Simple Delicious Tamale Pie with your choice of ground turkey, beef or veggie meat with seasonal veggies, topped with a delicious cornbread crust.
Here’s an easy weeknight dinner recipe for Tamale Pie that can be made with ground chicken, turkey, beef or keep it vegetarian and use ground vegetarian “meat”.
The flavorful Mexican-spiced filling is cooked on the stovetop then topped with a simple cornmeal batter before baking in the oven. When it comes out, it is transformed into a golden cornbread-crusted pan of deliciousness!
Why this recipe works:
What I love about this recipe is how fast and easy it is to put together, letting the oven do half the work. It is also very adaptable- use whichever meat or veggie meat you like!
The flavorful base can be achieved with ground meat – chicken, turkey or beef- or try vegetarian ground “meat”,
How to make Tamale Pie:
- In a nutshell, make the flavorful filling on the stovetop with veggies and your choice of meat.
- Season the filling and top with cornbread batter, then put the whole skillet right in the oven.
- The Cornbread will bake over top of the filling and when it comes out it will be golden, puffed and delicious!
Add cheese for extra richness, or leave it off for a leaner option.
Spread the batter over the stew, then top with jalapeños. Bake for 25 minutes at 425F.
Into the oven it goes to bake!
When it comes out the crust will be golden and crispy.
My husbands loves this topped with a little sour cream and I like to add slices of avocado.
Simple Delicious Tamale Pie, a simple weeknight meal, easily vegetarian adaptable and perfect for weeknights! Let us know what you think in the comments below.
PrintTamale Pie Recipe
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6-8
- Category: Main
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Simple Delicious Tamale Pie with your choice of ground turkey, beef or veggie meat topped with a delicious cornbread crust.
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1 lb ground meat ( chicken, turkey, or beef) or use vegetarian ground “meat”.
- 1 bell pepper ( or try cubes of roasted butternut or sweet potato!)
- 1 can black beans, drained (or sub extra veggies or more meat)
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried mexican oregano (or use regular)
- 1 ½ cups enchilada sauce (or sub 1 can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes and perhaps “up” the spices)
- ½ cup water
- 4-ounce can drained green chilies (optional)
- 1–2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro- optional
- 1 cup grated cheese- optional
Corn Bread Topping
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 extra-large egg
- 2/3 cup milk or buttermilk
- 1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
- 1 jalapeño, sliced- optional
- more cheese- totally optional
Garnish with fresh cilantro, sour cream ( or avocado) and hot sauce ( all optional).
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
In a 10-11 inch oven proof skillet or dutch oven, saute onion, garlic, ground meat and bell pepper in the olive over medium heat until meat is golden brown, about 10 minutes. ( If using vegetarian meat option, no need to brown first – cook the onion, garlic and bell pepper until tender, then add the ground veggie meat. Use a metal spatula to prevent sticking. If the veggie meat continues to stick no worries scrape it up when you add the liquids.)
Add the corn and beans, salt and spices. Stir in the enchilada sauce and water and optional canned chilies, bring to a simmer over low heat. Taste, adjust salt and spices. ( If you used tomato sauce instead of enchilada sauce you may want to add more spices). Bottom line is …you want this stew base to be flavorful and robust in flavor and just slightly liquidy. Simmer on low and while it’s simmering, make the cornbread topping.
Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, milk sour cream, and oil in a small bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk.
Stir in optional cilantro into the filling and sprinkle with optional cheese. While the stew is still simmering on the stove, spread the cornbread batter in a thin layer over top. Simmer 1-2 minutes more, and top with thinly sliced jalapeño ( or more grated cheese) and then place in the hot oven.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, check, then continue baking an additional 5 minutes or until puffed and beautifully golden.
Serve with fresh cilantro, sour cream, avocado and hot sauce.
Notes
PS. my husband likes his cornbread top lathered in butter right when it comes out of the oven. Optional of course.
Keywords: tamale pie, tamale pie recipe, tamale pie casserole, tamale casserole, cornbread casserole, enchilada casserole, baked tamales, tamales baked, tamales
Just pulled this together with Impossible meat and vegan substitutions for the cornbread. It was delicious! Satisfied my picky meat and potatoes teen and my vegan teen and my husband loved it! Thank you!
★★★★★
What were the vegan substitutes for the cornbread?
Thank you; this is a great recipe that isn’t too difficult and does not require a ton of cleanup. The spices can be doctored as mentioned and a plethora of substations can be made which makes things even easier. It came out great and is so delicious. Bonus that it also looks quite impressive. I’m already looking forward to making it again 🙂
★★★★★
So glad you liked it!!!
Made this with ground chicken and it turned out beautiful!
★★★★★
Could this be made and assembled ahead? BTW, I LOVE your recipes!
Thanks Shannon, the filling for sure could ( warm to room temp before baking) but I would recommend making the topping right before.
Made this twice now, it is amazing! Every recipe I’ve tried has been wonderful! Thank you so much.
★★★★★
Awesome Nancy! So happy you have been enjoying this!
My son LOVES this recipe. So easy after a busy day at work. Thank you!
★★★★★
Oh this makes me so happy! Im so glad!
This was really good, and healthy too, which I really appreciate! Thanks
★★★★★
Perfect! Thanks for additional info for alternatives…
Best
Merci pour cette recette que je vais m’empresser de faire. Je suis sûre que cela va me plaire . Bisous Chris06
Sylvia,
I have had trouble working with those soy bits being marketed as vegan beef replacement. I put them in a skillet and they stick to the pan. I put olive oil in first, and they become a sludgy me, and I never get the consistency of little chewy bits. How do you cook them? i love the taste and texture, but now wonder if I should be roasting them or something else absurd.
Doug, they do stick! It’s annoying!!! I use a well oiled pan and a metal spatula to scrape up the bits. In this recipe, when you add the liquids they will be easy to scrape up, so just do that and don’t worry too much, it should still turn out. 🙂
Thank you, Sylvia!. As always, looking forward to making your recipes. Tamale Pie will be this coming weekend. I can’t make the Chile Rellenos because the Poblano Chiles they get in this town are the size of jalapeños. Surely I can find a company that ships large Poblanos nation wide.
You’re tastes are awesome. you hanks for sharing your recipes with us!
Thanks Doug. You could also try pasilla peppers. Sometimes our peppers here are small too, sometimes they are enormous…not a lot of consistency. 🙂