Quick and Light Crispy Carnitas Tostada Pizza

This quick and light, crispy carnitas pizza. YES PLEASE. It was the last thing we made with the tail end of some leftover carnitas so I couldn’t make any more! And I’m dying to have another round. So good and so light.  And maybe so obvious. But let’s just write it all down and make sure we don’t forget about it mmkay?  In fact if now’s not the time to whip it up… go here to pin it for later on your ‘food that’s gonna make me look and feel amazing’ board.

I was skeptical of these Joseph’s pitas for the purpose of PIZZA for the longest time. I’d gotten used to real homemade crust before macros… and that’s hard to beat. But even as my carbs increased, figuring out macros for the homemade dough was too overwhelming to me in the beginning, so we got used to building our pizzas as flatbreads like these instead, on big, fat, soft papa pitas.

And they’re amazing.. it’s true. But these low carb guys are like a FOURTH of the carbs. And honestly I think I’ve grown to even prefer them. Not too much bread to distract from everything happening on TOP of the pizza. Plus then you can have two. Two is better than one.

Always.

Almost. Don’t think too hard about that.

And you gotta go for crispy. I think I was ruining their pizza potential hoping to keep them soft and chewy — WRONG GOAL. Gotta go crispy. Trust me.

The pieces cut and lift perfectly. One more time– crispy. You got it.

So this was a product of, “I’m starving and out of lunch meat but I hid a tiny stash of leftover carnitas so no one else would eat it.” It came together so fast and made me close my eyes and mmm to myself while I ate it. One of those.

Here’s all you do:

• Have some leftover carnitas waiting for you in your fridge. Ok or make some, then you can have these for dinner!
• Spread some yummy black bean spread from Trader Joe’s on your pita – if you don’t have that, get creative! A spicy hummus would be great… or just refried beans mixed with a little salsa… or even straight salsa would work.
• Add your cheese and meat and cook it till it’s…. CRISPY! It helps if you have a pizza pan with holes but I’ve pulled it off on a sheet pan.
• Top with all the yummy tostada-y goodness you can find in your fridge. Unless you wanna log my version in MFP than top it exactly like me. Ha. I love having so much control.

I hope you have some of our favorite cilantro lime ranch hanging out in your fridge. But if you don’t– it’s just a few ingredients and a quick blend away from being there! Or of course use your favorite Mexican dressing… the Bolthouse Cilantro Avocado is a great bottled option!

Also eat two mmkay?

Quick and Light Crispy Carnitas Tostada Pizza

For those days you don’t want a sandwich for lunch but still only have ten minutes! And some leftover carnitas of course.

• Author: Lillie
• Prep Time: 3 min
• Cook Time: 7 min
• Total Time: 10 min
• Yield: 1 1x
• Category: pizza
• Method: oven
• Cuisine: American

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 1 Joseph’s Pita (You can find them at most Walmarts now, and always on Amazon.)
• 1 tbs (15 g) Trader Joes Chipotle Black Bean Dip (Or sub 1 tbs refried beans mixed with 1 tbs favorite jarred salsa- the macros will be close enough!)
• 10 g (Shy of a tbs) Trader Joe’s Light shredded three cheese blend
• 60 g leftover instant pot or slow cooker carnitas (you can use it straight out of instant pot or quickly pan-fry it to make it crispy)
• Big handful of finely chopped romain or iceberg lettuce
• 25 g pico (I quickly whip up my own but whatever you like will do! The macros are all so so close.)
• 15 grams sliced avocado or 1 tbs guacamole
• 1 tbs (15 g)  fat free sour cream or greek yogurt
• 1 tsp (5 g) Cotija cheese (If you can’t find cotija- oddly, feta is a good alternative.)
• 1 tbs (15 g) homemade skinny cilantro lime ranch (or Bolthouse cilantro avocado in a pinch. Still great numbers and a solid bottled dressing.)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 425
2. Spread black bean dip on the pita
3. Top with shredded cheese and carnitas
4. Spray with a mist of cooking or olive oil spray and and sprinkle with kosher salt.
5. Bake on a pizza pan, or cookie sheet for 5-8 minutes until edges are browned and crispy.
6. Top with lettuce, pico, avo, sour cream, cotija, and dressing.
7. And maybe eat two because IT’S SO LIGHT.

Notes

• I know that not everyone is able to get specific brands, but these are the brands I used for these specific macros. For the most part, the macros will be the same if you find any light shredded cheese blend when we’re working with this small amount.
• If you track your macros, of course you can log everything individually to have it perfect if your brands are different. Or you can call it good and search “lillie eats and tells carnitas tostada pizza” In My Fitness Pal and log one straight from there!

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 carnitas pizza
• Calories: 265
• Fat: 8.8
• Saturated Fat: 2.8
• Carbohydrates: 23.8
• Fiber: 6.3
• Protein: 26.3

Keywords: josephs, pita, pizza, tostada, Mexican, carnitas, lunch