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Wednesday, July 5, 2023

The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Sausage and Ricotta Calzones

Last month, I was watching an old episode of Chopped on The Food Network and my mouth started watering when I saw one of the chefs in the competition use the crazy basket ingredients for one of the courses to make delicious calzones. Then, my friend Sam Monaco published his easy homemade calzones recipe here on Review This Reviews. I guess I had calzones on the brain, because the next time I reached for my Scotty's Everyday Keto Pizza Crust Mix to make pizza, I decided to try using the zero carb pizza crust mix to make low carb calzones instead.

I decided to fill the dough with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmigiano Romano cheeses, precooked sausage and herbs and serve the calzones with a good quality jarred pizza sauce as a dipping sauce. They turned out to be a big hit with both my husband and me. They also reheat well and we discovered that the leftovers are even good cold, which is great for a quick and easy hot weather dinner without turning on the oven.

I've provided both the low carb sausage and ricotta calzones recipe and variations for those of you who either don't follow a low carb or keto diet or who may be watching your calories and fat intake. And you can easily use regular pizza dough with wheat flour, if you aren't watching your carbs.

Enjoy!

Low Carb & Keto-Friendly Sausage & Ricotta Calzones -- Quick & Easy

Using Scotty's Everyday Keto Pizza Crust Mix with 0 net carbs makes this low carb sausage and ricotta calzones recipe quick, easy and keto diet friendly!

Just because you're following a low carb or ketogenic diet doesn't mean you can't enjoy delicious pizza or calzones! Check out my product review of Scotty's Everyday Keto Pizza Crust Mix with 0 net carbs, which I use in this low carb calzones recipe.

The Best Quick & Easy Low Carb Sausage and Ricotta Calzones Recipe

Using my favorite 0 net carbs keto pizza crust mix makes this recipe quick and easy to prepare so you can get this yummy dinner on the table in less than 40 minutes. It's a real treat for carb lovers who are watching their carbs, and it's also easy to adapt to make it lower in calories and fat.
You can also substitute conventional store-bought pizza dough if you aren't counting carbs, so it's a great recipe for everyone at your table.
Buon appetito!
Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Baking Time: 18–20 minutes

Tools, Supplies and Equipment

Rectangular pizza stone with pizza paddle
Rimless cookie sheet
9"x12" baking parchment paper
Stand mixer with paddle attachment and dough hook
Large silicone pastry mat*
Rolling pin
Heat-resistant 6-inch wide nonstick slotted turner spatula
Small ramekins

*When making low carb sausage and ricotta calzones, you can't use wheat or semolina flour (which is high in carbs and can spike insulin levels) to keep the dough from sticking as you roll it out. I have tried substituting almond flour or coconut flour, but it doesn't work well. A lightly oiled silicone pastry mat is the best rolling surface I have found for working with keto dough.

Ingredients

Filling:

12 links Applegate Naturals Classic Pork Breakfast Sausage (or other sausage of your choice)
1 cup whole milk (4% fat) ricotta cheese (I recommend Maplebrook Farms brand)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
4 ounces finely shredded mozzarella cheese
Fresh or dried herbs to taste (I love Penzeys Greek or Italian Herbs for this recipe)
16 pitted black Greek olives (I use Divina organic kalamata olives), coarsely chopped

Crust:

1 package Scotty's Everyday Keto Pizza Crust Mix
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Assembly:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Water

Dipping Sauce:

1 cup Primal Kitchen unsweetened pizza sauce (Rao's and Yo Mama's are also good low carb, keto friendly brands of pizza sauce)

Directions

Place the pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 425 ℉. Line the rimless cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
To make the filling, pan fry the sausage links according to directions in a nonstick pan, then halve each link lengthwise and slice. (Alternatively, crumble and brown bulk Italian sausage.) Add to a mixing bowl along with the ricotta, Parmigiano Reggiano, finely shredded mozzarella, herbs and chopped olives and mix to combine. Cover and set aside.
To make the dough, add the keto pizza crust mix, water and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment to mix at low speed until the dough comes together. Scrape the bowl and the paddle attachment, replace the latter with the dough hook attachment and let the mixer knead the dough for about 3 minutes until it is uniform and smooth.
To assemble, use 1 tablespoon of the oil to grease the silicone pastry mat. Divide the large ball of dough into four pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball. Roll out each ball thinly. Place 1/4 of the filling mixture along the center of one half of the dough, leaving a margin of dough around the rim. Moisten the rim with water, fold the dough over the filling and press the moistened edges together firmly. Use the extra-wide turner to help you carefully lift and transfer the calzone onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the three remaining balls of dough and the rest of the filling. Use your fingers to spread the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the tops of the calzones.
Open the hot oven and, using potholders to protect your hands, carefully slide the parchment paper with the calzones onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 18–20 minutes, or until the bottoms are nicely browned and the tops are baked through.
Put 1/4 cup pizza sauce in each ramekin and serve with baked calzones.

Serving Suggestion

I enjoy serving these low carb sausage and ricotta calzones with either a side salad of fresh greens or just some micro greens, as shown here. (Check out my Hamama microgreens seed quilts review. These microgreens are SO easy to grow, no green thumb required—just soak in water and let them do their thing!)

Nutrition Information

For those of you who are counting calories or carbs or tracking macros on a low carb or ketogenic diet, these generously-sized low carb sausage and ricotta calzones each have 691 calories, 54.3g of total carbs, 46.3g of fiber, 8g of net carbs, 35.1g of protein and 51.1g of fat.

Recipe nutrition data calculated by Carb Manager app

Variations for Conventional, Low Calorie or Low Fat Diets

If you're not worried about calories, carbs or fat, you can easily substitute homemade or ready-to-use pizza dough, your favorite sausages (Italian would be great) and your favorite pizza sauce. You could also roll out your dough on a board sprinkled with semolina and bake on a semolina-sprinkled pizza stone.

To reduce fat and calories, you could try substituting low fat ricotta (although the filling might be a bit watery) and substitute Applegate Naturals Chicken & Sage Breakfast Sausage links.