Vegan Pizza Pockets

♫ Listening to: Take Me Over by Cut Copy ♫

Hot pockets were one of those foods my parents would never buy, which made me want them even more. When I got older, I had a calzone, which I thought was a huge hot pocket, but turned out to be filled with ricotta instead of mozzarella…gross! I somehow managed to make this mostly out of ingredients I bought from Costco (except for the yeast, which I always have at home because it stays good in the fridge for like ever and takes up a teeny tiny amount of room). You can also make lots of these and freeze them for future lunches. Reheat them in an oven, toaster oven, or an air fryer.

If you are a pizza fan, you might also like my other pizza recipes: pizza recipe 1, pizza recipe 2, and pizza recipe 3.

Vegan Pizza Dough Ingredients

• 5 ½ cups white flour (costco has organic unbleached)
• 2 cups warm water (between 95-110 degrees)
• 2 teaspoons organic, vegan, or raw sugar (costco has organic)*
• 1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast (you can sub instant yeast if that’s what you have)
• 1 tablespoon salt (costco has pink sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional, but costco has organic)

Vegan Pizza Dough Directions

Whisk the 1 ½ tablespoons yeast, 2 cups warm water, and 2 teaspoons sugar in large bowl. I use the bowl of my stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.

Add 3 cups of the flour. Mix well to blend.

Add the (optional) 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon pink sea salt , 1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional), 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional), and remaining flour and stir well.

Knead the dough for 5 minutes, either using your stand mixer or by hand on a flour covered board, adding flour if it gets too sticky (you’ll know if it’s too sticky because it won’t come off the sides of the mixing bowl).

Roll dough into a ball and place into a large lightly oiled bowl. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour to rise.

Vegan Pizza Sauce Ingredients

• 1 can organic tomato sauce (costco has this)*
• 1 can organic tomato paste (costco has this)*
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt

Vegan Pizza Sauce Directions

Mix everything together in a bowl.

Vegan Pizza Toppings

• sliced mushrooms (I like the baby portabellas from costco to get my vitamin D, but if you’re deficient in vitamin D like the majority of humans, try this vegan vitamin D )
• kale (costco has the huge bag of organic baby kale)
• spinach (costco has organic)
• vegan mozzarella cheese (costco has daiya)
• kalamata olives (I know traditionally people use black olives on pizza, but they’re made with lye. Ew. Costco has organic kalamata olives.)

Vegan Pizza Topping Directions

Divide risen dough in half and roll half into a thin crust. I use this rolling mat to make my pizza life and cleanup SO MUCH easier! Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter or knife.

Top with sauce and toppings. I have this handy pocket pie maker that I got during valentine’s day a few years ago, but you can just as easily use a fork to press the edges closed.

Place identical shape on top and press edges with a fork or your fingers.

Place as many as you can fit on a baking stone and bake for 12-13 minutes at 450º - 475º. Remove from oven and let cool.

Want to Try An Overnight Pizza Dough?

Reasons you might want to make your dough the night before:

• you’re hungry the second you get off work and don’t have a lot of time to make dinner
• you’re running low on yeast and don’t have 2 tablespoons to spare
• you don’t keep sugar in the house because you’re healthy (I have no idea how you found this blog…are you lost? haha)
• some other reason that I’d love to hear, so message me on IG

If you want to make the pizza dough recipe the night before, follow these steps.

Whisk the teaspoon of yeast, tablespoon of salt, and 4 cups of flour in large bowl.

Mix in 2 cups of water until you can longer see any flour.

Cover the bowl and set on the counter over night.

Add the last cup and a half of flour into the dough when you’re ready to start making your pizza dough the next day, as well as any optional ingredients.

Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, either using your stand mixer or by hand.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook, but I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to purchase all organic ingredients. Therefore, I only specify organic on the ingredients that really matter - when buying the organic (or non-GMO) version is the only way to ensure that the item is vegan.