If you like BBQ Chicken Pizza, you'll like this easy-to-make calzone version!
Let me just say I dont EVER rate recipes on here.. usually for fear of offending someone. With that said, this is absolutely a wonderful recipe! The thing is folks, it tastes just exactly like a bbq chicken pizza, and said pizzas have chicken, red onion, cilantro & cheese. If you don't like bbq chicken pizza its no surprise that you wouldnt like this. I just think it kind of defeats the purpose of making a recipe called "BBQ Chicken Calzones" and then give it a bad rating because you dont like an ingredient. Anyway, thats my two cents. It really is a fool-proof recipe. Thanks!
Read MoreWe are not a fan of this at all....but it may have had more to do with the pizza dough than anything. We used Pillsbury pizza dough....and in the end it was a huge pain in the butt to work with. I rolled out the pizza dough and placed the ingredients on top but unfortunately, some of the other ingredients were still a bit warm (we grilled the chicken) and this essentially melted the pizza dough making it really difficult to work with. We carmelized our onions and did not use any cilantro as DH and I both dislike it. We will not try this dish again, we'll just stick with our standard BBQ chicken pizza.
Read MoreLet me just say I dont EVER rate recipes on here.. usually for fear of offending someone. With that said, this is absolutely a wonderful recipe! The thing is folks, it tastes just exactly like a bbq chicken pizza, and said pizzas have chicken, red onion, cilantro & cheese. If you don't like bbq chicken pizza its no surprise that you wouldnt like this. I just think it kind of defeats the purpose of making a recipe called "BBQ Chicken Calzones" and then give it a bad rating because you dont like an ingredient. Anyway, thats my two cents. It really is a fool-proof recipe. Thanks!
UPDATE: Since initially trying this, I have made it many, many times. I use the WalMart Brand Pizza Dough mix you add water too and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, I also add some chopped onion before baking, I really think that the cilantro adds an extra dimension to the calzone and shouldn't be omitted (unless of course you don't like it). I have also brushed the crust with butter spread before baking with excellent results. This is an AR fave.6/17/2007:These are delicious and so easy. I made "minis" for a bridal shower and everyone raved. The beauty of this recipe is you can you use whatever ingredients you like (try turkey kielbasa with green peppers, onions, pizza sauce, and fresh basil); the one suggestion I would make is to saute garlic in a pan and brush over calzones before baking, I have also found the cooking time to be a little excessive.
Quite good. I did, however, make some changes myself. I used chicken breasts which I had previously grilled to make it a bit healthier. When cooking the onions I also added fresh garlic b/c my husband enjoys garlic in just about everything. I didn't measure the bbq sauce I just used it to the consistency that I liked. Also, I used canned crescent rolls to make the pockets b/c we enjoy anything made out of crescent rolls and I had some in the fridge. Additionally, it takes away a few more calories if you use the low fat crescent rolls, which we did. They were great!
This recipe is delicious! I used Kraft's "Brown Sugar" BBQ sauce for a little bit of sweetness and they turned out perfect. These are a new family favourite. One word of caution - frequently check them while in the oven as the cooking time may vary with the pizza dough you use. I used the Pillsbury pizza dough and I had it in the oven for 17 minutes and they almost burned ... but they were still fantastic!
Quite good. Quick and easy recipe which gets my vote every time when you have hungry guys clamoring to be fed! I upped the barbeque sauce and substituted caramelized onions as that's all I had on hand. Very similar to Texas Chicken Quesadillas also on this site. Thanks so much Tummy13.
Delicious! Even better with olive oil drizzle and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on the crust before baking.
Surprisingly delicious! I skipped the cilantro, and used way more barbecue sauce. I wish I'd added more bacon too. Husband wolfed it down, and said he especially enjoyed the crust. He said he'd love to try it with a pepperoni and pizza sauce filling. I made calzones like that before, but with my own pastry crust. They turned out rock hard, and I was really disappointed. I'll definitely be experimenting! Thanks!
Amazing! Great great flavor. Just like the BBQ Chicken Aussie Pies I used to buy from the market. This one goes in the recipe box! Next time I'll try turkey bacon for a lower fat version.
This was GREAT!!!! I went with others ideas of using more bbq sauce and bacon. I used the 2/3 cup bbq sauce just in mixing the meat together. Then I poured 1/4 cup bbq sauce over the mixture before folding over the pizza crust. It was perfect. I also used 7 pieces on bacon. Other than those changes. It was great.
Awesome! The only thing was, it seemed like a bit too much filling for the calzones, so I ended up using only about 3 quarters of it. But, the extra filling was really yummy just to eat by itself. I did not use any cilantro, just because I don't really like it. Overall, really really yummy, and pretty easy to make. Next time I'll use my own crust though, rather than store bought.
I have fixed this twice. It is easy and tastes wonderful. The second time, I Ieft out the bacon. It was still a huge hit. Both times I used shredded cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella. My family loved it!
This recipe is Fan Freakin Tastic!!! I'm not a fan of cilantro so I let that go. As per other peoples suggestions I eyeballed the amount of BBQ sauce and added extra bacon. I went to a local pizzeria and bought pizza dough and let me tell you, it was $2.50 for alot of dough and it was sooooo good, so go to your local pizzeria, i'm sure they sell dough and its worth it, trust me!! I melt some garlic and butter and brushed the tops and added some Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese and when it was almost done I brushed the tops with egg and it came out perfectly!! TRY THIS RECIPE!!. I tried to add a picture, but I keep getting an error, I wish I could show you, I was so proud of myself and my husband loved them.
This was GREAT! I don't even like BBQ. I ended up making way too much meat mixture so we saved it and used it to make BBQ sandwiches the next night, and loaded baked potatoes the night after. It was flat awesome. Really, the kids are asking for it already and this was just a day ago!
This is awesome to say the least. Add a little more sauce to the meat mixture for the best chicken sloppy joes you will ever eat. Make calzones or sloppy joes, it is great either way. Thanks!
DELICOUS!!!! Used red onion in the mix, which I ran through the food processor so that my older daughter did not complain that the recipe had onions. She never knew. :) Also ran the chicken through the food processor as well. Rolled out 2 pizza crust doughs and was able to make 8 individual calzones. Omitted Cilantro.
My hubby loves the BBQ chicken pizza from Papa John's so we wanted to give this a try and it was so good! We used all of the ingredients in the recipe but changed them up a bit based on our personal preferences. For example, we definitely used more bacon, bbq sauce and cheese. We also added grilled diced pineapples and we used a rotisserie chicken.
I made these for my boyfriend and his friend to take camping but once I tasted one I ended up keeping some for myself ... too bad my mom found them because I only got one! I didn't use bacon or cilantro because bacon was too much work and cilantro isn't something we like. I cooked the chicken and then broke it up into pieces with my hands but not all the way shredded. I fried the onion with garlic powder and some other spices then turned the heat to low and added the chicken and BBQ sauce mixing until well combined and warmed throughout. I used two things of pizza crust and cut each into four. Before putting them into the oven I brushed them with a mix of melted butter and garlic powder. The boys said they were delicious and super handy to walk around with. Mom said they were sweet and tangy almost like dessert. *Make sure your crust is super cold or it gets extremely hard to work with.
The family loved this. I used chicken diced in small pieces instead of the shredded chicken, a cheddar mix, and refrigerated crescent rolls in place of the pizza dough because that is what I had on hand. Just rolled them out and cut in half. Baked at 325 for 25-30 min. Easy and delicious!
Delicious, easy, and fun...I skipped the onion , and prepped the filling ahead...my son loves to help with dinner, so he filled, and folded for me to put in the oven...definitely a keeper
Awesome recipe! I used Bone Suckin' BBQ sauce (sometimes hot, sometimes original) and Kraft Shredded Mozzarella with a touch of Philly for that extra creamy and cheesy factor. Will definately make over and over again. Thanks for the great recipe!
My husband was soo impressed with this recipe; I used leftover turkey and ham from Christmas, and included pineapples. The recipe Pizza Dough I was outstanding for this calzone - GREAT Saturday supper!
I made two variations of this. One calzone without cheese, since my boyfriend is lactose intolerant. It tastes great without the cheese; you taste the bbq a lot more. For the other calzone, I cut up slices of montery and colby jack cheese and it's a great alternative to the mozzarella. Kraft's bbq sauce tastes great for this!
We are not a fan of this at all....but it may have had more to do with the pizza dough than anything. We used Pillsbury pizza dough....and in the end it was a huge pain in the butt to work with. I rolled out the pizza dough and placed the ingredients on top but unfortunately, some of the other ingredients were still a bit warm (we grilled the chicken) and this essentially melted the pizza dough making it really difficult to work with. We carmelized our onions and did not use any cilantro as DH and I both dislike it. We will not try this dish again, we'll just stick with our standard BBQ chicken pizza.
I used a casserole blend of shredded cheese and didn't have cilantro, but they still turned out tasty. I saw these over at Life as a Lofthouse cooking blog and knew I had to try them!! Turned out tasty! I boiled a split chicken breast with seasonings then shredded it for these.
Awesome!!! Only change was to omit the onion because my kids don't really like them. These were so easy to make, using the already made pizza crust. The bacon adds a nice flavor along with the cilantro. I will use this recipe over and over!
they were pretty good but i thought they would be alot better definitly need way more cheese
DELISH!!!! Probably will add red onion and garlic next time...might be good with pork instead of chicken, def added to my list!!
I used my own crust recipe instead of a pre-made one. I also didn't measure anything and just dumped it all together. They were terrific!
Bloody fantastic! I didn't change a single thing. I used Whole Foods multi grain pizza dough from their deli area and it was out of this world good, Thank you!!!
This was my first attempt at homemade calzones and they were excellent! I followed the recipe as written for the BBQ chicken filling and used homemeade pizza dough instead of store-bought. Turned out great. The filling was flavorful and delicous. Hubby gives it 5 stars and I agree with him. Thanks for a fun, yummy recipe.
These were very good but I didn't have fresh cilantro and that may have made the difference between 4 and 5 stars (not the submitters fault of course!). I found I needed extra BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's of course) as the crust was a little bready for my tastes. I had leftover filling and it was great by itself! Thanks!!!
I followed the recipe exactly. I can appreciate it for what it is but I didn't like the tastes. Maybe a different bbq sauce would make it better. (shrugs) I'll try it again, w/out cilantro and w/better bbq sauce.... and maybe w/out the bacon, too. haha.
this was very easy to make husband loved it. I left out the bbq sauce and just put in tomatoes, it was delicious.
Made only a few minor changes, based on personal preferences: Left out cilantro, halved the amount of cheese & added about 1/3C more bbq sauce. Also, the crust was done perfectly after 16 minutes...I think 25 min would have been way too long. Dipped them in ranch dressing and Oh. My. Goodness. Absolutely amazing! My husband and I loved them; I'm betting you will, too!
Delicious!! My family loved it and it was so quick and easy. This is a definite keeper. I made one minor recipe adjustment. Because slow cookers generate a lot of juice, I used a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes instead of a 28 oz can because I didn't want it to be watery. It was perfect!!
My entire family loved these. I didn't use extra bbq sauce in the calzones - just mixed some in (unmeasured) w/ my cooked chicken till it looked right. Hubby said they tasted like a good bbq chicken sandwich on crunchy bread. Will definitely make again!
I'm giving this four stars only because of how many things I changed. I used leftover grilled chicken thighs, green onion instead of white, and omitted the cilantro. I also added mushrooms, red bell pepper, fresh tomatoes, and made my own pizza crust (Jay's Signature Pizza Crust from this site). This was absolutely delicious and I will definately make it again, but I will definately keep my modifications.
LOVED this! My husband and 4 kids loved this. The only things I did differently were to leave out the cilantro and I added 1/4 pound smoked kilbasa. Going to use leftover meat mixture on tortillas for lunch. Thanks for the recipe.
This was great! Everyone in my family loved it. Rather than use refrigerated pizza dough, I made the Bread machine pizza dough from this site and it was delicious. I also used a rotessire chicken from the store and added it to the crockpot with the other ingredients. I added the bacon right before I assembled the calzones and put them in the oven. They turned out so good.
Great great recipe! Made these for my daughter's 3rd birthday for all the extended family. They were devoured, even my picky Father-In-Law went back for thirds. I followed the recipe, except I cooked my chichen in the bbq sauce in my crockpot and then shredded it in my food processor. I will be making them again for a girls night next month. I just picked up some pre made dough at a local pizza place as well. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Amazing! I made my own dough, added a little more BBQ until I thought the texture was right, brushed olive oil and garlic on the bread before baking, and loved the way the bacon, onion, and cilantro made this dish perfect! All four of my kids LOVED it. Great for adults and children. Will definitely make again!
Delicious recipe. I made it with Jay's pizza crust. Took a little more time, but it was worth it.
these were very easy to make. My kids really liked these. I used a deli rotisserie chicken. I will be making this again.
What a great recipie! So easy. I used a dash of dry cilantro seasoning instead of the fresh, and it still tasted great.
Loved this. Threw in a little more bacon and used homemade pizza dough and instead of putting cheese inside, I put it on top. Made 4 small ones instead of two large, will definitely make these again.
AWESOME LOVED THESE. Doubled the recipe. Cooked my chicken in the crockpot with a bit of BBQ sauce and boullion. Used the thin style dough. Made as written and used my own BBQ sauce. Awesome. YUM.
Wasn't crazy about them at first, but I think it was my fault: didn't put in enough cilantro or BBQ sauce or cheese or something. I added a little more and they were pretty darn tasty. These heated up really well the next day.
i really liked this. I used sweet baby ray's bbq sauce. I will probably add more cheese because it seem to dissapear in the mix. over all very tasty and filling.
No need for adding sauce in calzone. Chicken has enough. Will add more cheese next time. Sour cream went perfect with this!
Great recipe. I substituted shallots for the onion and pancetta for the bacon only because that is what I had on hand. So good...even as leftovers the next day.
Love this recipe! I omitted the cilantro and bacon because I simply didn't have those items on hand. Otherwise loved this recipe, only change I would make is to add a bit more cheese-we love cheese in our family! Great recipe.
Turned out perfect! Just make sure you use your favorite BBQ sauce. We used a Hickory & Brown Sugar BBQ.
I made this almost exactly as written (just added more bacon and more barbecue sauce based on other reviews). It was easy to put together and was very good. I wasn't sure about the cilantro, even though I love cilantro, but it really does add something to the dish. Unless you absolutely hate cilantro, don't leave it out.
Love the BBQ Chicken! We used refrigerated pie dough (only because I had a box of 2 in fridge!)and crust was very flaky and good!
When I pulled my calzones out of the oven, my mom was very impressed. They were very pretty to look at. My mother and boyfriend both complemented me and how good they were, but for me, they were a little too tangy. I think next time, I may usea little less bbq sauce.
my husband liked it, but i feel okay.. maybe just because the fresh cilantro was not right.. for sure i will make it again, but will like to try with pork or beef and other differnt kind of vegetables..
Turned out great, I like spicy foods so I will tweak it a bit next time. But it was very tasty.
These were excellent - I followed the recipe closely, using crescent rolls for the dough. it was a little tough getting the dough rolled out and sealed after filling them but it did work out - i worried they would be too flimsy after they cooked but they worked out great and had good flavor. The guys really liked them, we'll have these again!
Good and easy. I like that it uses refrigerated dough. I was able to make it after work in about 10 minutes. I used canned chicken and it was good.
This is seriously delicious! My husband said it is his new favorite and I should open a restaurant with it. Anyway, I followed the recipe, but I drained half of the bacon grease before I added the chicken. Also, I added a bit more BBQ sauce than called for. Really good - thank you!
My husband LOVES this and brags to everyone how great it is. I just use the crumbled bacon I get in the purple bag (they are NOT the bacon bits). Super easy and really good.
Fabulous! Everyone in my family loved this, including my very picky 2 year old!
This recipe is amazing!!! I've made it a couple times and everyone in my family love it!! I use Bull's Eye BBQ Sauce Taxes Style and Pillsbury Pizza Crust, come out great. Thank you to the person who put this up!!
Delicious! This recipe was easy to make but a bit labor intensive. It took me twice as long (if not more) to make than the time called for. I used more bacon than called for just because I had it. I also added mushrooms, a couple cloves of garlic, and went ahead and used the whole small onion. Really delicious!
Quick and simple. It was a great way to use up leftover poultry. We didn't add any fresh cilantro since we didn't have any on hand, and it wasn't missed.
this was delicious! we made our dough in the bread maker and added some extra bits to the filling (we added two fresh sliced tomatoes and some strips of bell pepper to the chicken, bacon and onion) also we made two large calzones instead of 4 small. this is now a huge family favourite! thank you.
These were very good, but a little lacking in flavor. I put in more barbeque sauce than was called for, but still could have used something. I also only cooked for 20 minutes and they were perfectly done. Next time I think that I will try a different combo of ingredients - chicken, bacon ranch sounds like it would taste good this way.
I would of given a higher rating but the cilantro ruined the whole thing for me. I think it would have been much better without it.
This was very good. It will be a nice filling dinner on a cold winter day. I added some fresh garlic with the onion. The only thing was since I used chicken breasts that I had to shred I found that the prep time took longer than 20 minutes. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made my own pizza dough from a favorite recipe. I added to the BBQ sauce some brown sugar, spicy mustard, garlic powder, salt and some pepper. I used a lot more BBQ sauce and cheese so the inside would not be so dry. After removing from the oven I brushed them with garlic butter and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. I didn't have cilantro so I left it out, I believe it would add to the flavor but still excellent with out. Great recipe with the additions my kids and husband loved them. This would even be delish as a pizza and would be much less work.
Great! I didn't have any bbq sauce so I looked it up and found a fantastic recipe on this site. It tasted great with the bbq sauce. I'll make this again.
Yummy!! I did three chicken breast cooked all day on low in the crock pot with Hunt's Hickory and Brown Sugar barbque sauce. I followed the rest of the directions with a few slight modifications: cooked the bacon and removed from pan, then the onion (I used red onion) in the bacon fat (drained a little out before adding onion). I then added it all back into the pan including my shredded chicken. After all the ingredients were combined I added it back to the crock pot and waited for dinner time. Easy Peasy!!
Followed recipe exactly but you definitely need a good bbq sauce. Very simple and kids enjoyed (and they are tough guys to please!)
I must say this was very tasty! On a different note, a few tips from my experience. The 3 cups shredded chicken is in my opinion too much. Even with the value sized 13.3oz canned pizza crust, it was still difficult to fit all of the chicken mixture into the calzones. I can't imagine using the recommended 10oz can. I'd scale it back to 2 cups shredded chicken. Also, if I make this recipe again, I would probably forgo the calzone casing altogether and use flour tortilla shells instead. The pizza crust just didn't add enough to the dish to justify extending cook time by 20 mins to let it bake when this would be just as delicious wrapped up in a warm tortilla.
We thought this was pretty good. I didn't use the cilantro, but didn't miss it. Even our seven year old enjoyed it.
So YUMMY!!!! Thw WHOLE family loved it. If you love BBQ chicken pizza you will love this calzone. Enjoy!!!
Used rotisserie chicken to make this a super quick weeknight dinner. Makes a lot of filling. I recommend using two tubes of dough. Delicious.
i used 7 slices turnkey bacon instead of regular bacon and it still turned out great. before baking, i combined olive oil with garlic powder and brushed it over the tops, sprinkled on some parmesean cheese and parsley. i'm excited to play with this recipe as it is extremely versatile such as chicken alfredo or making a meat lovers one!
I made this recipe 2 nights ago and it got rave reviews from my fiance. I used Pillsbury Pizza crust and I noted from others reviewers to watch the cooking time. Mine were done after 17 minutes baked at 400. I followed the recipe except I used onion soup mix instead of an onion and I added banana pepper rings and a few dashes of Franks Red Hot because we are both big fans of spicy. The only thing I would change for next time is the way I shredded my chicken breasts. I did it in my food processor and I think next time I will manually shred it to get a more uneven consistency. The processor shredded it a bit too much for me. But it was still very tasty and paired with a ceasar salad, it was great. Thanks!
Not a real fan of this one...it was OK, but I think it would have been better with tomato sauce instead of the barbeque sauce.
I have been trying to clean out my freezer, and when I noted I had some leftover rotisserie chicken and a loaf of frozen bread dough, I started thinking about what I could do with it. This recipe pretty much filled the bill and I had all the other necessary ingredients. I thought the calzones were pretty good and my husband enjoyed them.
My husband loved these. I did add in some chopped green and yellow pepper b/c I had it leftover from making salad last night and wanted to go ahead and use it. I also mixed the cilantro in and added some chopped turkey pepperoni and minced garlic. I just eyeballed the bbq sauce b/c I wasn't sure my husband would be crazy about these so I didn't want to overdo the bbq. I also brushed the tops with some egg before I put them in the oven so they would brown nicely. They looked wonderful and my husband said they were delicious. He doesn't like pineapple but I do so next time I think I'll throw some pineapple in my calzone.
fallowed recipe except added mushrooms to mixture. the only thing i would change is 25min @ 400 degrees is way too long will adjust next time crust was a little burned otherwise great flavor good recipe!
One of the BEST things I ever made. I didn't include the bacon, but everything else was the same. Wonderful!
This was easy to make and we loved this!
Wow! My family loved these. The cilantro makes these so tasty, and the refrigerated pizza dough makes them as simple as 1-2-3!
These were great!! We used Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and added more than the recipe called for! Other than that, no changes. So simple and very yummy!
