Source: https://www.yellowroselife.com/cooking-texas-tamale-pie-casserole/
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cook time: 50-60 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 2 cups diced poblano peppers
- 8 ounces frozen corn, thawed
- 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
- 5 oz (1/2 can) red enchilada sauce
- 2 (8.5 ounce) boxes dry corn bread mix
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 8 ounces shredded Cheddar-Jack cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground dried chipotle pepper
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 9×13 casserole dish
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray a 9×13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray. It will stick to your pan if you don’t!
- Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat until browned.
- Stir in poblano peppers, corn, salt, salsa, oregano, enchilada sauce, and chipotle powder; cook and stir until beef is crumbly and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. There will be some extra moisture, that’s ok, the corn bread will soak it up while baking.
- Mix both packages of corn bread mix in a large bowl with 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Spread 1/2 the prepared corn bread mixture into the bottom of prepared baking dish. Sprinkle 1/2 of both cheeses on top of corn bread mixture, then pour the beef mixture a top of that.
- Spoon the other 1/2 of the corn bread mix on top of the beef and carefully spread over the top with a spoon, leaving about half an inch from the edges of the pan. Then top with the rest of the shredded cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.
Notes
The Ingredients call for 2 cups of poblano pepper, two peppers are close enough. Poblanos are a mild chili but they do have more “spirit” than a bell pepper, adjust to your taste.
Dry cornbread mix; It is important to use a mix and not just plain cornmeal. The additional ingredients help make the mixture “bready” so it wont just crumble.
Be careful with your choice of salsa, remember that it will affect the final flavor of the dish.
There are many many variations of tamale pie. Almost anything you might like in Mexican cuisine or tex-mex will probably work in tamale pie.
Here is another great example: https://www.aspicyperspective.com/perfect-tamale-pie-recipe/