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Skip the drive-thru and make Taco Bell Mexican Pizza at home, with layers of crispy flour tortilla, seasoned ground beef, and refried beans, all topped with your favorite taco toppings.
It’s a simple, kid-friendly dinner that’s way better than the original! If you’ve ever been a fan of Taco Bell Mexican Pizza, you need to try this recipe!
Why I Love This Recipe
- Restaurant favorite at home – Save money and time by making some of your favorite take-out and restaurant favorites at home, like Olive Garden’s Chicken Gnocchi Soup or Cheesecake Factory Brown Bread.
- Simple recipe – It’s like making a double-decker tostada!
- Easy to customize – If you are a fan of the original, make this recipe as is. But if you want to go meatless, leave that out. Don’t like olives? Leave them off.
Ingredients For Mexican Pizza
The Mexican Pizza is a unique fusion of two of the most popular foods on the planet – tacos and pizza! Made popular by Taco Bell in the late 1980s, it was one of my favorite items on the menu. In fact, it still is!
The original Taco Bell Mexican Pizza recipe had 8 delicious layers:
- Crispy flour tortilla – I like to bake these in the oven to get them crispy, but you can fry the tortilla if you prefer. Each pizza uses 2 small flour tortillas.
- Refried beans – I highly recommend making refried beans from scratch. They have a great, fresh flavor and they are really easy!
- Seasoned ground beef – This is basically just ground beef taco meat, so feel free to use your own recipe, or use the simple one I included in the recipe card.
- Enchilada sauce – To spread on top of the pizza. Canned or your own favorite recipe.
- Shredded cheese – I like a blend of Cheddar cheese and Jack cheese for optimum meltablility, but you can use your own favorite. Grate your own, fresh off the block. The pre-shredded cheeses are coated with an anti-caking agent that prevents proper melting.
- Sliced green onions and sliced black olives – Did you know that Taco Bell used to include these on their Mexican Pizza? It’s true! Taco Bell removed the olives at some point and the green onions were removed in 2006 due to an E.coli outbreak. Even though the outbreak was under control within a few months, they decided to leave them off the famous pizza.
How To Make Mexican Pizza
This recipe will make about 4 pizzas, but it’s very versatile and you can easily play around with the ingredients and the amounts.
- Bake tortillas in the oven to get them nice and crispy. You can use flour (preferred, and used in the original recipe) or corn tortillas.
- Heat refried beans in a saucepan on the stove.
- Cook ground beef with taco seasoning and water to form a thick sauce.
- To assemble, spread beans on one tortilla, then top with some ground beef. Top with the other tortilla and spread enchilada sauce on top. Top with cheese, olives, and green onions. Bake until the ingredients are hot and the cheese is melted.
FAQs
Currently, they list on their website that they use crispy flour tortillas. However, you can use either one to make your pizza.
This recipe is best enjoyed fresh. You can store them in the fridge but keep in mind that the tortillas will be soggy pretty quickly.
While the finished product is best enjoyed fresh, you can prep the ingredients like grating cheese, chopping veggies, cooking the ground beef and even baking the tortillas up to a day in advance.
Baked tortillas should be left at room temperature in a storage bag, while other prepped ingredients should be refrigerated.
Serving Suggestions
Mexican Pizza is an easy meal on its own, but you can make it even better by adding a few sides. We like to include Mexican Rice and a simple Black Bean and Corn Salad.
More Mexican Recipes
Planning a fiesta of your own? We make Mexican food at home at least once a week, from Ground Beef Tacos to Slow Cooker Carnitas to Mexican Chicken Casserole.
If you want some delicious authentic and Mexican-inspired recipes, you’ve got to try our Instant Pot Barbacoa, Shrimp Ceviche, and Chicken Tortilla Soup.
My husband swears by my famous homemade Guacamole and my kids rave about my Homemade Taquitos. Don’t forget the Margaritas!
Or, you can check out all of our favorite Mexican recipes in one place.
Homemade Mexican Pizza
Ingredients
- 8 flour tortillas soft taco or fajita size
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning or a 1 ounce packet.
- 1/2 cup water
- 15 ounces Refried beans about 2 cups
- 1-2 tablespoons milk optional
- 15 ounces red enchilada sauce
- Freshly grated cheddar cheese
- Freshly grated jack cheese
- 2 Roma tomatoes diced
- 1/4 cups sliced black olives drained
- 2 green onions thinly sliced
- Other optional toppings: Sour cream, cilantro, avocado, guacamole, sliced jalapenos
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Divide the 8 flour tortillas onto baking sheets and bake for 5 minutes. Using tongs or a spatula, flip each tortilla over and bake 5 minutes more until crispy. Remove from the oven and set aside. *Watch closely – they will burn quickly.
- Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up into very small pieces with a spatula, until no longer pink. Add taco seasoning and water and bring to a simmer, then simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- In a small saucepan, heat refried beans with 1-2 tablespoons of milk (optional, but helps to make the beans nice and creamy).
- Prepare the Mexican pizzas on the foil lined baking sheets. Set out one tortilla and spread a thin layer of the beans evenly on top. Add about â…“ of the meat mixture, spreading evenly, then top with a second tortilla. Spread a few tablespoons of enchilada sauce on top, then add diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, sliced olives and green onions. Repeat for the remaining 3 pizzas.
- Bake the pizzas in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Make these all the time! A fBy amily favorite! Mexican pizzas for sure! YUMMY!!! GREAT RECIPE!
By the way, Chalupas are made by shaping masa dough into the shape of a boat and frying it. The dough is kinda like a flatbread, way thicker than a flour tortilla but yes very delicious as well!
We call these chalupas not pizzas.
I’ve always seen chalupas as tacos with a thick shell. We call these Mexican Pizzas 🙂
Very tasty! Enjoyed every crunchy bite. I didn’t have any cayenne pepper so substituted with black pepper. Quick and easy. Thanks!
Your are so welcome Arpita Patel!