Tamale Pie Recipe
Perfect Tamale Pie Recipe – Our spicy tamale pie feeds a crowd with big flavors, and is much easier to make than traditional tamales. Your family will love this gluten free tamale-inspired pot pie!
Why We Love This Gluten Free Tamale Pie Recipe
Tamale-making is a ridiculously daunting process. I have made tamales before, but it is not something that I make regularly because they take so long to make!
But you know what I have made again and again? This Perfect Tamale Pie Recipe. What I lovingly call my tamale pot pie recipe is not authentic in the least. However, it is:
- Quick to prepare
- Easy to assemble
- Gluten-free
- And offers the essence of good tamales.
You’ve got a masa (corn flour) coating, that bakes into a pillowy tamale-like top. You’ve got spiced meaty filling that balances out the sweetness of the corn topping and is perfectly savory. And the best part, is you’ve got fewer supplies involved, less cleanup, and much less cook time.
Tamale Pie Ingredients
This easy tamale recipe packs lots of flavor, but is wonderfully simple and quick to make with many ingredients you probably keep in your regular rotation.
Here’s what you need for the meat mixture filling:
- Ground beef
- Sweet onion – peeled and chopped
- Red bell pepper – seeded and chopped
- Garlic cloves – minced
- Frozen corn, thaw and drain
- Canned crushed tomatoes
- Canned chopped green chiles
- Cornstarch
- Chili powder
- Cumin
- Salt
- Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Ingredients for the tamale cornbread topping:
- Cornflour – masa
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Chicken broth
- Melted butter
- Shredded cheddar cheese
How to Make Tamale Pie
This crowd-pleaser of a meal is ready in less than an hour, from start to finish. You’ve probably made similar pot pie-like dinners such as this in one skillet, and you will certainly want to make an easy tamale recipe as one of your go-to favorites!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F, and spray one large cast iron skillet, or two 9″ pie pans with non-stick spray.
Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Push to the side once crumbled and cooked through, and add chopped onion, bell pepper, and minced garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the onion has softened.
Add frozen corn, crushed tomatoes, green chiles, corn starch, seasonings, and shredded cheese. Stir well and turn off the heat.
Next, make the gluten-free cornbread batter by mixing the corn flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add in the chicken broth and melted butter, and whisk until smooth. Finally, stir in the shredded cheese.
Spoon the meat filling evenly between the two prepared pie pans, or leave it in a cast iron skillet. Pour the corn topping batter over the pies, using a spatula to spread it to the edges of the pans.
Bake for 30-45 minutes until slightly brown on the top and an inserted toothpick comes out of the tamale pie topping clean.
Serve hot with any of your favorite sides and toppings, like green onions and sour cream.
Get The Full (Printable) Recipe Below this Gluten Free Tamale Pie Recipe. Enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
- Add extra ingredients! You can add some additional filling ingredients like black beans, pinto beans or black olives!
- If you like it extra spicy, add in some diced jalapeño or a dash of cayenne pepper. You can also serve your portion of tamale pie with your favorite salsa or hot sauce!
- If you don’t have corn flour, you can also just cornmeal or corn muffin mix, but each will have a different texture.
- If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can make the meat mixture in a different kind of oven safe pan, or transfer it to an oven safe dish before baking with the corn masa mixture on top!
Serving Suggestions
Tamale pie is a complete meal on its own, but is delicious served with some side dishes and toppings to make it extra special! Here are some of my favorite things to serve with it:
- Guacamole
- Sour Cream
- Red Salsa or Green Salsa
- Cotiija Cheese
- Cilantro
- Creamy Chimichurri Sauce
- Refried Beans
- Chimichurri Tomato Salad
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Do Leftovers Last?
You can keep these leftovers in the refrigerator either wrapped well with a layer of plastic wrap or in an airtight container for 3 to 4 day days. Leftovers do need to be stored in the fridge.
Can Tamale Pies Be Frozen?
Yes, this recipe is excellent for meal prepping! But NOTE: If you are making these tamale pot pies in advance to freeze, DO NOT bake beforehand. Pour the corn batter on top of the pies and place in the freezer uncovered for one hour to allow the topping to harden. Then, wrap well with plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil, and place back in the freezer for up to 3 months.
See the complete recipe below for reheating tips!
Could I Make This Recipe With Chicken or Turkey?
Absolutely! You can make the perfect tamale pies with different meant variations like ground turkey or ground chicken. Also, use precooked rotisserie chicken to cut back on cooking time for the first part of the recipe. Add it in before adding the corn topping.
Or, thoroughly sauté cut up bite-sized boneless and skinless chicken breast pieces before adding the other ingredients.
How Can I Make Vegan / Vegetarian Tamale Pot Pies?
This tamale-inspired recipe can easily be made vegetarian-friendly by swapping out your favorite legumes, such as cooked lentils or canned garbanzo beans, in place of the ground beef, and subbing vegetable broth.
To make this recipe vegan as well, use your preferred shredded cheese substitute and swap cooking oil in place of the melted butter to make the gluten free tamale pie topping.
Looking for More Easy Comfort Dinners? Be Sure to Also Try:
- One-Pot Shrimp Black Bean Rice Skillet
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
- Chicken Broccoli Quinoa Skillet
- Stuffed Fiesta Cornbread Casserole
- Skinny Chicken Fajita Soup Recipe
- Baked Spaghetti Pie Recipe
Check the printable recipe card below for the prep time, cook time, and nutrition information including calories, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, fiber, vitamin c, and calcium percentages.
Perfect Tamale Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 sweet onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 15 ounces crushed tomatoes (1 can)
- 4 ounces chopped green chiles (1 can)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons chile powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
For the Tamale Top:
- 2 1/4 cups corn flour (masa)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2+ cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray two 9-inch pie pans, one 9 X 13 inch baking dish, or a 12-14 inch cast iron skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Place a large saute pan (or cast iron skillet) over medium heat. Add the ground beef and break into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Brown the meat, then push it to the sides of the pan and add the chopped onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook until the onions have softened. Then mix in the frozen corn, crushed tomatoes, green chiles, cornstarch, chile powder, cumin, salt and cheese. Stir well and turn off the heat.
- Meanwhile, mix the corn flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add in the chicken broth and butter. Whisk until smooth. Then stir in the cheese.
- Pour the meat filling into the prepared pans. (If you cooked the filling in a cast-iron skillet, you can leave it in the pan.) Pour (or scoop) the corn batter evenly over the top and spread to the edges of the pans. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the corn batter comes out clean. Serve warm!
This recipe was unexpectedly delicious. I make tamales usually once a year because they can be rather labor intensive, but this…easy peasy! I’m going to try it with my other tamale fillings!
I NEVER rate recipes but WOW! This tastes like Tamales! I made it with ground turkey and it was PERFECT! The only other modification I made is that I added 1cp cheese to the masa mix. THANK YOU for sharing a wonderful recipe! I’m keeping this forever!!
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Was the cornmeal supposed to be so wet? It’s in the oven now and I’m worried that I ruined it.
Hi Joy,
Yes, it is a wet mixture when you add it to the top of the pie, but will bake and dry as it cooks.
I’ve made this several times lately to sell in my food business in Mexico. I live in San Miguel de Allende and most of my clientele are Gringos, many from Southern States and they love good Tex-Mex. I tweak it a bit my adding more of everything, Cumin, lots of Chili powder and Taco Seasoning and canned Corn as well. BUT the one thing not mentioned in the recipe is Chopped Black Olives. It just pulls it all together and gives it that taste I crave. My Mom made this when I was growing up and we would get so excited every time she said she was making it. I’m making a triple batch right now and my customers are going to be so excited!
This was amazing, and the whole family loved it! It was quite a bit different from the tamale pie I grew up with, but I prefer this version quite a bit. I added olives because I remembered having olives in it when I was a kid, but other than that, I made it exactly to recipe in a cast iron skillet. Thanks so much—this will be in our regular rotation!
I love this! I leave out the cheese to cut down on calories. And since I don’t like meat so much I only use 1 pound of ground chicken and substitute a can of black beans and fresh diced zucchini for the other .
This turned out really nice! I like that it’s full of veggies. Probably because I used turkey, I needed a lot more seasoning, and I added lime juice and cilantro to brighten it up. Masa came out smooth, used under 3 cups of broth. It really does taste like tamale masa and I’ll look forward to baking this on top of shredded beef or pork next time. Thank you!
I finally have a homemade fix for the deliciousness that was the sadly discontinued Derby Tamales, and now the Delimex Beef Tamales that I can no longer find in my area! Thank you for sharing this recipe. It’s soooo good.
We love this recipe! I make it a lot! However I don’t usually have the mass, so I substituted jiffy mix and added the cheese, melted butter and the broth instead of following the recipe on the box.today I’m making it again but don’t have crushed tomatoes so I’m using rotel tomatoes. I’ve shared this recipe a lot. Thanks
Hi Summer,
I know that this comment is about 6 months too late, but I just came across your recipe, and it is so much like the one I came up with, I had to throw in my 2 cents worth.
Originally, I made a more traditional tamale pie recipe, which called for 2/3rds of the cornbread batter to be mixed in with the meat mixture. Adding the cornbread batter firmed the pie up, but I felt that the batter overwhelmed the other flavors of the pie. Next time, I just mixed a small amount of the batter into the meat mixture, 1/4 to 1/3 % of the batter, and then layered the meat mixture, then the black olives and lastly the shredded cheese topping, finishing with the rest of the cornbread to bake its’ own distinct layer, as you did. I didn’t have to bother with cornstarch, and the meat and bread layers were flavorful and distinct. I baked it in the oven because I have come to grief before with cornbread baked in a skillet on the stove. Maybe this should be called Tamale Lasagne?? Anyway, this is one yummy, honey dish.
I made the Tamale Pie last night for dinner, and it was absolutely delish! I followed the recipe but made some changes. I added 2 diced up jalapenos to the onion/red pepper mix. I used half Monterey jack and half cheddar cheeses. I also doubled the cumin, added cayenne and I used ground turkey as I do not eat beef at all. Super delish, very comforting and hit the spot. I garnished the pie with a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro. I also made mine in a 9×13 which was literally JUST big enough to contain the filling.
Just made this for lunch. Big hit! I used fire roasted diced tomatoes in stead of the crushed tomatoes ( I blended with my hand blender to make it smooth). Other than that I made it as is. I messed the top up a bit, as it wasn’t easy to spread . Next time I’ll add more broth. It didn’t affect the taste, just wasn’t smooth. Such a easy, delicious meal with just the right amount of heat!
I had to make so many substitutions, including adding a lot more plain old corn meal for the topping to replace the cheese…and it still worked wonderfully! This will be made over and over again.
I made this recipe as written and fell in love with the taste of this tamale pie. I baked a small portion for a test and put the remainder into four small aluminum pans (4 for $1 at Dollar Tree), covered the tops with the pans’ provided lids, stuffed the pans into freezer bags and now I look forward to enjoying the pie this fall. The next time I make it I’ll add some sugar to the masa topping as I like a sweet “cornbread.” Aside from this personal preference the pie is perfect!
I have a recipe that I have used for years but was never really happy with the topping. After reading the reviews on your topping and thinking about what is wrong with mine. I’ve substituted yours for mine in the family recipe. I haven’t even tried it. But reading it I know it is the fix that was needed. Especially if I sub lard for the butter. I can’ hardly wait to try it.
Awesome recipe! Perfect in a 9×13 dish. It’s a bit spicy, perfect for us, but reduce chili powder for heat-averse diners! Didn’t have masa, so I ran regular cornmeal through a high-powered blender – worked great. This goes into our regular rotation!
Can leftovers be frozen?
Thank you.
Hi Teresa,
Absolutely! This is a fabulous freezer recipe. Just be sure to wrap it very well, then freeze 3-6 months.