Canned Enchilada Sauce Gives Your Pizza The Twist It Needs

With society's ever-growing desire to have dinner ready in a jiffy, it's no surprise canned and otherwise easy-to-use items (labeled "pre-made" or "instant") have been climbing the ranks of pantries across the country. Canned enchilada sauce is no exception. From quick enchiladas to 30-minute Tex-Mex-inspired casseroles, the canned sauce has been storming the online recipe game. Most recipes are centered around Hispanic dishes, but there's so much more you can do with the sauce — including using it for pizza.

The first step in making a delicious pizza with any flavor profile is choosing the right pizza crust. To commit to quick and easy cooking, you can grab your favorite store-bought pizza dough, but remember to par-bake the pizza before topping to ensure your dough can handle the extra weight. If you want to be a bit more involved, consider this Neapolitan pizza dough. Between mixing, proofing, and baking, this process takes over a day, but the results will be worth it to create an authentic Hispanic-Italian hybrid dish.

Regardless of which dough you choose, once it's ready to top, grab your enchilada sauce (either red or green works). Once you have your sauce in hand, toss it into a small saucepan and thicken it with a roux or cornstarch. You can certainly skip this step, but enchilada sauce is quite thin and may run off the dough. If you add it to a saucepan, you can also experiment by adding chili powder or cumin. Once you've topped the dough with sauce, it's time to customize.

For a make-it-yourself pizza, the options really are endless; use whatever your heart desires. Here are some recommendations to get you started. First, choose your cheese. For this Tex-Mex-inspired pizza, try Monterey Jack. Or you could opt for pepper Jack for an even spicier flavor. If you're a mozzarella pizza purist, consider the delicious mozzarella-like melting cheese Oaxaca. Whatever cheese you choose, spread an even layer over the sauce and get ready to experiment further.

For the actual toppings, it's really a matter of what you like and don't like. Toppings that would be good on this enchilada sauce pizza include fire-roasted corn, black or pinto beans, refried beans (à la Taco Bell's Mexican pizza), jalapeños, red or green bell peppers, crumbled taco-seasoned ground beef, or flavorful grilled chicken. Bake your pizza according to the dough instructions or until the cheese is fully melted, then remove to cool.

Post-bake, try adding cilantro (if you enjoy soap-tasting herbs), Tajin, or Cotija cheese crumbles. If you typically dip your pizza in ranch, swap it for sour cream. The final step is to step back, admire your delicious fusion meal, and enjoy.