to wrap them up properly. Although they tasted good at the end, they didn't look pretty! My husband loved the filling and ended up disassembling the calzone and eating the filling over rice. In the future I would add 1-2 more bell peppers and just eat it over rice instead of making calzones.
0 HelpfulThis 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.
0 HelpfulLOVED the simple oregano dressing for the salad so much I went back for seconds after the kids went to bed.
0 HelpfulI did it as a pizza instead of calzone but ended up having to eat it with knife and fork anyway. Very tasty!
0 Helpful