Tonight, just like every night in my house, started off with a conversation between my fiance and I debating what should be eaten for dinner.
“What should I make for dinner?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about taco pizza?”
“Ew, that sounds gross. I don’t want that.”
“Okay, well that’s what I’m having. You can eat it or get something else.”
We usually always come to agree on a what to eat but tonight, he really didn’t want Taco Pizza. He thought it sounded gross, he didn’t want ground beef on his pizza, blah blah blah blah. Funny thing about all this is that we love taco pizza but he had every excuse to not eat it tonight, and that was fine.
So I have actually never made taco pizza but I saw this Upside-Down Deep Dish Pizza earlier that inspired me. I like to put a Mexican twist on everything and since I knew I already loved Taco Pizza, I thought I would make it a Deep Dish Taco Pizza.
First thing I did was preheat my oven to 400 degrees. While my oven was preheating, I browned my ground beef and added Ragú® Old World Style® Traditional Sauce.
(Fun Fact: Did you know each jar is made with 11 juicy tomatoes making it its richest, thickest recipe?)
Next, I took a can of refrigerated pizza dough and cut it in half to make two squares. The dough needed to be pre-baked so I put both halves over their own pie pan and baked at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.
Once they dough was done, I took it out of the oven and filled it with Ragu and meat mixture. Don’t use all of the mixture, leave about 1/4 cup to use for the top of your pizza.
Then I topped it with cheese. I only used about a half of a cup of mexican and mozzarella cheese. You can use more depending on your taste.
Now I took the other pizza dough that I prebaked and put it on top of the other dough so that I’m covering all of meat and spaghetti sauce mixture. I pinched the sides of the dough all the way around the dish to make sure it was sealed with the other dough.
I know, I know. It doesn’t look that pretty. I then put the whole dish back into the over for another 7 minutes. (Your time may differ depending on your oven and which pizza dough you bought.)
Once the dough is completed cooking, I took it out of the over and covered it with the remaining spaghetti sauce and meat mixture to give it a base. You can see from looking directly down on it, it looks just like a pizza.
After adding the sauce, I sprinkled on chopped iceburg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, jalapenos and avocados.
It turned out absolutely delicious! Maybe the best part about it was when I went back in the kitchen to put my plate up, I noticed that my fiance had a serving or two of the pizza even though he said he didn’t want any. So that means that he didn’t only try it, but he liked it and came back for more!
If you’re looking for more authentic recipes, visit Ragu’s Facebook Page for some inspiration. They’re currently hosting a Sweepstakes for a chance to win great Authentic Italian themed prizes, including a grand prize trip to Italy for a family of four!
Let me know how you like the recipe and if you would make any changes!
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