Mexican Pizza: The Stacked Tortilla Recipe, Calories and the Taco Bell Story
Two crisp tortillas, beans and seasoned beef in the middle, red sauce and cheese on top. A 25-minute homemade Mexican pizza, the calorie numbers, and how a petition and a Doja Cat song brought Taco Bell's back.
A Mexican pizza is two crisp flour tortillas stacked with refried beans and seasoned ground beef between them, then topped with a mild red sauce, melted cheese and diced tomato. Taco Bell made the format famous and sells it at about 540 calories a piece; at home it takes 25 minutes, a skillet and a hot oven, and no dough at all.
Where the Mexican pizza came from
The version everyone pictures is Taco Bell's, which the chain sold for 35 years before cutting it in late 2020. Nation's Restaurant News reported that the pizza was one of more than 25 items dropped that year to simplify the menu, and that Taco Bell framed it partly as a packaging decision: the pizza boxes used over 7 million pounds of paperboard a year in the United States. A Change.org petition from a fan named Krish Jagirdar gathered more than 200,000 signatures, Doja Cat recorded a song about it and sang about the comeback at Coachella, and the pizza returned on May 19, 2022 at $4.49.
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It did not stay long. Demand ran seven times higher than the company expected, the chain pulled it within weeks to restock ingredients, and the pizza came back for good on September 15, 2022. The station described it as seasoned beef and beans between two crispy flour shells, with pizza sauce, tomatoes and a three-cheese blend on top. There is a beans-only version at the same price.
The other Mexican pizza people remember is the school cafeteria one: a round, dough-based pizza with taco-seasoned beef and a cheddar blend, sold to school food service under names like Fiestada. That one is a regular pizza with taco toppings, closer to a Midwest taco pizza than to anything the drive-through sells.
Three Mexican pizzas, and which one to make
The stacked tortilla version is the one to make at home. It needs no dough, no stone and no overnight rise, and the parts are cheap. The table shows how it compares with the two cousins you may be thinking of.
| Version | Base | What goes on it | Oven time | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stacked (Taco Bell style) | Two crisped 6-inch flour tortillas | Beans and beef inside, red sauce, cheese and tomato on top | 6 to 8 minutes at 425°F after the tortillas are crisped | Weeknights, a close approximation of the drive-through one |
| School cafeteria round | Thin yeasted dough, par-baked | Taco beef, cheddar blend, sometimes diced chili | 10 to 12 minutes at 475°F on a steel | Feeding a crowd from one sheet pan |
| Birria or taco pizzeria style | Regular pizza dough | Braised or ground meat, cheese, cold toppings after the bake | 8 to 12 minutes at 500°F | When you already have dough; see our birria pizza guide |
Mexican pizza recipe
Makes four pizzas, each 6 inches across. One per adult is a meal; cut in quarters they work as a party plate.
- 8 fajita-size flour tortillas (6-inch, about 30g each)
- 450g (1 lb) 85 percent lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning, or 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 can (16 oz, 450g) refried beans, loosened with 2 tablespoons water
- 240g (1 cup) sauce: 3/4 cup plain pizza sauce stirred with 1/4 cup mild red enchilada sauce, or pizza sauce with 1 teaspoon chili powder and 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 200g (2 cups) shredded cheese, half sharp cheddar and half Monterey Jack or pepper jack
- 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded, diced and drained on a paper towel
- 60ml (1/4 cup) neutral oil for crisping the tortillas
- Sliced green onion and black olives to finish, optional
- Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the middle. Line a sheet pan with foil.
- Brown the beef in a skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it small. Add the seasoning and 60ml water, simmer 3 minutes, and cook until a thermometer reads 160°F, the USDA minimum for ground beef. Drain off the fat.
- Crisp the tortillas. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet until a scrap of tortilla sizzles at once (around 350°F) and fry each tortilla 30 to 45 seconds per side until blistered and rigid, pricking any big bubbles with a fork. Drain on a rack. For less oil, brush both sides lightly and bake at 425°F for 5 to 6 minutes per side.
- Warm the beans in the microwave for 60 seconds so they spread without tearing the shell.
- Build each pizza on the sheet pan: tortilla, 60g (1/4 cup) beans, 70g (1/3 cup) beef, second tortilla, 3 tablespoons sauce, 50g (1/2 cup) cheese, a spoonful of tomato.
- Bake 6 to 8 minutes until the cheese melts. For browned spots, 45 to 60 seconds under the broiler.
- Rest 2 minutes, cut each into four with a pizza wheel, and add the green onion and olives.
The mistakes that make it soggy
Skipping the fry is the big one. A raw tortilla baked under beans steams instead of crisping, and the whole thing bends when you pick it up. Fried or oil-brushed and pre-baked, the shells stay rigid for the 2 minutes it takes to get them to the table.
Salsa is not the sauce. Jarred salsa is chunky and wet and soaks straight through the top shell. A smooth, cooked tomato sauce with chili powder in it sits on top the way it should, which is why the enchilada-sauce blend above works. The cheese matters less than people think; a cheddar and Jack mix melts fast and browns, and the best cheese for pizza guide explains why low-moisture mozzarella alone tastes flat here.
Overfilling comes next. More than a third of a cup of beef makes the top shell slide when you cut it. If the tomatoes are juicy, seed them; a tablespoon of tomato water on hot cheese turns it slick.
Cutting too soon does the same thing. Two minutes on the counter lets the cheese set enough to hold the quarters together.
Mexican pizza calories
Taco Bell's listing is 540 calories for the beef version. A homemade one built to the recipe above lands in roughly the same place, around 550 to 600 calories per pizza, with the fried tortillas and the half cup of cheese doing most of the work. Baking the tortillas with a light brush of oil instead of frying trims about 60 calories; a beans-only pizza with 50g of beef left out saves another 100 or so. Those are estimates from ingredient labels, not lab numbers. The pizza calories page compares them with a slice of regular pizza, which runs 250 to 350 depending on the style.
Variations and the air fryer
Beans only, the way Taco Bell's veggie version does it, needs nothing changed except leaving out the beef and doubling the beans. Shredded chicken is the other common swap; use cooked chicken that has reached 165°F and warm it in a little sauce so it does not dry out, which is the same rule our buffalo chicken pizza follows. Black beans mashed with a little cumin replace refried beans for a less creamy layer.
The air fryer crisps tortillas well: 400°F for 3 to 4 minutes, flipping once, in a single layer. An assembled 6-inch pizza fits most baskets and takes 4 to 5 minutes at 350°F to melt the cheese. Times for other pizzas by size are on the air fryer pizza page.
If what appeals is a pizza with no dough, the stacked tortilla is a cousin of french bread pizza, and both come together faster than a delivery order.
Storing and reheating
Cooked ground beef keeps 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator per USDA, and an assembled Mexican pizza is no different. Store the pieces flat in a container with parchment between layers. Reheat on a sheet pan at 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes or in the air fryer at 350°F for 4 minutes; the microwave softens the shells in under a minute. The how to reheat pizza guide has the skillet method, and how long is pizza good for covers the two-hour rule for anything left out after a party.
A smarter plan for leftovers is to store the parts separately. Fried tortillas keep crisp in a paper bag for a day, the beef and beans go in the fridge, and a second batch assembles in 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Mexican pizza?
A Mexican pizza is two crisp flour tortillas layered with refried beans and seasoned ground beef, topped with a mild red sauce, melted cheese and diced tomato, then baked and cut into quarters. Taco Bell popularized the format in 1985, and it is a Tex-Mex invention rather than a dish from Mexico.
Why did Taco Bell remove the Mexican Pizza?
Taco Bell dropped it in late 2020 as part of a menu cut of more than 25 items, citing simplicity and the 7 million pounds of paperboard its boxes used each year. A 200,000-signature petition and a Doja Cat song helped bring it back on May 19, 2022, and permanently that September.
How many calories are in a Mexican pizza?
Taco Bell lists its beef Mexican Pizza at 540 calories. A homemade one with fried tortillas, a third of a cup of beef and a half cup of cheese comes to roughly 550 to 600 calories. Baking the tortillas instead of frying, or leaving out the beef, brings it closer to 400.
What sauce goes on a Mexican pizza?
A smooth, mildly spiced red sauce. Mix three parts plain pizza sauce with one part mild red enchilada sauce, or stir a teaspoon of chili powder and half a teaspoon of cumin into pizza sauce. Chunky salsa is too wet and soaks through the top tortilla within minutes.
Can you make a Mexican pizza in the air fryer?
Yes. Crisp the tortillas at 400°F for 3 to 4 minutes, flipping once, then build the pizza and air fry at 350°F for 4 to 5 minutes until the cheese melts. A 6-inch pizza fits most baskets; do one at a time so the hot air can reach the top.
What is the difference between a Mexican pizza and a taco pizza?
A Mexican pizza uses crisp flour tortillas as the base and is baked with the sauce and cheese on top. A taco pizza is a regular pizza dough with refried beans or taco meat, baked, then covered after the oven with cold lettuce, tomato, crushed chips and sour cream.