Vegetarian Mushroom Tlayuda

Tlayuda is a giant Mexican pizza! What's not to like? This recipe for vegetarian mushroom tlayuda is topped with grilled veggies, refried black beans and cheese!

Vegetarian Mushroom Tlayuda - basiccally a giant Mexican pizza!

You probably clicked on this link just to figure out what on earth a tlayuda even is.

The hubs and I were in the same boat when we ordered one from Rick Bayless' new taqueria and brewery last year when we were in Chicago. As we learned, it's basically a giant Mexican pizza with a super crispy, oversized tortilla as it's base. What's not to like about that? Ours was topped with a black bean spread, cheese and tons of grilled peppers, onions and mushrooms - YUM!

And as someone who loves to talk about joyful eating, it was seriously one of the most joyful eating experiences. We ate outside on a 70 degree day in November, people watching and sipping cold gose (my favorite beer!) with our tlayuda, tacos and nopales salad. Perfection.

Since we've already established that I'm down with emotional eating, I'll share that one of my favorite ways to "emotionally eat" is to do it in a positive way, recreating happy food memories. That little bit of nostalgia is just as nourishing as food!

So, I did my best to recreate our tlayuda at home. I definitely don't have the whole paper thin, super crispy tortilla thing down, but I'm also not Rick Bayless so there's that. If you feel like skipping a step, make this on a premade corn tortilla. Plan on about two per person (more or less depending on hunger level).

I went the grilled veggie route, sticking close to the original. But just like everything can go on pizza and it's still delicious, everything (within reason) would be tasty on this tlayuda. Chorizo and cheese....chicken and peppers.....charred corn, chilies and cotija. Mmmm...I think I have a tlayuda party in my future.

Highly recommend eating this outside with a cold gose. FYI - Westbrook from here in SC is my favorite!

Makes 4

Ingredients

Tortilla:

2 cups masa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup water

Tlayuda:

8 ounces cremini mushrooms
1 bunch scallions
1 can refried black beans
Feta or cotija cheese
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced
Pickled red onions or shallots
Cilantro
Salsa verde, for serving

Instructions

First, grill the vegetables. Heat grill to medium heat. Spray mushrooms and scallions with olive oil spray and season with salt and pepper. Place mushrooms on a skewer if you're worried about them falling through the grates. Grill scallions about 1-2 minutes total and mushrooms about 2-3 minutes on both sides until tender and lightly charred. Set aside and when cool enough to handle, quarter the mushrooms and chop the scallions.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the masa, salt and water until smooth and all the flour is incorporated. Divide dough into four equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place the ball in a large zip top bag or between two layers of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, flatten until it's about 8-9 inches across.
Carefully remove to an oiled baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes until crispy.
Remove from oven, carefully spread with black beans and top with grilled vegetables. Place back in oven and heat a minute or two to warm through. Serve warm topped with feta, sliced avocado, pickled onions/shallots and cilantro. Serve with salsa verde.

Vegetarian Mushroom Tlayuda