EASY VEGAN CALZONES
This homemade vegan calzones recipe is filled with portobello mushrooms, broccoli, kale, tomatoes and a garlic-miso cream, all baked inside ready-made pizza dough for an easy lunch or dinner!
I’ve been making these portobello and kale calzones for years now and it’s always a hit with the family. Loaded with veggies and delicious garlicky cream, it’s hard to resist!
The calzone is an Italian creation that originated in Naples, Italy. They are traditionally filled with meat, cheese and vegetables and are essentially a folded pizza, kind of like a big pizza pocket.
I’ve tried to keep this recipe easy using pre-made pizza dough, but you will still need to prep it into shape. The veggies are sauteed, and the garlic-miso cream is homemade and easy to make.
Packed with veggies and flavor, I know you’ll love this vegan calzone as much as we do!
Ingredients You’ll Need
In this recipe, pizza dough is stuffed with tender mushrooms, kale, broccoli, and tomatoes with a garlic-miso cream and baked until golden, creating a delicious handheld stuffed pizza called a calzone.
Here is everything you will need:
- Pizza dough – Any type will do so use your favorite: whole-wheat, plain, or herb. For ease, I used Trader Joe’s store-bought, but you can make your own following my Artisan Bread recipe (see the notes).
- Portobello mushrooms – We love the size of these nutritious fungi. Feel free to use shiitake or baby bellas.
- Kale – Both curly and flat varieties will do. You can also substitute with spinach or Swiss chard.
- Broccoli – I added this as an afterthought since it was in the fridge. Feel free to omit adding more mushrooms.
- Cherry tomatoes – I’ve used cherry tomatoes, but you can slice large tomatoes and layer them if preferred.
- Onion – Use your favorite variety: yellow, white, or red.
- Thyme – An all-around great herb for the veggies.
- Garlic – I love roasting the garlic before using it, but have made that optional for ease. See notes in the recipe card for instructions on roasting the garlic. It’s delicious!
- Raw cashews – These are the base of the garlic sauce. Only raw is recommended as toasted cashews will change the flavor.
- Miso – This nutritious ingredient adds a wonderful umami flavor to the sauce. I recommend using white mellow miso.
- Lemon – A needed acid for the sauce, the juice of fresh lemons is perfect.
- Salt + pepper – We always recommend to salt to taste!
How To Make Vegan Calzones
Making calzones is super easy! This is just a quick look at the steps involved, so be sure to see the full recipe instructions in the recipe card at the end.
Prep dough: Remove pizza dough, slice into 4 pieces and let pizza dough come to room temp away from oven heat for 30 minutes. This helps the gluten relax and makes it easier to shape.
Garlic-miso cream: Soak and drain the cashews. Blend the cashews with water, miso, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper until creamy. Taste for seasoning, set aside.
Saute veggies: In a large skillet, saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli and kale with thyme, salt and pepper. Turn off heat and cover ajar to help steam and soften the veggies a little more while working on the next step.
Preheat: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place the pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan in the oven to heat.
Assemble calzones: Lightly flour a flat surface, roll each dough portion into an eight inch oval, rectangle or circle. Layer with sauteed veggies, cream sauce and tomatoes. Fold the other half over and seal the edges by pressing with a fork. Make a few small slits in the top so steam is able to release. Top with a light coat of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and thyme.
Bake: Place calzones onto preheated pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until crust is puffy and golden brown.
Tips for Homemade Calzones
- Make your calzone as big or as small as you like. Typically I make 4 calzones per pound of pizza dough, which makes for a hearty main course. You can make 2 extra large calzones or 6 – 8 mini calzones if you prefer.
- Brush the top of your vegan pizza pocket with oil so it gets a nice golden color.
- You can add other veggies to your calzones, just make sure to cook them first so most of the moisture has been released.
- Cut a few vents in the top of each pizza pocket so that the steam can escape.
- And remember, it doesn’t have to be a perfect shape. Shape them however you like – oval, round, or rectangular.
How To Store + Reheat
- Refrigerator: Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, in a covered container.
- Freezer: To freeze vegan calzones, let them cool completely and wrap each individual calzone tightly in plastic wrap or store in a ziplock bag, squeezing all the air out before sealing.
- To reheat: Let the calzone thaw for a few hours in the fridge or on the counter, or add an extra 5 minutes to the cooking time to warm it from frozen.
Serving Suggestions
Calzones are pretty filling on their own, but also do well with a little something on the side. Here are a few of my favorite options:
- Dipping sauce: Dip in leftover garlic-miso cream or your favorite Marinara sauce or pasta sauce.
- Side salad: A simple Green Salad + Lemon Tahini Dressing or healthy Flax + Evo Balsamic Vinaigrette. Or something like this Vegan Caesar Salad, Radish + Cucumber Salad or Mediterranean Kale Salad.
- Veggies & dip: Try our Healthy Vegan Ranch Dressing or Tahini-Miso Dip with a variety of vegetables.
- Veggies: Add a side of these Savory Sauteed Kale.
- Soup: Serve with this delicious Vegan Minestrone Soup or simple Butternut Squash Soup.
- Pasta salad: Pair with this quick and easy Vegan Pasta Salad.
More Italian Vegan Recipes!
- Vegan Stuffed Peppers
- Eggplant Puttanesca
- The Ultimate Vegetable Vegan Lasagna
- Pizza Pie + Balsamic Tomato Sauce + Roasted Veggies
- See all Italian vegan recipes on TSV!
If you make this vegan calzones recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.
PrintEASY VEGAN CALZONES
This best vegan calzone recipe features stuffed pizza dough with portobello mushrooms, kale, broccoli, tomatoes and garlic-miso cream for an easy and delicious lunch or dinner!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes 4 calzones 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: Vegan, Italian
Ingredients
- 1 1b. pizza dough (I used Trader Joe’s), divided into 4 sections
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 onion, sliced or diced
- 2 – 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 3 large portobello mushrooms (about 6oz.), sliced
- 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets, cut somewhat small
- 4 – 6 large leaves of kale (curly or flat), stems removed and roughly chopped or left somewhat whole
- large handful cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- himalayan salt and pepper, to taste
- cornmeal for dusting the pizza wheel
Garlic Cream Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked (see notes)
- 1/2 cup water, plus a little more as needed
- 2 – 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons white miso
- juice of 1 lemon
- himalayan salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
Prep dough: Remove pizza dough, slice into 4 equal pieces, sprinkle with a little flour, lay a towel overtop and let pizza dough come to room temp away from oven heat for 30 minutes.
Garlic-miso cream: Drain cashews and place all ingredients for the cream into a small blender cup and process until creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. If cream is too thick and extra water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency, being careful not to thin it out too much making it runny, if in doubt leave it on the thick side. Taste for seasoning, set aside.
Saute veggies: In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and cook until onions become soft. Add in mushrooms, broccoli, kale, thyme and salt & pepper to taste, cook for another 5 minutes or so. Turn off heat and cover ajar to help steam and soften the veggies a little more while working on the next step.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan in the oven to heat up.
Make calzone: On a lightly floured surface or parchment paper, roll each portion out into an eight inch oval, rectangle, circle – whatever works easiest for you. Lay on some of the veggie mixture, add a few heaping tablespoons of the garlic miso cream and top with tomatoes. Fold the other half over and seal the edges by pressing with a fork. Make a few small slits in the top so steam is able to release. Top with a light coat of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, pepper and thyme.
Bake: Dust the heated pizza stone with cornmeal, place calzone on the pizza stone (or if using parchment paper, transfer to pan or stone) and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until crust is puffy and golden brown. Let cool a few minutes before serving.
Serve with garlic miso sauce on the side.
Store: Calzones can be kept in a covered container in the refrigerator for up 4 days. Reheat in a toaster oven or microwave.
Notes
Substitute the kale and use spinach instead, about 5 – 6 ounces.
Soak cashews in 1 of 2 ways (this softens them and makes them easier to digest):
- Soak cashews covered with 2 – 3 inches of water for 2 – 3 hours, overnight is great too but not necessary for cashews.
- For a faster soak, add them to hot water and let soak for 5 – 10 minutes (this is my preferred method).
Recipe edited: I’ve edited the recipe and removed the part of roasting and using 1 whole bulb of garlic before pureeing for ease and quickness. Here is the old directions in case you’d like to use this garlic instead.
- Roasted garlic: Using 1 whole bulb of garlic, remove most of the outer layer of skin on the garlic leaving enough to hold them in place, lay sideways and cut the tops off. Place garlic cut side up on a piece of tinfoil, drizzle with olive oil and top with sea salt & cracked pepper. Fold ends of foil up and squeeze together and crimp the edge. Place on a cookie sheet and cook in a preheated oven set to 400 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes. Add along with the cashews when making the cream.
Recommended Equipment: For making the garlic-miso cream, I use and recommend a small personal blender like this NutriBullet because it works perfectly for small jobs like this. I used this cast iron pizza pan (affiliate links) to cook my calzones.
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Thank you for this great recipe! We made it with a homemade whole wheat crust, but wish we had also used roasted garlic (next time!). Love the cashew cream sauce, as well. We will be making this again. Many thanks!
Hey Im new to your site but I love your recipes. I have tried a few already. Delicious…..Can you create a raw (preferred) or cooked calzone dough from scratch using only alternative flours (spelt, buckwheat, teff, rye, almond, garbanzo bean etc) for us on here? Hope to hear you soon and see your recipe on here
Glad you’re enjoying the recipes, Kevin! I do have a homemade Artisan Bread recipe which can be used with spelt flour to make pizza dough. I have a section, How To Make Pizza Dough, in the post explaining how to make pizza dough. I love spelt flour and know it will work well in this recipe! I’m sure even buckwheat flour will work since it can be used 1-1 to replace regular flour. I hope that helps!
I love these! I make them often. But….15 minutes prep time? That should be apdated.
These calzones are absolutely delicious, thank you for gifting us with this awesome recipe! I’ve made this at least 10 times- such a filling, whole foods special meal. I’ve experimented with the dough quite a bit, using regular and whole wheat flour, and then recently found a white flour that’s specifically for pizza dough- it seems to stay more soft and chewy when cooked instead of getting hard and crunchy.
Also- this cheese sauce is spectacular… 10/10 recipe, thanks again!
Hi, I have never made calzones so I am wondering if they can be frozen and if so should they be cooked first or frozen in the raw dough?
Hi Dee, sorry to for the delayed response! I would say to stick with baking them before freezing, and when you freeze them, use ziplock bags so you can squeeze out all the air before zipping closed. Reheat in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes or so. Enjoy!
This was just amazing! I never write a comment but I had to! Love it, thanks
I have been making your recipes for two weeks now (you hooked me with your mac and cheese. Absolutely the best vegan cheese sauce ever!) My husband is a devoted carnivore, who thankfully loves veggies. He has been raving about all of your recipes (I have made about 4 in the last 2 weeks), and got really excited when I told him we were having these calzones tonight. He makes an amazing spicy tomoato sauce from scratch, and we are going to use that for dipping! Thanks for making it so easy for a vegan and a non-vegan to happily eat the same food! We are secretly making my husband healthier :)
Yah, I'm so happy to here that these recipes are working for you and yours! Your husbands spicy tomato sauce sounds delicious too. I know this went over well with you both. Thank you so much for stopping to share your experience. Cheers to secretly making your husband healthier. :)
Looks lovely! A must make!
This is BEAUTIFUL! Looks amazing
YUM! This looks good enough to eat without the calzone dough. Is there anything more sexy than perfectly roasted garlic? If avoiding gluten or starchy stuff, I think a plate full of this luscious veggie filling with the cashew cream would be a great meal by itself! This is definitely going on my "to-do" list. Can't wait.
I agree, this is good enough without the calzone dough! Wrapping these veggies in a beautiful fresh romaine lettuce leaf or butter lettuce leaf would be a amazing….I will have to try that too! And the roasted garlic just makes it all so much better. cheers and enjoy :)