Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza

Do you remember when Taco Bell discontinued its Mexican pizza? I certainly do, because it was my favorite menu item! This layered tortilla dish offered a fun change of pace from tacos and burritos, packing all those familiar flavors into a meal that ate like an open-faced quesadilla. The fast-food restaurant eventually brought the dish back, but you better believe that I learned how to make a few Taco Bell copycat recipes—just in case they were gone forever.

Our copycat Taco Bell Mexican pizza layers flour tortillas with saucy ground beef, refried beans, tangy taco sauce and a blend of Mexican cheeses. Baked in the oven or the air fryer, the edges crisp up while the center stays nice and soft. And since you’re making it from scratch, you can customize your order however you like. Feel free to create a vegetarian version and leave out the ground beef, or pile the pizza high with your favorite taco toppings.

How to Make Mexican Pizza

This Mexican pizza recipe comes together in three easy steps: Prepare the beefy filling, layer the pizzas and bake until warm and bubbly. You can bake your Mexican pizza in a 350°F oven or air-fry it at 300°.

This recipe makes four pizzas, but you don’t have to make them all at once. The ground beef mixture and the canned refried beans last in the fridge for up to four days. Store the components in separate containers until you’re ready to eat. Then, build the pizza and enjoy a fresh, homemade Mexican pizza whenever you’re ready to eat.

Ingredients for Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza

• Ground beef mixture: We make a saucy filling for Mexican pizza with ground beef, tomato sauce, kidney beans and taco seasoning (store-bought or homemade taco seasoning mix). Ground sirloin is a great option because it’s not as greasy as 80/20 ground beef, but feel free to use what you have on hand.
• Flour tortillas: The 8-inch flour tortillas are a nice size for Mexican pizzas. If you’re using the air fryer, make sure the 8-inch tortillas fit in the air-fryer basket (and use a smaller tortilla if they don’t).
• Refried beans: Use canned beans, or give a go at making home-style refried beans.
• Taco sauce: Taco Bell calls this component “pizza sauce,” but we think it tastes a lot like their mild sauce. Customize the flavor with a homemade taco sauce, or use store-bought red enchilada sauce.
• Cheese: Taco Bell uses a three-cheese blend that’s rumored to contain mozzarella, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. A shredded Mexican cheese blend will get you pretty close to that combination.
• Optional garnishes: Finish the Mexican pizza with fresh garnishes like chopped green onions, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, black olives, guacamole and sour cream.

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the beef mixture

Taste Recipes

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large skillet, cook the beef over medium heat until no longer pink, seven to eight minutes, breaking the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Drain, and discard the grease. Stir in the tomato sauce, kidney beans, water and taco seasoning. Simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is slightly thickened, two to three minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Step 2: Layer the Mexican pizza

Taste Recipes

Place one tortilla on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread 1/3 cup refried beans over the tortilla to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Top with 1/2 cup meat mixture. Repeat the layers.

Editor’s Tip: We don’t add cheese inside the layers, but feel free to add some for an extra-cheesy experience.

Step 3: Top with cheese

Taste Recipes

Top the pizza with a third tortilla, and spread 3 tablespoons taco sauce over top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients to assemble four pizzas.

Step 4: Bake the Mexican pizzas

Taste Recipes

Bake until browned and bubbly, about 18 to 20 minutes. Serve with additional toppings, if desired.

How to Make Mexican Pizza in the Air Fryer

Preheat the air fryer to 300°. Assemble the pizzas as directed. In batches, place one pizza in the foil-lined air fryer. Cook until browned and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Recipe Variations

• Fry the tortillas: To make a crispy layered pizza, fry the tortillas in oil until crisp (similar to fried cinnamon strips, but leave the tortillas whole). Or bake them in the oven like this tortilla snack strips recipe. Once crisp, layer the pizza and bake as directed, adjusting the cook time as needed to avoid overbrowning the edges.
• Make it without kidney beans: Kidney beans add texture to the meat mixture and make the pizzas more filling. They’re not used in Taco Bell’s original recipe, so feel free to leave them out if they don’t appeal to you.
• Use another meat (or go meatless): Mexican pizza tastes great with any type of ground meat. Try lean ground turkey or chicken, or swap in flavorful ground pork or sausage. Or skip the meat for a meatless Mexican pizza.

How to Store Mexican Pizza

Mexican pizza tastes best right after cooking while the tortillas are still warm and crisp around the edges. That said, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. The tortillas will become soft in the fridge, so reheat them in the air fryer or oven instead of the microwave, which would only enhance the soggy texture.

Mexican Pizza Tips

Taste Recipes

What is Mexican pizza?

Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza is a stacked dish made by layering seasoned ground beef and refried beans between fried flour tortillas with tangy sauce and melty cheese on top. Unlike taco pizza, which uses pizza dough, Mexican pizza is made with tortillas as the pizza base. Stacking the tortillas makes it reminiscent of taco lasagna, except the pizza isn’t baked in a casserole dish. Instead, it’s presented as an individual pizza.

Should you use flour or corn tortillas to make Mexican pizza?

Taco Bell uses flour tortillas for their Mexican pizza, but you can easily substitute corn tortillas. To keep the corn tortillas from becoming soggy underneath the juicy filling, we recommend frying the tortillas in oil until crisp. Then, layer the pizzas as directed.