Air fryer ham and cheese pockets
Golden, flaky pockets stuffed with ham and gooey cheddar, like the freezer-aisle kind but better, and they freeze for easy lunches.
- 40 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.97 a serving
- 480 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 package pizza dough
- 6 oz sliced deli ham
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
Each serving has about 480 calories, 23 g protein, 55 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $1.97 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Dust the counter with the flour, unroll the dough and stretch it into a rectangle about 12 by 16 inches. Cut it into 8 equal pieces.
Divide the ham and cheese between 4 of the pieces, leaving a ½-inch border all around.
Lay the other 4 pieces on top and press the edges together firmly with a fork to seal.
Dolly’s tip: Seal every edge well, or the cheese finds the gap and leaks out.Poke 2 small holes in each top with the fork so steam can escape, and brush them with the butter.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
the air fryer to 350°F. Cook 2 pockets at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping halfway, until deep on both sides.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: Press the bottom with a fork. If it feels doughy, give it 2 more minutes.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Cook the other 2 the same way, then let them cool 5 minutes before biting in.
Timer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: To freeze, cool them completely, wrap each one and freeze up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes, or pack one frozen next to an ice pack and microwave it for 1 minute at lunch.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
