As many of you know, I like to ‘play with my food’, experimenting and changing things up! It is always fun to combine two different dishes that are both great by themselves and to make something new and even better like using a taco ingredients as a pizza topping! When I recently came across the idea of combining not just two dishes but three, all very tasty in their own right, into one dish I knew right away that I would have to try making the taco, quesadilla pizzas and soon.
The basic idea behind this recipe is that a taco quesadilla is topped in a pizza like fashion and baked until the cheese on the top has melted. For the taco quesadillas I went with a filling of seasoned ground beef, refried beans, salsa and of course plenty of cheese and I grilled them in a pan until the tortillas were golden brown and crispy. These taco quesadillas are great all by themselves but I continued with the pizza toppings going with a simple salsa and a few more taco filling ingredients and of course lots more cheese!
These taco quesadilla pizzas will disappear in a flash and each is pretty large, being big enough for 2 or more servings. One nice thing about this recipe is that you can either go for the convenience of all store bought ingredients or you can make one or more components from scratch and keep things a little lighter. I can’t wait to experiment with a few more quesadilla pizza flavour concepts!
Just look at all of that ooey, gooey, stringy melted cheese!
Taco Quesadilla Pizzas
Taco meat and cheese stuffed quesadillas made pizza style topped with salsa and even more melted cheese!
ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon homemade taco seasoning or 1/2 store bought packet
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 (8 inch) tortillas
- 2 cups cheese such as cheddar and/or jack, shredded
- 1/2 cup refried beans
- 3/4 cup salsa
- 1 tomato, diced
- 2 tablespoons black olives, sliced
- 4 green onions, sliced
directions
- Brown the meat in a pan over medium heat, drain the excess grease, mix in seasoning and water and simmer until most of the liquid is gone, about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese evenly over two tortillas followed by the meat and the 1/4 cup of the salsa.
- Spread the refried beans over the remaining two tortillas and place them on top of the meat covered ones with the bean sides down.
- Place one of the taco quesadillas in a large pan and grill it over medium heat until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are lightly golden brown, about 2-4 minutes per side.
- Place the taco quesadilla on a large baking sheet and repeat for the remaining taco quesadilla.
- Spread the remaining salsa over the tops of the taco quesadillas, sprinkle on the cheese, black olives and green onions.
- Broil in a preheated oven until the cheese has melted, about 2 minutes. (Keep an eye on them so they do not burn!)
Taco Pizza
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Taco Stuffed Shells
Pizza Quesadillas (aka Pizzadillas)
BBQ Ham, Bacon and Pineapple Quesadillas (aka BBQ Hawaiian Pizza Quesadillas)
Pork Tinga Quesadillas
Crispy Tortilla Skillet Pizza
Crispy Chorizo and Potato Tortilla Skillet Pizza
Jimmy BoCook says
August 2, 2012 at 10:47 pmLooks very yummy, thx and I am adding this to my pinboard on Grubodex
eatgood4life.blogspot.com says
August 2, 2012 at 11:26 pmThis is too much!! You are killing me 🙂 The colors, and combinations are awesome. I need to make some ASAP!!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
August 2, 2012 at 11:31 pmYou are a genius!
Anonymous says
August 2, 2012 at 11:37 pmLooks so good ! I am trying to go gluten free but it is so hard .. because pizza is my favorite food of all time !! :o(
Cher649
Sara says
August 2, 2012 at 11:48 pmAmazing – definitely need to make these! They look super delicious. 🙂
boobytrap says
August 3, 2012 at 12:02 amthis reminds me of the mexican pizza they sell at taco bell. which, by the way, is only tasty when you are stoned. your version looks fantastic. totally making this.
Anonymous says
August 3, 2012 at 12:10 amCan't wait to make this! Ty 🙂
Anonymous says
August 3, 2012 at 12:15 amLook fabulous…two of my favorite meals combined into one!
isaiah43123 says
August 3, 2012 at 12:52 amI've had a very yummy cheeseburger quesadilla, but never thought of this. Sounds delicious.
Kim says
August 3, 2012 at 12:53 amThat looks so dang good! Definitely going to making that soon!
Expressions & Inspirations says
August 3, 2012 at 1:00 ami just love your posts! TFS…I will try this.
Expressions & Inspirations says
August 3, 2012 at 1:05 amI love your blog and thanks for sharing. I'll be trying this recipe. 🙂
Anonymous says
August 3, 2012 at 2:25 amNeed a calorie Count!
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
August 3, 2012 at 6:43 amA fantastic idea! That pizza is so droolworthy.
Cheers,
Rosa
Joanne says
August 3, 2012 at 3:22 pmThis surely must be pizza heaven!
MissAlyssaDawn says
August 3, 2012 at 3:45 pmThis is definitely happening soon! Well minus the meat add some black beans I think! YUM!
Sarah from 20something cupcakes says
August 3, 2012 at 6:55 pmI swear to you, I've been dreaming about this very same idea! I'm definitely trying this!
Jenna says
August 3, 2012 at 8:28 pmWow this looks great, even better than Taco Bell!
The Short (dis)Order Cook says
August 4, 2012 at 1:26 amSpicy cheesy goodness. Certainly some dishes were just meant to be in a mash up.
Poornima Nair says
August 4, 2012 at 6:40 amDelicious!! Love the idea!!
allison says
August 4, 2012 at 2:26 pmLooks really good! I often use tortilla as my base for simple pizza cravings but never thought of making such an amazing looking pizza!
– allison
Sandy says
August 4, 2012 at 9:14 pmMove over, I'm coming for dinner. I'll make some Marquerita's. Not only does that look and sound good, it's sooooooooo pretty.
Sara says
August 6, 2012 at 12:26 amJust wanted to let you know I made this for lunch today and LOVED it – easy and so delicious. Reminds me of one of my favorite things to order at Taco Bell, but of course way tastier. 😉
Kathleen Richardson says
August 6, 2012 at 12:23 pmWhat a great idea for a summertime "pizza"! Rather than having the oven on at a high heat for a longer time, just have the broiler on for a few minutes. Love the photographs, Kevin–wonderful combination of colors.
Keep writing…
Cassie/Bake Your Day says
August 6, 2012 at 4:10 pmUm, Kevin, this is beyond brilliant! My husband adores quesadillas of all kinds. I just sent this link to him, I am sure we will be trying it soon!
Anonymous says
August 10, 2012 at 5:12 amYUM! Did you use flour or corn tortillas?
Anonymous says
August 10, 2012 at 5:16 amsorry, one more question (it's late & I'm easily confused, lol). What does this mean in step 4: "Place one of the taco quesadillas in a large pan and grill it over medium heat"?
Do you mean place it in a skillet & cook it on the stovetop? Or did you place it on a GRILL?
Thanks! 🙂
Kevin says
August 10, 2012 at 10:24 amAnonymous: For quesadillas I prefer flour tortillas and I cook them in a skillet on the stovetop until they are lightly golden brown and slightly crispy.
Lulu says
August 22, 2012 at 8:07 pmI am Mexican and proud of my background.
This recipe is delicious and can be made using shredded chicken or meat too.
Better if flour tortillas are used and heated on a skillet or pan for both sides until little crispy.
joyce says
March 5, 2013 at 1:08 pmI love a lot of your recipes and I wish you would put the nutritional value! My husband & I are trying to eat healthier.
Joyce
thomasglyons says
May 3, 2013 at 12:49 pmThen top it with sour cream before serving!!
Anonymous says
October 1, 2013 at 5:37 pmHi, I tried the recipe and it was very nice to look at but the bottom was soggy. I cooked it until golden brown and transferred to baking sheet and broiled it until the cheese melted. Where did I go wrong?
kevin says
October 2, 2013 at 1:53 pmAnonymous: Was the beef mixture or the refried beans particularly wet or moist?
RayRay RR says
March 27, 2014 at 3:13 amThe name of this dish truly does say it all – a delicious combination of 3 comfort foods. This is a great option for gluten-free eaters like me because it would be simple to replace the flour tortillas. Those gluten-free tortillas tend to not fold easily anyway. Why not leave it flat and make this?
Ruthlessma says
January 16, 2017 at 4:04 pmLove it when I already have on hand what I need to make this…..guess what we're having for dinner tonight?
If you can find it, look for dehydrated refried beans. They are diabetic friendly & you'll never throw out a partial can of beans again.