Pizza Hut uses 'Italian taco' hack to mock Taco Bell's Mexican Pizza - as it returns after being sold out for months

• Taco Bell's beloved Mexican Pizza returned as a permanent menu item this week.
• Pizza Hut poked fun at it by introducing a so-called "Italian taco."
• The "Italian taco", as it turns out, is just a regular slice of pizza folded at the corners to form a taco shape.

No one out-pizzas the hut, but can someone out-taco the bell?

Taco Bell brought back its Mexican Pizza as a permanent menu item this week. It consists of a flour tortilla shell filled with refried beans and ground beef, then topped with another tortilla, sauce, cheese, and tomatoes. Mexican Pizza has long been a fan favorite, but it was cut from Taco Bell's menu in 2020.

The fast food company brought it back in May, but quickly ran out, noting it was seven times more popular than expected.

Fast forward to this week, and the Mexican Pizza is officially back for good.

But one fast food rival had a menu announcement of its own in response — well, sort of.

In a since-deleted tweet, Pizza Hut introduced what it called the "Italian taco." "Taco Bell, we see your #MexicanPizza, and raise you the #ItalianTaco," Pizza Hut tweeted.

But the Italian taco is nothing new. 

Accompanying the tweet was a picture of a regular slice of pizza  - but folded at the corners to resemble a taco shape.

Pizza Hut also took a jab at Taco Bell for the months-long period in which the Mexican Pizza was sold out.

"The best part? This nearly unbelievable innovation will never run out. The Italian Taco has been here and will be here forever," a Pizza Hut representative told Food & Wine.