Ham and ricotta puff pastry calzones are my newest obsession. Combining puff pastry, ham and ricotta to make a calzone is so absolutely delicious. This is a really easy calzone recipe that anyone can make. These puff pastry calzones are fashioned after traditional Italian ham and ricotta calzones that are made with pizza dough.
If you have ever eaten calzones then you know they can be really delicious but also really heavy and filling. These puff pastry calzones are not heavy at all and in fact, I can eat a lot of these.
These easy ham and ricotta calzones are quick to make and perfect for an appetizer, meal or entertaining.
Ingredients you will need
- Frozen puff pastry
- Ham steak (or deli ham)
- Ricotta cheese
- Egg
- Kosher salt and pepper
- Parmesan Cheese
- Garlic powder
The ingredients in these puff pastry calzones are very simple. You only need a handful of items and a little patience in assembling them.
I love thinking of recipes that use puff pastry sheets and this is one of my new favorites.
Working with the puff pastry
You do not to be very good at making pastry shapes or working with dough to make these calzones. The puff pastry is much more forgiving than pizza crust and the end result will look amazing no matter how mangled your assembly of these calzones appear.
How to make puff pastry calzones
The steps to make these ham and ricotta puff pastry calzones are very simple. You will want to make sure to keep your puff pastry in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it and work with one sheet of the puff pastry at a time.
This helps ensure the puff pastry does not get too soft. If it does get too soft it it makes picking them up and handling them a little more difficult.
Don't worry if this does happen, you can just place it back in your refrigerator for a little to let the puff pastry firm up.
You want to start by drying out the ricotta. To do this, just place the ricotta in a strainer and let the excess moisture drip through.
You can do this part the night before if you like.
Once the ricotta is ready, you want to gather and prep all of the ingredients so they are ready for the calzone assembling later on. It really is so helpful to have all of the ingredients waiting for yo when making these puff pastry calzones.
This will help ensure the process of making them goes smoothly and that the puff pastry stays moist and cold.
Next, you will mix all of the ingredients together in one bowl. Just set this aside until you are ready to assemble the calzone.
Now you are ready to work with the puff pastry. You just lay out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll it into a 12 inch square.
Once it is rolled out, you cut the square into rectangles.
At this point, you will add the ham and ricotta filling on top of the puff pastry squares then brush some egg wash on them and fold over and seal.
As you can see from my pre baking picture above of these puff pastry calzones, you do not need to be perfect with the assembling. The beauty of using puff pastry in place of pizza dough is once the puff pastry begins cooking, it puffs up and hides all those imperfections.
I really like that about this calzone recipe. It makes it easy and stress free and one of my favorite quick meals to make!
The puff pastry also has much more flavor than pizza dough and it is not as heavy feeling after you eat it.
These calzones can be made ahead of time and frozen in the pre-bake stage. Just take them out of the freezer and place them on a sheet pan to bake for when you need a quick meal.
These calzones with a simple salad like my Italian spinach salad would make a great easy weeknight meal.
More puff pastry recipes
- Savory Palmiers with Parmesan and Ricotta
- Pear Frangipane Tart
- Apple Dumplings
- Chocolate Puff Pastry
- Brie en Croute with Jam
Ham and Ricotta Puff Pastry Calzones
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Ingredients
- 16 oz whole milk ricotta
- 1 package of puff pastry
- 1 ham steak cubed finely. About 2 cups worth. You can use what ever ham you have on hand as well.
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 large eggs One for the calzone filling and one for the egg wash.
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Place your ricotta into a sieve and place over a bowl for about 15 minutes to allow some of the moisture in the ricotta to drain out.16 oz whole milk ricotta
- While the ricotta is draining, cut up your ham into small cubes and add it to a large bowl.1 ham steak cubed finely.
- Now add your grated parmesan, 1 egg, garlic powder, salt and pepper.¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- Once your ricotta has let out a little moisture, add that to your bowl of ingredients and mix well and set aside.
- Take your other egg and crack it into a small bowl and whisk it with a fork and then set aside. This is your egg wash for the puff pastry that you will add to seal the calzones and to brush on top of them before baking.
- Grab one sheet of your puff pastry and take it out of the package and place on to a lightly floured surface. You will work with one sheet a time to keep the puff pastry cold.1 package of puff pastry
- Gently roll out your puff pastry into a 12 inch x 12 inch square.
- Now with a sharp knife, cut your puff pastry into even 4 inch squares. you should get about 12 squares per sheet. It does not need to be perfect.
Assembling the Calzones
- Take a tablespoon of the ham and ricotta mixture and place in the center of your puff pastry square.
- Brush the edges of your puff pastry with the egg wash.
- Take one corner of the puff pastry and fold it over to meet the opposite corner and press the top of the puff pastry into the bottom puff pastry to seal it.
- Once you have pressed the puff pastry into itself, fold the bottom of the seam area up over the top to create a lip edge. Again, it does not need to be perfect just sealed.
- Once you have finished with the first sheet of puff pastry, grab your second sheet out of your refrigerator and repeat these steps until all of the puff pastry and filling is used up.
- Place the calzones on to a sheet pan.
- Brush the calzones with your egg wash.
- Place the calzones in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until they begin to get really golden brown and puffed.
- When done, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before eating.
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
See full nutrition disclaimer here
Emma says
Made these with my daughter and they were really delicious.
Melissa says
I am so glad you enjoyed them!
Sarah says
came out amazing!