Tamale Pie Casserole Recipe with Cornmeal Topping - Restless Chipotle (2024)

This easy Tex-Mex casserole has been a favorite of families everywhere for decades. It's budget friendly comfort food for busy moms and dads.

🗝️ Key takeaways

• Inexpensive, easy to make, and delicious? Yes, please!
• Perfect for sharing, taking to potlucks, and big family dinners. It's a nice twist on Taco Tuesday, too.
• My favorite part of this great recipe is the cornmeal layers which is very similar to the cornmeal crust on a classic tamale. When you put it all together with tons of gooey cheese... well... it's a happy thing, you know?

My recipe for tamale casserole is an adaption of a recipe from a local Women's League cookbook that was published early in the 1940s. This classic dish will please your wallet as much as it pleases your tastebuds.

It's a comforting casserole that's perfect for chilly Fall days.

🧾 Ingredients

📖Variations

• If you'd like to make a vegetarian tamale pie version double up on the beans and leave out the beef.
• Ranch-style beans are beans in a seasoned sauce. If you can't find them pinto beans or black beans are finebut you'll want to taste it and add seasoning.
• Not a fan of red meat? You can use shredded chicken or ground turkey instead of the ground beef in this recipe.
• Use ground venison ( or other game meat) or pork in place of the ground beef.
• Make it stretch: add ⅓ cup quick quick-cooking oatmeal with the meat while you are browning it. It sounds weird but it's an old Depression trick.
• I love to add green pepper to this.
• If you are out of cheddar cheese, you can use Mexican cheese or Monterey Jack cheese.

🔪 Instructions

1. Saute the celery and onion in a large skillet until tender.
2. Add the garlic, tomatoes, corn and beans, and let it all simmer together.
3. Mix it all together in a medium bowl, adding cilantro.
4. Cook beef in melted butter in a heavy pan on medium-high heat.
5. Season with chili powder, salt, pepper, and chipotle.

5. Blend one cup of water with the cornmeal.
6. Boil the rest of the water in a saucepan. Add in the blended cornmeal and stir until it is thick and creamy.

7. Spoon half of the cornmeal mixture into a prepared baking dish to create the cornbread base.
8. Evenly spread the meat layer, followed by the tomato mixture.
9. Add a layer of cheddar cheese.
10. Top off the casserole dish with the rest of the cornmeal mixture.
11. Sprinkle on the remaining shredded cheese and bake.

🥫 Storage

• This beef tamale casserole can be prepped and stored straight in the dish to be baked for a later date. Just cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and pop it in your fridge.
• Once cooked, you can store it in your fridge for 3-5 days in an airtight container.
• Or, you can store it in your freezer for up to 3 months.

💭 Tips

Expert Tip: You can substitute cooked chicken, turkey, or pork for the ground beef in this recipe.

• I add a lot of fresh cilantro. I am one of those people that LOVES cilantro! If you don't love it then feel free to cut back or leave it out completely.
• Feel free to add extra chiles! YUM!
• Add a dollop of sour cream on top of the cornbread crust when you serve this. In fact, you can add any of your favorite taco toppings to top off this dish.
• Maximize your leftovers with this cornbread tamale casserole. You could use any leftover meat in your fridge for the meat mixture.
• Cooked potatoes and rice are also a great addition to this delicious casserole.
• You can easily use another variety of beans if you prefer.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

• Ranch Chicken has chicken, tomatoes with chiles, and onion are mixed with a creamy, rich sauce and layered in a casserole dish with corn tortillas and a generous amount of cheese. This casserole freezes well, travels well, and disappears fast – you can’t really ask for more than that.
• Baked Mac and Cheese with a buttery crumb topping is legendary comfort food when each spoonful is an old-fashioned delight of creamy sauce, tender macaroni, a scatter of crispy breadcrumbs, and a forest of gooey cheese strings stretching from casserole to serving spoon.
• Bacon Cheeseburger Macaroni Skillet dinner goes together in less than 30 minutes so it’s a great weeknight meal that the whole family will love.

🍽️ Serve with...

• This zesty green bean and potato salad is the perfect way to balance this tamale casserole with cornbread.
• Cowboy caviar is a side dish that's so easy to make! The whole family will love it.
• Spicy roasted cauliflower is another family favorite

📞 The last word

I love this easy tamale pie recipe.

Keep in mind this is NOT a cornbread topping. It's a cooked cornmeal topping and has the texture of the cornmeal around tamales.

This version comes out of a 1940 Women’s Club cookbook and was submitted by a lady from Seymour, Texas so you know it’s the real deal. It’s a family favorite here.

So, this dish. The meat is spicy with all of that cumin and chile Tex-Mex flavor. The beans and vegetables add texture as well as flavor. It will warm up the chilliest day!

Next time try this taco spaghetti or this authentic King Ranch casserole.

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need.

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Recipe

First published May 16, 2017. Last updated September 13, 2023, for editorial improvements.

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