This Mexican Tamale Pie recipe is a delicious one-pot meal made with ground beef, corn, enchilada sauce and spices, topped with a tamale inspired masa topping.
Looking for more Mexican-inspired recipes? Try my Birria Ramen, Chilaquiles, or Tres Leches Cake!
Why I love this recipe:
- One-Pot Meal: Easy prep and even easier clean up! I love hearty meals that don't make my kitchen a mess, and this is one that your family is sure to love!
- Basic ingredients: this dinner is a go-to when I need to use ingredients I already have on hand to make something warm and comforting for my family.
How to make Tamale Pie:
Brown Beef: Cook ground beef in a deep 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.
Add Flavor: 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.
Make Topping: Mix the corn flour, baking powder and salt together. Stir in the chicken broth, milk, butter and cheese. Pour topping mixture evenly over the top of the meat mixture.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40 min. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Serve: Top this old school tamale pie with avocado and sour cream, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The beef mixture can be made ahead of time and kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 days. Warm in a pan before adding the tamale topping.
To Freeze: To freeze baked tamale pie, the easy Tamale Pie recipe and allow to cool. Cover well and and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before baking. May also freeze after baking. The beef mixture may also be frozen separately in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Recipe Variations:
- Pan Size: I like to bake the tamale pie right in the skillet I’m cooking in but if you don’t have the right size or oven proof pan, you can bake it in a 9×9 inch or similar size pan.
- Vegetarian: Swap the meat for two cans of pinto or black beans.
- Box Mix Cornbread Topping (Jiffy or Bobs Red Mill): Prepare according to package instructions. Pour over meat mixture and bake.
- Chiles: Try using diced jalapeños or a chipotle chili in adobo sauce.
- More Veggies: Add a chopped bell pepper, grated carrot, olives, peas or whatever you like.
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Recipe
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake 400 degrees for 40 min. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Top with avocado and sour cream, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Was a big hit! This is going on the rotating menu!
Wow! This is good. Fairly easy to make, delicious and nutritious! Will be adding to my regular recipes.
Note: I used about 3/4 of the masa topping and it turned out perfect. So crispy.
Made this tonight in my cast iron skillet. I did use a can of pinto beans and 1 pound of beef. Also added some diced red peppers to the onion sauté. I used a boxed cornbread mix for the top and it turned out great! I would definitely make this again!
My daughter and I enjoyed making this together. I used regular corn flour though (without realizing masa harina is not the same) so it was very runny and did not create a nice topping. The flavours were still good and we ate it anyway, but I am sharing my experience so others don’t make the same mistake we did. I’m sure it would be much better with the intended topping.
Delicious and a great alternative to taco night. The filling is full of flavor. I did make homemade enchilada sauce which took a bit of extra time but not too much. I couldn’t find corn flour so I had to use corn meal so the texture was a little more dense but still very delicious. My family loved it.
This recipe was a tasty, fairly easy dinner. I only had corn meal so I added a little flour to get a better texture for the topping. I’m sure it would be better if I had followed the recipe. My husband thought there was too much topping, so I would just cut that in half next time.
Made this tonight and we absolutely loved it. In fact, my husband had seconds. Great dish and we are already planning on making it when we have guest over. Thank you.
Tamale Pie was delicious. It took me twice as long as the estimated recipe time, but it was the first run through of the recipe. Next time I will have the enchillada sauce prepared ahead of time. I don’t have facebook or instagram, could send a picture of the tamale pie if you give me an email address.
I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the Tamale Pie recipe! It’s completely normal for the first time making a recipe to take a bit longer than expected, and it’s great that you’re already planning ahead for next time. I would love to see a picture of your Tamale Pie creation, please feel free to send it to this email address stacy@tastesbetterfromscratch.com. Thanks for sharing your experience with us and happy cooking! 😊👨🍳👍
Happy you posted this recipe. It was easy and delicious definitely putting this on one of my go to.
This was delicious! Being a NC transplant from TX, we struggle to find good Mexican food and this hit the spot. This will be on repeat in our house.
So fun to make! Absolutely delicious and the one pot situation is amazing.