What happens when you merge THREE favorite foods? You get Taco Salad Pizza and it’s about to change your world! 
Kenya became a vegetarian when he was 5 years old and ever since then he’s adhered to it. It’s also made me more passionate about serving as many plant based meals as possible. Every single Monday we eat #meatlessmonday to make sure he feels supported and honestly I’ve grown to love it over the years.
I’m always trying to vary the vegetarian meals we eat throughout the week and especially on Monday. Sometimes it’s bean based (these Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans are a favorite) and other times it an easy tofu recipe. These days we’ve been making weekly recipes with plant based ground meat proteins. This Taco Salad Pizza is so simple, packed with flavor and a great way to use what’s fresh at the farmers market and in our garden.Â
I start by making homemade pizza dough or buying pre-made dough at Trader Joes. Grab your kids and get them involved making this Taco Salad Pizza because playing with dough is fun! The best part is that you can give this Taco Salad Pizza a thick crust by making it in a cast iron skillet or you can roll and press it on a half sheet pan if you want it to be a little more thin. Either way it’s totally delectable.
Now the fun part.. the toppings! I’ve added avocado (always!), tomatoes (I love using sweet summer tomatoes, crunchy lettuce, a drizzle of sour cream and sliced radish, but let the world be your oyster and go crazy. It’s a Taco Salad Pizza after all!
Don’t have any plant based meat on hand and really need your ground beef or turkey fix? Don’t worry, you can use that too! Want to make it vegan? You can sub plant based cheese and sour cream too. The point is take the base of this Taco Salad Pizza and make it your own. I promise you will be pleased!
Taco Salad Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pound pizza dough, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 1 cup refried beans
- 2 cups cheddar, mozzarella and/or Monterrey Jack cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 package plant based ground meat
- 1 1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
- 1 avocado, pitted and diced
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
Optional Toppings
- radish, sliced
- tomatoes, diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Lightly grease a sheet pan with olive oil and stretch the dough to fit the size of the pan (about 16″ x 11″). Alternatively you can use a large circular pizza pan or 12-15 inch cast iron skillet.
- In a medium bowl stir the salsa and refried beans until thoroughly combined. Spread on top of pizza dough and top with grated cheese.
- Bake pizza for 18-20 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly.
- While pizza is baking heat a large sauté pan over medium/high heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil, add red onion, plant based protein, taco seasoning and salt. Break apart with spatula and cook until moisture has evaporated and plant based meat browns, about 12 minutes.
- Remove pizza from oven, top with plant based meat, lettuce, avocado, sour cream* and cilantro and other optional ingredients.
- * for decorative fun place sour cream in the corner of a small zipper bag. Use scissors to cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and twist to resemble a piping bag. Drizzle the pizza in a zip zag pattern.
