Pizza night just got a fun makeover with these easy homemade pizza pockets, or calzones, that you can make from scratch with the kids!
My family, like most families, enjoys pizza night at home on a regular basis. We love getting in the kitchen together and creating our own customized, individual pizzas made to order for each person. And of course, I love any recipe that brings the kids in the kitchen with me to cook together.
Like in this video, where Sofia and I show you how to make these deliciously cheesy pizza pockets with our friends from Borden® Cheese.
Wait, did I mention we love cheese? It’s probably no surprise to you, if you’ve followed my recipes for a while that recipes like our cheesy Taco Skillet and Skillet Lasagnas are not only fan favorites but also our family’s.
My boys, though, love the classic pepperoni and Mozzarella combination, so of course, I always keep those ingredients on hand. Dad and I usually stuff our pizza pockets with leftovers from the week that might include roasted chicken and veggies. The great thing about these pizza pockets is that the “toppings” bake right in and the flavors marry as the cheese melts within.
While I usually make my own pizza dough, the recipe can easily be made with store bought pizza dough. Whatever gets you in the kitchen with the kids and helps you bake some love right in!
What are your favorite pizza toppings that you’d use to stuff these homemade calzones with?
Easy Homemade Pizza Pockets or Calzones
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
For the classic pizza calzone:
- 1 refrigerated classic pizza crust
- 1/2 cup pizza sauce
- 1 cup Borden Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 2oz pepperoni slices
- 4oz can sliced black olives, drained
For the broccoli & cheddar cheese pizza calzone:
- 1 refrigerated classic pizza crust
- 3/4 cup Borden Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- 1/4 cup Borden Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped broccoli, (12oz frozen bag, thawed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F with the oven racks positioned in the middle sections of the oven. Grease two baking sheets or, line them with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, divide each pizza dough in half. Roll out each pizza dough into rounds (4). Transfer 2 dough rounds onto each baking sheet.
- For the classic pizza calzones, spread pizza sauce on half of each dough circle, top with Borden Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, top with pepperoni slices and black olives. Fold the topping-free half of the dough over the other side to cover all toppings. Lightly crimp dough ends with your hands or a fork to seal the edges. Using a knife, poke a few holes over the tops of the dough to let the steam escape.
- For the broccoli and cheddar calzones, drizzle olive oil or spread olive oil with your hands over the entire dough circles and sprinkle Italian seasoning throughout.
- In a medium bowl, mix the chopped broccoli with the Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses.
- Transfer broccoli and cheese mixture onto one half of each pizza round, making sure it’s evenly distributed. Fold the topping-free half of the dough over the other side to cover all toppings. Lightly crimp dough ends with your hands or a fork to seal the edges. Using a knife, poke a few holes over the top of the dough to let the steam escape.
- Bake, 25-30 minutes, swapping the baking sheets half way through, until the crusts are golden brown. Remove from oven, allow calzones to cool down slightly prior to slicing and serving.
Leave a Reply 103 comments
Our favorite dinner to have as a family at home is potato skins!
These are awesome. My kids would love these with pepperoni and lots of cheese!
Broccoli and cheese sounds delicious! I would probably load them up with veggies and some chicken!
Our favorite dinner to enjoy as a family is taco night. We get to make our tacos and add ingredients we each like.
Our favorite sit-down meal is Cheeseburger Rice with Vegetables on the side. Dinner is a time to sit and talk.
Our favorite meals are homemade rice bowls
After a long day between school and work my family loves pizza night which is inspired by your DIY gluten free pizza night. Were able to add all of our favorite veggies and toppings #bordendinnernight
Our favorite sit down meal is enchiladas! These hot pockets look like something to add to our rotation 🙂
We have lots of favorite home-cooked meals. For example, tonight we had a Greek salad with chicken with tons of vegetables and cheese. Everyone can have just the veggies they want. This is a great recipe to use left-over chicken, as I did. When you’re going to roast a chicken, it pays to buy a big one.
Everyone always enjoys pot roast & veggies!
we like to have homemade stew with nadels
Sausage and peppers would be a great combo in these!
Great idea! Imagine with goat cheese, roasted red peppers and caramélisés onions!
Our family loves homemade chicken pot pie! The leftovers are great for lunches too.
Our favorite family dinner night is taco night they love to put their own ingredients on the tacos. We purchased a large lazy Susan and we put all the ingredients on it and it spins so they love that as well. No one has to stretch to reach for anything. ❤️❤️❤️
Daddy chile dip that as us eating right out of pan around the coffe table.
Pizza night is also a favorite at our house! The kids love making their own individual pizzas with their favorite toppings. We will definitely have to try these pizza pockets!
Our favorite dinner is a Japanese dish called Shabu-shabu.
Chicken jambalaya is our favorite sit down meal. We enjoy sharing our day’s experiences and happenings with each other at the dinner table.
We love to gather around the table and enjoy homemade spaghetti and meatballs with
a loaf of crusty French bread.
Our favorite family meal is pot pie. I take whatever meat I happen to have around (chicken and pork are our favorites) with whatever veggies I have on hand and put them in a homemade white sauce. Season however I’m feeling, but I love to add a bit of sour cream and cheese. Then I top it with drop biscuits and bake it all together. Great to use up leftovers and a satisfying meal for us to all enjoy.
We enjoy spaghetti and meatballs. We try to eat dinner at the table every night.
Our favorite family meal is Alfredo noodles and stir fried veggies
Our favorite dinner is taco night – everyone makes what they want – mini tacos on tortilla scoops, burrito, taco salad. Easy and so good!
Our favorite dinner is pizza and Mac n cheese! Haha! Super healthy!
Our family loves grilling out. Grilled Pork chops, roasted potatoes and steamed veggies is our idea of a good weekend dinner to get the family together.
I’d make these with pulled pork and mozzarella. We also love taco night.
Anything we can wrap in a tortilla or pile on chips! We top with tomato, cheese, avocado, sour cream–whatever we can find. It’s messy and fun and super easy.
Thanks for sharing this. Always gives me great ideas and reminds me to be creative with pizza dough cheese combos. We love eating pizza as a family and doing a movie with it.
We love taco night! We put out all the ingredients and pass them around the table so everyone can customize their tacos!
Our absolute favorite family meal is an easy pan-seared Chicken fettuccini alfredo with broccoli! It’s a flexible dish and comes together quick. Thanks for all the family-friendly tips and tricks!!
Our favorite family finger night meal is chicken parmensian topped in Borden mozzarella cheese in a French bread topped with melted butter garlic and parsley then baked and sided with Mariana sauce !
Our favorite dinner as a family is when we have Taco Tuesdays. I bet a taco pocket would be a good way to change it up!
Pepperoni and lots of Cheese is our favorite flavor(Mom and Dad like to add Spinach). This recipe will get the kids in the kitchen and around our dinner table. Our favorite sit down meal is Roast, Potatoes, and Veggies! Thanks for the recipe.
My family loves Friday night pizza and a movie. My oldest two 9 and 6 have been working on knife skills so peppers, pineapple, or chicken are some of their favorite toppings. My son who is 4 has been helping make the dough with me. Friday nights have become family cooking nights!
My family loves it when I make homemade chicken nuggets. It’s a sure winner even for the picky eater
We are all crazy for different kinds of dumplings and pizza 🙂
Because of everyone’s school and work schedule, the only time we all sit down to a meal together is when my parents come over for dinner or we go to their house. I usually cook something in the crockpot with rice, vegetables and homemade bread.
These definitely sound like something my 3 young kids would enjoy. We will probably stuff with the traditional pepperoni and mozzarella and dip them in homemade slow-cooker veggie-tomato sauce (I use Laura’s recipe from her first book!) We would also enjoy some fresh veggies on the side or a nice salad. My kids are good at eating fresh veggies but picky about so much else! Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations Theresa, you are the WINNER of the $100 Visa Gift Card. Please check your email for instructions from Stephanie@MOMables.com
One of our favorite meals is bob evans biscuits and gravy. Easy comfort food for a cold night.
It’s homemade mac and cheese for my kids!
We do a make your own alfredo. We have one gluten free, one who doesn’t eat vegetables, and one who doesn’t tolerate sauce.
I cook the two pastas and Johnsonville frozen sausage slices. I steam the broccoli or spinach and microwave alfredo sauce. Then it is assemble your own and we all enjoy dinner together!
Yum!!! We’re a big fan of rotisserie chicken. My family especially loves chicken taco night with TONS of cheese, sour cream and olives!
We usually eat dinner at home, if ballgame schedules allow! My kids eat most everything, THANKFULLY, but chili-type dishes are one of their faves. Black bean, white bean – chicken, etc…. We also try to do our family devotion at the dinner table.
Our favorite dinner is a casserole recipe a friend shared with me years ago along with veggies and bread sticks. There’s nothing like cheesy comfort food to bring a family together around the table!
Our favorite sit down meal usually includes fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. I sprinkle a bread crumb topping on my Mac and cheese that the kids really love!
Our favorite stand by is tacos 🙂
I’d eat tacos every day if I could!
Our favorite family dinner is quiche. It is so nice to have go to meals that everyone in the family likes. I think the hot pockets would be a hit, we’ll have to try them.
Our favorite meal is grilled lemon and oregano chicken with some homemade mashed potatoes and salad.
Can’t wait to try your pizza pockets although my son does not like cheese so will have to change them up a bit.
As a family, we like to cook breakfast foods together! The girls, 4 and 7, love to crack the eggs, add cheese, and whisk away!!
We love any meal together. Current favorite is anything that my 9 year old, Beckam, is willing to cook for us!
Our family’s favorite meal is pizza and not just because of this post. I fight the urge to make pizza in varying forms multiple times a week for dinner. Probably has something to do with the fact that we too are cheese-aholics. Thanks for all you do!
Our favorite sit down meal is ribs on the grill with sweet potato fries! But we are totally a cheesey family lol! We even add cheese to our scrambled eggs : )
My family’s favorite meal enchiladas and beans!
My favorite family meal is chicken curry. All of my kiddos love it!
My family’s favorite is Taco night. They love to pick their own toppings and they are so messy so they are forced to sit at the table! 🙂
Our favorite family sit-down meal is chicken taco bar with chicken and brown rice and beans and corn and tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, Tapatio, tortillas and chips.. We try to eat as a as a family at least 5 nights a week.
My family loves taco Tuesday’s. I am sure we will sit together and everyone will eat!
Chicken pot pie
Our favorite family meal is anything pasta with a big salad full of veggies! We have family dinner every Sunday!
I am pretty dure that my family’s favorite meal is when my husband makes french toast on some Saturday mornings!
As far as eating together around the table, we do this EVERY night and Every Saturday morning with the only exceptions being someon gone at a sleepover (maybe 3x a year) or sick. In thst case, they still sit with ys unless too weak, even if they are eating only dry toast!
Our favorite sit down dinner is taco night. My kids love when the taco ingredients are set out buffet-style and they can make their own!
My family’s favorite meal is salmon with Greek rice and broccoli. It is a good for you and tastes great meal this is ready in an hour with very little active prep time. We have this almost every Sunday with almost no complaints.
Lately, our family favorite is “grown up” grill cheese sandwiches. For such a simple meal we start getting excited the day before. We have it at least once a month, if not twice!
My family just loves to eat! Favorites are probably taco salad (so the kids can customize) or enchiladas.
One of the few meals everyone in my family will eat is pasta bolognese 🙂 Thank you for the giveaway!
Our favorite meal is homemade pizza with all the toppings.
We love homemade baked chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce along with sweet potato fries and good conversation about our day.
Family favorites we all sit down together with…Homemade taco night & grilled steak/vegetable fajitas
Our favorite family meal is my homemade chicken enchiladas. I use raw tortillas you have to cook in a pan, they taste so much better than others. We always talk about our day and sometimes use a game that I bought to ask funny and different questions to each other. Electronics are definitely not allowed! I love dinner time when we all gather and talk.
★★★★★
Our favorite meals are ones that are customizable with toppings, like tacos or gyros, or pizza/calzones! It is a great time to catch up on the day spent mostly apart and to review plans for tomorrow.
We love having Meatballs in a sweet and sour sauce over a bed of rice and a garden salad on the side.
My family loves pizza night too but our favorite is probably spaghetti and meatballs!
Our favorite family meal is a taco night with homemade salsa and guacamole that everyone pitches in to make and then eats together.
There are only two of us at home, but we like cheesy potatoes and ham and homemade biscuits.
Family favorites are homemade pizza and make your own burrito bowls. I am excited to try these calzones for our pizza night this week!
My family loves getting together for taco night! I prep bowls of olives, cheese, Greek yogurt (a sub for sour cream), lettuce, tomatoes and a pan of browned ground turkey mixed with black beans. Everyone gets a tortilla a free range for making their unique taco. Kid approved!
My favorite sit-down meal with the family is a breakfast dinner. Everyone is then happy and easy to please.
We love Taco Tuesday, only on Friday! 🙂 They love making their own creations!
Taco salad is my family’s favorite meal. Romaine cut with scissors over the bowl, shred carrots, add cashew cream or hummus and roasted herbed walnuts on top. Olives for the ones that like them. 🙂
★★★★
We love taco night! We all like our tacos a little different, plus a little goes a long way on taco night. You can also get creative with leftovers.
★★★★
OMG, our family loves Pizza night too we make ours with lots of cheeses. We will do neese’s sausage, pepperoni, and veggies. We will be having Pizza tonight so I will see if they want to try this.
We are major breakfast for dinner fans! Scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit are always part of it, and we switch it up to either have pancakes, waffles, roasted potatoes, etc. I always have a big scoop of avocado on the side, too!
Our family favorite is lomo saltado, a Peruvian dish with beef, onions, and rice. I am wondering if you have suggestions for making the hot pockets gluten free? My littlest is newly diagnosed with Celiac disease to complicate her already existing tree nut and peanut allergies. We are trying to learn a lot to help her enjoy food and stay safe!
These can absolutely be made gluten free. The dough you see me use in the video is frozen gluten-free pizza dough (see? you can’t tell). I one person in my film crew with celiac’s so nearly everything we do is gluten-free. Most of the time you’ll find it in the freezer isle. I hope this helps!
Thank you so much! You are amazing, and are helping me simplify meals while keeping everyone happy.
We love homemade chicken quesadillas with fresh corn masa with green salsa yummy!!
One of our favorite meals together is Curried Chicken and Broccoli with brown rice and a salad. This is one of the few recipes my mom, an expert at creating delicious meals out of whatever is on hand, actually used. We have improved on it over the years by using rotisserie chicken and replacing the canned cream of chicken soup with homemade cream of… mix.
★★★★★
I just made these this week and they were a huge hit with all four kids! Next I’m gong to try them for breakfast!
Our favorite afoot down meal is enchiladas. My mother in law makes her own sauce, Ann’s has taught me how to make her delicious cabbage to put on top along with authentic Spanish rice! My goal is at least 5 meals at the table together each week. We usually make it happen.
★★★★★
stuffed with eggs and cheese would be so good!!
What would be the recommended method to freeze and re-heat these? Thank you!
Geeta, you can do it both ways. Assemble and freeze unbaked. Cook according to directions (in the oven) +3 minutes. Or, cook them, freeze and reheat in the microwave. If you cook them, you can also heat them in the toaster oven or oven wrapped in foil so they don’t brown.
These look amazing. Quick and easy for the kids!
YUM! MY kids would love making these. Lots of pepperoni!!
What a fun idea to make dinner with your kids!
Chicken and loooots of cheese!
cheese, cheese, cheese. And maybe some pepperoni!
Pepperoni and black olives!
We love Hawaiian pizza! Ham and pineapple. Delicious!
buffalo chicken!
We love pizza night! The kids love pepperoni and cheese while my husband and I love lots of veggies and chicken!
Leave a Reply: