Easy Football Calzones

What could be cuter or more delicious than football calzone? These are so great for many reasons.

• They are easy!

• The fillings are endless, whatever you would normally like on a pizza you can stuff the calzone with.

• There are also flexible in size. You can make one great big one, a bunch of mini ones, or something in between.

• You can also make them ahead of time and just pop them in the oven when you’re ready to eat.

• And did I mention they work perfectly with store-bought pizza dough, less work for you!

football calzones, calzones, easy calzones

dinner

american italian

Yield: 4 calzones

Author: Lauren Lane

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Easy Football Calzones

What could be cuter or more delicious than football calzone? These are so great for many reasons. They are easy, the filling options are endless, and you can make them any size you'd like!

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 18 MinTotal time: 38 Min

Ingredients

• ½ pound Italian sausage, or sausage of your choice
• ½ small red pepper, chopped
• ½ medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Kosher Salt
• Black Pepper
• 2 11-ounce tubes of refrigerated thin-crust pizza dough
• All-purpose flour, as needed
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated (1 ¼ cups)
• 4 ounces fresh ricotta (1/2 cup)
• 1 large egg
• Marinara for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage, red pepper, onion, and garlic over medium heat, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper and cook until sausage is no longer pink, drain.
3. Unroll each tube of dough on a piece of parchment paper dusted with flour and roll each piece of dough to approximately 12x16
4. Cut 4 football shapes out of each crust. Tip: First, cut a football shape from parchment, or construction paper, check the size to make sure you can get 4 from each piece of dough.
5. Leave a ½ inch border and layer mozzarella, sausage mixture, ricotta, and more mozzarella over 4 footballs.
6. Drape the remaining 4 football shapes over the dough with toppings
7. Press the edges of the footballs with a fork to seal
8. In a small bowl, beat egg and brush egg mixture on top of the dough
9. Bake 15-19 minutes or until golden brown. Oven times vary, you will know they are done when they are golden brown.
10. Serve with warm marinara

Notes

• If you want to add the laces, I used thin pieces of cheese placed on the hot calzone to make the design.
• The fillings are endless; whatever you would normally like on a pizza works in a calzone!
• There are also flexible in size. You can make one great big one, several mini ones, or something in between. Note that the cooking times will vary. They are done when they are golden brown.
• Depending on the size, you may be able to roll out the scraps of dough to make another calzone.
• You can also make them ahead of time and just pop them in the oven when you’re ur ready to eat.
• They freeze well.

© Lauren Lane

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @Lauren_lane_Culinarian on instagram and hashtag it # LaurenLaneCulinarian