Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones

Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones make for a delightful Meatless Monday dinner: Who doesn’t appreciate some simple, filling, and delicious vegetarian food!

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Who’s in the mood for some cheesy-delicious calzone today? These chewy & satisfying Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones fit the bill nicely, and are easy to throw together with the help of some pre-made refrigerated pizza dough.

What inspires a recipe? Sometimes, it’s a variety of things. A few days ago, for instance, I picked up a pack of that refrigerated pizza dough at ALDI — which was fast approaching its use-by date. Thinking about ways to use up my pizza dough got me thinking about moving College Guy back to school last month, when we ate lunch at his favorite local calzone place.

My spinach calzone lunch there basically consisted of some sad chewy spinach and a lump of mozzarella cheese inside pizza crust, with no other discernible seasoning or flavor. Well, I thought: I generally have spinach on hand, I now have pizza dough, and… maybe, just maybe, we can do a little better than the calzone-place-which-shall-remain unnamed! Spoiler alert, yes, yes we can.

Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones

Ingredients

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
8 oz fresh spinach
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 small cloves)
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Sea salt, to taste
8 oz mozzarella, sliced or shredded
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
16 oz refrigerated pizza dough
Flour, for rolling out dough
Marinara sauce, for dipping

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice the mushrooms and dice the onion.

Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute mushrooms and onion over medium heat for about seven minutes or until mushrooms are browned, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, slice the mozzarella and chop garlic (if not using pre-minced).

Stir the spinach and garlic into the skillet with the sauteed mushrooms, then continue to stir and cook over medium heat until spinach is dark green and wilted.

Strain the excess liquid out of the spinach and mushrooms, pressing down with a wooden spoon to help this process. Stir the cooked veggies together in a large bowl with the ricotta, oregano, sea salt, and crushed red pepper.

Sprinkle a large cutting board and rolling pin with flour and roll out your pizza dough. Cut dough into four equal pieces.

Add some cheesy ricotta filling to half of each section of dough, then top that with mozzarella and Parmesan.

Stretch and fold the dough over the filling, and crimp the edges to make four calzones (see Notes, below). Place calzones on the prepared baking sheet, then brush each with olive oil.

Bake at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until calzones are a beautiful golden brown.

Serve your spinach mushroom calzones with marinara sauce, for dipping. (I prefer Simply Nature organic marinara from ALDI, but use your own fave.)

Notes: Yeah, these are overstuffed, but this is by design; I like a high filling-to-crust ratio. Yeah, there’s a lot of filling and it looks like the dough won’t possibly fold over, but the cool thing about pizza dough is that it’s super-stretchy, and it totally works. Yeah, some filling will probably spill out while baking, but that just means you get some nicely browned cheese — food, like life, is often messy.

Cheesy please-y spinach-y calzone

I cut open my own calzone here to show you the lovely spinach-filled inside — but, also to make it easier to pick up and dip. You do want to include that side of marinara sauce for an extra pop of moisture and flavor, but don’t need to use a lot to bring out the best in these satisfyingly cheesy calzones.

Looking for more vegetarian recipe ideas? Take a few minutes to browse through the Meatless Monday category for additional dinner options — or, check out fifteen favorite meatless meals to jump start your vegetarian cooking.

Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones, printable recipe

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Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones

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Overstuffed Spinach Mushroom Calzones make for a delightful Meatless Monday dinner: Simple, filling, and delicious vegetarian food!

Course dinner

Cuisine calzone

Keyword calzone, meatless monday, mushrooms, spinach, vegetarian

Prep Time 32 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

Equipment

1 rimmed baking sheet

1 large skillet

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp olive oil divided
• 8 oz mushrooms sliced
• 1/4 cup diced yellow onion
• 8 oz fresh spinach
• 2 tsp minced garlic about 4 small cloves
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• Sea salt to taste
• 8 oz mozzarella sliced or shredded
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
• 16 oz refrigerated pizza dough
• Flour for rolling out dough
• Marinara sauce for dipping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Slice the mushrooms and dice the onion.
• Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute mushrooms and onion over medium heat for about seven minutes or until mushrooms are browned, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, slice the mozzarella and chop garlic (if not using pre-minced).
• Stir the spinach and garlic into the skillet with the sauteed mushrooms, then continue to stir and cook over medium heat until spinach is dark green and wilted.
• Strain the excess liquid out of the spinach and mushrooms, pressing down with a wooden spoon to help this process. Stir the cooked veggies together in a large bowl with the ricotta, oregano, sea salt, and crushed red pepper.
• Sprinkle a large cutting board and rolling pin with flour and roll out your pizza dough. Cut dough into four equal pieces.
• Add some cheesy ricotta filling to half of each section of dough, then top that with mozzarella and Parmesan.
• Stretch and fold the dough over the filling, and crimp the edges to make four calzones (see Notes, below). Place calzones on the prepared baking sheet, then brush each with olive oil.
• Bake at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until calzones are a beautiful golden brown.
• Serve your spinach mushroom calzones with marinara sauce, for dipping. (I prefer Simply Nature organic marinara from ALDI, but use your own fave.)

Notes

Yeah, these are overstuffed, but this is by design; I like a high filling-to-crust ratio. Yeah, there’s a lot of filling and it looks like the dough won’t possibly fold over, but the cool thing about pizza dough is that it’s super-stretchy, and it totally works. Yeah, some filling will probably spill out while baking, but that just means you get some nicely browned cheese — food, like life, is often messy.

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