This Taco French Bread Pizza is an easy dinner that combines two family favorites! French bread is loaded with refried beans, taco-seasoned ground beef and cheese, then topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and your favorite taco toppings. Make this fun twist on taco night for an easy weeknight meal!
For even more French Bread Pizza recipes, try this French Bread Hawaiian Pizza or this French Bread Pizza with Sausage and Portobello Mushrooms.
There are two things that always go over well in my house – pizza and tacos. And there’s nothing wrong with the basic, traditional pizza or tacos. But every once in awhile, I like to switch things up. Sometimes that means combining them both into one.
This concept is really not even a new one for me. I’ve made taco pizza before. And pizza tacos. But then I had the idea to make one of my favorites – French bread pizza – and give it a taco twist.
We love pizza night, but sometimes you want to change it up. And I love French bread pizza because of how easy it is.
Pizza night has never been so easy. You’ll love this easy weeknight dinner, and the whole family will love it, too. Especially if you have pizza and taco lovers, like I do!
Ingredients
- Ground Beef & Seasoning: We’re keeping things simple with just ground beef, cooked with taco seasoning. Feel free to fancy it up, but I love that I can turn to this recipe when I need simple.
- Refried Beans: My original recipe that I posted here did not have the refried beans. But I like adding them for a couple reasons. First, they make the pizza more substantial, which is great when you are feeding teenagers. And second, they act as a glue to keep the ground beef on the French bread. Without the beans, the meat tends to fall off.
- Cheese: I like to use a mix of cheddar and Monterey Jack. Feel free to use all of one or the other.
- Bread: The French bread at the grocery store used to be sold as a 1 pound loaf. Many today have shrunk, but the good news is that a 14 oz loaf will work just as well.
- Toppings: Feel free to get crazy here! I like to load it up with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, red onions, and jalapeños.
How to Make Taco French Bread Pizza
STEP 1: Cook up your ground beef. Once it is cooked through, season with taco seasoning and add some water, then cook it all together until it thickens up.
STEP 2: Heat up your refried beans. I usually like to add a splash of water to thin them out just slightly.
STEP 3: Cut your bread in half horizontally. Lay both halves on a baking sheet, cut side up. Take your warmed refried beans and spread them over the bread.
STEP 4: Top the beans with the ground beef mixture. I like to press it in slightly, just to make sure it sticks to those refried beans.
STEP 5: Top the beef with both cheeses. You wan to add it on as evenly as possible. Pop this into the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the bread is heated through.
STEP 6: Add your toppings! Then cut the bread into slices and serve.
Tips and Tricks
You can top the whole French bread pizza with the toppings (like I have done), or you can let each person add their own desired toppings. It’s fun to have a topping bar so everyone gets what they want!
This is best eaten right after you make it. The bread will start to get soggy, so I don’t suggest making it ahead of time. My kids will eat the leftovers heated in the air fryer, but they are soggier than when it is first made.
You can really make this your own! The toppings really make this, but you can even swap out the ground beef for taco seasoned chicken, or even use ground turkey. The cheese can easily be substituted. This really is one of those recipes that is easy to adapt.
More Taco Inspired Recipes
Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers with Taco Filling
Taco Grilled Fish
Taco Cornbread Waffles
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Taco French Bread Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 (16 oz) can refried beans
- 1 (16 oz) loaf French bread*
- 4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
- Desired toppings – shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cilantro, sour cream, avocado, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up as it browns. Once cooked through, add the taco seasoning and the water and let it simmer until thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes.1 pound ground beef, 2 tablespoons taco seasoning, 2/3 cup water
- Meanwhile, place the refried beans in pot over medium heat and cook until heated through. (If desired, you can add a little bit of water to thin the beans out.)1 (16 oz) can refried beans
- Use a bread knife to cut the bread in half horizontally. Place each half on a baking sheet, cut side up.1 (16 oz) loaf French bread*
- Spread half of the beans evenly over each side of the bread. Top with the taco meat.
- Sprinkle the cheddar cheese and the Monterey Jack cheese evenly over the top. Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and everything is warmed through, about 10 minutes.4 oz shredded cheddar cheese, 4 oz shredded monterey jack cheese
- Remove from the oven and top with your favorite taco toppings. Cut into slices to serve.Desired toppings – shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, cilantro, sour cream, avocado, etc.
Hinh Anh Dep says
This is SOOOO good. Do you know how many calories are in this pizza?
carrian cheney says
I love all of your recipes but you taco inspired ones are some of our whole family’s faves!