Spinach Calzones
with marinara / house salad
Smarts: The calzones and marinara both freeze well, so make extra or stash any leftovers in the freezer for another meal down the road.
Ingredients
- Pizza dough - 1 lb
- Baby spinach - 4 oz
- Cheese, mozzarella, shredded - 4 oz
- Cheese, ricotta - 1/2 cup
- Red pepper flakes - 1/4 tsp
- Eggs - 1
- Water - 2 tsp
- Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
- Shallots - 1 bulb, diced
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Tomatoes, crushed (28 oz / 794 g) - 1 can
- Brown sugar - 1 tsp
- Vinegar, balsamic - 1 1/2 Tbsp
- Maple syrup - 2 tsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 2 tsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
- Cucumbers - 8 oz, chopped
- Tomatoes, Roma - 2, chopped
- Mixed greens - 4 oz
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Pizza dough - Divide dough in half, cover in some flour, and let rest for at least 30 minutes outside of fridge before rolling out. This is tip #1 to good pizza - resting dough gives gluten time to chill out, which makes the dough much more pliable.
- Spinach - Pulse spinach in a food processor, which will break it up significantly. You can also chop it finely. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Make calzone filling - Mix spinach with mozzarella, ricotta and red pepper flakes. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Garlic / Shallots - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Make egg wash - Whisk eggs with water.
- Cucumbers / Tomatoes - Prep as directed.
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Make
- Heat oven to 425F / 218C degrees with sheet pan inside.
- Watch this video to see how to assemble calzones. Roll out pizza dough 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). Place half the filling onto one half of the dough, leaving about a ¾” / 2cm edge. Brush the edge with egg wash, fold dough over the filling and crimp with a fork. Brush top of calzone with egg wash and transfer to heated sheet pan. Repeat for remainder of calzones. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden.
- While calzones are baking, heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then garlic and shallots to heated oil. Saute for ~2 minutes and then add crushed tomatoes with brown sugar. Simmer for ~10 minutes. Season to taste with some salt and pepper.
- Prepare vinaigrette by whisking together balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss vinaigrette with cucumbers, tomatoes and greens.
- Enjoy calzones fresh out of the oven with marinara sauce for dipping and salad on the side.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
21 reviews
My family loves this recipe! My 3 year old gobbled it up which is always a win in our book. We have a hard time getting him to eat veggies, so this is a great way to do it!
0 HelpfulMy boyfriend thought I had bought these! :) I loved this recipe but only gave it 4 stars because I modified the recepe to include more spice for the calzone filling (added garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper flake), and I used store-bought marinara to save time.
0 HelpfulI made the marinara per Instructions Garten's recipe, it was very good. These calzones tasted good, but we couldn't get the inside of the dough to bake all the way through, so the texture was a bit off, and it made us all feel sick after eating. :(
0 HelpfulWould recommend making double and freezing extras for lunches. So yummy! Used store bought marinara to save time.
0 HelpfulMy 2 and 4 year olds had a blast painting on the egg wash. I made my own marina recipe, and followed other reviews comments by adding artichoke and garlic into the ricotta. It was fabulous!
0 Helpful