So I was listening to satellite radio the other day and a cooking show came on – I am usually tuned into the Stars station on Sirius – and they mentioned tamale pie. Of course it was the day after I served a taco bar for dinner so I was thinking of all of the leftovers I had in the fridge.
Since I didn’t have anything planned for dinner for the next night I figured I’d try my hand at my own take on a tamale pie. And OMG… it was so delicious! The smells coming from my kitchen had my mouth watering.
And if you can wait long enough (from the picture above you can tell I DIDN’T wait long enough) the dish looks beautiful when you take it out of the pan. And it’s even better the next day! So grab your leftovers and get recreating! I love making over leftovers.
The best part is that this can be made with any mexican style leftovers you may have including chicken ropa vieja and salsa chicken.
Tamale Pie
- 2 cups leftover taco meat (I used lean turkey with taco seasoning and onions)
- 1 cup leftover black beans
- 1 can corn (or cup of frozen corn)
- 1 1/2 cups monterey jack cheese
- Cornmeal crust
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the cornmeal mix onto the bottom of a baking dish.
Mix together leftover meat, beans, corn, and cheese. Spread on top of cornmeal crust.
Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and top of the dish is browned. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
What’s your favorite leftover makeover?
This recipe is awesome! It’s perfect for my boys. 🙂
Oh we cook ground beef all the time! LOVE having an alternative since I work full time!
We always have taco night so this would be a great next day meal! I’m definitely making it!
Wow that looks delicious and so easy to make. Yummy! I know what we are having for dinner tomorrow night lol
We normally don’t mess with leftovers, but I’ve got to say, that looks really good. I’m gonna pretend to have some leftovers just so I can make this.
This looks delicious! We love Tamale Pie!
Great use of leftovers!
I usually just use leftover meat to make a panini or on top of a salad. Looks like yours has a lot more creativity!
Genius! This is going on a menu soon.
Hmmm, I think I have everything for this. This is going on the menu plan for the week.
This is great, looks a lot easier then trying to make a classic tamale (which I have never done.. intimadating) lol.. I will have to try this out!
Yum! I’m embracing the idea of not rolling things up lately, too. I did enchiladas as a casserole. Saved a ton of time:)
This looks so tasty!