This post contains affiliate links.
This one pot Tamale Pie is easy and delicious, made with ground beef, corn, enchilada sauce, and spices, topped with a tamale inspired masa topping. It's a cozy skillet dinner my family loves.
Why is Tamale Pie SO GOOD?! This is the cozy casserole I crave.
I'm obsessed with the flavors in tamale pie, and the complete comfort-of-a-dinner that it is. Plus you know I love a recipe that cooks in one pan!
This isn't your average tamale pie (no box of jiffy mix, here!). We use the good stuff to make a legit and EASY corn topping that bakes up like a soft cornbread over the saucy beef filling. My kids love this so much they take it as leftovers in their thermos for school lunch. It's flavorful and delicious and always on my mind when the cooler weather starts rolling in.
Try more of my one pan meals, like Pad Thai, Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas, Greek Chicken and Potatoes, Slow Cooker Lasagna, and Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi!
How to make Tamale Pie:
Cook the Beef: Brown the ground beef in a deep skillet with a meat chopper, then add the diced onion and sauté a few minutes.
Make the Filling: Stir in the enchilada sauce, corn, chiles, chili powder, coriander, and cumin, and cook 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese.
Add Topping and Bake: Mix the masa topping and pour over the meat mixture, then bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes. Cool slightly and serve with avocado and sour cream, if desired.
Tamale Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
Meat Filling:
- 1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, , finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 10 oz can red enchilada sauce, , or homemade
- 1 can creamed corn
- 8 oz can diced green chiles
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
Masa Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups Masa Harina, (corn flour)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
Optional Topping Ideas:
- avocado, sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce
Instructions
- Filling: Cook ground beef in a deep 12-inch skillet* or cast iron pan, crumbling it into small pieces as it cooks, until browned. Add diced onion, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 3 minutes.1 ½ lbs lean ground beef, 1 yellow onion, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Add enchilada sauce, corn, chiles, chili powder, coriander, and cumin and cook for 5-10 minutes. Taste and add additional spices (chili powder, cumin, salt or pepper), as desired. Stir in cheese.10 oz can red enchilada sauce, 1 can creamed corn, 8 oz can diced green chiles, 1 teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, 1 ½ cups shredded cheese
- Make Topping: Mix the corn flour, baking powder and salt together. Stir in the chicken broth, milk, butter and cheese. Pour evenly over the top of meat mixture.1 ½ cups Masa Harina, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¾ cup low-sodium chicken broth, 1 cup milk, ½ cup melted butter, ½ cup shredded cheese
- Bake 400 degrees F for 40 min. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve topped with avocado and sour cream, if desired.avocado, sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Text me new recipe ideas!
Simple, tasty ideas sent once a week. No spam.
Follow Me
I originally shared this recipe March 2023. Updated September 2026.
I made this last week and this is now one of my most favorite things ever.
I did make some modifications based on what I had on hand.
Used ground chicken, rotel instead of enchilada sauce and canned corn, added a can of black beans and omitted the cheese. I made cornbread from scratch and topped the casserole with that. Baked in a covered dutch oven and OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG seriously so amazing. I can only imagine how good it is as written! Will try it that way too, but this was hard to top 🙂
I need to make this the night before to give to someone for their dinner party the next day. Can I just cook it, put it in the fridge and tell them to reheat? If so, how long/temp? It has to be already assembled and ready to heat. Going to do it in a 9×13 disposable pan so I’ll probably have to scale it if you have any thoughts on that too, thanks!
Yes, cook it completely, refrigerate, tell them to reheat covered at 350°F for 30-40 minutes. For 9×13 pan: Scale everything up by 1.5x. The original recipe uses a 9×9 or 12-inch skillet. A 9×13 is bigger so multiply all ingredients by 1.5. Bake at 400°F for 40 minutes (same as original since it’ll be thinner spread out).
Thank you! Also going to try it with gluten free corn bread mix.
This is absolutely delicious. I made it for dinner tonight and my husband (picky eater) loved it. I’m going to make it for guests. I used Krusteaz sweet corn muffin & cornbread mix for the crust, using butter and adding 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
Thank you, Lauren!
I plan to split in half so I can bake half tonight and freeze the other half for a future meal. The baking instructions say “bake as instructed” and also “may also freeze after baking”. If I want to freeze BEFORE baking, do I put the masa topping on before freezing? Or is it better to just freeze the beef mixture and make the masa topping fresh when I want to bake the other half.
Great plan! If you’re freezing before baking, it’s best to freeze just the beef mixture and make the masa topping fresh when you’re ready to bake. The topping can get a little weird in texture if frozen raw kind of grainy or soggy depending on how it thaws. So yes, freeze the beef part now, then whip up the masa when you’re ready to bake the second half.
I love tamale pie but I was not a fan of this one. I don’t know if it was my specific masa harina (I used a blue corn masa), but my topping tasted exactly like playdoh which was very off-putting while eating it. The masa topping was very thick and hard to spread on the top. I ended up dropping teaspoonfuls of the dough on top a little at a time until I had the whole thing covered. After it baked, there were pockets of hard crunchy topping that turned into sand when you bit into it.
The tamale pie filling also needed ‘something’ to help perk it up. I think it needed tomatoes, green peppers, black olives, more corn, or something like that to give it some sparks of flavor.
Blue corn masa is likely the culprit it has a very different texture and stronger flavor than regular yellow masa harina. Stick with standard masa harina next time for better results. If the topping’s too thick, add a splash more milk or broth to thin it. As for the filling, great instinct! The recipe variations actually suggest adding bell peppers, olives, or other veggies. Those additions would definitely give it more depth. Thanks for the feedback!
Well dang it. I messed up bad. When it asked for enchilada sauce, I just clicked the link to do the homemade enchilada sauce and then I ended up pouring that whole batch in. Later I had to pour everything from one pan into a bigger pan because there just wasn’t enough room and I was wondering why. So I looked back through the ingredient list only to find out it only asked for 10 ounces of enchilada sauce NOT four cups!!!. Oh well, I don’t think there’s any way of fixing it now. I just hope the family will enjoy Tamale pie soup.
I had such a hard time spreading the mixture on top evenly, any tips?
Thanks!
You’re not alone—that part can be tricky! A helpful tip is to spoon the topping on in small dollops all over the filling, then gently spread it with the back of a spoon or offset spatula. It spreads more easily that way!