Taco Bell no longer carries this item, but that doesn’t you can’t have the best vegan Mexican Pizza right in the comfort of your home.
Taco Bell was a staple in college. It was cheap and you got a lot of food. Fast forward and while we personally haven’t gone there in years, it’s surprisingly one of the best options for fast food when vegan up until recently.
There is a lot of uproar, over the restaurant chain seemingly getting rid of a large majority of their vegetarian and vegan options.
Luckily, we have you covered with one of the now removed menu items, that dare we say may be better than the restaurant.
Today, we are sharing with you our Taco Bell Copycat Vegan Mexican Pizza.
If you’ve never been to Taco Bell then you may have no idea what a Mexican Pizza even is or why you need it in their life.
Taco Bell explains it a crispy pizza shells (really it’s just 2 flour tortillas), refried beans, and a layer of seasoned meat, pizza sauce (it’s a taco style sauce), cheese, and tomatoes.
To make this vegan we are going to be using vegan style refried beans, seasoned meatless crumbles, enchilada sauce, and vegan cheese.
This takes less than 30 minutes to make and you are going to be so excited that the result!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I prep these Vegan Mexican Pizzas ahead?
So as with most taco recipes, you shouldn’t put everything together. You end up with soggy tortillas and well no one likes soggy tortillas.
However, there are still ways to make this go faster if you need to meal prep ahead. You can make the meatless crumbles mixture up to 5 days in advance. Just let cool completely and store in an air tight container. Then, all you have to do is heat it up.
Prepping the meatless mixture ahead of time cuts the recipe time in almost half. Making it more of a 15 minute meal instead of 30 minute.
Perfect for those long days where you need something quick or maybe if you forgot to feed your kid lunch and need something more than the 4th peanut butter and jelly this week (hey, no judgment here).
Can I make this Top 8 Allergen Free?
Yes!
The ingredients here that you need to be concerned with are the flour tortillas, meatless crumbles, and possibly the enchilada sauce.
You can use corn tortillas with this recipe; obviously, it will just taste a little different, but the process is the same.
As far as the meatless crumbles, it depends on your allergens. You can use something like Beyond Meat (soy and gluten free) or Impossible (soy free). You could also use our vegan walnut taco meat if there are no nut allergies and you want a more plant based option.
As far as the soy in some store bought canned enchilada sauces, you can swap that out with a homemade red enchilada sauce.
Do I have to use vegan meat substitute or is there a more whole foods plant based option?
Whether it’s beyond meat, impossible meat, Gardein, or Morningstar, many people don’t want a processed option. We hear you.
Our vegan walnut taco meat is a great option if you can have nuts. If you can’t, we recommend checking out our vegan tofu taco crumbles.
Do I have to use canned enchilada sauce?
No! If you want to make your own homemade enchilada sauce, then you totally can. In fact, we prefer it when we don’t need dinner quickly or have extra sauce on hand. Use our vegan homemade red enchilada sauce if desired.
Do I have to use canned refried beans?
One thing to mention is to make sure that you are choosing vegan friendly refried beans. Many times refried beans are made with lard and there for aren’t vegan.
As far as canned vs homemade, you can use either.
You can also use refried black beans vs refried pinto beans. Whichever you prefer.
Can I omit the refried beans entirely?
We aren’t sure you can call it a vegan Mexican pizza without refried beans.
All jokes aside, the refried beans sort of act as a glue between the two layers. Without it you have to be a little more creative.
You could put more vegan cheese inside the two shells and bake it that way; or, you could swap with mashed avocado that won’t work as well, but will do the job.
Can I use larger tortillas?
For this recipe, we are use 6″ tortillas or taco size; however, if you’d like a larger vegan Mexican pizza, then you can use the burrito size shells instead. Not that using that size will require more of the recipe mixture so you won’t get 4-6, instead probably 2 or 3.
What vegan cheese do you use?
In the photos, we are using Daiya cutting board blend (not the same as their original blend). We also love Follow Your Heart and Violife.
For more information about vegan cheese that melts and tastes great, check out our vegan shredded cheese taste test.
What meatless crumbles are you using?
In the photos, we are using Morningstar Farms meatless frozen crumbles. However, we like Gardein frozen crumbles too. Alternatively, we really liked the Lightlife ground meatless option that we tested in our Vegan Food Finds at Target video.
What are topping ideas for this Vegan Mexican Pizza?
Taco Bell’s version just comes with the tomatoes on top, but even they have other options. Not only that, but we’re home and we’ll do what we want.
Here’s some other topping ideas for this recipe:
- diced tomatoes
- green onions
- black olives
- vegan nacho cheese
- vegan sour cream
- guacamole
- jalapenos
- lettuce
- red onions
- mushrooms
- roasted red peppers
- pico de gallo
- salsa
You can also mix black beans, seasoned rice, and/or corn into the meatless ground mixture.
Alternatively you could try this with shredded jackfruit, vegan chicken strips, or just load up on veggies.
What other vegan Mexican inspired type dishes should I make?
If you love this easy vegan dinner recipe, you may be wondering what other ideas we have. Here are some more ideas we think you’ll love:
- Vegan Instant Pot Tex Mex Rice
- Vegan Taco Casserole
- Tex Mex Vegan Tater Tot Casserole
- Vegan Walnut Meat Cheese Fries
- Vegan Southwest Egg Rolls
- Quinoa and Black Bean Tacos (pictured above)
Pin this Vegan Mexican Pizza recipe for later:
Vegan Mexican Pizza (Taco Bell copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or sub vegetable stock)
- 12-14 oz frozen vegan meatless crumbles (see post for plant based sub ideas)
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
- 8-12 6in flour tortillas shells (see post if GF)
- 15 oz can refried beans *Make sure they are vegan friendly
- ½ cup red enchilada sauce (store bought or click link for homemade)
- ¼ cup vegan cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup vegan Mozzarella cheese
- 2 roma tomatoes, diced
- additional toppings (see post for ideas)
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Chop onions and garlic.
- Add oil to a skillet over medium low heat.
- Saute onions for 2-3 minutes or until softened.
- Add garlic and half of the taco seasoning. Stir together and cook for 1 minutes.
- Add meatless crumbles and sprinkle remaining taco seasoning over top and stir. Cook for 4-5 minutes (or according to package instructions if longer than this). Remove from heat.
- Spray both sides of the tortillas with cooking spray.
- In another skillet, heat over medium, and add a tortilla and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook the other side. *Tips: You can be doing this while sauting the meatless crumbles mixture so they are ready at the same time. The skillet will continue to heat the long it's going, so the first tortilla will take the longest to get golden brown and the remaining ones will cook much faster so pay attention to avoid burning.
- Heat refried beans.
- On one tortilla spread ⅙th the amount of refried beans each tortilla.
- On top of the beans, add ⅙th the amount of the meatless crumbles mixture.
- Add another tortilla on top.
- Repeat this with any more pizzas you are making or place the beans and meat mixture in the fridge for later pizzas once cooled.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the enchilada sauce on the top tortilla.
- Add a tablespoon or 2 of each vegan cheddar and mozzarella on top.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes or until cheese have melted and everything is heated throughout.
- Remove from oven. Top with diced tomatoes and any other optional toppings.
- Cut into slices and enjoy.
Lakiera Smith
Im so excited to try this recipe for meatless Monday or Mexican pizza Monday lol. Another alternative for anyone with nut, soy, or a gluten allergy would be lentils!
LarishaBernard
Thanks for the suggestion! Hope you love it
Janel
Delicious and super easy to make. We used Vegan queso fresco instead of mozzarella. Thanks for always helping me think outside the box for dinner ideas.
LarishaBernard
So glad you enjoyed it
June
Hi Larisha:
I cannot wait to make your Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizzas on Taco Tuesday next week. I wanted to ask… your recipe states stack two 6″ tortillas and that would make 4 pizzas total; however, your recipe at the top states 6 pizzas? Am I missing something? My mouth is watering already!!!
Thank you, June
LarishaBernard
Sorry for any confusion, we updated to hopefully help that. It can make 6 pizzas, but if you use more mixture you’d likely just have 4. Hopefully that helps.