Vegan Mexican Pizza (Taco Bell Copycat)

This easy vegan Mexican pizza is so fun and delicious! It layers tortillas, salsa, beans, vegan cheese and your favorite taco toppings. Makes for a great weeknight dinner recipe your whole family will love.

Next time you are looking to try something new to make for dinner, then you have got to try this vegan Mexican pizza recipe!

Taco Bell has a fun Mexican-style pizza on its menu that's super unique and that uses similar ingredients needed to make tacos. 

This recipe is a copycat Taco Bell Mexican pizza, but made completely vegan, using ultra-simple ingredients and a little healthier, too.

It combines tortillas (no pizza dough required) with salsa, refried beans, black beans and onions. Then for the cheese part, you can use store-bought vegan cheese shreds for a super quick and easy dinner OR boost your pizza with more yumminess by using my vegan queso sauce instead. 

The homemade 15-min queso is a wholesome vegan cheese sauce that's super simple to make, although you will have to cook some potatoes first. Then, blend them with cashews and spices. So easy and totally worth the extra effort.

And the pizza is super easy to make: the bean mixture is stuffed in between 2 layers of tortillas, then topped with salsa, cheese and your favorite Mexican toppings. We absolutely loved that the typical pizza sauce is swapped for salsa, which gives this recipe an even more delicious Mexican flavor! It is like a quesadilla pizza or a modified vegan black bean enchilada dish!!

Let me know if you gave it a try! ❤️

Why you will love this recipe

• Easy recipe perfect for busy weeknight dinners
• A unique and fun way to make pizza
• Uses mostly store-bought ingredients for a speedy dinner with the option of making your own vegan cheese sauce for a healthier meal
• Packed with fiber and plant-based protein
• Loaded with flavor and layers of texture
• Versatile recipe
• Completely vegan, vegetarian and dairy-free

Ingredients you will need

• Tortillas: 6 or 8 inches size tortillas work well for making this pizza. Larger tortillas make it harder to hold the larger slices when eating, if that makes any sense. For a meal higher in fiber, use whole wheat tortillas like the ones for Maria and Ricardo (those are the ones that I used). You can also use gluten-free tortillas. I like wheat tortillas for making pizza, but corn tortillas work well too, although they can get stiffer when baking.
• Black beans: use canned black beans for convenience. Other beans would work too, such as pinto or kidney beans.
• Refried beans: I used the vegan refried pinto beans from the brand Old El Paso (the label says vegetarian, but the ingredients are all vegan), but use any brands you like. If watching your salt intake, then also compare the brands as they can sometimes have a lot of salt.
• Your favorite salsa: used as a Mexican pizza sauce. I used store-bought salsa for convenience. Most salsa from grocery stores are healthy-ish and made without added oil.
• Onion: added to the bean mixture for more flavor. Keep some aside to garnish the pizza when serving, if you want.
• Vegan cheese sauce OR vegan cheese shreds: you have the choice of making the vegan queso sauce (as seen in the pictures) or using the store-bought vegan cheese shreds for a quicker option. 
• Pizza toppings: use your favorite taco toppings to garnish the pizza, such as onion, tomatoes, jalapeño, cilantro, etc.

How to make vegan Mexican pizza

Preheat the oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Make the vegan cheese (optional)

You can find the queso sauce here. 

This vegan cheese sauce stores well in the fridge for a few days, so feel free to make it ahead. Also, you might have more than you need, so simply use the extra for dipping in tortilla chips, the best movie night snack! Don't forget to reheat slightly the leftovers before serving. 

If you need something quicker, then you can also use vegan cheddar cheese from the grocery store.

Prepare the refried black beans

Warm up a small saucepan with a little olive oil and then, add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat while stirring often. Then, add the can of refried beans, drained black beans and the water (2-3 tablespoons). Stir and cook until it creates a warm and super creamy thick paste.

Prep the tortillas

While the refried beans are warming up, then place the tortillas on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes on each side. 

You will need 2 tortillas per pizza, so if you want to make 2 pizzas, then bake 4 tortillas and for making 3 pizzas, bake 6 tortillas. 

Layer and bake

Once the tortillas are done baking: spread a thin layer of salsa all over half the tortillas, then top with a layer of refried beans and drizzle some of the vegan queso sauce over (or sprinkle the vegan cheese).

Then, place another tortilla over it. Top it off with another layer of salsa and spread some more cheese over. Bake for 5-7 minutes. 

Once done baking, garnish with your favorite toppings, such as tomatoes, green onion, cilantro, jalapeño, etc. Squeeze some lime juice over, slice and enjoy!

Helpful tips

• Don't add much salt when cooking the onions and beans. You will add some refried beans to the saucepan and they usually are plenty salty.
• Read the ingredients on the can of refried beans, they often are not vegan and can be cooked in lard. Vegetarian refried beans (or vegan) made without lard are easy to find!
• You should be able to make 3 or 4 x 6-inch pizzas using the refried beans. If you need to make more, then simply add another can of beans to the saucepan (you should have enough cheese to make more pizza).

Serving suggestions

This vegetarian Mexican pizza is so fun to garnish! You can get inspired by all your favorite taco toppings and use them here to add more texture and flavor to your meal. 

Here are a few Mexican pizza topping ideas:

• Finely diced green onions, red onion or white onion
• Cilantro
• Vegan chipotle sauce
• Sliced jalapeño or pickled jalapeño
• Lime wedges
• Edamame guacamole
• Finely sliced romaine lettuce
• Diced avocado
• Vegan avocado lime crema
• Chopped fresh tomatoes or red bell peppers
• Hot sauce
• Vegan sour cream
• Black olives
• Pico de gallo

We love this recipe as a full meal, but you can also serve it as an appetizer!

Variations to the recipe

This recipe is very versatile and you can customize it using what you have already or depending on your taste. Here are a few ideas:

• If you want to skip using the can of refried beans, then you can simply double the amount of black beans and use a potato masher to crush the beans into a coarse paste consistency. This mixture acts as a glue to help the tortillas stick together.
• Feel free to swap the salsa for regular pizza sauce or try it with red enchilada sauce to make a pizza quesadilla!
• To make this meal even more filling and higher in fiber, feel free to add some cooked brown rice or quinoa to the bean mixture.
• Other ingredients you can include in the bean filling are corn, jalapeño, hot sauce, spices (cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, taco seasoning), garlic, etc.
• You can use this vegan Rotel dip as the filling ingredient. It is made with queso sauce, but also includes spiced crumbly tofu and tomatoes. 

Storage tips

Just like tacos, this vegan Mexican pizza is best when just baked since the sauce will turn the pizza soggy over time.

That being said, you can make the bean filling mixture and queso sauce ahead of time, keep them in the fridge in airtight containers and briefly reheat them before building up the pizzas.

If you do have some leftover pizza, then store it in an airtight container and reheat it in the oven to try and revive the crispy texture. 

FAQs

How can I make this recipe gluten-free?

To make this pizza recipe gluten-free, then use GF tortillas and make sure the refried beans are GF too, although they usually are.

Can I make it using regular pizza crust?

Yes, you can. In that case, simply layer the salsa, refried beans and cheese over the pizza dough. Bake for longer if using unbaked pizza dough (until the dough is golden brown, about 20 minutes or so). Once done baking, top with fresh tomatoes, green onion, cilantro or any toppings that you like. Slice and enjoy!

How can I meal prep this recipe?

You can make the refried bean mixture and the cheese sauce ahead of time, but I recommend assembling and baking the pizza only when ready to eat for the best result.

More vegan pizza recipes

• Vegan bagel pizza bites
• Buckwheat pizza crust
• Vegan BBQ jackfruit pizza
• Vegan white mushroom pizza
• Vegan calzone
• Flatbread pesto bruschetta
• Vegan focaccia

Related recipes

• Vegan taquitos
• Vegan enchilada soup
• Vegan loaded nachos
• Black bean burrito
• Mexican buddha bowl
• Taco bowl
• Fajita bowl
• Vegan chickpea enchiladas
• Sheet-pan tofu fajitas
• Spicy chickpea quesadilla
• Sweet potato tacos with mushrooms

I hope you like this vegan Mexican pizza recipe as much as we do! If you try it, please leave a comment below and rate the recipe to let me know how it was. Your feedback is so helpful!

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📖 Recipe