Buffalo Chicken Calzones

My husband, John, has always been a big huge fan of buffalo wings. Me, not so much. They remind me of “wing night” held at one of the dining halls on our alma mater‘s campus; many members of the football team would – without fail – convene to consume massive amounts of the messy finger food. Witnessing the gluttonous feast instilled in me a definitive dislike of buffalo wings.

Until…

A little while ago, a certain recipe for Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza caught my eye as a meal that John would absolutely love. Now, I make a concerted effort to make dinners that I think we will both enjoy, but every now and then I like to prepare a meal specifically suited to my husband’s tastes. Little did I know that I would love Rachel Ray’s buffalo chicken pizza every bit as much as John did.

Yep. Apparently I do like buffalo chicken… if it’s in the form of boneless chicken breasts smothered in a homemade buffalo sauce and sandwiched between pizza dough and melted cheese.

We both enjoyed the buffalo chicken pizza so much that I was inspired to create buffalo chicken calzones: buffalo sauce-coated chicken pieces are tucked into whole wheat pizza dough pockets along with reduced fat cheddar cheese and scallions. As a cool contrast to the hot & spicy calzones, a blue cheese-yogurt mixture is served alongside for dipping.

I am a convert.

Buffalo Chicken Calzones

yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat pizza dough, (available at most grocery stores), at room temperature
• 1 lb chicken breasts
• extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp hot sauce (add more if desired)
• 1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup 50% reduced fat shredded (or 4 slices) sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sliced green onion, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450*F.
2. Combine blue cheese and Greek yogurt in a small bowl and mix well. Stir in 1 Tbsp sliced green onion. Set aside.
3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to heated pan, and cook until done, about 4 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Reduce stove heat to low.
5. Melt butter in the skillet and stir in Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Add the cooked chicken to the buffalo sauce, and stir to coat evenly.
6. Divide pizza dough into four equal portions. Roll each out into a circle on a lightly floured surface.
7. Working with one dough circle at a time, spoon 1/4 of the chicken onto one half of the circle. Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and 1 tablespoon sliced green onion. Drape other half of the dough circle up and over the filling, and pinch edges together to seal the dough.
8. Repeat step 7 with remaining three dough circles. Transfer calzones to a baking sheet. Using the tines of a fork, pierce the top of each calzone a few times to let steam out while cooking.
9. Place calzones into the oven, and cook for 10-12 minutes. Let calzones sit at room temperature for a few minutes. Serve with the blue cheese-yogurt dip.