Ham and Cheese Hot Pocket Recipe for Kids

This homemade hot pocket recipe with ham and cheese is a kid-pleaser. You can make it in bulk and freeze it for several meals to save a ton of time. 

I use the pioneer woman’s pizza crust recipe for this because it’s perfect every time. She knows what’s up! Click here for the dough recipe. 

Conventional processed hot pockets that are available from the store are loaded with chemicals and additives that are not good for you or your kids.

I love knowing what I feed my kids is made from real food that is healthy and whole. These hot pockets are not only made with real food, but they are also less expensive than these store-bought ones. And the flavor, MAN, it’s great!

You can also use half whole wheat flour, or all whole wheat flour and meet the new requirement for whole grains. Click here to see how to navigate the new food program rules. 

I paid $36 for enough ham and cheese to make 72 homemade hot pockets.

With all ingredients tallied, my hot pockets cost $0.66 each to make. The store-bought ones are $2.89 for two, so one hot pocket is $1.44, for a savings of $0.78 per pocket.

You could use less expensive meat like ground beef or sausage or something and make them even cheaper. I needed a ham menu item for my new menu, so I’m sticking with ham. The ham was real ham I had sliced in the deli and the cheese was cheddar.

Easy hot pocket recipe

We are not allowed to serve lunch meat on the food program. The ham and the cheese were on sale though (of course, or I wouldn’t have purchased them) 

Click here to check out what’s actually IN store-bought hot pockets. It might make you change your mind about eating them. This picture below is from the article. Yuck! Even if you don’t have food allergies like me, it’s gross. Do you even know what this stuff is or what it does to your body? (Poster designed by Justin Pericone, click here for more info)

To do that, I made 4 batches of hot pockets and froze them in batches of 10 servings. I added enough ham and cheese to each hot pocket to make it a perfect serving for a 3-4-year-old. Each child needs 1 1/2 ounces of protein. I put an ounce of ham and a half-ounce of cheese on each pocket. 

Homemade hot pockets

Instead of using lunch meat, I bought a ham and had it sliced at the deli into slices, so my kids would be eating real meat and cheese. These turned out so much better than I expected and every kid loved them so they are a shoe-in for my new menu this year. 

Homemade Hot Pocket Dough

First, make up the dough for the homemade hot pocket and divide it into serving sizes. I used my kitchen aid mixer to whip mine up.  

Next, roll each piece out and top it with the filling. You could make pizza-flavored, taco flavored, use sausage, or whatever you think sounds good. I wanted ham and cheese for a different protein for my menu.

Once the pocket is filled, fold the other half of the dough over the top, and seal the edges. These pockets would look prettier with egg wash but I am dealing with an egg allergy, so I left it off. The taste and texture of this dough was outstanding on these pockets.

Once you have them all rolled and filled and sealed, then you just have to bake them. I baked them all before I froze them and I served a taste tester batch that won all thumbs up. 

Homemade Ham and Cheese Hot Pockets

Bulk freezer cooking

Homemade hot pockets aren’t the only kid pleasing recipe you can make in bulk for your kids, check out these bulk meatballs, bulk sausage balls, bulk empanadas, bulk bread.

For inspiration for more homemade make-ahead daycare freezer meals for your daycare, check out this post.

For even more make-ahead freezer meals that you can prepare ahead, check out this post.

Don’t forget to pin this post for later!