Recipe for vegan Mini Calzones filled with spinach, mushrooms, tomato sauce & homemade vegan cheese. They are perfect little finger foods for parties!
Calzone Party!! Oh man... have I ever mentioned how much I love those little pockets filled with steaming hot deliciousness? My boyfriend loves those as well and he demands them on a regular basis and that's absolutely okay with me because they are one of the most awesome things one can make in the kitchen.
They are also great for parties because people can eat them without a knife and fork and you can dip them in tomato sauce. If you want more party ideas, make sure you check out my collection of 12 vegan drinks & eats for your next party.
How to make vegan Mini Calzones from scratch
This is how the dough should look like. I've let my bread machine knead the dough, but you can use a kitchen machine as well or knead it by hand, afterward let the dough rise until it doubles in size.
Cut the dough in 8 equal pieces. Of course, you can make 2 bigger calzones instead or smaller ones.
Make cute little balls so they are easier to roll out into an evenly round shape.
Roll the pieces in mini pizza bases! Use a floured surface.
Top the pizza bases on one half with tomato sauce, the filling and the nooch cheese sauce and fold it. Press the edges down. Fold them again and press them down again to make a pretty crust!
Brush them with oil. I've used a herb oil, but you can use olive oil, garlic oil or anything you prefer and have at home.
I've doubled the measurements for the tomato sauce to have something to dip the vegan Mini Calzones in afterwards. Totally worth it!
Mini Calzone dipped in a smoky tomato sauce - Yumm! But be careful, the calzones are super hot!
Mini Calzones
Ingredients
Ingredients for the dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 cup warm water
Ingredients for the filling
- 2 cups mushrooms
- 2-3 cups fresh spinach
- Homemade Nooch Cheese (or sub with your favorite vegan cheese shreds)
- 1 ½ cups tomato purée* (if you don't want tomato sauce to dip the Calzones in afterwards, half the amount of tomato purée!)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ground pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
- a few twigs fresh oregano
- olive oil for brushing the top
Instructions
- For the dough put all ingredients in a kitchen machine or mix by hand and let it rise until it doubles in size, but keep it covered under a clean kitchen towel otherwise the dough will dry out.
- Prepare the Nooch Cheese Sauce.
- Preheat the oven as hot at 480°F/250°C.
- Cut the dough in 8 equal pieces and roll them out on a floured surface.
- Clean the mushrooms and spinach, cut the mushrooms in thin slices and put the mushrooms in a hot pan (You want the mushrooms to lose most of their water now, they shouldn't water up the calzone later). Add the spinach to let it cook down.
- For the tomato sauce mix the tomato purée with the salt, ground pepper, fresh oregano, onion powder and liquid smoke. (Adjust the sauce to your taste)
- Spread the tomato sauce over half of the calzone pizzas, add the mushroom-spinach mixture and add the vegan cheese sauce.
- Fold the calzone and press it down on the edges. Fold the edges again and a third time to make it pretty! Repeat until all calzones are fold.
- Brush the calzones with a bit of olive oil and bake them in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
*I used store-bought tomato purée (with salt, no additional herbs) for this recipe - it's often canned or in cartons, not to confuse with tomato paste which is thicker in consistency.
Michelle says
Hi have you tried making gluten free dough? I’d love to make these for a party, but need gf dough. Thank you,
Bianca says
I haven't tried that yet. Sorry!
Bea says
This is sooo good! And surprisingly simple. My family devoured them in one night so I made it again!!!! Thanks for sharing!
Allison says
I've made this dough 2x now, and both times it was so separated and didn't rise or become pliable. I'm not sure what I could have done wrong. Used 2 different yeast packets. Tried adding a bit more moisture too. Scratching my head... But your recipe encouraged me to try my hand at calzones during this quarantine, and they were a bit regardless, so I persist! :)
Allison says
I meant, "they were a HIT"
LouAnn says
Can I make these the day before, refrigerate and bake the next day??
Bianca says
I would recommend either preparing the dough and the filling the day before and then assembling them and baking them on the next day (otherwise the dough will lose its form and the filling might come out) OR making & baking them and then re-heating them in the oven the next day. That would also work well.