I’ve been driving by the “take and bake pizza shop” advertising Taco Pizza each night on my way home from work for the last few weeks (hungry at the end of a long day). We’re not crazy about some of the ingredients in the ready made or ready to bake pizzas, so I decided to make my own version of Taco Pizza and it turned out pretty tasty!
For the crust, I used Easy Artisan Bread dough, although I think Fast and Easy Biscuits would make a tasty crust too. When using the bread dough, 1 batch of easy artisan bread dough will make approximately 4-6 pizzas, depending on the size and thickness of the crust. I used 1/2 batch to make 2 large, relatively thick crust pizzas.
Make sure the pizza pan is greased. I usually use olive oil or Pam depending on what is available. Then, give the dough a generous sprinkle of flour and gently work a ball of dough into a flat pizza crust. I gently flatten the ball, then hold it from the top with both hands so the weight of the dough gently pulls it down a bit to stretch it out. Working quickly, I shimmy my hands round and round so that the dough keeps stretching into a bigger circle. The easy artisan bread dough is pretty stretchy so I can’t do this for too long before it will tear – just enough to stretch it a bit into a small circle. Then, I flop it down on the greased pan and work around in a circle to push and stretch the thick edges all the way out to the edge of the pan. If a tear shows up, I just squish the dough back together.
Next, I browned 1 pound of ground turkey. If you prefer beef or chicken, either will work or use re-fried beans for a vegetarian option.
Once the meat is cooked through, add 2 cups of your favorite salsa, 1 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. garlic, 1 tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. chipotle, and 1 tsp. salt. Mix this all together and then spread on the pizza dough.
Sprinkle with 8 oz of shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese.
Add your favorite “taco” toppings. We used chopped black olives, onions, and mild pickled jalapenos. Fresh tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and/or cilantro would all be good too. I used what we had on hand and it turned out delicious.
Pop the pizza into a cold oven and turn the heat to 450 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and crust is brown. If baking 2 pizzas in one oven, switch them half way through to ensure they cook evenly on the top and bottom.
Taco Pizza (or traditional pizza) can be made pretty quickly if you have a batch of Easy Artisan Bread dough on hand, ready to go. Our typical routine is to make a batch of this dough on a Sunday night and I either use it to make bread during the week or pizza (usually on Friday night).
Taco Pizza
Ingredients
- 1/2 batch of easy artisan bread dough or fast and easy biscuit dough
- 1 pound ground meat we use turkey
- 2 cups of your favorite salsa
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. chipotle
- 2 cups shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
- 1 can black olives chopped (optional)
- 1 onion chopped optional
- 1/2 cup pickled jalapenos optional
- any other toppings of your choice
Instructions
- Spread the dough on 2 large, greased pizza pans
- Brown the meat in a skillet.
- Add the salsa and seasonings. Cook through.
- Spread the meat mixture on the pizzas, dividing evenly.
- Sprinkle each pizza with 8 oz shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese.
- Top with olives, onion, and jalapenos or other toppings of your choice.
- Place in a cold oven and turn the heat to 450 degrees.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Let rest 5 minutes.
- Slice and serve.