Turn Taco Tuesday on its head with this easy Taco Pizza! If you haven’t tried it, you are totally missing out! It’s a picky eater’s favorite!
It’s a taco. It’s a pizza. It’s the best of everything you love about both! Featuring a super-easy homemade pizza crust topped with Mexican-seasoned ground beef, melty cheddar cheese, salsa, and refried beans with fresh toppings like lettuce, onion, and tomato! This tantalizing Taco Pizza is fast, fresh, filling, and oh-so-fabulous!
Tacos…on a Pizza Crust?
Come on – we make taco soup, taco salad, taco egg rolls, taco mac & cheese, taco dip – so why not taco pizza? It’s healthy (but who notices?) It’s hearty (loaded with protein and fiber). But mostly, it’s heavenly! Every single bite is topped with taco fillings on a tasty pizza crust!
You’ll definitely want to add this to your menu rotation. The only problem is: When? Friday Pizza Nights? Or Taco Tuesdays?
Other Recipes that go with Taco Pizza
- Our Roasted Tomatillo Salsa recipe will knock your socks off! Perfect with tortilla chips, taco pizza or really anything Mexican!
- This tasty Taco Seasoning is lightly spicy and spectacular for seasoning ground beef!
Ingredients
Pizza Crust: We’re making our homemade Easy Peasy Pizza Crust to serve as the base for this pizza – it’s fantastic and takes only a few minutes to prepare. But you can also use a store-bought crust, pizza dough, or even crescent rolls.
Sauce: Refried beans (or even refried black beans) mixed with a little of your favorite salsa will serve as a substitute for traditional pizza sauce here. This makes a great foundation for the other toppings, and it’s loaded with fiber!
Warm Toppings: Cooked, seasoned ground beef and cheddar cheese pair perfectly with the beans for the ultimate taco experience!
Seasoning: Traditional Mexican seasonings are a must – garlic powder, cumin, coriander, salt & pepper work great! You could also use your favorite homemade or packaged taco seasoning.
Fresh Toppings: Finish your Mexican pizza with your favorite taco toppings! We’re using diced purple onion, tomato, and shredded lettuce. You could also add scallions, cilantro, avocado, jalapenos, crumbled cotija cheese, roasted salsa, and more!
How to Make Homemade Taco Pizza
STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Make your pizza dough and roll it out to a 12-inch circle. Brush it all over with one tablespoon of olive oil and bake for 10 minutes.
STEP TWO: While the dough is baking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and coriander. Cook the beef until it’s browned through, breaking it up as it cooks.
STEP THREE: Heat the beans according to the package directions. Spread the refried beans on the cooked crust as you would pizza sauce, leaving about an inch of crust open around the perimeter. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of cheese over the beans.
STEP FOUR: Add the cooked ground beef over the cheese. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the meat. Bake in the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes.
STEP FIVE: Chop the onions, tomato, and lettuce. When the pizza comes out of the oven, slice it, then top it with the fresh veggies and serve! (Or you can top, THEN slice.) This crowd-pleaser is going to disappear fast!
Tips for Success
- If you can’t find the zesty flavored beans, heat regular fried beans and then mix them with 1/4 cup of your favorite salsa. You can also substitute regular refried beans if you prefer.
- If you don’t like refried beans, try sour cream or softened cream cheese mixed with salsa instead as a taco pizza “sauce”.
- Sometimes my pizza becomes too heavy, and I can’t fit all the taco meat on it. That’s okay. Save the rest for quesadillas or to put on a salad the next day.
- Grating the cheese yourself takes only a few minutes, but it makes a huge difference in taste and texture.
- Buying a package of shredded lettuce makes this recipe EXTRA easy!
- No time for making a homemade dough for the crust? No problem – just use a store-bought crust or pizza dough. You can usually buy dough at your local pizzeria, too! In a pinch, you can even get away with canned crescent roll dough.
What Toppings Go on a Taco Pizza?
The best Mexican Pizza recipe uses whatever toppings you like! The “pizza sauce” for a taco pizza is a combination of refried beans and salsa – regular, roasted, or tomatillo! You can use ground beef, rotisserie chicken, or even boiled shrimp. And you can top it off with cheddar cheese, Mexican cheese, cotija, or a drizzle of queso! As for the veggies: Onion, lettuce, and tomato are classic – add them cold on top of the hot pizza. Other toppings could include jalapenos, black beans, green chiles, sour cream, guacamole, black olives, or even crumbled tortilla chips. YUM!
Can You Make Taco Pizza in Advance?
Absolutely! The best way to prep this pizza ahead of time is to make the dough and do the first bake. Next, spread on the refried bean “sauce” along with the cheddar cheese and cooked beef. You can even chop up the veggies and place them in individual baggies. This works especially well if you’re making several pizzas for a party! When it’s time to eat, simply pop the pizzas into the preheated oven. Add an extra minute or two for cooking, as everything is cold, then toss the cold veggies onto the hot pizzas. Slice and serve to lots of happy people!
Other Tasty, Non-Traditional Taco Recipes!
*This post originally posted on 01/05/2014.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Easy Peasy Pizza Dough
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 16 ounces zesty salsa refried beans (see note)
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- Lettuce shredded
- Tomato cored and diced
- Red onion peeled and diced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-inch circle. Place the pizza dough onto a baking sheet and brush all over with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Then remove the pizza crust from the oven and set it aside.
- While the pizza cooks, heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and coriander. Cook until the beef is browned through, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
- Heat the refried beans according to the package directions. Then, spread the beans over the pizza crust, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge.
- Sprinkle 1 ½ cups of cheese over the beans. Then top with the ground beef, spreading it evenly over the cheese. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the beef.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted.
- Remove the pizza from the oven. Top with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and any of your other favorite taco toppings. Cut into 6 slices and enjoy warm!
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