Cornbread? Tamales? Why can’t you have both? This easy Chicken Tamale Pie makes any weeknight dinner a fan-favorite. With a cornbread base, a rotisserie chicken and enchilada sauce, you’ll only need one pot for this recipe!
Prep this in less than 30 minutes and let it bake until the cheese is gooey, it won’t be pretty but no one will care.
Tamale pie was always one of my favorite dinners growing up. I have tried over the years to reproduce the flavors and just can’t quite get it right, so I decided to go the chicken route and created a chicken tamale pie that you’re going to love.
The one I grew up eating used hamburger but using rotisserie chicken makes this into a quick weeknight dinner. This tamale pie recipe, while not the same as what I grew up with, has all the best parts. It has a delicious cornbread base with creamed corn and chilies, and it’s topped with chicken and cheese.
These have the flavor of a chicken tamale but that’s about it. A tamale has a cornbread covering, made with masa with a chicken, pork or beef filling that is wrapped in a corn husk and steamed.
This is a one pot meal like a casserole in a skillet. If you love chicken casseroles and want something a little lighter, try pecan chicken casserole for another weeknight dinner idea.
Tamale Pie with Cornbread Base Ingredients
- Cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder – for the cornmeal, I used finely ground, but you can use a coarse ground cornmeal if you prefer.
- Butter, buttermilk and an egg
- Creamed corn
- Canned green chilies
Chicken Tamale Pie Filling Ingredients
- Rotisserie chicken – or it’s so simple to bake chicken breasts.
- Enchilada sauce – for simple weeknight dinners, I use a prepared sauce.
- Jalapeno – if you want it spicy or a pablano for flavor but not as much spice.
- Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese – use Pepper Jack cheese if you want to add a little more spice.
How to make Cornbread Tamale Casserole
Step 1: Save time and use a rotisserie chicken and prepared enchilada sauce.
Step 2: Prepare a cornbread base using creamed corn and green chilies and bake it in an oven proof skillet. Use all your restraint and don’t eat the cornbread.
Step 3: Add shredded chicken and enchilada sauce and spread it over the baked cornbread.
Pro tip: If you have a lot of chicken you want to shred, try using a hand mixer to shred chicken, it’s so easy!
Step 4: Add cheese and a few jalapeno’s to the top to spice things up. Bake until the cheese is gooey. Serve with avocado, purely optional, as is the amount and type of cheese you use. I’m not sure the photos do this justice.
In the chicken cornbread casserole, the cornbread is light and fluffy and the seasoned chicken and cheese bring all the flavors together to make a delicious dinner. Growing up with chicken casseroles, I’m always searching for one pot meals like Buffalo Chicken Casserole and I’ll bet chicken tamale casserole will be a favorite in your house.
Don’t expect this to come out in nice pretty slices, it will be messy but delicious. If you want pretty slices, let it cool a little, but good luck getting anyone to wait!
Tamale Pie Recipe with Cornbread FAQs
Yes just follow the directions on the package.
I like a combination of Cheddar and Monterey Jack for the gooey topping. If you want it a little spicer, use Pepper Jack.
Use a glass baking dish or a large glass pie dish.
My understanding is that while this has some Mexican flavors, cornbread tamale pie originated in the Southwest.
There are approximately 400 calories in a serving of Tamale pie, you can reduce the calories by cutting back on the cheese.
Due to the cornbread on the bottom, tamale pie has about 28 grams of carbs in each serving.
How to serve Chicken Tamale Casserole
Like most casseroles, chicken tamale casserole is gooey and cheesy and therefore will not come out in pretty slices. Scoop out servings, making sure to get the cornbread base in each serving and serve with a simple salad.
How to store Cornbread Tamale Pie
You can freeze Tamale Pie in an airtight container for delicious leftovers. Just let it cool first before freezing. It will save in the fridge for 3-5 days. Simply reheat in the oven at 350º for about 5 minutes.
More Casserole Recipes You’ll Enjoy:
- Baked Pasta alla Vodka
- Tater tot casserole
- Brisket with Mac & Cheese
- Taco spaghetti
- Sloppy Joe Casserole
- Homemade hamburger helper
- Tex-Mex chicken and rice
Adapted from Jo Cooks
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Chicken Tamale Pie with Cornbread
Ingredients
CORNBREAD
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup creamed corn
- 4.5 ounces diced green chiles
FILLING
- 2 cups cooked chicken shredded
- ½ jalapeno diced
- 1 cup monterey jack cheese shredded
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup enchilada sauce homemade or prepared
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º. Butter a 10 inch ovenproof skillet or 9 x 9 inch baking dish.
- CORNBREAD: Combine cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together. Add egg, melted butter and buttermilk and whisk together until just combined. Fold in corn and chilies. Pour into prepared dish. Bake for 20- 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. You don’t want this to be under done or it will be soggy.
- Combine shredded chicken with about half of the enchilada sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the cornbread them add shredded chicken.
- Combine cheeses with diced jalapeño and place on top of the chicken.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and it has started to brown. let cool for a few minutes and top with jalapeños, avocado, sour cream, cilantro etc.
Video
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Make sure the cornbread is cooked before adding the chicken. A toothpick should come out clean.
- You can adjust how spicy it is by leaving out the jalapeno for less spice or adding Pepper Jack cheese for more spice.
- Let this cool for a few minutes before trying to serve to allow it to set.
- You can use a glass baking dish or deep dish pie pan instead of an oven proof skillet.
Nutrition
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This is AMAZING! I’m actually writing this as I’m eating it because I didn’t want to forget to review it. This will be be a regular recipe at our house now!
Corrie, you crack me up! Thanks for taking time away from your dinner to send a review. I’ld love to know what else you have on your regular recipe list.
Outstanding. Husband raved about it as we ate and we’re glad there’s still some in the 8×8 pan for “leftovers” tomorrow. Diced poblano instead of jalepeno in the cheese was perfect. I chose to make a quick enchilada sauce (recipe from Cookie and Kate blog here’s the link https://cookieandkate.com/2016/enchilada-sauce-recipe/ ) during the baking time for the crust; seems like I always have those ingredients on-hand while packaged sauce seldom jumps into the grocery cart. Also used 1 C. frozen corn blended with 1/4 C. skim milk in place of the creamed corn in the crust — saved me from a last-minute grocery-run. Thanks for NOT starting the crust in your recipe with a boxed cornbread mix.
I’mm so glad you and hour husband enjoyed this recipe. I love the flavor of pablanos, so I bet they were great with the cheese and of course homemade enchilada sauce is always better.
This was SO good. I loved using my cast iron pan to bake the tamale portion and was thinking the enchilada sauce on top would just make it soggy but the butteriness from the tamale was good! I will definitely make it again – it’s easy, filling and I bought a rotisserie chicken since I was out of chicken breasts to shred my own chicken, making it even simpler.
Made this last night for dinner! So good! Definitely a keeper. Some changes I made: didn’t have cooked chicken on hand so I diced some chicken breast up and cooked them with smoke paprika, chili powder and Cumin in a skillet. I also didn’t use jalapenos instead I took another can of the green chili’s and mixed it with the cheese. So good!
Great idea to cook the chicken with spices.