The perfect keto meal or snack that’s only 1.6g net carbs.
Discover the simple recipe that can be made as low-carb dumplings, empanadas, or patties.
My kids LOVE these and always ask me to make double so they can have them in their school lunch box.
If you are an absolute beginner with Fat Head dough, you may want to see the supreme guide to making fat head dough even without a microwave. Can be made with almond flour or coconut flour EVEN WITHOUT a microwave PLUS 16 keto recipes to use it.
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Keto Italian pastry
If you miss Italian pastries, then using Fat Head dough is the perfect solution and I have a cheats way to make the beef filling.
Next time you make my low-carb spaghetti bolognese with zoodles, reserve a little leftover ground/minced beef for filling the calzones. This recipe doesn’t require much at all, so it’s an easy way to repurpose and stretch a meal.
What is a calzone?
It’s an Italian folded pastry with savory fillings you would often find in a pizza or other Italian dishes. They are made in 2 easy steps.
1: Simply make your Fat Head dough (scroll below for the recipe and quick video) as shown in these pictures.
2: You can make them by hand, folding and pinching the Fat Head dough, or you can buy an inexpensive little calzone press that makes keto calzones a breeze in a few seconds.
You simply cut out a circle of Fat Head dough using a glass tumbler. Place the Fat Head dough in the press, or the palm of your hand. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of filling, some cheese, then fold over the press, or fold the edges together using your fingers to crimp it shut.
How to make keto dumplings or empanadas
Who else loves empanada, dumplings, and savory patties? Cornish pasties even?
You can make them all using the method to make these keto calzones, all you need to do is vary the filling.
- Fat Head Dough Empanadas – fill with any leftover low-carb nacho beef mix. Add extra mozzarella and serve with salsa.
- Fat Head Dough Dumplings – fill with leftover keto crackslaw and bake until golden. Dumplings are usually steamed, but the Fat Head dough can’t withstand steaming.
- Fat Head Dough Savoury Patties – fill with ground beef mixture used to make mini meatloaves.
Low-carb lunch ideas
Fat Head dough calzones are perfect for low-carb lunch boxes too. If you are looking for low-carb lunch box recipes and ideas, these may help you.
- Kid’s recipe index
- How to help picky eaters
- Healthy lunchbox prepping for the week ahead
- 1-month lunchbox planner
My Low-Carb Lunch book has 34 easy recipes, a 5 step program to reduce the carbs and junk food from your kid’s daily meals and there’s even a FAQ written just for children.
Fat Head Dough Keto Calzones Recipe
Equipment
- Calzone press
Ingredients
Fat Head Dough
- 170 g shredded/grated cheese mozzarella is the best or Edam/mild cheese
- 85 g almond meal/flour
- 2 tbsp cream cheese
- 1 eggs – medium
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary/ garlic or other flavourings optional
Calzone Filling
- 150 g spaghetti bolognese (leftovers)
- 50 g shredded/grated cheese mozzarella is the best
Instructions
Fat head Dough
- Mix the shredded/grated cheese and almond flour/meal in a microwaveable bowl. Add the cream cheese. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute.
- Stir then microwave on HIGH for another 30 seconds.
- Add the egg, salt, rosemary and any other flavourings, mix gently.
- Place the dough in between 2 pieces of baking parchment/paper and roll out as shown in the pictures above.
Calzones
- Remove the top piece of paper. Cut the Fat Head dough into circle shapes using a glass tumbler or mug.
- Place the circle of dough into the calzone press. Place 1 or 2 teaspoons of spaghetti bolognese into the centre, add some grated/shredded cheese, then close the calzone press gently. After the first calzone, you will know whether to add more or less to the calzones. Each calzone press is slightly different.
- Place each meat and cheese filled calzone on a lined baking dish, bake at 180C/350F for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
Notes
- Fat Head pastry can also be made by replacing the almond meal/flour with 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) coconut flour.
- If the mixture hardens and becomes difficult to work with, pop it back in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften again but not too long or you will cook the egg.
- If you do not have a microwave, you can gently melt the cheeses together in a saucepan.
Nutrition
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Oh my goodness, these look good!!! I have followed Tom Naughton, aka Fathead, now for well over 8 years! His movie was the “lightbulb” moment that made me realise about the effect of insulin and carbs.
Love that man! Have you seen his talks aboard the low-carb cruise? Genius.
Yes.. but my favourite talk of his was the “Wisdom of the Crowd” speech. Gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzPnnDDCIjo
Yes, this is brilliant!
Didn’t work for me…the dough just fell apart when I tried to fold it…any ideas?
It appears like you may have to add some extra almond flour/meal to make it a little more sturdy.
It may be your dough was too thin, if it tore? I had better luck by wiping the dough press clean of residue after each, and best results using my hands to shape it instead. Delicious! I used leftover meat sauce from Zoodles Bolognese.
Mine crumbled apart too. This is THE WORST fathead dough recipe I’ve ever tried. The issue isn’t “not enough almond meal/flour”, the issue is too much almond meal/flour.
I even forgot the egg in the pastry (LOL was too excited Ive been waiting to make these forever!). Even without the egg, these are DELICIOUS – one of the best Keto recipes Ive found. I had to stop my husband from eating them all! Definitely a double batch next time – how do they freeze?
Love these, as it’s hard to think of low carb lunch box additions for the kids.
Hi … made this today using coconut flour and tasty cheese as I didn’t have mozzarella cheese. Used my leftover chicken cocunut curry as a filling. Ate half for lunch with 50 grams of salad and olive oil, rock salt and lemon dressing. As i am posting this I can hardly move it was so filling. Not sure if will be having much for dinner!! Thanks for another great recipe
Brilliant Mary! I love reading this. It’s such a great recipe for utilising leftovers, and as you found out, so incredibly filling.
Amazing dough recipe my son devoured all of these! Seems like I need to make these all the time! Fantastic!!
Can I use fresh rosemary instead of dried? I have a huge bush! I can wait to try this.
YES!!! I love using fresh rosemary from my herb garden. There is nothing quite like it 🙂
How well does the fathead dough freeze?
It freezes well after it has been cooked. Don’t freeze the uncooked dough.
Can i replace the almond flour with golden flaxseed flour for the fat head dough? I don’t like the texture of almond flour
Hi I am new to keto and I really want to make these, but I don’t have a press. Any suggestions?
You can make these by hand. Just cut out a circle of Fat Head dough as shown, place the filling in the centre, then fold the dough/pastry over the filling and squeeze the edges together with your finger tips.
What a great pizza base, I just made the Fat Head base and it was a delicious, sturdy, thin & crusty. Great recipe – apart from the huge amount of calories but every now and again perfect for my keto diet. Thanks so much!
I made the recipe with the exact amount that calls for 12 servings and I barely even got 5 tiny calzones out of it. exactly how big are the ones your making with that press? i was hoping to use the recipe to make large enough sized ones for the work week
They are quite small – instant portion control. I use this a small press (you can see it in my Amazon keto store). They are a similar size to dumplings.
We love these but I find I can’t get much filling inside them, that the dough tears open when they’re barely full. Any tips?
You are correct, they don’t need much filling. I would expect a couple of teaspoons at most. They are bite-sized yumminess.
I followed the recipe exactly as written, weighing the almond flour and cheese for precision… and this recipe was a quick, easy, delicious hit! Admittedly, I overstuffed and under-crimped, so probably half of my cheese oozed out during cooking, but I happen to love oozy cheese, and I’ve already ordered a mini dumpling press for next time! The only deviation I made was to add a big pinch of dry active yeast to try to amp up the “doughy” flavor since I’m trying to convert my pizza-loving boyfriend to keto, and we both enjoyed every bite.
This is great MJ. I love how many deviations, overstuffing, lack of crimping or other things occurred when you made the calzones, yet they still turned out great and you still loved them. Thank you for the 5-star review!
I’m new to using parchment paper. Every time I have tried to use it I always have the dough stick to it. Then I’m trying to scrape it off the paper. What am I doing wrong?
Some people find wetting the paper first helps to prevent the Fat Head dough from sticking to the baking parchment.
FYI, the underside of your typical calzone or pastry press is a cutter. Perfect size for the press.
Hi I am wondering about using a different cream cheese to Philadelphia. Would cottage cheese work or home-made sour cream perhaps?
This looks so good. I have a lot of fresh mozzarella and all kinds of other cheeses other than shredded/low moisture mozzarella because I’m on keto diet . Can I use the fresh mozzarella for the dough instead of the shredded mozzarella? Will it melt in the microwave?
You can use fresh mozzarella but you may need to use additional almond flour (or coconut flour if you are making the coconut flour version as per recipe notes). Pay close attention to how much moisture is in your final dough because the pre-shredded mozzarella is usually much drier than fresh mozzarella. Ensure you pat dry the fresh mozzarella (as it is usually stored in liquid), and adjust the amount of flour you add accordingly.
Hardest fathead dough I have worked with, all it did was break even before filling, just ended up making a full size calzone, will definitely try the concept again just with the dough I am use to!
Hey there Ajay, I’m not sure why this Fat Head dough recipe is any different to the Fat Head you are used to, they are all the same standard Fat Head recipe. I wonder if you have used the correct cheese? It has to be pre-shredded mozzarella. Top Tip: You can always pop the dough in the fridge for a while so the dough firms enough to roll out if you are having trouble.
The only comment I had was that the edges were not sticking and, when you are trying to stick the edges, the other parts seem to tear. So I had to abandon the whole process.