Italian Sausage Calzone
This Italian sausage calzone will ruin every single pizza joint for you. Three cheeses mixed with sausage, red onion, and roasted red peppers with homemade dough make a super flavorful dish that is so easy to do. You’re gonna love it!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
This recipe is made with our homemade pizza dough which is arguably the easiest dough to work with. That fresh dough mixed with these ingredients makes a perfect calzone.
All the ingredients are easy to come by and the recipe makes four of these things. Plenty for the family or freeze them up and cook them as needed.
You can also change up the ingredients to make your favorite calzone with little effort.
We also have a great dipping sauce to accompany this recipe. I highly recommend it.
Ingredients Needed
You will need, at the least, pizza dough and three cheeses: ricotta, romano, and mozzarella cheese. After this, you can mix it up as you like. A dipping sauce is almost a requirement as well and we got you covered on that!
For this delicious calzone, we’re adding Italian sausage, red onion, and roasted red peppers. Every bite is better than the last!
How To Make This Italian Sausage Calzone
There are some steps to this, but all of them are super simple. We need to make our dipping sauce, make our calzone dough, assemble the calzone, and then bake them.
Depending on whether you are using store-bought dough and dipping sauce can change the order of this process. Just a note.
How To Make The Dough
If you make this (which is my suggestion) versus buying store-bought, just plan on about 2 1/2 hours for making the dough and letting it proof.
Follow the recipe up to the point where you’re dividing it into portions. Instead of two (for pizzas), you will be dividing into four pieces.
If you are using store-bought, just follow the instructions included.
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How To Make The Dipping Sauce
While the onions and garlic are cooking, blend together the crushed tomatoes, kosher salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning. I just dumped the ingredients right into the can and hit it with an immersion blender.
When the onions start to become translucent add the blended tomato sauce to the saucepan, stir, and cook until it starts to bubble.
Reduce the heat and cook for approximately 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened enough for you to run a spatula through and it doesn’t run.
Reduce to warm until you’re ready to use.
How To Make This Italian Sausage Calzone
Next, add the sausage and break it up into large clumps. Allow to brown a bit before breaking it up into small pieces. Toss in the kosher salt and black pepper.
Cook until the Italian sausage is completely cooked. Drain, if needed, and set aside and allow to cool a bit for easier handling.
Take a portion of dough and roughly shape it into a circle using your fingers. Then, use a rolling pin, and shape it into a round 8 to 9 inches in diameter.
The best way for me to keep it relatively round in shape is to roll the dough out the same way I would cut a pizza.
Make sure to roll the edges to the same thickness, or even thinner as there will be no crust, like you would find on a pizza.
note
When adding the ingredients to the calzone dough, make sure to leave at least an inch around the border of the dough.
Add 1/4 of the cooked Italian sausage (1/4 cup to 1/3 cup) just slightly off center of the dough. Layer the roasted red peppers and red onion on top (2 tbsp each, roughly).
Next, add 2 tbsp ricotta, mozzarella, and 1 tbsp of romano cheese to the top.
The dough is strong so you can use one hand to fold the dough and use your other hand to keep the stack of ingredients in place with the other if need be.
Press the seam of the dough firmly together then starting on one end, make small folds working the seam all the way around. Don’t lose your mind if it doesn’t look pretty … it will when it comes out of the oven!
Repeat this process until you have assembled the four calzones. At this point, you can freeze these if you like for later use.
Place the calzones on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Optionally, throw down some semolina flour first as it adds a great texture to the calzone.
Brush the calzones with the egg wash then using a knife or kitchen scissors, cut some vents into the calzones and place into the oven. Optionally, sprinkle with Romano cheese.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the calzones from the oven and allow to rest for about 4-5 minutes before serving.
Tips
To speed this up, you can, of course, use store-bought dough and dipping sauce.
Slice the red onion thinly so it can cook enough to be tender. Optionally, you can use diced red onion.
You can prepare the dipping sauce ahead of time and reheat when ready to prepare this.
Variations
There are so many variations to this recipe as it comes to the filling. I really like this one we did. It’s super flavorful and each component goes well with the dish. Here are some other tasty variations.
Classic Pepperoni Calzone – Replace the Italian sausage with sliced pepperoni. Include some black olives, mushrooms, and green bell pepper for a really classic combination.
Four Cheese Calzone – Ricotta, Mozzarella, Provolone, and Parmesan cheese will make a banging cheese calzone. Add fresh herbs such as basil and oregano for a bigger flavor.
Spinach and Feta Calzone – Combine fresh or frozen spinach (thawed and drained) with feta cheese, ricotta, and mozzarella. Add a touch of garlic for depth.
FAQs
Yes, absolutely! While we recommend using our easy homemade pizza dough for the best flavor and texture, store-bought dough works just fine and can save you some time. Just follow the instructions on the package for best results.
Yes, you can freeze the assembled calzones before baking. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or container. When you’re ready to enjoy, bake them from frozen, adding an extra 5-10 minutes to the baking time.
To prevent sogginess, make sure to drain any excess fat from the cooked sausage and use roasted red peppers that have been patted dry. Also, avoid overfilling the calzones and ensure the edges are sealed tightly to keep the moisture in the filling from leaking out during baking.
If your calzones leak, it’s likely because they were either overfilled or not sealed properly. To prevent this, make sure to leave at least an inch of dough around the edges when filling and press the edges firmly to seal. Using a fork to crimp the edges can help, too.
Other Delicious Recipes
Italian Sausage Calzone Recipe
Ingredients
Italian Sausage Calzone
- 1 Pizza dough
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1/2 Onion diced
- 1/2 cup Roasted red peppers patted dry and diced
- 1/2 cup Red onion sliced or diced
- 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
- 4 tbsp Romano cheese
Dipping Sauce
- 28 oz Crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 Onion grated
- 3 Garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
Egg Wash
- 1 Egg
- 1 tbsp Water
Instructions
- Prepare Dough: Make homemade pizza dough or use store-bought. Divide into 4 equal pieces and let it proof.1 Pizza dough
- Make Dipping Sauce: Sauté grated onion and garlic in olive oil. Blend tomatoes, salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning. Add to the pan and simmer for 30 minutes until thickened.28 oz Crushed tomatoes, 1/2 Onion, 1 tbsp Sugar, 1 tsp Kosher salt, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes, 3 Garlic cloves
- Cook Sausage: Heat olive oil in a skillet, cook onions for 2 minutes. Add sausage, break into pieces, and cook until browned. Drain excess fat.1 lb Italian sausage, 1 tbsp Olive oil, 1/2 Onion
- Assemble Calzones: Roll each dough piece into an 8-9 inch circle. Add sausage, roasted red peppers, red onion, ricotta, mozzarella, and Romano cheese, leaving a 1-inch border.1/2 cup Roasted red peppers, 1/2 cup Red onion, 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese, 4 tbsp Romano cheese
- Fold and Seal: Fold dough over filling to form a half-circle. Press edges to seal and crimp with a fork.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 450°F. Place calzones on a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash, cut vents, and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.1 Egg, 1 tbsp Water
- Serve: Let cool for 4-5 minutes, then serve with dipping sauce.