Fast and delicious taco pizza

A party-perfect combination of two favourite foods!

If your family is like mine, there is a good chance you have both tacos and pizza on the regular menu rotation. To me, both are fast, fun meal options although I do then to load them up with vegetables to make them a little healthier. My family’s new fondness for this pizza-quiche mashup reminded me that I haven’t made taco pizzas in a while so they’ll be on our Superbowl menu this year. Use store-bought flatbreads (regular or gluten-free) as the base to speed things up and set up a ‘taco pizza bar’ so guests can add tasty toppings they like to craft their own personalized taco pizzas. I’ve given the basic outline below (and don’t skip the layer of refried beans – it helps everything stick to the flatbread) but you can get creative and add whatever taco toppings your family likes – peppers, olives, pickled jalapenos and more!

Ingredients

• 1 pound (454 grams) ground turkey, chicken or beef
• 1 envelope taco seasoning mix
• flatbreads (8 individual-sized or 3 – 4 larger ones)
• 1 can refried beans
• 1 cup (250 mL) diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) shredded Tex-Mex, Cheddar or Mozzarella cheese
• 3 green onions, diced
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped cilantro
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1 cup (250 mL) salsa
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) sour cream

Method

• Per taco seasoning package directions, cook the ground meat until no longer pink and add seasoning mix and water as directed on the package. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 – 3 minutes. Beef can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated up to 48 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350F. If needed, cut the flatbreads into individual portions and place on baking sheets.
• Spread a thin layer of refried beans on each flatbread and top with just enough cooked meat to cover the beans.
• Sprinkle tomatoes, salsa and cheese over meat and beans.
• Bake 10 minutes then remove from oven and add additional toppings as desired (diced avocado, sour cream, cilantro, green onions).

Serves 8 – 10; recipe can easily be halved or multiplied.

This original recipe (created by me) first appeared at ymc.ca