This Tamale Pie recipe was inspired by a couple of things. When my Aunt Marcella died she left a box of old cookbooks at my grandmother’s house. My Dad and I started to weed our way through the box and realized that most of them were from the 1950’s and 1960’s. If you’ve ever stared at an old cookbook, you’ll realize a couple of things. We don’t cook like we used to. Part of it is we have more available to us today when it comes to ingredients and prepared foods. We also wouldn’t even consider cooking with lard or bacon drippings knowing what we know today about health. However, a lot of the recipes if modified, would actually be pretty good (and some not so good. I don’t think I’d mix Coke and Jello in a recipe).
The other inspiration? I made Barbacoa Beef. While it was wonderful, we had leftovers and I didn’t have room in the freezer to store them. So, I needed to get a little clever to make another meal that everyone would love that didn’t seem like leftovers since my Dad won’t eat them. When I stumbled upon an old Tamale Pie recipe. I knew I had found a great idea.
Most Tamale Pies have ground beef but this one has shredded beef. Since it was already prepared in the slow cooker, this pie didn’t call for a lot of other ingredients. And, I’ll be honest, I was looking for fast so I used a box of spicy corn bread that I found at Aldi. If you don’t want a little heat, you can make this with a sweeter corn bread And, you can even make the corn bread topping from scratch if you’re feeling adventurous. If not, the boxed is fine and it’s an easy way to get two meals out of one.
I have to be honest, this tasted amazing. So much so, that we actually tasted it straight out of the pan which made getting pictures a little complicated. I think it’s a great family dinner and think you will too.
Here’s the world’s best Tamale Pie recipe!
Ingredients
- Meat filling
- 1 8 ounce bag of frozen corn
- 1 box corn bread mix (other ingredients according to package i.e. eggs, vegetable oil, water)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Prepare meat filling in slow cooker according to the Barbacoa Beef recipe here
- Cook corn according to package directions
- Prepare cornbread mix according to package directions.
- Spread meat filling at the bottom of a large oven-safe skillet
- Top with cooked corn
- Spread corn bread on top
- Bake in a 350 oven for 40 minutes
- Top with cheese and cook another 10 minutes
I have never seen it with shredded beef before- I like that idea! I have some of my grandma’s old recipes too and you are right, totally different cooking style/ingredients than now.
Emmy recently posted…Transport in Time with By The Stars
I hadn’t either but it’s what I had on hand so I thought I’d try it. Racheal Ray has a pulled pork with cornbread topping in her magazine this month so I think I had a great idea
debcb recently posted…Easter Gifts for Teens
That sounds so good. We are totally into Mexican food in our house, so this will go over BIG!
It’s interesting that you mentioned getting older cook books. I inherited my Nana’s and they are so special to me. She even wrote notes beside the recipe to “make things taste better”. I have to agree though…some of those dishes sound nasty now. LOL!!
MMMM! I don’t know why but I feel like a spicy cornbread just pairs better with beef than sweet would anyways! It’s so hearty it needs something with big flavor like that! Love it! xx
Wow! That looks so good! I know my hubby and daughter would love this recipe. I use ground beef a lot so this is another dish I can prepare with it! Thanks for sharing!
I am a vegetarian but I would love this with Quorn beef strips instead. I have never tried a Tamale pie before so this will be a first!
Ana De- Jesus recently posted…Replay Stone Review
My husband would love this!
Phyrra recently posted…Simple Cat Eye Tutorial for Hooded Eyes
I have never heard of a tamale pie! My mom needs to write down her recipes… she always just says she eyeballs everything, but I would love to pass them all down to my daughter!
This looks absolutely incredible! I bet my husband would really love this!
Debra recently posted…Garden Snack Pack®
That looks so good. I know I would love this. Throw some tabasco on there and I’d be in heaven!
Amber NElson recently posted…How To Knock Out Sugar For National Nutrition Month
Thank you so much for this post! You’ve inspired me to get a cooking class from my grandmom. She is the only one who knows a recipe of one particular dish that a great grandma used to cook for us.
I absolutely love Tamales and this recipe looks so easy to make. I will definitely be adding this to our menu.
This looks amazing! I like having the texture of shredded beef instead of the ground beef. My family will love this.
I have never in my life heard of Tamale pie. For a minute I thought it was apple and something else mixed together. It reminds me of steak and kidney pie. yum
Oh, my husband and kids will love this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing, this is right up our alley!
I LOVE tamales but this looks SO good! My husband just tried a tamale for the first time recently and has been wanting more. Going on my list!
This looks really good. I don’t know why I torture myself and find such wonderful recipes this time. I will try this for sure.
nicole recently posted…Floating Peep Lemonade Cocktail!
I’ve never thought of making a tamale in pie form before! This seems wonderful. I’m all for anything mexican and shredded beef. Love it!
Hannah recently posted…Wearable Wednesday: Peter Pan Pants
Everything with corn will immediately get into my ‘must try’ list, so this recipe certainly will be in my list. I’ve never try Tamale pie before, but I’d love to try this recipe.
Thank you for sharing at Recipe Sharing Party. Pinned and Yummed I am so glad you shared!
Marilyn recently posted…12 Ways To Prepare Cabbage
Thank you for pinning and for hosting such a great party!
debcb recently posted…Meet Piper
I’m a huge fan of anything with beef, and shredded beef definitely gives it more flavor. I’ll have to try making these one day.
Fatima recently posted…4 Ways I Place Family First, Always
Omg can we say food porn?!?! This looks absolutely delicious!!! So need to give your recipe a try!
You’ll love it. It’s easy and full of flavor. If you make it, let me know what you think
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #63
Sounds yummy! And it looks like a pretty simple recipe too!…especially if you made up the meat the night before and just threw it together when you were ready 🙂 Thanks for sharing! #SmallVictories
Yep, I made the meat ahead of time and we got two meals out of it. Worked great!
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #63
Yum! Tamale pie is a favorite! My grandmother used to make that. I’m impressed that you used a cast iron skillet too. That’s the proper way to make cornbread… at least for a southerner it’s the proper way. Ha ha.
My grandmother always used the brand Albers Corn Meal. I can’t eat that brand anymore because it’s contaminated with gluten. However, I highly recommend the brand to non-Celiac folks that are wanting a southern cornbread that is dense instead fluffy and cake like.
My mom is a northerner. She likes the fluffy stuff. My dad was a Texan from east Texas. Grandma was from Louisiana and cooked with a heavy Cajun influence. Sometimes she would mix a small amount of green chilis and jalapeno’s into the cornbread mix. She said it gave Tamale pie a little kick.
Your recipe looks yummy. I will have to check your brand of corn meal. Maybe I can have that one. Keeping my fingers crossed. 🙂
Thank you for joining us at Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop.
Olivia, co-hostess
Reinvented Collection
I like the idea of adding chilis for a little kick. I actually used a cornbread mix for this from Aldi, but they have a pretty large GF section there. They may have one that would work for you. Thanks for hosting a great party!
debcb recently posted…Best of the Blogosphere Linky Party #63
Oh my goodness! I am pinning this! I love tamales!
Tayler Morrell recently posted…#Hallelujah | Follow Him and Find New Life