BBQ Chicken Calzones

I love homemade pizza crust, but if I want to be honest with myself, I just don't have the time to make it very often. My new secret to a wonderful homemade pizza crust is to drive down the road to the local pizza shop and purchase the dough. I usually buy a couple of crusts and stick one in the freezer since they freeze really well.

This recipe is from the recipe swap that I participate in, and I was so pumped when I got this one. Chicken was the theme this week, and this recipe came from The Jey of Cooking. The original recipe is for a pizza, but I decided to make calzones. Who doesn't like their own little hand pie? These calzones were so good. My man helped me make these, and he kept raving about how good they were. He's already hinting around that he wants us to have these again, and I'm all in! I used the Easy Peasy BBQ Sauce for this recipe, and the flavors were perfect with the chicken and bacon.


BBQ Chicken Calzones

Ingredients:
1 recipe of pizza dough
2 chicken breasts from a rotisserie chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2  small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
Shredded cheddar cheese, to taste
1/2 package bacon, cooked and diced (I used turkey bacon)
1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500-degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the bbq sauce and ranch dressing. Add the chicken and stir to combine.

Divide the pizza dough into 4 even pieces. Stretch each piece into a circle and place on a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking.

Spread 1/4 of the chicken mixture onto one half of each circle, leaving a 1-inch edge. Sprinkle with bacon, onion, cheese, and oregano. Fold into a half moon shape and crimp the edges with your fingers or with a fork. Spray the top of each calzone with cooking spray for even browning.

Place calzones onto the preheated pizza stone and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

Serve warm with extra bbq-ranch sauce for dipping.

***Calzones freeze really well. Let them cool after baking and then wrap each one in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped calzones into a freezer bag and freeze.

Source: recipe from The Jey of Cooking