Even though we often turn to fast food because we don’t have time to make dinner, we also eat it just because we like it. In fact, there are entire recipes dedicated to fast-food copycats. And one thing that beats making a copycat from scratch is finding a store-bought dupe. Add the fact that there are no delivery app fees, and it almost feels too good to be true.
That was exactly my hope with the new Old El Paso Mexican Pizza Kit. While the kit doesn’t specifically cite Taco Bell as its inspiration, it’s pretty clear from the packaging that the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza—a go-to order both for me and country legend Dolly Parton—was at the center of the mood board for this product’s development. To see how Old El Paso’s version held up against the fast-food icon that inspired it, I picked up a kit and ordered a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza to compare the two side by side. Here’s how it went.
What comes in the Old El Paso Mexican pizza kit?
Joe Erbentraut For Taste Of Home
The kit comes with (almost) everything you need to try your hand at crafting your own Mexican pizza at home. Inside are 12 crispy corn tostadas, along with packets of Old El Paso seasoning, taco sauce and queso. That leaves just a few things to pick up at the grocery store: one pound of ground beef, shredded Mexican-style cheese and your favorite toppings. I went with the box suggestion of diced tomatoes and green onions.
What was it like building the Mexican pizzas?
Joe Erbentraut For Taste Of Home
I started by heating my oven to 425°F, browning the beef in a skillet, and seasoning it with the provided mix. All these steps will feel familiar to anyone who’s made Tex-Mex-inspired tacos at home.
Then it was time to address my biggest concern with the kit: the condition of the classically fragile, pre-fried corn tostadas. While many of the tostadas were already a bit broken, they were still salvageable for a mostly intact Mexican pizza experience. After all, they’d be blanketed with melted cheese and beef anyway. I placed six of the provided tostadas on a baking sheet, spooned equal portions of the queso packet onto each, then topped them with seasoned ground beef, a second tostada, the taco sauce and a generous handful of shredded cheese.
Finally, it was melting time. I placed the tray in the oven, and everything melted properly in a few minutes. Once out of the oven, I topped the pizzas with diced tomatoes and green onions. The whole process was seamless, with simple instructions on the box that are also adaptable to different preferences and dietary needs. Vegetarians, for example, could easily swap refried or black beans for the ground beef. And the topping possibilities—black olives, jalapeno slices, pickled red onions, cilantro, guacamole, sour cream—are endless.
For the purposes of this test, I stuck as close to the traditional Taco Bell preparation as possible, though I made the executive decision to bring back the diced green onions that have been missing from the fast-food favorite since 2006.
How did the Mexican pizzas taste?
Joe Erbentraut For Taste Of Home
Now came the moment of truth: Would Old El Paso compare to the Bell itself?
First, the Old El Paso tostadas are corn-based, while the Taco Bell tostadas are a bit larger and made with flour. The Taco Bell Mexican Pizza also includes a mixture of both refried beans and beef, while the Old El Paso pizza uses only beef. Though it could easily be customized to include both. And while Old El Paso’s taco sauce tasted quite similar to Taco Bell’s nostalgic, enchilada sauce-like topping, the Old El Paso version also adds queso, which Taco Bell doesn’t.
Ultimately, the two pizzas tasted very different, largely because the Old El Paso tortilla brought a more corn-forward flavor to the dish. The corn tortilla was also harder and crispier than the Taco Bell tortilla, creating a nice contrast in texture that the Taco Bell version can’t quite match. Old El Paso’s all-beef approach also gave the at-home version a meatier result. And because I was chopping the toppings myself, the tomatoes tasted a bit fresher.
Overall, I enjoyed the Mexican pizza kit and would definitely buy it again—especially with its $4.98 price tag. While it didn’t exactly match the Taco Bell version, the Old El Paso pizzas tasted fresher and less greasy and left me feeling less weighed down. Color me impressed—and even a bit surprised. Now I just need an at-home hack for the Crunchwrap Supreme, and I’ll be set.
Old El Paso’s Mexican pizza kit is now available at Walmart locations and will be on shelves at retailers nationwide beginning in June.
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