In the US the tlayuda (tla-YOO-dah) gets sold as Oaxacan pizza, and the comparison only half works. It is a corn tortilla 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 cm) across, cooked on a griddle until half-toasted, then spread with asiento, a toasty pork fat, refried black beans and stringy quesillo cheese, topped with grilled meat and crisped again over charcoal, open-faced or folded. The topping takes five minutes. The hard part outside Oaxaca is the tortilla, so this recipe builds the whole dish around one you can roll at home in an ordinary skillet, plus swaps for the fat and the cheese that come from a regular supermarket.
What is a tlayuda
How do you make tlayudas at home? Roll masa harina dough into 10-inch (26 cm) corn tortillas and cook them in a hot skillet until firm, spotted and still flexible. Spread with lard toasted with crushed pork rinds and refried black beans, add Oaxaca cheese and thin seared steak, then crisp folded in the skillet or open-faced at 450°F (230°C). Finish with cabbage, tomato and avocado. 80 minutes for 4 servings.
Tlayudas come from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, where, according to Mexican outlets UnoTV and El Universal, the town of San Antonio de la Cal is the main producer of the tortillas, 14 to 18 inches (35 to 45 cm) across. Women there cook them on griddles set over braziers and sell them half-toasted; stored in palm baskets called tenates, they keep for days. You’ll also see the name spelled clayuda.
The finished tlayuda is crunchy at the edges and slightly chewy in the middle, which is why it isn’t really a pizza: there’s no dough rising, and the tortilla is meant to be torn and eaten by hand.
Tlayuda ingredients, and swaps for a US or UK kitchen
Four ingredients are hard to find outside Mexico. Here is what to buy instead and what you give up.
| Oaxacan ingredient | Best swap | Where to find it | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tlayuda tortilla, 12-16 in (30-40 cm) | Homemade 10 in (26 cm) masa harina tortilla | Masa harina in Latin aisles; in the UK, online Mexican grocers | Thinner and smaller, same corn flavor |
| Asiento | 60 g (¼ cup) lard + 20 g (¾ oz) crushed pork rinds | Lard at butchers or by the shortening; pork rinds in the snack aisle | Less depth than the real thing, still porky and toasty |
| Quesillo | Oaxaca cheese, or low-moisture mozzarella | Queso Oaxaca in Latin grocers’ cheese case; pizza mozzarella anywhere | Mozzarella is less stringy and less salty |
| Tasajo | Flank or sirloin sliced ⅛ in (3-4 mm), salted 30 minutes | Ask the butcher for “thin-sliced for fajitas” or “milanesa” | Juicier, less cured |
Can you use flour tortillas? Yes. A burrito-size flour tortilla, 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm), crisps well and saves 30 minutes. It tastes of wheat, puffs into bubbles and contains gluten, so what you get is closer to a Mexican-style flatbread pizza. For a weeknight, I don’t mind.
What about masarepa? No. Arepa flour such as P.A.N. is precooked corn that hasn’t been nixtamalized, the alkaline treatment that gives masa its stretch, and it cracks apart under a rolling pin. If the bag says “masa harina” or “nixtamalized corn flour,” you’re fine.
Packaged tlayudas. Some Mexican groceries, and online shops in the US, sell real tlayuda tortillas, already half-toasted. If you find them, buy them: they’re the authentic base and turn this into a 35-minute dinner. Warm each one a minute per side before topping.
Fresh mozzarella in water is the one cheese to avoid. It weeps whey into the beans and the tortilla goes limp.
Is it worth making tlayudas, and how long do they take
80 minutes start to finish, about 60 of them hands-on, most of it rolling and cooking four tortillas. It’s worth it if you like a big, crunchy, share-from-the-board dinner and own a cast iron pan or an oven.
Who it suits. A Friday dinner, a game night where you cut them into wedges, or a barbecue when the charcoal is already going. One 10-inch tlayuda is a full meal for an adult.
Who it doesn’t. Anyone with only a small nonstick pan, since the tortilla needs room and heat. And anyone after something light: each tlayuda is about 1,075 kcal.
Honest difficulty, medium. Assembly is easy. Rolling a 10-inch corn tortilla takes a couple of tries. Expect the first one to come out lopsided.
Your game plan, with a make-ahead version
The dough needs a 15-minute rest, and that’s exactly when the asiento and beans get made.
Make ahead. Cook the tortillas up to 2 days ahead and keep them in a zip-top bag at room temperature; half-toasted, they hold up the way the ones in Oaxaca do in their baskets. Refry the beans and make the asiento a day ahead and refrigerate them. On the night, you only sear the steak, slice the toppings and crisp the tlayudas, about 35 minutes.
Signs you’re on track.
- Dough → a ball pressed between your palms has smooth edges, no cracks.
- Asiento → the pork rind bits go from gold to mahogany in 5 to 7 minutes. If the fat smokes, lower the heat.
- Beans → a spoon dragged through the pan leaves a channel that stays open for a second.
- Tortilla → firm, with toasted freckles on both faces, and it bends without cracking.
- Crisping → the edge sounds hollow when tapped with a spatula, and melted cheese peeks out.
How to roll a 10-inch corn tortilla without tearing it
Parchment paper does the work. Roll the 5 oz (140 g) ball between two sheets from the center outward, turning the paper a quarter turn every couple of passes, until it’s 10 inches (26 cm) across and about 1/16 inch (2 mm) thick. Peel the top sheet, flip the tortilla into the hot skillet with the second sheet facing up, and leave it alone. After 30 to 45 seconds the masa sets and the paper lifts off cleanly. If the paper sticks, the pan wasn’t hot enough; give it the full 5 minutes of preheating. A smooth wine bottle works if you don’t own a rolling pin.
Oven, skillet or grill, and open or folded
The topping is the same either way; the method decides the shape and how many you can serve at once.
Folded closes like a giant quesadilla, so the cheese melts inside while both faces crisp. That’s the way to go in a skillet, because it fits. Open-faced shows off the toppings and is easier to cut into wedges for a crowd, which makes the oven the best tool: two at a time on sheet pans or a pizza stone at 450°F (230°C).
On a charcoal grill, set the tlayuda on the grate about 6 inches (15 cm) above medium coals and turn it every minute or so for 4 to 6 minutes. That’s the closest you’ll get at home to the anafre, the small charcoal brazier Oaxacan street cooks use.
Mistakes to avoid, heat level, kids and allergens
- Dough cracks while rolling → too dry or under-rested. Knead in 1 tbsp water and cover 5 minutes.
- Tortilla snaps when folded → over-toasted. Pull it while it still bends.
- Soggy middle → runny beans or an undercooked tortilla. Beans should be a paste.
- Cheese turns watery → fresh mozzarella. Use Oaxaca cheese or low-moisture mozzarella.
- Bitter asiento → the lard smoked. Medium-low heat, off as soon as the bits are mahogany.
- Overloaded and bursting → keep to about ⅔ cup (160 g) beans and ¾ cup (75 g) cheese per 10-inch tortilla.
Heat level, 0 out of 5 without salsa. All the heat is in what you spoon on. A taqueria-style red salsa with chiles de árbol takes it to 4 out of 5; a two-serrano salsa verde to about 3. A teaspoon of crunchy salsa macha, Mexico’s chili crisp on top adds heat and crunch.
Kids. Cheese, beans and crunchy bread is an easy sell. Cut it into wedges and keep the salsa off theirs.
Allergens. Milk from the cheese. With corn tortillas the dish is gluten-free, as long as the pork rinds and any chorizo don’t list wheat; flour tortillas add gluten. No egg, nuts or fish.
Variations
- Short on time → packaged tlayudas or large flour tortillas, canned beans and skillet steak, about 35 minutes.
- Chorizo → 10½ oz (300 g) fresh Mexican chorizo, crumbled and browned 6 minutes, instead of the steak, about 70 kcal more per tlayuda. Spanish cured chorizo is a different sausage and tastes it.
- Cecina-style pork → ⅛-inch (3 mm) pork loin cutlets rubbed with ground guajillo chile, garlic, vinegar and salt an hour before searing.
- Lighter → 1½ oz (40 g) cheese and ½ tbsp (8 g) asiento per tlayuda saves about 175 kcal.
- Vegetarian → skip the meat, swap the asiento for vegetable shortening or garlic-infused oil and add sautéed mushrooms or squash blossoms. It loses the pork depth, so be generous with the beans.
- Oaxacan extras → grilled spring onions and roasted chiles on the side, or a scattering of chapulines, toasted grasshoppers, for the adventurous.
What tlayudas cost, and how many to make for a crowd
The four tlayudas cost about $19.28, or $4.82 each, at US average prices. Steak is the expensive part, 59 % of the total.
| Ingredient | Amount | Price used | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef steak | 14 oz (400 g) | BLS all uncooked beef steaks, $12.81/lb, Aug 2026 | $11.30 |
| Cheese | 10½ oz (300 g) | BLS cheddar, $5.98/lb (no series for Oaxaca cheese) | $3.96 |
| Hass avocados | 2 | USDA AMS retail, $1.09 each, Oct 2026 | $2.18 |
| Tomatoes | 8½ oz (240 g) | BLS field-grown tomatoes, $1.98/lb | $1.05 |
| Dried black beans | ½ lb (220 g) | BLS dried beans, $1.63/lb | $0.79 |
Masa harina, lard, pork rinds and cabbage have no official price series and aren’t counted; together they add a few dollars. Oaxaca cheese usually costs more than cheddar, so treat the cheese line as a floor. Skip the steak and you halve the bill.
How many to make.
| Guests | Tlayudas | Masa harina | Cooked beans | Cheese | Steak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4, dinner | 4 | 2 cups (240 g) | 3 cups (500 g) | 10½ oz (300 g) | 14 oz (400 g) |
| 6, dinner | 6 | 3 cups (360 g) | 4½ cups (750 g) | 1 lb (450 g) | 1⅓ lb (600 g) |
| 12, dinner | 12 | 6 cups (720 g) | 9 cups (1.5 kg) | 2 lb (900 g) | 2⅔ lb (1.2 kg) |
| 20, party snacks, 3 wedges each | 15 | 7½ cups (900 g) | 11 cups (1.9 kg) | 2½ lb (1.1 kg) | 3⅓ lb (1.5 kg) |
For 12 or more, make the tortillas the day before, ideally in two skillets at once, and crisp everything open-faced in the oven.
Serving, storing and reheating tlayudas
How they’re served. On a big board or platter, folded and opened at the table or flat and cut into wedges, with salsa and lime on the side. Guacamole made by the avocado ratio is a natural extra. If you’re already firing up the grill, carne asada with skirt steak makes a great alternative topping, and leftover cheese and steak go straight into corn tortilla quesadillas the next day. When you’d rather cook the beans from dry, the refried beans recipe gives the exact liquid for a spreadable paste.
Fridge. An assembled tlayuda goes soft overnight as the tortilla soaks up the beans, so store the parts separately. According to USDA FSIS, cooked beans and meat keep 3 to 4 days at 40°F (4°C) or below, refrigerated within 2 hours.
Freezer. Refried beans and cooked steak keep 2 to 3 months for best quality. Cooked tortillas freeze well with parchment between them and go straight into a hot skillet.
Reheating. A leftover assembled tlayuda, minus cabbage and avocado, goes in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes per side, covered at first so the cheese melts, or in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 6 to 8 minutes, until it reaches 165°F (74°C) in the center. The microwave makes it chewy.
Tlayuda FAQ
What does tlayuda mean? It’s the Oaxacan name for both the giant corn tortilla and the dish built on it. Spellings vary, and clayuda is common.
Is a tlayuda the same as a Mexican pizza? No. It’s a griddled corn tortilla, with no risen dough, spread with lard and beans and eaten by hand. “Oaxacan pizza” is a nickname used outside Mexico.
What cheese goes on a tlayuda? Quesillo, a stringy Oaxacan cheese sold in the US as Oaxaca cheese. Low-moisture mozzarella is the best substitute.
What can I use instead of asiento? Lard cooked with finely crushed pork rinds for 5 to 7 minutes. Plain lard works too, with less toasty flavor.
Can I make tlayudas with regular tortillas? Small 6-inch (15 cm) corn tortillas make good mini tlayudas, one each. Overlapping them to make a big one doesn’t hold when folded.
How do you eat a tlayuda? With your hands: tear or cut it into wedges. Folded ones are opened at the table.
How many calories are in a tlayuda? About 1,075 kcal for one 10-inch tlayuda made this way, or about 900 with less cheese and asiento.
Tlayuda nutrition per serving
Per tlayuda (1 of 4, about 21 oz / 600 g, without salsa), calculated ingredient by ingredient from USDA SR Legacy with this recipe’s quantities. The cheese is counted as whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella and the steak as broiled flank:
- Calories: 1,075 kcal
- Protein: 60 g
- Carbohydrates: 89 g
- Fat: 55 g, of which 23 g saturated
- Fiber: 21 g
- Sugars: 6 g
- Sodium: 1,465 mg
Slightly more than half of the sodium comes from the 8 g (1⅓ tsp) of added salt, and about a third from the cheese, so leave the salt out of canned beans. The 21 g of fiber, mostly from beans and avocado, is three quarters of the 28 g Daily Value.
I learned arepas long before tortillas, so my first tlayuda was rolled from P.A.N. flour and fell apart on the counter. Masa harina and two sheets of parchment fixed it, and now I roll them the night before so dinner is just building and crisping. My son Dylan always goes for the burnt edge first. Josnaisis.