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A messy-delicious, knife-and-fork pizza

This Taco Pizza starts with a classic red sauce base topped with Colby Jack cheese, savory spiced taco meat cooked down with fresh poblano pepper, and black olives. After baking, this savory meat pizza is topped with taco-fixing favorites including fresh tomatoes, onions, pickled jalapenos, crunchy iceberg lettuce, tortilla chips, and sour cream. I love to serve this messy-delicious, knife-and-fork pizza with my favorite hot sauce on the side for an extra kick of heat!

Choosing your toppings

I've built this Taco Pizza with my favorite taco toppings:

Colby Jack cheese
Taco meat + poblano peppers
Black olives
Tomatoes (I used Campari tomatoes)
White onions (I generally add these to the fella's half, and omit from my half as I'm intolerant)
Green onions
Pickled jalapenos (I love the extra hot nacho variety!)
Iceberg lettuce
Tortilla chips (I used Juanita's)
Sour cream
Hot sauce (I used Tabasco)

However, you can feel free to mix things up. Some alternative options include:

Cheddar, Pepper Jack, or Mozzarella can be used in place of the Colby Jack if preferred - OR - swap the melted cheese and drizzle the top of your baked pie in melted queso cheese sauce, crumbled Cotija cheese, or crumbled queso fresco
Swap the poblano peppers for sweet bell peppers if you prefer a milder pizza
Cook the onions directly in with the taco meat if you prefer cooked onions to raw
Use a milder pickled jalapeno (the nacho variety are quite spicy) or sub for fresh if preferred
Romaine lettuce makes a great crunchy swap for iceberg also
Swap the tortilla chips for your favorite flavor of Dorito
Swap the hot sauce for your favorite salsa
Add some creamy cubes of avocado

WHAT ABOUT THE PIZZA CRUST?

I prefer to use this Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough recipe to make this Taco Pizza, but if you have a preferred pizza crust recipe of your own or want to grab some pre-made dough from the store, feel free to use those as well.

WHAT TEMPERATURE IS BEST TO BAKE PIZZA AT?

Your aim is a perfectly golden crust and nicely caramelized toppings, so the hotter the better. Many professional pizzerias keep their ovens heated to 800 degrees F or higher, but most home ovens only reach temperatures between 500-550 degrees F so this recipe is created with those constraints in mind. I bake my pizzas at 500 degrees F / 260 degrees C and get wonderful results. If your oven tops out at 450 degrees F / 232 degrees C, I have tested that temp many times over as well and it works well, though you’ll want to plan on a few extra minutes in the oven, especially if your pie is piled high with toppings.

REHEATING PIZZA LEFTOVERS

It would be cliche if I made a joke about leftovers and pizza right now, so we’ll just skip that and assume you didn’t eat the entire pie for a moment. My two favorite methods for reheating pizza so it retains its crisp crust while remelting the cheese is in the oven or in a cast-iron pan on top of the stove.

Oven method: Bake on a sheet pan at 350 F / 175 C for 10 minutes or until pizza has reached your desired level of warmth and crispness.

Stovetop method: Set pizza in a cast-iron pan over medium-low heat. Allow to cook until the crust has reached your desired level of crispness. If the cheese isn’t melted enough for your taste you can add a few drops of water to the pan (away from the pizza) and cover the pan for a minute or two to allow the steam to melt the cheese further.

What tools do I need to make this recipe?

A baking sheet
Parchment paper
A cutting board
A chef’s knife
A kitchen scale or measuring cups (for less precise measurements)
Measuring spoons
A mediums skillet
A wooden spatula
A rolling pin (only if you prefer an evenly thick pie) otherwise your hands are your best tool
A spoon (just a regular flatware spoon will work)
A pizza wheel

Are you looking to upgrade to your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.

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Taco Pizza

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Author: Whip & Wander
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 24 minutes
Total Time: 39 minutes
Yield: 1 large pizza 1x
Category: Pizza, Mains
Method: Oven / Stovetop
Cuisine: American

Print Recipe

Description

This Taco Pizza is topped with a mix of savory beef taco meat, smoky peppers, lettuce, tortilla chips, and other classic and tasty taco fixings.

Ingredients

Scale

For the taco meat:

½ lb ground beef
100 g (about 1 large) poblano pepper, chopped
4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Kosher salt
½ tsp cracked black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder (may sub for 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil)

For the rest of the pizza:

½ recipe Easy Same-Day Pizza Dough
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
8 oz tomato sauce
¼ tsp garlic powder (can omit in favor of using garlic-infused olive oil for the olive oil portion above, if intolerant)
¼ tsp Kosher salt
6 oz (about 1 ½ cup) Colby Jack cheese, shredded
87 g (about ½ cup) black olives, crushed or sliced
100 g fresh tomatoes, sliced (I used 2 Campari tomatoes)
70 g (about ½ cup) white onion, chopped
34 g (about ½ cup) green onion, chopped
40 g (about ⅓ cup) pickled jalapeno
75 g (about 1 cup) iceberg lettuce, chopped
30 g (about 1 cup) tortilla chips, broken
120 g (about ½ cup) sour cream
Optional: hot sauce, to top (I like Tabasco)

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Instructions

For the taco meat:

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground beef until nearly cooked through.
Add poblano peppers, chili powder, paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (or oil) and sautee for 2-3 minutes so the peppers get some direct heat, stirring occasionally until peppers begin to soften slightly and the beef is fully cooked through. Remove from heat and reserve to the side.

For the rest of the pizza:

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F / 260 degrees C and set a baker’s half sheet to the side.
While the oven is preheating, brown the ground Italian sausage in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it apart into chunks as it cooks, until cooked through. Drain any residual grease, if needed, and reserve to the side.
Shape your dough. If you prefer a classic pie-shape with a thicker crust compared to the center of your dough, I suggest hand-stretching your dough. If you prefer your pizza to be an even thickness, I suggest rolling your dough out with a rolling pin.
- If you are hand-stretching your dough:
  1. I like to rub a small amount of olive oil into my hands first; this allows me to shape the dough easier without it ripping accidentally from friction.
  2. Press the dough down with the palm of your hand into a disk shape, then use your fingertips to gently press down on the dough disk, further flattening it.
  3. To further extend the dough, I prefer to press one palm on top of one side of the dough and with the other hand lift the alternative side of the dough and gently work the dough outward, pulling very gently with the tips of my oiled fingers (like a very discrete “come hither” motion) to slowly stretch the dough out. Rotate slightly and repeat until the dough is shaped and stretched to your liking. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again. Transfer your stretched dough to a sheet of parchment paper.
- If you are using a rolling pin:
  1. I prefer to place my dough between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid the dough sticking to my rolling pin, but if you prefer you can also sprinkle a bit of flour over the dough ball as well as wiping some over your rolling pin by hand to prevent sticking instead. Once the dough has been rolled to your preferred size and shape, peel the top layer of parchment paper off (if using). The bottom layer that the dough is resting on can be utilized for your baking sheet. If you find that the dough starts to snap back or is beginning to tear, allow the dough to relax for a minute or two before proceeding again.
Transfer your shaped dough to the reserved baking sheet.
Brush olive oil onto the pizza dough lightly and evenly. This can be done with a pastry brush or the back of a spoon
In a small bowl combine tomato sauce, salt, and garlic powder (if using). Pour over the top of the pizza dough and using the back of a spoon spread the sauce out evenly over the dough.
Top the pizza with the Colby Jack cheese, sprinkling evenly across the top. Then top with the cooked taco meat and finish with the crushed olives (unless you prefer to add the olives raw later, instead of baking them).
Bake for 14-20 minutes or until the crust has reached your preferred level of crispness and the cheese is fully melted. I find that pizzas that have a thinner topping layer take less time to bake and heavier-topped pizzas generally take a bit longer to bake so watch your pizza closely after the 14-minute mark and adjust as desired.
Once the pizza has been removed from the oven, top with tomato, white onion, green onion, and pickled jalapenos. Then top with iceberg lettuce and tortilla chips. Dollop the sour cream on in two or three spots, as desired. Slice and serve warm with the optional hot sauce, if desired.

Notes

Nutritional information on Whip & Wander is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.

Nutrition

Serving Size: ¼th of the pizza
Calories: 740
Sugar: 7 g
Sodium: 1457 mg
Fat: 39 g
Saturated Fat: 17 g
Carbohydrates: 65 g
Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 32 g
Cholesterol: 84 mg

Keywords: Pizza, Taco meat, tortilla chips, poblano pepper