Mexican Pizza

Taco Bell or Del Taco? I remember being a teenager a long, long, long, long time ago, and you had to choose a side. I think I was always team Del Taco, but I did enjoy my faves from Taco Bell regularly too. I was a 90’s kid and I grew up on frozen meals and fast food mostly. That didn’t change as I got older, and if it weren’t for fast food and convenience meals, I probably wouldn’t have eaten through my teenage or early adult years.

Now that i’m a mom, and a much older and wiser adult with an incredibly diverse and sophisticated palette, (cough, cough, ahem!) I don’t frequent fast food joints often. Knowing how processed most fast food is, we tend to stick to a few faves that are not necessarily healthy, but less processed than others. Unfortunately, Taco Bell does not make that list.

I was surprised to hear Taco Bell was planning on phasing out their mexican pizzas. I was even more surprised to find out my husband had never had one! Houston, we have a problem, and a need for a practical solution. Thus, this recipe was born out of necessity. Clearly.

When I was creating this recipe, the ingredients seemed pretty obvious. Tortillas, beans, meat, enchilada sauce, cheese and tomatoes. Unfortunately, we were out of ground beef. I have a friend who recently told me about using walnut as a meat alternative and how easy it is to sub it out, and of course how delicious it is! So, it seemed like the perfect time to try it out. I’ll spare you the details for now, but it was easy, and in this application it was delicious, but I couldn’t get past the slight bite from the walnuts. So, I got rid of the meat altogether, and now we have a vegetarian Mexican pizza.

Your first step is to toast your tortillas. We do our best to choose gluten free whenever possible. I always have raw tortillas in my freezer that I buy from Costco. I simply separate them into stacks of 6 each (this is usually the amount we need for our family of 4, and then I separate the stacks with parchment and load them into a ziplock bag. I freeze this, and I am able to easily pull out what I need for one meal. They defrost quickly, and are ready for dinners in no time. However, I love siete almond flour tortillas, and occasionally I splurge on them. They are pricey, but the ingredients are clean, and of course gluten free. The siete tortillas end up having a much lighter, crisper texture than your traditional flour tortillas, although both work wonderfully here. I fyou’ve never tried siete brand tortillas, I strongly suggest you do so at least once.

So the first step is to dry toast those tortillas. It’s important that you keep an eye on them as they toast. I always try to multitask and prep ingredients while simultaneously toasting tortillas, and I always forget them and end up burning 1 or 2. About a minute and a half per side is all you need unless you are using raw tortillas. In that case, you will need to cook them an extra minute, minute and a half per side. Your looking for crispy but not warped. you want them to lay flat. Once the’re all toasted, you can set them aside until assembly time.

Beans are the next ingredient. I used canned black beans even though pintos are the original choice. Either can be prepared the same way and will make a great addition regardless of which one you choose. You want to drain and rinse the beans in a fine mesh strainer. Add to a fry pan along with stock or water, salt, garlic and onion powder. Once the ingredients start to simmer, mash with a potato masher or fork, and continue to cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and you are able to run a spoon along the bottom of the pan and the beans don’t immediately cover the spot. Once your beans are done, set aside until time to assemble.

Enchilada sauce is a must. You certainly could use your favorite canned or jarred sauce. I’m super big on quality, real food ingredients, so I usually like to make my own sauces and condiments, and enchilada sauce is no exception. it’s really very easy to make, and I was able to purchase all my chiles online through amazon, although they are easily found in grocery stores nowadays. I boil water, (just enough water to cover everything in the pan) and allow the chiles, onion and garlic to soak. They need about 10 mins. Then you transfer everything to a blender with a can of diced tomatoes and salt. This makes a larger batch of enchilada sauce than is needed, so I usually have another meal for the week that I can apply the leftover sauce, or I just freeze it for later use!

Lastly, prepare your toppings. We kept it simple and authentic (insert eye roll here) by chopping fresh tomatoes for the top. A sprinkling of cheese, we used cheddar but colby jack would be equally delicious, and these babies are ready for the broiler. Just a few minutes is all that is needed, as you are simply melting the cheese. Keep an eye to ensure they don’t burn. Always set a timer when broiling. I can’t tell you how many times i’ve forgotten food in the broiler to be reminded only when I smell the food burning! Cut up into fours and serve immediately.