Trying to eat healthily isn’t easy when you need convenience. Make hot pockets at home for a quick meal on the go without processed foods.
Jump to RecipeFor the last few years now, we have been trying to eat healthier and be careful about how many processed foods we buy and consume. There are some foods, though, that are convenient to have around. We have started to try making some of them at home. This time, we decided to try to make some hot pockets at home.
I haven’t had any of the store-bought ones for a long time, but it just sounded good. I’ve always liked the ones that are filled with ham and cheese, so of course, that was one that I made. And the pizza ones always had pepperoni in them, which I don’t like. So I wanted to make my own cheese pizza hot pocket while we were at it.
Since we had enough dough to make 4 different hot pockets, Justin picked the other ones. He recently bought some salami to make sandwiches, so requested a salami and cheese one, and a breakfast one.
The first time, I tried to make them the traditional rectangular shape. They tasted good, but it didn’t work as well. When we made them again, I braided them in the same way as the Cheesy Chicken and Stromboli Ring. It took a bit more work, but they looked so much nicer. They also cooked better and tasted better because the dough was thicker.
Homemade Hot Pockets Step by Step
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 3/8 cup water
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 cup fillings
Preparation
For the homemade hot pockets, I started by making the dough that I use for making Homemade Pizza in the Bread Machine. I love making this dough because it’s really easy to make, and I always have the ingredients on hand. It takes an hour and a half for the dough. But you just have to add the ingredients, set the bread machine, and let it do its thing.
When the dough is almost done cooking, prepare your ingredients. Depending on the flavor you want, this may mean cooking sausage or shredding cheese.
Once the dough is finished cooking, roll the dough out on a floured surface. Cut the dough into quarters. Preheat the oven to 350F.
For each hot pocket, place about 1/4 of the fillings down the center of the dough.
Use a pizza cutter to slice diagonal cuts into the dough at regular intervals. I find about 1/2″ works best.
Cut the top and bottom off. Fold those over, then make the braid. Start by grabbing the end of the top piece and folding it over until it meets with the second on the other side. Repeat with the top piece on the opposite side.
Continue this pattern until you reach the bottom. Tuck the bottom two pieces around the bottom.
Carefully move the hot pockets to a baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the egg and water. Use a pastry brush to coat the dough. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the dough is golden brown.
Breakfast Hot Pocket
For a breakfast hot pocket, you obviously want breakfast foods. We use breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese. If you prefer ham for breakfast, you can use that instead of sausage.
CLICK HERE for the full recipe.
Ham and Cheese Hot Pocket
A classic for lunch, ham and cheese is a very straightforward sandwich. Turn that into a delicious hot pocket by using chopped ham and cheddar cheese. Or, if you don’t like cheddar, you can change the cheese to something else.
CLICK HERE for the full recipe.
Pizza Hot Pocket
A pizza hot pocket is my personal favorite. I fill this with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and sometimes add ricotta cheese. When Justin makes it, he adds pepperoni and other typical pizza toppings.
CLICK HERE for the full recipe.
Salami and Cheese Hot Pocket
This is Justin’s favorite version of the hot pockets. He uses deli salami and Italian-blend cheese to make his hot pocket. It’s similar to getting an Italian sandwich. Of course, since these are customizable, you can add other meats to yours as well.
CLICK HERE for the full recipe.
Recipe
Originally Published On: April 1, 2018
Last Updated On: July 24, 2023
Homemade Hot Pockets 4 Ways
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 3/8 cup water
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 cup fillings
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Add all dough ingredients to bread machine and set to dough (prep time includes 90 minutes for machine to make dough)
- Prepare the fillings by cooking anything needed, shredding cheese, and tearing up deli meat
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Roll dough out on floured work surface to about 1/8-1/4 inch thickness
- Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into quarters
- Add the fillings to the center of the dough
- Cut the dough in diagonals on either side and fold over to form a braid
- Whisk the egg and water together to form an egg wash and brush the dough
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the dough is golden brown
Notes
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
I haven’t had a hot pocket in awhile. I hate making bread because yeast and I never get along but maybe I need to try again. These look good and hot pockets offer endless possibilities.
I’ve only ever made bread with yeast in it, but I’m sure there are alternatives as well. You would need just any type of dough for these plus whatever fillings you want.
These look delicious, I think even my son would eat ond! I wish I knew to make dough, but I think I could try this with crescent rolls or pie crust.
I’ve never tried anything like this with pie crust, but I’m sure it would work well with crescent rolls or a refrigerated pizza crust!
My husband would love these! I hate buying hot pockets or things like it but making it myself so I could be aware of the ingredients would be fantastic!
That is exactly why I like making them myself as well! We have been trying to really cut out processed foods the last few years.
This is exactly the kind of after school snack my kids enjoy. I can’t wait to make these myself so I know exactly what the ingredients are!
They are perfect for after school! We had them for dinner, lunch, and snacks at our house!
Yummmm! I havent had hot pockets in forever! When i was a kid i LOVED ham hot pockets. The salami one looks delicious too, btw!
Same here! I can’t even remember the last time I had one and it sounded so good. So we decided to make our own.
Oh yum, these all look amazing! The pizza one really made me want to try this out! Probably way better for you than the frozen ones too!
Oh my gosh, so much better! And I think they had more flavor as well. I never had the pizza frozen ones because they always have pepperoni and I don’t like pepperoni. Another reason I love making things like this for myself!
Homemade hot pockets. Yum! These look so delicious!
April
Thank you, they were so yummy!
I think I would love to try any of those ways when it comes to this dish. It does look so incredibly delicious. And I think it would be great to do something like this with my daughter because it would be so fun.
It’s definitely a recipe that’s fun to cook together. You can both choose your own fillings and experiment together with it all.
These look so great and I love the idea of doing them four ways! So creative. Definitely saving to make on the weekend x
There are so many different flavor combinations you could try! These were just the 4 that we decided to try based on our tastes and what we had at home. I hope you enjoy!!
Hot Pockets are one of our favorite go-tos for lunches. These look like they would be so amazing to make and have as a homemade version.
My boys loved them for both lunch and snacks! They are perfect to cut up and save for later for a much healthier option that you can customize to your individual tastes.
Uhmm. Looks yummy and so easy to do. Should I be trying out this recipe? Thanks for sharing it. Hope I can do it.
They are fairly easy to make, and create a lot so you can have leftovers for the next day as well!
Great ideas. My sons love hot pockets. The store bought ones are not too tasty to me and w these I can Add veggies to it.
Yes, that’s the great thing about making your own, you can add in (or remove) anything you like to make it your own.
No sugar in a yeast recipe should have been the clue that this recipe wouldn’t work! I made it exactly a recipe is written and yeap this recipe turned out horrible!
I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for you! I wrote this out exactly as we made it, including no sugar, and they worked out well for us. I plan to make them again soon so I will take a close look at the recipe and see if it needs to be tweaked.
I made this dough recipe again recently, and it still turned out fine for us. The dough won’t have a lot of flavor, but it shouldn’t taste bad, either. If you let me know why you found it horrible I can try to help troubleshoot.
These look so good! This is a recipe that I can start and the kids can customize how they like. We might have to have a hot pocket making party!
That’s exactly what we ended up doing! My boys helped with rolling out the dough then chose their own fillings.
Wow! These are all mouth-watering dishes. I’ll take a look at the links to more recipes.
They make a great dinner or make-ahead to have a quick breakfast or lunch.
The pizza hot pocket would definetely be my choice. Its really the stuff pregnancy cravings are made of!
I couldn’t agree more! I craved pizza so much during my pregnancies!
These all look so good! My husband likes hot pockets, but they are so unhealthy, so I am going to try to make him these.
This definitely takes a bit more work than pulling one out of the freezer and heating. But you can make them exactly how you want and much healthier, too.
I havent ate a homemade pocket like that before. Definitely, would love to try soon. Thank you for sharing it.
They are such a great option to make ahead and grab for a quick meal. I hope you give it a try!
I love that you created so many different flavors. I would love to even create a fun smores one with your dough recipe.
Oh man, that sounds amazing! I am definitely going to play with some dessert ones next time now, what a great idea!
These sound and look delicious. Admittedly, they sound to take more pertinence in the kitchen than I have.
They take a little practice, but you don’t have to do the braiding on the dough. You could always fold it over calzone-style for something easier.
It’s very interesting how many homemade hot pockets we can prepare! I would love to make those 4 ways, they are not just delicious but easy to prepare.
Yes, and these are only the 4 options we tried. You could put almost anything in them.
Love how you’ve come up with so many different ways to do these! Great ideas we’ll definitely have to give a try one of these weekends…
It’s a perfect recipe to try on the weekend and have ready for a quick breakfast or lunch during the week.
I used to be so tempted of buying processed foods so much now i have learned to cut back on it. It was tempting because it was so convenient to just pop on the microwave and you already have something to eat especially after a long day when you dont want to cook anymore. But I realized in order to feed our body the right thing we have to really make an effort. I love love love this super easy homemade twist to the ready to eat Hot Pockets!
You are so right, the food we put in our body makes such a difference in our overall health. You can make these on the weekend and have them ready for that quick dinner to reheat and eat.
These homemade hot pockets are amazing! I am circling back around to let you know my kids just LOVE them!!!
Thank you so much, Angela! I’m so glad your kids love them 🙂
Oh my goshhhh!! I cannot. These look amazing and I’m 100% drooling right now. Sending this to my husband so he can make them. 😂😂
It’s such a great option for a quick breakfast or lunch ready to go when you need it!