Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 box corn muffin mix (such as JIFFY)
1 large egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. canned creamed corn
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
1/3 c. red enchilada sauce
1 c. shredded cheddar
1 c. shredded Monterey jack
Preparation
Step 1Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a large oven-safe skillet with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together corn muffin mix, egg, sour cream, and creamed corn. Transfer to prepared skillet and bake until golden, 20 minutes. Let cool.Step 2Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion, cumin, and chili powder and season with salt and pepper. Cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes. Drain fat.Step 3Poke entire surface of cornbread with a fork and pour over enchilada sauce. Add beef and top with cheeses.Step 4Cover with foil and bake until cheese is melty, about 20 minutes. Switch oven to broil, remove foil, and broil until cheese turns golden, about 5 minutes.
Most tamale pies consists of a flavorful ground beef base and cornbread topping. But we were inspired by the tamale pie recipe on the blog 2Teaspoons. Instead of covering the beef with a cornbread topping, theirs bakes a cornbread base that gets poked and doused with enchilada sauce. It sounded amazing, but I was skeptical. Would the crust get soggy? Why don’t more people do it this way? No one else seemed to have as many doubts as me, so I tested the technique, doctoring a box of Jiffy with sour cream and creamed corn. I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong. Even smothered in enchilada sauce and loaded with taco meat and cheese, the cornbread remained its beautiful cornbread self—not a sad and mushy bottom. In fact, it got even better. Have you made this recipe? Leet us know how you liked it in the comments below. Editor’s Note: The introduction to this recipe was updated on August 31, 2020 to provide more information about the dish. GET YOURS NOW! Delish Cookbook, amazon.com
