Do you want evidence that this recipe is good? How about the fact that I’ve been eating it for lunch AND dinner for the past three days straight, and I still wanted a piece for breakfast this morning. Seriously.
There are a million and two ways to make tamale pie, some being more like actual tamales than others. This one is not so much like a real tamale, but it’s amazing all the same. I decided to go with a cornbread crust instead of polenta because A) I’m in love with corn bread and B) I wanted something that could soak up yumminess from the bottom of the pan. It definitely worked.
I originally intended to make this a beef tamale pie, but I bullied myself into doing a vegetarian mix because I felt like I needed more beans and vegetables in my life. If you did want to do beef (or chicken or pork), simply switch it out for the sweet potatoes, beans, and peppers… or add them all in there together! It’s very flexible.
P.S. I know the ingredients list looks long, but it’s really quite simple to make. Promise!
Vegetable Tamale Pie
Servings 8Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.48)
- 2 cloves garlic ( $0.16)
- 1 sweet potato ($0.69)
- 1 15oz. black beans ($0.56)
- 1/2 bunch green onions ($0.25)
- 1 poblano pepper ($0.84)
- 1 jalapeño ($0.12)
- 1 10z. can red enchilada sauce ($1.53)
- 1/2 Tbsp chili powder ($0.07)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
CORNBREAD TOPPING
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal ($0.24)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.15)
- 1/4 cup sugar ($0.04)
- 4 tsp baking powder ($0.12)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 cup milk ($0.62)
- 1 large egg ($0.25)
- 1/4 cup cooking oil ($0.21)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar, optional ($1.00)
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro (optional) ($0.43)
Instructions
- Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Cook in a large skillet with olive oil over medium heat. While onion and garlic are cooking, peel and dice the sweet potato. Add the diced sweet potato to the skillet and continue cooking.
- Remove the seeds from the poblano and jalapeno peppers, dice both, and add to the skillet. Also add the black beans (drained and rinsed), enchilada sauce, and sliced green onions. Stir and heat through. Taste the mixture and add the chili powder, cumin, and salt. Adjust to your liking.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. To make the cornbread topping, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder). Stir until evenly combined. Next, add the wet ingredients (milk, egg, oil, shredded cheese, and roughly chopped cilantro leaves). Stir these ingredients into the dry ingredients just until everything has become wet and the mixture looks even. Slightly beating the egg before adding it helps make this easier.
- To build the tamale pie, pour the vegetable mixture into a deep pie dish, cast iron skillet, or 8×8 inch casserole dish. Next, pour the cornbread mixture over top and smooth it out evenly. Bake the pie in the preheated 425 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the top of the cornbread is golden brown.
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Start by cooking those onions and garlic in olive oil.
While those are cooking, peel and dice your sweet potato. Add it to the skillet.
For those who are unfamiliar with poblano peppers, this is what they look like. Large, dark green, and a kind of like a deflated balloon. They have a very unique flavor. If they’re not available in your area, you can substitute with other vegetables or beans to make up for the volume.
Remove the seeds from the poblano and chop it up. Do the same with the jalapeno. Add both to the skillet, along with sliced green onions and black beans (drained and rinsed). I used black beans that I had cooked from dry, which is why they’re so inexpensive on the ingredient list. Freezing them after cooking makes them just as convenient as canned beans!
Next add the enchilada sauce and then heat everything through.
The enchilada sauce didn’t quite provide enough flavor for me, so I also added a little chili powder, cumin, and salt.
Next it’s time to make the cornbread topping. In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir until they’re well combined. Oh, also begin preheating your oven at this point – 425 degrees.
Then add the wet ingredients (milk, oil, egg, cheddar, roughly chopped cilantro). I like to slightly beat the egg before adding it because it helps it incorporate easier. The cheese and cilantro are completely optional.
When stirring the wet ingredients into the dry, only stir just until all of the mixture has moistened and everything looks even (about ten stirs). You want to try to avoid over stirring.
Next, pour the vegetable mixture into the bottom of your baking dish. I used my cast iron skillet because I knew it would make for some nice pictures, but you can also use a deep pie dish or an 8×8 inch casserole dish. My skillet is about 10 inches across.
Pour the cornbread topping over the vegetables and smooth it out. Make sure the oven has finished preheating, and then bake for about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Begin checking it at 18-20 minutes because every oven is a little different.
And then it looks, smells, and tastes absolutely delicious! I cut mine into 8 pieces and had 8 very satisfying meals.
We liked it a lot! We used Jiffy and added a can of yellow corn to the mixture which we thought it was a nice addition to the recipe.
Made this a few nights ago… pretty good overall! If you use wheat flour instead of white, be prepared for your tamale to take OVER the pie. I could barely find any of the filling after I baked it. Otherwise, it’s a decent cheap dish.
I tried this tonight and it was so good! I even got my roommate who hates enchilada sauce with a passion to try a bite (and that bite turned into two servings). I used jiffy mix with almond milk for the cornbread because that’s what I had on hand. I added red, orange, and yellow bell pepper because I love them and it makes the dish nice and colorful! I also added chipotle spice and it really added a nice flavor to the dish.
I made this yesterday and I had way too much cornbread and not enough filling. Next time I’m going to have to double the filling or reduce the cornbread by half. I’m not sure why. I came back to look at the pictures today to see if I did something wrong.
I love this recipe, I make it all the time now- thanks! I bake it in a 9×13 casserole dish, and add other vegetables I have in the fridge and need to use up (zucchinis and red bell peppers taste really good with the rest of the vegetables in the recipe) I also really like it with pepper jack cheese.
Beth, I just wanted to let you know that I made this for an old friend right after she had her first baby (I figured a free home cooked meal might be a good gift for a new exhausted mom). I chose this because I thought it sounded yummy and she is vegetarian. She sounded skeptical, but when she tried it she LOVED it (so did I!) Thanks for this awesome recipe, that was a couple months ago and I’m gonna make it again tonight-for myself :)
Just made it, and it’s in the oven! I accidentally put in the whole can of enchilada sauce and it was pretty soupy, so I reduced it until it was spreadable. I couldn’t stop eating the mixture while it was cooking so I know that’s good, can’t wait to try it with the cornbread! From peeking in the oven the cornbread has risen nicely. One thing though, I don’t think this would have worked in a 8×8 pan, I spread it into a 9×13 because that’s all I had, but it seems to be just fine.
So freakin amazing! Thanks for the recipe. Yummmmy :)
I made this tonight (eating it now!) I even accidentally left out the enchilada sauce–still AMAZING.
I thought this was delicious but the cornbread to veggies ratio wasn’t right for me. Next time, I’ll be sure to add in more vegetables (spinach, red pepper, carrot, corn). Thanks for the great base recipe though – I will definitely make it again!
I just made this tonight and it is fantastic. Believe it or not I left out the enchilada sauce (oops) but the cumin + chilli powder was enough to carry a fantastic dish :)
This was amazing. I ate it for lunch for the next few days. I switched sweet potato for carrot and used a sweet red pepper rather than poblano because England is bad at ingredients for Mexican. I also made my own enchilada sauce as I make it all the time for… enchiladas. I cooked everything in my cast iron skillet and just poured my batter on top, baked in the skillet. It was amazing. Thank you for this as I will make it forever.
This was super good, made it in my 8×8 and the cornbread was sort of ridiculously thick, but you can never have too much cornbread!! I think if I did it again, I’d make another layer w/1/2 chorizo/1/2 ground turkey on the bottom, the same amount of veggies & cornbread on top, in a cake sized pan. So good of course!!
Made this the other night in four 2-cup round Pyrex containers – the proportions came out just right and I had a ready-to-go container for a hearty lunch the next day.
Wow, this was really tremendous.
Added in some Cream Soda Pulled Pork (slight alteration to your Root Beer Pulled Pork recipe) and it was incredible!