I must admit, I used to be QUITE the Taco Bell fan. I ate every new taco, burrito, gordita, chalupa, you name it that they came out with. What can I say…MSG can make you fall in love with anything. Literally. When I became a teenager and started to care more about what was actually in my food (which led to my vegetarianism eventually), there was no way I could bring myself to walk into Taco Bell again. But since turning my back on the Bell, I have missed my absolute favorite menu item so much.
The Mexican Pizza.
I don’t know what genius came up with this idea, but I thank them. It’s brilliant. If you want to have the deliciousness without simultaneously eating “meat product” and sand (yes, there’s sand in there for real), you’ve got to try this.
Mexican Pizza
by
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 1 c. refried beans
- 3/4 lb. ground beef, browned with a package of taco seasoning
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced finely
- 2/3 c. shredded cheese (I used a blend of cheddar and monterrey jack)
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 1/3 c. enchilada sauce
- 4 whole wheat tortillas
- 1 T. Earth Balance (or butter)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a hot skillet or griddle with buttery spread and fry the tortillas, flipping frequently so they don’t burn. You want them to get nice and crispy. Remove fried tortillas to a plate.
Heat refried beans either over the stovetop or in the microwave.
Place one tortilla onto a cookie sheet and spread 1/2 c. refried beans onto it.
Sprinkle the ground beef over the beans.
Place a second tortilla over the beans and meat.
Spread about 3 T. of enchilada sauce evenly on top of the tortilla.
Sprinkle half of the diced tomatoes on top of the sauce.
Next sprinkle half of the cheese.
Then the green onions!
Repeat the layering steps for the second pizza, then place the cookie sheet into the preheated oven and cook about 8 minutes, just until the cheese is well melted.
Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate, and enjoy!
To keep it vegetarian, you could either just use beans or add veggies like peppers and onions in place of the meat. But we enjoyed ours with some freshly ground 100% beef chuck from Fresh Market (it’s 2.99/lb. on Tuesdays, check it out!), which feels a heck of a lot better than Taco Bell’s “meat filling” whose percentage of meat is currently being debated (they claim it’s 88%…which is still gross). Real food always wins!
Thanks for reading!
-Lauren
22 Responses
Monique
I’m loving it, Lauren! Super simple 🙂 I miss eating chalupas too lol I tried to make one but it was a major FAIL. lol Maybe I will try it out again.
Lauren
Oh yes…chalupas were definitely on my list of favorites! You should try again, a homemade chalupa sounds delicious!
Emily
um… yum. I am very glad lent is over. I am making this this weekend. What are your thoughts on baking the tortillas to begin with? not “frying” them. would they dry out too much?
Lauren
I don’t know, I’ve never tried it! But I feel like it could work. If you’re worried about the butter part of the frying then you could use canola oil spray instead, I’ve done that before and it comes out really well!
Jessica
YUM!!! In high school I loved Mexican pizzas – and those curly cinnamon crisps, too (although I never want to know what was in them). And nachos, with that florescent orange sauce – the best. Since I don’t eat red meat I’m going to try this with ground turkey. This is brilliant – thanks!
Lauren
I love those cinnamon things too! Great idea to use ground turkey, that will be delicious!
Lindsay @ The Lean Green Bean
tbell was the ONLY fast food restaurant we had on campus in college. it was in the basement of our union and i pretty much lived on their quesadillas
Lauren
Haha oh MAN, that would have been trouble for me in college!
Wil Harris
Wow, thanks for sharing this. It looks so good and easy to do!
Jen@FoodFamilyFitness
My gosh, you may be my new bestie! This looks a million times better than the Taco Bell version!
Lauren
Haha I love new best friends, you can never have too many! 😀
Miranda @ Biting Life
Wow! I can’t believe how much like the original this looks. But it’s probably a LOT healthier, haha. Can’t wait to try it out! Maybe I can even get my dad to stop ordering the real thing if I get him to try one of these 😉
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious
A homemade version of Taco Bell’s mexican pizza made with 100% beef? YES! You should put Taco Bell out of business and sell these bad boys.
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Brandy
I found your photo on Foodgawker and decided to give it a try this week. I’ve made mexican pizzas before, but it’s been a long while and I didn’t make them quite like you did. Anyway, they turned out great!!! The only thing I did differently was use white tortillas (instead of whole wheat…guilty pleasure, I know!) and I added black olives along with the tomatoes and scallions. Thank you for the recipe! My whole family loved it!
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Allee
My husband is OBSESSED with Taco Bell (which kind makes me gag, even though I love Mexican…). Tonight, he left me in charge of managing “Taco Tuesday” and I will definitely be making these! (Mexican pizzas are his fav!) Thanks so much for sharing and I will likely be linking this recipe from your site as a recommendation on my fashion and fitness blog, which you can jump straight to at blog.heartsoulbodyrock.com.
Stephanie
Mmmmmmm. I rarely make the same meal twice, but this one is Gooooooood. I feel like there was more meat than necessary. I cut it down to 2/3 lb and it was still too much, I would likely cut it down to 1/2 lb next time.
glasvezelbehang
Greetings from Florida! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the knowledge you provide here and can’t
wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile .. I’m
not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, good blog!
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[…] Recipe: http://adashofsoul.com/2012/04/19/taco-bell-style-mexican-pizza/ […]
Roy
Great website! Ok, so I’ve basically never cooked before (except BBQ) but I saw this recipe and I had to try it. I hope it goes well. Thanks!
Lauren @ Dash of Soul
Thank you! I hope you liked it! 🙂