Tamale Pie is an old school casserole with layers of seasoned beef or chicken, cornbread, and melted gooey cheese. Made from scratch, yet quick and easy, Tamale Pie is perfect for a family favorite weeknight meal! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Meijer . The opinions and text are all mine.

Nothing beats an old school, classic comfort food recipe. My mom’s tamale pie casserole came from the source of all her cutting edge recipes – church cookbooks. 

They were all the rage before Food Network, celebrity chefs, and, well, food blogs.

Recently my mom stumbled across her old tamale casserole recipe and passed it on to me with a personal plug written on it: “I made this a lot years ago. It was very good and very easy.” 

Sounds right up my alley. 👌

What is Tamale Pie?

If you aren’t familiar with Tamale Pie, let’s get you properly acquainted. 

Tamale Pie is baked as a casserole traditionally layered with ground beef, a cornbread crust, and cheese. Although the flavors are inspired by Mexican food, tamale casserole is better categorized as Southwestern cuisine. 

Variations of tamale casserole uses chicken, chorizo, ground pork, or vegetarian with beans. The mexican flavors come from salsa, chili powder, and enchilada sauce mixed in with the protein.

Tamale Pie with Cornbread

When made from scratch, cornmeal, masa, or polenta is used to make the cornbread layer. Any of these corn grains are mixed with eggs, butter, baking powder, and cream style corn to make something similar to tomalito or a sweet corn cake.

Shortcut Tamale Pie uses a Jiffy mix for the cornbread layer, which was the version my mother made growing up. 

For my purposes, though, this doesn’t work because Jiffy cornbread mix isn’t gluten free. Fortunately Tamale Pie from scratch still uses very simple ingredients and the cornbread takes 5 minutes to mix together in one bowl.

Healthy Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie falls in that classic comfort food repertoire, which usually means they are ways save on calories. If you’re looking for a lighter version of tamale casserole, use any of these suggestions to make it healthier.

• Use reduced-fat cheese or halve the amount of cheese
• Instead of ground beef, substitute ground turkey or chicken
• Make Vegetarian Tamale Pie by substituting a sauteed onion, pepper, canned corn, pinto, and black beans mixed with the salsa, enchilada sauce, and chili powder.
• If using ground beef, be sure to use ground sirloin or lean ground beef

Tamale Pie Ingredients

Tamale Pie is great weeknight dinner option because most of the ingredients are kitchen staples, like butter, sugar, eggs, baking powder, milk, and chili powder.

I made a quick stop at Meijer for the handful of other required ingredients – ground sirloin, cheese, cornmeal, cream corn, enchilada sauce, and salsa. 

To get in and out of the store as fast I possible, I used Meijer’s app with their new Shop and Scan feature. Just grab what you need, scan it using the app, and throw it in your shopping bag.

I even used Shop and Scan to add fresh produce, like avocado and lettuce, by utilizing Meijer’s digital scales to print out scannable labels. 

When you have everything you need, stop by the self checkout to scan the barcode and pay. It’s a great timesaver for those quick in-and-out shopping missions! 

How To Make Tamale Pie

1. Mix together easy cornbread ingredients. 
2. Pour into a greased cast iron skillet, pie dish, or baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.
3. Use a handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes in cornbread.
4. Pour 1/2 can of enchilada sauce and set aside.
5. Brown beef and mix in remaining enchilada sauce, salsa, and chili powder.
6. Spread onto cornbread, top with cheese, and return to oven for 15 minutes. 

How to Make Chicken Tamale Pie

Easily adapt beef Tamale Pie into Chicken Tamale Pie following these simple steps:

1. Use 2 cups shredded chicken to replace the ground beef. (Either cover 3/4 pound chicken breasts with water and boil for 15 minutes or cook in Instant Pot for 6 minutes with 1 cup water.) 
2. Bake cornbread, poke with holes, and pour over half enchilada sauce.
3. Combine shredded chicken, chili powder, salsa, and remaining enchilada sauce in a bowl.
4. Layer chicken mixture on cornbread, top with cheese, and bake at 375ºF for 15 minutes.

Tamale Pie with Polenta

Some recipes for easy tamale casserole substitute prepared polenta for the cornbread layers. For Tamale Pie with polenta you will need 2 tubes of prepared polenta.

1. Slice or crumble on of the tubes on the bottom of a greased pie dish or cast iron skillet.
2. Pour over half enchilada sauce and top with beef or chicken filling.
3. Slice or crumble remaining polenta tube, top with cheese, and bake 375ºF for 20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is bubbly.

Other Favorites Mexican Inspired Dishes

• Mexican Chicken Casserole – Combines the best parts of taco night into one easy, hearty, flavorful dish with chicken, rice, cheese, and tortilla chips.
• Mexican Fish – Easy fish recipe is bursting with robust flavors, but quickly comes together in 30 minutes and uses only one pot.
• Shrimp Avocado Salsa – Uses fresh garden ingredients, easily tossed together to make one surprisingly flavorful and addictive appetizer.
• Skinny Margarita – Absolutely perfect version of a fantastic drink that’s lighter in calories and uses fresh ingredients.

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5 from 3 votes

Print

Tamale Pie

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Made from scratch, yet quick and easy, Tamale Pie is an old school casserole with layers of seasoned beef or chicken, cornbread, and melted cheese.

Course: Dinner, Gluten Free dinner

Cuisine: Mexican, southwest

Keyword: beef, from scratch, tamale casserole, tamale pie

Servings: 8

Calories: 370 kcal

Ingredients

Cornbread:

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
• 1/3 cup milk
• 14.75 ounce can cream style corn

Tamale Pie Filling:

• 1 pound lean ground beef, such as sirloin
• 10 ounce can enchilada sauce, (read label to make sure it's gluten free)
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups shredded colby jack cheese

optional toppings: additional salsa, cilantro, sour cream, and sliced avocado

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Grease a cast iron skillet with butter or spray a pie plate, 11X7 pan, or 9X9 pan with cooking spray.

2. Whisk together cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add egg, melted butter, milk, and cream style corn. Whisk to combine. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean and edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and decrease oven temperature to 375ºF.

3. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the cornbread surface. Pour 1/2 can enchilada sauce on top and spread evenly over cornbread. Set aside.

4. While cornbread is baking, begin to make filling. In a large skillet brown beef over medium high heat and drain, if necessary. To the browned beef stir in remaining enchilada sauce, salsa, and chili powder. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes until thickened.

5. Spread beef filling over cornbread. Top with cheese and return to 375ºF oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional salsa, cilantro, sour cream, and sliced avocado.

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Recipe Notes

How to Make Chicken Tamale Pie

1. Use 2 cups shredded chicken to replace the ground beef. (Either cover 3/4 pound chicken breasts with water and boil for 15 minutes or cook in Instant Pot for 6 minutes with 1 cup water.) 
2. Bake cornbread, poke with holes, and pour over half enchilada sauce.
3. Combine shredded chicken, chili powder, salsa, and remaining enchilada sauce in a bowl.
4. Layer chicken mixture on cornbread, top with cheese, and bake at 375ºF for 15 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Tamale Pie

Amount Per Serving

Calories 370 Calories from Fat 162

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 18g 28%

Saturated Fat 10g 50%

Cholesterol 94mg 31%

Sodium 1086mg 45%

Potassium 616mg 18%

Total Carbohydrates 30g 10%

Dietary Fiber 3g 12%

Sugars 9g

Protein 22g 44%

Vitamin A 19.3%

Vitamin C 4.5%

Calcium 26.7%

Iron 15.5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Did you make this recipe? Tag @mamagourmand on Instagram and hashtag #mamagourmand. I love to see your creations!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Meijer . The opinions and text are all mine.

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