One Pan Tamale Pie
on Oct 16, 2018, Updated Sep 30, 2024
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One Pan Tamale Pie is made with a rich, delicious meat and vegetable filling. It’s topped with a golden cornbread crust that has cheese and green onions in it, and it’s all made in one skillet!
I’ve been eating tamale pie my whole life – it’s one of the things my mom made as a kid. I’ve always liked it, and now I really love it. This is the step-up from your average cornbread and chili tamale pie recipes and it’s a keeper. The idea behind tamale pie is that it’s all the wonderful flavors of tamales, all layered together in a pie form.
This recipe is a favorite at our house because it’s so full of flavor. The filling is made with hamburger, beans, corn, and tomatoes. The golden cornbread topping is extra delicious thanks to the additions of green onion tops and some cheese. Seriously, it’s a one-pan dish that you’ll be making over and over again because it’s packed with all the delicious tamale flavor but with a fraction of the time and effort. Serve it with some veggies or a salad and dinner is complete!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Simple and Quick: It’s a perfect weeknight dinner option when you want something hearty but don’t have much time.
- One-Pot Convenience: The entire dish is made in one skillet! Fewer dishes to clean and you can serve straight from the pan.
- Crowd-Pleaser: The combination of a rich, flavorful filling with a cheesy cornbread crust makes it a hit with both kids and adults.
Ingredients
- Ground Beef
- Green Onions
- Chili Powder
- Dried Oregano
- Salt and Pepper
- Black Beans
- Canned Diced Tomatoes
- Frozen Corn
- Chicken Broth
- All-Purpose Flour
- Yellow Cornmeal
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Buttermilk
- Vegetable Oil
- Egg
- Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make One Pot Tamale Pie
Step #1. Preheat the oven. In a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, brown the meat.
Step #3. While the meat mixture simmers, make the cornbread topping. Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Make a well in the middle, and add the wet ingredients. Stir until combined then fold in the green onion and cheese. Spread batter evenly over the meat mixture.
Step #2. Add the whites of the onions, chili powder, oregano and salt. Then add the beans, tomatoes, corn, and broth. Simmer for a few minutes.
Step #4. Place the skillet in the oven. Bake until the topping is golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet or dutch oven, you can cook the filling and transfer it to a 9×9-inch baking dish. Mix and spread the cornbread topping on as directed.
Feel free to swap out the hamburger for another ground meat that you’d like such as turkey, chicken, or even venison or elk.
Expert Tips
- If you’d like to spice it up, add a chopped jalapeno to the meat with the onions and spices.
- If you need to make it less spicy, swap out the pepper jack cheese for cheddar or colby jack.
- Be careful not to overmix the cornbread batter otherwise it will become tough.
How to Serve One Pot Tamale Pie
- You can serve this with some sour cream on top. I actually like fresh tomatoes and some thinly sliced lettuce piled on top, plus some hot sauce and black olives. Perk of eating a taco-ish dish – you can top it how you like.
More One Pot Recipes to Consider
Dinner Ideas
One-Pot Sausage, Rice, and Peas Dinner
Quick Dinner Ideas
Cheeseburger Casserole Recipe
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Texas Chili Recipe
Soups, Stews & Chowders
Pasta Fagioli Soup Recipe
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
One Pan Tamale Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 6 green onions, chopped, keeping white and green parts separated
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and pepper
- 1 can black beans, 15 ounce, rinsed
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounce
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a 10-inch cast iron skillet or dutch oven, add the ground beef and cook over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the whites of the green onion (reserving the green parts for later), the chili powder, oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the beans, tomatoes (and their juice), corn and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 5 minutes.
- While the beef mixture simmers, make your cornbread. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk, oil, and egg. Use a fork to break the egg and whisk everything together. Stir until the mixture just comes together.
- Add the remaining green parts of the green onion as well as the pepper jack cheese. Stir to combine.
- Spread the cornmeal mixture evenly over the filling in the skillet.
- Transfer the skillet to the hot oven and bake until the topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and let the dish cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Want to spice it up a bit? Toss in a chopped jalapeno when you cook up the onions and spices.
- Want to make sure it’s not spicy? Swap out the pepper Jack cheese for a cheddar or Colby jack. Both are delicious in this recipe.
- If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet or dutch oven, you can cook the filling and transfer it to a 9×9 inch baking dish. Mix and spread the cornbread topping on as directed.
- You can serve this plain or with all your favorite taco toppings: sour cream, lettuce, tomato, black olives, etc.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from and inspired by the Pork Tamale Recipe in America’s Test Kitchen’s One Pan Wonders Cookbook (page 41). It’s a great cookbook – I highly recommend it.
Tonight I threw in about 1.5 cups of butter herb rice that was a leftover. I increased the spices a bit to compensate for the additional rice. It was the bomb again! I love this recipe!
Ohhh that’s such a great idea! I can’t wait to try it with a little rice. Thanks for the idea!
PS….Cooking and baking this in a cast iron skillet is perfect….one pan from start to finish that rinses off and wipes clean with no effort….my kind of dishes!
OH YUM! I hadn’t made a tamale pie in forever…..so tonight was the night! I’m a wimp about spice and this was no problem…I may even kick it up a bit next time. The topping was my favorite part….I wanted to keep nibbling at it! He gave it an A…..another keeper….thank a million!!!
The crust was our favorite too! I’m so glad you got to make it! Coming my way anytime soon?