What’s a Mexican pizza? my friends asked with dulcet wonderment in their eyes and bellies. Each time, I would go on to describe to them that one pizza I had that one time at Flatbread Pizza on Maui. Corn and jack cheese and red onions and cilantro and jalapeños. It was unexpected, but so, SO good. Good like I thought about it the next day. I wanted more. I wanted to be able to make it at home.
Let’s talk about what goes on this Mexican pizza, shall we?
Cumin and chipotle black beans.
Sharp jack cheese.
Fresh corn.
Blistered cherry tomatoes with cilantro and garlic.
Shaved red onion.
Jalapeño pepper slivers.
Tons of cilantro. (Or as much as you want.)
Olive oil.
Sour cream.
This was my first skillet pizza, but it could not be easier—and that sweet little skillet delivers the most deliciously crisp crust that I may not ever want to go back to the original. Think personal pan pizza-style, but all grown up.
Mexican pizza FTW!
MEXICAN PIZZA!
Ingredients
- 1 batch pizza dough (or store bought 16 ounces, enough to make 1 large or 2 smaller pizzas)
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2 cloves garlic roughly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ cups grated jack cheese
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup sour cream
- olive oil
- flaky sea salt
cumin chipotle black beans
- 1 15-ounce can whole black beans
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground chipotle
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt plus more to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500º and remove pizza dough from fridge, if pre-made. Rinse cherry tomatoes, and place in a 12" cast iron skillet with garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, a handful of cilantro, and a few sprinkles of flaky sea salt. Use a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to lightly toss the cherry tomatoes in oil and herbs.
- Bake for 7 minutes, until the tomato skins start to blister. Then turn the broiler on low and place the skillet on a rack just below the flame. Allow to broil for 3 minutes, until the skins just start to brown in places. Remove from oven and reduce oven to 425º.
- Empty skillet of tomatoes and herbs, placing them in a bowl. Remaining oil is fine. Allow skillet to cool while you make the black beans.
- Drain most of the liquid from the beans, and combine all ingredients for cumin chipotle black beans in a separate frying pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Taste to adjust salt levels. Set aside.
- Divide all ingredients for pizza in two, as you’ll be making two skillet pizzas. Add a bit more olive oil to the bottom and sides of the skillet.
- Take one of your two balls of pizza dough and begin to spread it evenly across the bottom of the skillet. When spread completely across the pan’s bottom, sprinkle ½ the cheese from your single pizza portion (from one of your two piles of cheese, so it’ll be about ¼ of the total amount of cheese WHOA MATH!!) on the dough. Top with roasted tomatoes, black beans, black beans, and red onion. Top off with the rest of the grated cheese and sprinkle with sliced jalapeño peppers, fresh corn, and fresh cilantro.
- Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
- Cook for about 12 minutes, until the crust is a perfect golden brown and patches are getting a bit darker. (Leave in longer if you want a more deeply browned, crisper pizza.) Remove from oven, use tongs to remove pizza from skillet, and drizzle pizza with sour cream. Add more cilantro if you like.
- Prep the next one, throw it in the oven, and nosh on the first while you wait for the second. Serve with hot sauce, if that’s your thang.
- YUM!!!
