These breakfast calzones are stuffed with the trifecta of breakfast foods: scrambled eggs, home fried potatoes, cured meat (in this case, pancetta), and of course lots of gruyere cheese.

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. Generally I don’t have enough time to eat breakfast, at least a full breakfast, during the week. So that means that on the weekend, I go all out making breakfast. I love spending hours in the kitchen on a Saturday or Sunday morning making things like homemade bagels, bialys, english muffins, intricate scrambled eggs, and even homemade belgian waffles. But one of my all-time favorite breakfasts is a simple one: scrambled eggs with home fried potatoes. And since I try to put my own spin on almost every recipe I make, I decided to bring a little Italian flare to my favorite breakfast plate by stuffing it all into some pizza dough. Introducing: breakfast calzones.

These breakfast calzones are actually deceivingly easy to make. If you can make a quick breakfast plate of eggs, bacon and home fries (see my tips for making a fast breakfast plate), you can make this recipe. In the case of these calzones, I actually used diced to use pancetta instead of bacon. They have very similar flavors, but pancetta is even quicker and easier to crisp up. Once you’ve made your breakfast trifecta of eggs-potatoes-and-cured-meat, you’ll roll out some pizza dough. I used pre-made pizza dough for more ease (Trader Joe’s garlic and herb), but if you’re feeling ambitious you can make your own. Then load that breakfast trifecta onto one side of the pizza dough circle, top with lots of sliced gruyere cheese, fold the dough over, crimp and bake. The result is an ooey-gooey pocket of breakfast goodness, with eggs, home fries and cheese in every bite.

TIPS FOR THE FASTEST BREAKFAST CALZONES (OR PLATE OF BREAKFAST)

You can certainly use these techniques to make a quick plate of scrambled eggs, home fries and bacon, but I use them to make my breakfast calzones super quick to make.

MICROVAVE YOUR POTATOES BEFORE FRYING

This makes home fries super quick. Simply clean your potatoes and stab them with a fork a few times to let steam come out. Then microwave for 6-8 minutes, until softened slightly but still nice and firm. Let them cool completely before dicing into 1/2 inch pieces. Then throw them in a heated skillet with lots of oil and spices and fry until crispy. This really is the fastest way to get your home fries crispy quick. But if you don’t have a microwave, you can cut them into very small pieces, which will allow them to cook faster as well.

USE PANCETTA OR COOK BACON IN THE OVEN

I used pancetta in this breakfast calzone recipe because it takes no time at all to crisp up in a pan and it’s way easier and less time consuming to make than bacon. But if you are using bacon, you can make it super easily by throwing it into a preheated 400F oven on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Simply bake it for 10-20 minutes, until your preferred crispiness is reached. Do this while you’re making your potatoes and everything will be done in less than 20 minutes.

COOK YOUR EGGS IN THE HOT HOME FRY PAN

I know the key to really creamy scrambled eggs is to cook them low and slow. But there are so many textures going on in these breakfast calzones that you don’t need the creamiest scrambled eggs. Instead, you want them just barely set, since they’ll continue to cook in the oven. Just about 2 minutes in the already-hot home fry pan will leave you with perfect scrambled eggs for this recipe, or your breakfast plate.

Breakfast Calzones

These breakfast calzones are stuffed with the trifecta of breakfast foods: scrambled eggs, home fried potatoes, and cured meat (in this case, pancetta), and of course lots of gruyere cheese.

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 45

Course Breakfast

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

1 lb pizza dough
4 eggs, scrambled
3 large potatoes
1 small onion, diced
4 oz diced pancetta or 4-6 strips of bacon
6 oz gruyere cheese, sliced or grated
olive oil
seasonings for potatoes (paprika, chili powder are rosemary are some of my favorites)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400.
Cook the bacon or pancetta. If using diced pancetta, cook over medium heat until crispy, 5-10 minutes. If using bacon, cook bacon on the stovetop or in the oven on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper until crispy, 10-20 minutes.
While the pancetta or bacon cooks, wash and clean the potatoes. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and then microwave until slightly softened but still firm, 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool.
While the potatoes are cooling, heat a large skillet with a big drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onions and start to fry. Dice potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. (If you're not microwaving the potatoes first, dice them into 1/4 inch cubes.) Add the diced potatoes to the pan, season with lots of salt and spices of choice and fry until browned, 7-10 minutes. Move potatoes into a separate bowl and allow to cool.
Over medium heat and in the same pan as the potatoes, scramble eggs until just barely set, 2-3 minutes.
On a floured surface, divide pizza dough into two balls. Roll each ball out until thin but not breaking, approximately a ten inch circle. Place about 1/4 of the gruyere cheese on half of the dough circle, top with half the potatoes, half the scrambled eggs, half the pancetta or bacon, and then another 1/4 of the cheese. Fold the bare half of the pizza dough over the the mixture and crimp the edges to seal. Repeat with the other pizza dough circle.
Lightly olive oil and sheet pan. Using a spatula, transfer the uncooked calzones to the sheet pan. Brush with some more olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until dough is cooked through and golden brown.