Buffalo Chicken Calzones
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I’d been planning this for a while. You know how it goes… you put a recipe on the to-do/to-make list, forget to get the ingredients and have to wait till the next shopping trip because you don’t want to go back out. Well then you get all of the ingredients but one major one, uhm… the chicken. Yeah, it’s kind of a key ingredient. I swear this took me several weeks to finally get around to making. But when I did get around to making it… wow, it was easy, fun and smelled great!
Now let me clearly state that as with many other items I sometimes make and share, this was not for me. Hubs is the buffalo fan. I’m a bbq fan. So when I mixed up the pizza dough, half went to my dinner … bbq chicken pizza and the other half was reserved to make these calzones the next day. Note that I didn’t use the dough from the linked pizza. I used this delicious quick and thick pizza dough.
The final result – well, if you love anything buffalo chicken then you’ll love this. I mean it’s basically just buffalo chicken pizza but wrapped up. Very easy to make and serves a crowd, if you want it to. Using half of the dough, I made two fairly large calzones and then cut those into 4 thick slices each. So you could easily make two jumbo calzones with the full amount of dough, 4 large or just split the dough like I did. Either reserve half of the dough, tossing it in a freezer safe bag until you’re ready to use or make a pizza with the other half right then. Slice size can vary greatly too. So really… great for dinner or a party! What’s great too is if you make several calzones, you can change up the variety with each!
Please note that the ingredients listed below are for half a batch of dough, but it is a ton easier to make a full batch. Save half for later, double the other ingredients to make more buffalo calzones or make another type of calzone with the other dough. It’s your choice what to do with the extra dough…it won’t go bad! Use right away, store in the fridge for a few days or pop in the freezer until ready to use – then simply thaw.
Buffalo Chicken Calzones
Ingredients
- 1/2 batch pizza dough* see note
- 2 C cubed chicken breast** see note
- 1/2 C buffalo sauce divided
- 1/4 C chunky blue cheese dressing
- 1 C mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1 C mild cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- If prepping dough a day ahead, store in a greased and covered bowl after the full rise time. Toss in the fridge until ready to use. Pull out of the fridge 45-60 minutes before making your calzones.
- Prepare chicken by trimming any fat and cutting into bite size cubes. Toss cubed chicken into a bowl or food safe storage container. Top off with 3 tbsp buffalo sauce. Stir to coat. Cover container with plastic wrap or lid. Store in the fridge to marinate overnight.
- If making dough the day of, plan for the dough to take at least 1hr and 10-15min total. It's a quick dough but does still require rising time. You can let the dough rise for the full hour, split and rise again if desired.
- Preheat oven to 500°F. Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Cook chicken and additional 2 tbsp buffalo sauce. Stir well, cooking chicken for 5-10 minutes or until fully cooked. Transfer to a clean bowl. Add an additional 1/4C buffalo sauce to chicken. Stir to coat. Set aside.
- Prepare a baking sheet with one of the following: silpat, parchment, olive oil or cornmeal. Choose which works best for you. I opted for my silpat. Divide dough into as many portions as you'd like. I made two (out of the half a batch of dough*). Stretch dough into a large circle or rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect. Let gravity help as well as pushing on the dough gently while resting on your prepared baking sheet. Flip and continue process until you are satisfied with the size.
- Coat one half of the dough with chunky blue cheese dressing - almost to the edge but not quiet. Top off with cooked buffalo chicken.
- Sprinkle with a mixture of both cheeses.
- Fold over the dough. Roll and pinch the edges to seal. Sprinkle with a touch more cheese.
- Repeat process with remaining dough and ingredients on a second baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. I found 13 minutes was just perfect. Let cool for a few minutes, then cut with a serrated knife into as many slices as desired.
- Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
**Chicken requires overnight marinating, factor this into your recipe plans. An original recipe from Baked by Rachel
38 Responses to “Buffalo Chicken Calzones”
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I love buffalo chicken so I’d really enjoy this!
Mmm calzones. I’m like you.. Not the buffalo fan. But I might try this with the BBQ chicken instead! And are the pictures taken with your fancy new camera? Cause they look great!
I might try w/bbq sometime too! I’m sure loaded with all kinds of ingredients would be fun. It might be my new favorite thing to try out. And yes… pics are from the new camera! :)
To be honest, I’ve never seen how a calzone was made. Now I know and I’m so excited to try it out myself!
These look SO good!! We love buffalo chicken & have recently tried the dip. Would never have thought to put it in a calzone. YUM!!
Found you through Stumble Upon…new there.
Denise @ Creative Kitchen
This looks gorgeous and so tasty! My husband si gonna love this!
This would be the perfect meal while we are watching all of the March Madness games. Love it!
I have to make a calzone at home. So fun to come up with the fillings isn’t it. This looks great!
I just made these for my family to eat while watching March Madness because my sons love anything with hot sauce…super recipe!! I also made one with just veggies and cheese, and a cheesesteak one with peppers and onions. We had fun thinking up different fillings…Thanks so much for a great recipe!
Awesome! So glad you liked it and had fun with the different varieties! :)
Oh, I love this. I’m a huge buffalo chicken fan…these look amazing!
I love buffalo sauce, what an incredible idea! I can’t wait to try out your recipe. :)
excellent, just excellent. can’t wait to make!
Hi Rachel-Love calzones and LOVE buffalo wings! This is a fun and delicious idea! :)
Mmmmmm I’m drooling! I had buffalo chicken pizza for lunch, but ya know what? I can never get enough buffchickdip!
I have made these plenty of times (before i read this) but what I normally do is boil the chicken down in a mixture of spices and sauces- primarily franks buffalo also- and i’ll take the shredded chicken, cheese and a little blue cheese and do the same thing.
it’s nice, I feel like the shredded chicken adds a different texture that I really enjoy though.
I debated between chunks and shredded before making them – in the end I asked hubs what his preference would be so that’s why this is made w/chunks and not shredded meat :)
Love the calzone. I love Franks Red Hot…..to me that is the best to use!!
oh great idea! I have some leftover chicken in the freezer, and I always have pizza dough ready to go – I’m going to try this!
Wonderful! I’ve been thinking of trying to come up with a buffalo chicken calzone since my husband is a big buffalo fan as well. Looks like I don’t even have to experiment with it! This looks perfect.
omg fatkid heaven. yum
I love thanks for sharing, and those pictures are amazing. VERY drool worthy! :)
LOL @ slices… you act like I’d share this!! Just give me a fork!
my girls love buffalo chicken, I know they would really enjoy those perfect calzones!
I love buffalo sauce and calzones alike! What a wonderful recipe…gotta try it! Thanks for sharing..
Wonderful flavor for a calzone…I love it and I know my hubby would it adore it.
I stumbled on this recipe today. Awesome! I made mine with a Franks/Sirachi hybrid sauce due to no Franks Buffalo.
I misread the recipe and used real blue cheese; however, thank you for the recipe. This is going into the recipe book.
This looks incredible, can’t wait to try this soon! :)
this looks brilliant!!! i want some of this right now please….:) thank you for sharing this.
Simple and delicious. We made them last night and highly recommend these!
I love the crispy cheese on top!! I think if something can’t be made into a calzone, then it isn’t worth eating at all.
This recipe looks delicious! I really like how you can prepare the dough in advance to save time the day of. What a great idea, especially for college kids looking for a delicious, quick meal. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Rachel, this looks so delicious and easy! I love buffalo chicken, and might make this very soon! Thanks for posting this great entry!
I am a HUGE fan of anything with buffalo sauce A+. Got any more :)
I love trying new pizza styles! Thanks you for sharing Rachel :0)
this was really good! didnt have time to make the dough but i used croissants and everyone loved it, even the non-buffalo eaters. Also used ranch instead of blue cheese, only because its a family preference! Thank you for the wonderful idea!
This is soooo good!! I think I’ve made this once every few weeks since you posted it.