When I was working at Green Giant in the 1980s, I tasted a pizza recipe similar to this one for Mexican Pizza in their test kitchens. The product never made it to production, but I couldn't get the taste of the recipe out of my mind. So I invented this one. What makes it taste more Mexican that other pizza recipes is the refried beans; they add such a rich texture and flavor. I sometimes make a scratch pizza crust, but this version of the pizza recipe using premade pizza crusts is excellent and much faster.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Yield: Serves 10
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef or ground pork
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 16 oz. can refried beans
- 1 cup taco sauce
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 4 oz. can green chilies, drained
- 2 large Boboli® pizza crusts or Scratch Crust Recipe
- 4 cups shredded Cojack cheese
Preparation:
In skillet, cook ground beef with onion and garlic in olive oil until the beef is browned, stirring to break up with fork. Drain if necessary. Add beans, taco sauce, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, and pepper. Stir well, and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in drained green chilies.
Spread sauce evenly over both pizza crusts. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted, bubbly, and begins to brown, reversing pans and racks once during cooking time.
For Scratch Pizza Crust, after the crusts are pre-baked, top and bake as directed above.
You can make this pizza vegetarian by eliminating the meat and adding a can of rinsed and drained kidney beans to the refried bean mixture. Just saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Or you can add 2 cups of soy protein crumbles along with the refried beans in place of the meat.
