It’s about time I talked to you all about tortilla pizzas. I’ve been making these babies since elementary school when my mom would make something that my picky younger self refused to try. They are perfect for days when the thought of cooking a full-fledged meal is too much to bear and even lifting up the phone to order out seems too hard, or when you’re alone and downright hangry… like me on most days.
Honestly, I haven’t ordered pizza for myself in years because tortillas are always on call. Greasy, cheesy delivery pizza beckons from afar, but tortillas shout from my fridge, “Hey, I cost less! I’m better for you! And I’m already here!” The concept of the tortilla pizza itself is so simple, but there are a few tricks to getting a perfectly crispy, flaky crust and bubbly cheese, so be sure to read the recipe below for my time-proven method for perfect tortilla pizzas.
- 1 whole wheat tortilla (or whole wheat pita bread)
- 1/4 cup sauce (marinara, pesto, olive oil and garlic, barbecue sauce)
- 1/3 cup or less shredded/crumbled cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, goat, feta)
- Toppings (go wild!)
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the tortilla in a 12-inch cast iron pan (see notes on baking surfaces below). Spread sauce evenly across the tortilla, leaving 1/2 inch around the edges. Sprinkle with cheese and toppings.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cheese is golden and bubbling (no sooner!) and the edges of the tortilla are lightly browned. Slice and serve.
- If you don’t have a cast iron skillet I highly recommend getting one
, but you can use an oven-safe baking rack or bake it directly on the rack of your toaster oven instead. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 11 minutes. Do not use a regular baking sheet because the bottom of the tortilla will not get crispy, your cheese will slide right off and you’ll wish you ordered out.
- Although I have not tried it personally, Kim tried making tortilla pizzas in her cast iron skillet on a gas grill and said they turned out great!
- Make sure to check the ingredients list on the whole wheat tortillas. It should list about 5 ingredients, not 25. I buy mine at health food stores and store them in the fridge or freezer and they almost never go bad.
Topping ideas:
- As shown: barbecue sauce (trust me), fresh mozzarella and sharp cheddar cheese, chopped red onion, sliced fresh jalapeño, fresh or defrosted frozen pineapple (canned pineapple is not as good).
- Basil pesto, feta, fresh or roasted bell peppers (jarred is fine), sliced kalamata olives, chopped red onion, sliced cherry tomatoes.
- Arugula pesto, basil pesto or light marinara sauce, mozzarella (optional), fresh arugula and parmesan shavings added after baking (like this).
- Red pepper pesto and goat cheese.
- Anything you want!
By the way, this is the second installment in my new simple recipe series. Check out my simple burrito bowls here.
52 Comments
This is so easy, I love it! I’m always left with old tortillas…and never came to this conclusion myself. Weird! haha
How perfect, I love this idea. I’ve used pitas and naan bread for pizza, but never tried a tortilla.
Hangry! That is the perfect word to describe myself at about 7:00pm, after a long day at work and coming home from a workout and I still have to cook because all the leftovers were eaten for lunch… yes HANGRY! At this point, I don’t even care what I eat, all I want is food and I want it now and if I don’t get it now, I;m gonna go crazy. You’re probably a better person than I am and won’t go too crazy like that, but that is me when tired and hungry. This is indeed an awesome idea for a fast and easy meal!
I am absolutely not a better person than that, Margarita! My mother will confirm that I am at my worst when I’m hungry… I turn into a hangry monster! Roarrrr!!!
I LOVE tortilla pizzas! I need to get a cast iron skillet but for now they work wonderfully on a stone. :) Yours looks especially delicious! I’ve made dozens of tortillas in the last few weeks and now I regret not making one of these.
I would use a pizza stone if I had one! My cast iron skillet is so great for baking that I’m not sure I need one, though. I don’t know how you cook without one!
This and a skillet chocolate chip cookie recipe I saw today have inspired me to buy one. Thanks for the kick. :)
Hooray! Seriously, the uses for cast iron skillets are endless. Cook with it, bake with it, it’s the best.
I use my cast iron skillet and dutch oven regularly; haven’t done cornbread yet, but it’s next…
Sounds like you perfected this – love the cast iron pan idea. Good note on the ww tortilla ingredients list.
Thanks for this wonderful suggestion. I had all of the ingredients right on hand. I put my cast iron skillet on my gas grill–it worked wonderfully. I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. Just the thing for a Friday night.
Kim, I’m amazed that you tried the tortilla pizza already! I love posting recipes like this, simple recipes that call for super basic ingredients so readers can make them right away. Thanks for commenting to let me know, and great tip about the gas grill! I will add that to my notes.
Love this! Done this a million times but never tried the cast iron skillet. I bet it would be even better if you preheated the skillet, too – have you tried that? And I’m really obsessing over this pineapple/jalapeno combo.
No, I haven’t! I will try it next time. The crust can get a little too crispy when using a baking rack, and I’d say it’s just right with the skillet at room temp so we’ll see if it’s an improvement. Seriously, you have to try fresh pineapple/jalapeno/barbecue sauce on a pizza… it’s sweet, spicy and salty all at once.
I love making tortilla pizzas for a quick lunch for myself. Yours looks great! I’ll have to try using barbecue sauce sometime. :)
My sister and I did this for lunch today! We used round flatbreads and put on bbq sauce, sauteed peppers and onions, fresh pineapple, and cheddar cheese. They were delicous and so easy!
That’s great, Sarah! I’m really happy to hear that you and your sister enjoyed your flatbread pizzas. They’re one of those “back pocket” meals… when all else fails, there’s always tortilla pizzas!
We love tortilla pizzas and make them on the grill a lot in the summertime, loving the smoky flavor it gives them. We sort of OD’d on them, and I haven’t revisited this simple and perfect summer meal in quite some time. Thank you for the reminder. And yours look ravishing, by the way. :-)
loving pizza’s lately :)
xoxo
whenever I have ready-to-use ingredients for real food in the house, I can’t bear to order in either. (a) it makes me feel guilty and (b) it never tastes as good as something homemade does. Love how quick and easy these are! And MAJORLY healthy!
What a beautiful and nice blog you have. So many healthy and lovely recepies. Have a Nice Day!
I don’t often buy tortillas, but I specifically bought some this week to make pizzas like this for my kids. Can’t wait to try it out. We’ve used pitas in the past and they’re good, but I like this idea better. Also, bbq sauce on pizza is like, the best! :D
That’s great, Heidi! Please let me know what you (and your kids) think of the pizzas!
Ah yes, the tortilla pizza. I am trying to get my 11 year old to start making these for himself for snacks. How can it go wrong;)
I think your eleven-year-old can handle tortilla pizzas, I know I could at that age. Stove-top popcorn, on the other had… I almost burned down the house in fifth grade. Maybe wait a while on that one. :)
I’m with you 100%. I always make these pizzas when I don’t want to think about what to make!
Wow, this is such a delicious idea. I love tortillas, and I love pizza, so why not combine the two. I love that they are so easy to make. Great for busy days.
Ha–I totally do this with pita bread all the time. It’s perfect emergency pizza dinner! I can’t say I’ve ever tried it with tortillas, though–probably because we go through tortillas faster than lightning. :)
Oh yeah! I’m a total tortilla or pita pizza girl too. Such fast, easy, comfort food. I’ve never tried baking them in a cast iron skillet, though. Thanks for the tip!
YUM!! Looks right up our alley!
I alternate between tortilla and pita bread pizzas on the nights I need something quick and simple. Yours look fantastic!
I don’t have a cast-iron frying pan, but a dutch oven would work, right?
I would think so! I’ve never placed my dutch oven in the oven without its lid, but it should be fine without it, right?
I love this idea, going to make this for lunch right this instant with some fresh basil from our garden :)
What a great idea! I love pizza, but often I don’t have the energy to pick up the phone and order one. I think I might try this recipe with some naan instead of tortillas. What can I say? I’ve been on an Indian kick lately!
Have a great day!
What a brilliant idea! I love pizza and using tortillas seems quick and easy.
By the way nice blog, it has easy to make recipes.
I got my cast iron skillet in the mail yesterday and this was the first thing I made with it! Yummy yummy yummy. :) Do you think it’d be quicker to just put the pan in the oven while it heats up, and then place the pizza on the pan once it’s preheated? I think I’ll try that next time and let you know!
That’s a good question, Erin! I think the crust is just crispy enough with a non-preheated skillet so I wonder if it would get too crispy on a preheated skillet. Gotta give that cheese enough time to bubble up! Please let me know if you try it, I’m curious!
I just figured out that the bottom heating element of my oven isn’t heating at all and the oven wasn’t really heating to the temperature it said it was. So that’s why mine took forever to get crispy (although it never got crispy in the middle). That’s why I wanted to preheat the pan. I’ll give it another try once I have a working oven again!
Oh, that would explain it! In the meantime, maybe you could pre-heat the pan on the stove and finish baking it on one of the top racks in your oven. Hope you can get that fixed soon, what a pain!
Try it with corn tortillas!
Delicious! Pregnant and constantly craving pizza, peeked in the pantry whipped up some homemade marinara and am enjoying this light alternative that meets my craving!! Thank you for making my lunch time!
Glad to help, Sasha!
I use an electric fry pan turned to high. A little sauce goes on the tortilla, diced onions and peppers, mozzarella if I’m in the mood, a sprinkle of basil and oregano. 10-12 minutes in the frypan and it’s done.
Since I have to watch my blood sugar these are great, as they have lower carbs than pizza shells. Those shells are 3 for 5 bucks, while tortillas are 10 for 3 dollars. Plus these make better pizza than I can get in almost any restaurant.
you can do this stovetop as well! i make mine breakfast style with salsa as sauce, a chopped scrambled egg, onions, green peppers, some sliced ham and of course cheese!!! the cheese still gets bubbly stovetop on medium in a non stick pan! im a college student so this is super easy in the morning and for my tight budget!
I love this recipe! It’s so simple and easy. I will definitely utilize this recipe to create my own personal pizza. FYI, I mentioned this post and your blog in my personal blog site. Here’s the link: http://chilajem.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/menu-plan-monday-week-of-january-7/. Thank you!
Great! Whole family loved them: “I like pizza, mama,” from my two-year-old
Thanks, Lisa! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the tortilla pizzas. They’re a great, quick recipe to have in your back pocket.
I preheated my tortillas on a baking sheet for 4 minutes without any toppings, then topped, cooked for 14 minutes (my oven is not well insulated) and they were juuuuust perfect. (really, 30 seconds more would have burned the edges). I did use small tortillas…possibly 6 inch. they were really tiny, I have no idea what they would be made for that they need to be that small. :-/
I made English muffin pizzas, then had the idea for tortilla pizzas. I googled it and found your fabulous site. Such great recipes! My almost 3 year old loves these healthy pizzas and so do I!
Thank you, Melinda! I haven’t made English muffin pizzas in a very long time, thanks for the reminder. Glad you and your son are enjoying my recipes!
I’ve made tortilla, english muffin, and bagel pizzas numerous times, but this is my first time using a cast iron skillet in the oven (I do have a pizza stone, though)… Delicious! I will try to get the skillet preheated next time, for a crispier bottom, but this worked out really well. I put some EVOO on the crust, followed by organic tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and onion… Baked for about 13-14 minutes, followed by 1 min under the broiler, and topped w/ fresh basil after removing from oven.
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