Mini Whole Wheat BBQ Chicken Calzones.
It was Mother Lovett’s and I’ve totally destroyed it. She kept it spotless for 30 some years, then I inherited it in 2009 and it’s gone straight down the tubes. Like, immediately down. Sure, you may say it’s “seasoned”… but I can assure you it’s simply a product of my laziness to do any type of dishes within six hours of cooking. And that’s on a good day.
But that tiny sheet is often my inspiration for scaling down normal-sized meals: whether it’s something that only I will be eating or something that I want to shrink in size so we can feel better about devouring multiple servings… it gets used every single day of my life. Perfect for two people and perfect for things like…
..cute little calzones stuffed with:
chicken dripping in barbecue sauce
super caramelized onions
and piles of cheddar and provolone.
That totally makes up for Monday. Tell me. Right? Totally.
These came in the form of dinner one night, after I had the freezer door slammed in my face then was given a very specific lesson on how to fill the ice cube trays. Seriously. Because apparently, the 14% of the time I was actually doing it, I was doing it… “wrong.”
Needless to say it was an interesting weekend.
Mini Whole Wheat BBQ Chicken Calzones
makes 6-8 calzones
pizza dough [slightly adapted from my garlic bread pizza crust]
1 1/8 cups warm water (100-105 degrees)
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups 100% whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in the whole wheat flour and salt, mixing until the dough begins to come together. Since it will probably still be sticky, add in another 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, kneading the dough with your hands and then turning it onto a work surface to knead for a few minutes. If dough is still sticky, add the remaining flour until it is soft, smooth and stretchy. Rub the same bowl with olive oil then place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
Once risen, punch down the dough and knead a few times, adding a few spoonfuls of flour if sticky. Separate the dough into 6 or 8 pieces (it’s your call), then roll into a ball and place covered on a baking sheet to rise for another 10 minutes.
calzones
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce + more for dipping
4 ounces freshly grated cheddar cheese
4 ounces freshly grated provolone cheese
fresh cilantro, if desired
While dough is rising, heat a skillet over medium-low heat and add olive oil. Toss in onions with a sprinkle of salt, then cover and let caramelize for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine chicken with garlic powder and smoked paprika.
Roll each ball of dough into a small oval, then fill with a few spoonfuls of bbq sauce, shredded chicken, a handful of caramelized onions and a sprinkle of both cheeses. Toss in cilantro if desired. Drizzle a bit of additional sauce on top, then fold the top over to meet the bottom, tightly sealing the edges. Poke a few holes in the top with a knife or fork. Place calzones on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.
Still refusing to fill the trays though.
113 Comments on “Mini Whole Wheat BBQ Chicken Calzones.”
mmm I love calzones!
There would be nothing mini about the amount of these my husband would eat. This is a heck of a mouthwatering recipe, Jessica! Thanks for sharing!
This is my favorite calzone combination, these look awesome!
I’m getting hungry over here. Can you send me a dozen of that please? ;)
“Happy Cooking”
I’m soooo making this sooner than later.
PS – I refuse to fill the ice tray, too.
These.Look.Delish!
I can’t believe you got that shot of the sauce ALMOST TOUCHING THE MIXTURE. Holy crap.
And these are my new life.
You need to fix the title of your recipe from buffalo to bbq. I am totally making this tonight. How did you know I had leftover chicken in my fridge from last night? You must be psychic.
I’m a dummy – thank you!
I was also schooled in filling the ice tray. I’m glad I’m not the only one!
I love barbeque and cheddar together. Totally making a veg version of these!
Aaaa yumyum
These look delicious! Can’t wait to try them!
I feel less self conscious about my pans now
oh boy this looks delicious. i’m still slaving off at work, i’m so hungry, it’s 6:21 pm. :-(
These look so incredibly good. If they are anything as amazing as your BBQ chicken enchiladas, I will be making these all the time!!
This looks like a perfect meal for a cloudy rainy day. I destroy all my baking sheets as well! Thank goodness for parchment paper!
These are making me hungry!!
My baking sheets all look like this. I’d love to ruin my baking sheet more by making a batch of these.
Oh good I am so glad to see that I am not the only one with pans like that! All of my pans become *seasoned* just after 2 uses.
Ohhhh those look good. Real good. BBQ sauce and cheese should be in ever calzone as far as I’m concerned. This is a great recipe!
I have most of a roasted chicken left, that was just
waiting for this petfect recipe to come along! Yum! Ice…
yeah I just buy bagged now. :)
I’d love to use these as a party appetizer…how far ahead do you think I could make them?
If I do it ahead, should I keep them unbaked and covered in the fridge and bake them right before the party? Or should I bake them and then just reheat in the oven? I’d hate for them to get soggy, so I’m not sure which way would be better. Thoughts?
I don’t feel that I can really give a good suggestion because I rarely make things ahead of time and I definitely didn’t make these ahead of time. If I were to try, I’d probably make them complete before baking, stick in the fridge and then bake when needed? But I’m truly not sure how they would come out. If you try it, let me know!
Oh, puleeeze. The ice cube tray rant from Hubby ranks right up there with the Great Lettuce Argument of 1992; and the time my three kids (who were all in their twenties and on their own, living their own lives, but still coming to my table for holidays and random dinners) got mad at me because none of them could enter or walk around in a retail establishment without keeping their hands in their pockets the whole time. Forget that I had to do all the shopping myself with the three light-fingered little weasels. And it’s not like I beat them or anything. I would buy three ice cream treats; and if they were good, they each got one when we got home. And if one was bad, the good ones got their treat and split the bad one’s treat between them. If they were all bad, I ate all three treats. So, sue us for being human, already! Our flaws are what make us interesting, I always say. You’ve got a good thing going, however, with quick fix treats for starving husbands. You can fix a lot with yummy food magic. And I am so making these calzones. They look and sound really amazing!
You made my night with this story! too funny
BBQ chicken is one of my favorite types of pizza and I love calzones, so this one is a no-brainer love for me! I like to kick it up with some jalepenos too! Great recipe!
I am so hungry now. Looks fantastic
Comfort food for sure. The consistency of your recipe looks just perfect. I need this recipe on my menu next month.
I just want to report back that I did indeed make this for dinner, it was amazing! I made a little boo-boo so mine ended up a little more like mini pizzas than actual calzones, but the flavor was there-for sure!
I’m just a goof sometimes–I accidentally left the electric burner on from the onions, and proceeded to lay out my dough circles on the tray (that was sitting on top of the stove…) [see where this is going?] and joyfully assembled each little “calzone” with chicken, sauce, onions, and cheese, when I went to fold up the dough, it was hard–what the–? Oh. The burner quickly and effectively cooked the dough of my “calzones”…so I just went with it. I spread the ingredients out a little more, stuck them in the oven, and just called them mini pizzas. The flavor was there–and they were amazing! Thanks for the great recipe!! :)
These sound phenomenal! I used to get bbq calzones at one of my favorite restaurants in college that has since closed and have totally forgotten about them. Thanks for the reminder and I can’t wait to make these soon!
i found bone suckin sauce today because of your ravings about it. it’s really good!! any suggestions on what else to put it on? i’ll definitely be making this !!! :)
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Hi! What would you suggest as a dipping sauce?? BBQ sauce? Is this a dumb question? Haha!
I just made these tonight and they’re SO good! Delicious flavors – my hubby and I both loved them and the dough recipe was better than others I’ve tried :)
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Cute!
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I’m new to a lot of this made from scratch stuff, but it certainly seems good. Is it possible to make the dough for the calzone dough ahead of time and freeze it until the day you want to use it?
What do I use the paprika and onion powder for? Thanks!
Paprika is used on the chicken and the directions say garlic powder but that’s not in the ingredients, so I’m thinking it’s supposed to be garlic powder and that goes in with the chicken as well.
I just had to say that these were INCREDIBLE! I”ve been sending all my friends and family the recipe. Easy and delish! Love your recipes, Jessica!
Amazing! My mind has been abuzz with different flavor combinations all evening post-eating-entirely-too-many-of-them. LOVE! Possibly my favorite recipe of yours so far, and that’s saying something :)
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I made these tonight and they were a huge hit! I couldn’t get my hands on any cilantro but had pickled veggies on hand and threw some of those in for a little added twist. Thank you for bringing variety to our table:)
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I’m making these right now (as in they are currently in my oven). I’m always on the hunt for portable food to pack my husband for dinner. He’s an ER doctor and most nights he doesn’t even get to sit down for meals. So I’m starting a crusade to come up with more home made things to pack him that don’t involve hot pockets and drinkable soup. These look perfect. One question though, in the ingredients it says onion powder and in the instructions it says garlic powder, so I’m wondering which one it was supposed to be (for future reference), this time I split the difference and did 1/8 tsp of each. Thanks for the recipe :)
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Absolutly awesome Jessica! Ive never made calzones before and they turned out exactly as pictured! These were a win for a number of reasons:
1) My partner who does not eat anything wholewheat (or anything wholefood relateted for that matter! lol) ate everything 2) It made 6 calzones and that filled up me, my daughter and my hungry partner 3) Its soooo easy!
This has given me my making dough mojo back, thankyou for a great, easy, tasty recipe!