The Best Tamale Pie Recipe

You know that feeling when you take a bite of a dish and it transports you to a different time and place, reminding you of cherished memories? That's the power of comfort food.

Tamale Pie is one of those foods for me. Packed with layers of flavor and texture, it's a hearty dish that reminds me of my childhood. My dad would make it based on his mom's recipe that he grew up on.

It is easy to make with easy to find ingredients. All the taste of tamales without the extra effort of rolling and steaming.

This is the best Tamale Pie Recipe. I have tried a few others and they have some weird spices or strange texture to them.

You can bake this in a casserole dish or pie plate, or keep it simple and skip the bottom layer and just bake it in the skillet. Both methods are described below.

Ingredients for Tamale Pie 

We usually make this with bulk sausage, but you could use ground beef or ground pork and add some extra spices.

Other ingredients you will need:

• yellow onion and garlic
• tomato sauce
• chili powder and salt
• sliced pitted ripe olives (optional) and/or canned corn
• yellow (or white) corn meal
• eggs
• butter

For garnish you can add sliced pitted ripe olives, sliced jalapeno peppers or some chopped green onions. Or leave it plain.

Recipe

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Ingredients

 

• 1 pound bulk sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion (chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ cup sliced pitted ripe olives
• ¾ cup yellow corn meal
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs (well beaten)
• 1 tablespoon butter (melted)

optional garnish

• sliced pitted ripe olives
• sliced jalapeno peppers
• chopped green onions

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease pie plate or shallow casserole dish or spray with cooking spray.
• Cook sausage in skillet until well browned, breaking up with a fork as it cooks. Pour off all the fat. Add onion and garlic; cook 3 minutes. Add tomato sauce, chili powder and olives; simmer 5 minutes. Set aside.
• While the meat is simmering, add corn meal slowly to boiling water while stirring vigorously. Cook, stirring constantly for 10 minutes or until very thick. Add cooked corn meal to beaten eggs and mix thoroughly.
• Spread ⅜-inch thick layer of corn meal in prepared pie plate or casserole dish. Spread sausage mixture evenly over top. Spoon remaining corn meal mixture over sausage. Brush top with melted butter. Optional: decorate with sliced olives or jalapenos.
• Bake for 45 minutes at 375℉ or until browned. Garnish with olives, olives or green onions and serve.

Notes

To bake in a cast iron skillet: Cook sausage in skillet as directed. Prepare cornmeal in a separate pot. Spread sausage evenly over skillet, top with all of the cornmeal mixture. Bake for 45 minutes until topping is baked.

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more tamale recipes

Until next time, happy eating!
~Audrey