You’ll be surprised at how easy this slow cooker recipe of slow cooker tamale pie comes together. Using canned beans and a cornbread muffin mix it’s the perfect dinner for a busy night.
If you like tamales, this recipe has that same delicious tamale taste without any of the hard work.
We knew this recipe would be a hit because most of our family loves tacos. But when you add the cornbread topping to this tamale pie, it takes this slow cooker recipe to a whole new level.
We LOVE our slow cookers – some of our favorite slow cooker recipes include:
- Slow Cooker Ritz Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki Vegetable Bowls
- Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Vegetables
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
With the cornbread topping, all you need is a simple green salad to round out this meal. It’s so yummy and has a five-star reviews from everyone who tries it.
Can you add your own homemade cornbread topping?
We use the Jiffy cornbread batter in this slow cooker tamale pie. It’s inexpensive and so easy to make. It’s tasty and found in most grocery stores.
You could easily use your own recipe for cornbread muffins or bread. Our Easy Homemade Cornbread Recipe or our Cornbread Muffins recipes could work as the cornbread topping for this tamale pie.
Any of these options will work. You just want to cook it for the last hour of cooking. It should be set up and start to turn golden brown. When you insert a toothpick it should come out clean.
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Ingredients to top of your tamale pie
This slow cooker recipe for tamale pie has endless possibilities for toppings. It’s a great way to get some veggies in for your family.
Here are some of our favorite toppings you could add to slow cooker tamale pie:
- Diced Tomatoes
- Shredded Lettuce
- Sliced Black Olives
- More Shredded Lettuce
- Diced Onions
- Sour Cream
How to make slow cooker tamale pie:
Are you ready to make this easy slow cooker recipe for tamale pie? Add the ingredients and let your slow cooker do all the work for you. Here are the main ingredients needed for Slow Cooker Tamale Pie.
You may already have most of these ingredients on hand.
- In a large skillet, brown your ground beef until cooked through and no longer pink. Drain grease well.
- Stir in cumin, salt, chili powder, and pepper.
- Place the meat mixture in the slow cooker and stir in the beans, tomatoes, corn, enchilada sauce, onions, and cilantro.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until heated through.
- At the end of cooking time, combine cornbread mix and eggs in a small bowl. Spoon over meat mixture.
- Cover and cook for 1 hour longer or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Sprinkle with cheese and cover, let stand for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
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Slow Cooker Tamale Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 15.25 ounces black beans, 1 can, rinsed and drained
- 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilis, 1 can, undrained
- 11 ounces whole kernel corn, 1 can, drained
- 10 ounces enchilada sauce, 1 can
- 2 green onions, diced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 8.5 ounces Jiffy Cornbread Mix, 1 package
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown ground beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain excess grease.
- Stir in the cumin, salt, chili powder and pepper.
- Transfer to a slow cooker; stir in the beans, tomatoes, corn, enchilada sauce, onions and cilantro.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until heated through.
- In a small bowl, combine muffin mix and eggs; spoon over meat mixture. Cover and cook 1 hour longer or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Sprinkle with cheese; cover and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Diced Tomatoes
- Shredded Lettuce
- Sliced Black Olives
- More Shredded Lettuce
- Diced Onions
- Sour Cream
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.Follow Six Sisters’ Stuff on Instagram|Facebook|Pinterest|YouTube
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Watch how easy it is to make our Slow Cooker 8 Can Taco Soup.
This looks delicious, we love mexican food!
My husband loves this pie, but I’ve never made it. Now I am giving it a try. Thanks Camille!
This pie looks great! I would like to try some!
Haha! I hear ya about trying to make certain dishes photograph-worthy! Some of the best casseroles taste fantastic but look “meh” on the plate, but I must say that your husband did a stellar job here! This really does look delish! And, anything containing enchilada sauce automatically has my heart 😀
Deon @iPinnedIt.com
This looks so good. Thanks!
Blessings,
Sinea
Ducks ?n a Row
I love the corn bread topping! Serious Comfort Food!
This recipe seriously ROCKS!!! I’ve made it twice now and my Husband loves it as much as I do 🙂 I made it the 2nd time with a homemade enchilada sauce that I’ve loved using and the flavors were that much more intense! (Maybe because everything was from scratch, I don’t know) THANK YOU for this recipe! Definitely a keeper!!
I made this for dinner tonight–This meal was amazing, and earned rave reviews from my husband!! I did substitute ground turkey in place of the ground beef, but it made no difference! Will most certainly be making again soon! Thanks!
Made this last night, everyone loved it! I used two boxes of Jiffy mix, as we love cornbread in my house, and my slow cooker is a 6 quart and one box didn’t cover the entire top. DELICIOUS!
Only add eggs to the cornbread mix, not milk and oil…? Making it right now and doubting this part?!
Omg just made this and it is very yummy!! Will be making the again for sure.
can you post your homemade enchilada sauce recipie?
I LOVE this recipe! I prefer to use chicken and have tried white beans in lieu of black beans. The flavors are perfectly balanced and this stuff is better as leftovers!
If it cooks 6-8 hours, couldn’t you put meet in raw or partially cooked?
We don’t put raw hamburger in the crock pot. There is just something about cooking it first and draining off the grease. We have only made it as the recipe directs. Hope this helps you. 🙂
For the corn bread you just add eggs? Not the oil and milk?
Right! Just mix the corn bread mix and the eggs.
My family loved it ! So easy and good thanks !e
So if you don’t have a cornbread mix…..would just cornbread recipe dry ingredients plus the eggs work?
You can make your own cornbread mix to use in this recipe.
I made this last night and it was a HUGE hit! There was even a little left over for lunch today 🙂
My family loved this and so did I. It felt filling and healthy. (Minus the cornbread!) I added 2 packages of cornbread because of a previous review, but 1 would have been just fine. I also put the hamburger in raw, and it came out just fine. I use really lean hamburger so I never get much grease out of it anyways and it’s 1 less step! Seems silly to me to cook something on the stove that is going to sit in the crockpot for EIGHT hours!
How is the recipe affected if I make this without cheese? My daughter can’t eat it, and it’s so frustrating trying to find meal the family can eat without making a special version for her.
I am now making this dish. I will follow up with the outcome…I really like tamale pie, this version should be tasty. I am, however including diced jalapenos and cayenne pepper.
Made this tonight with frozen corn and extra tomatoes instead of enchilada sauce. We have gluten issues and used our own corn bread recipe and it worked great. Saving this one for a repeat. Kids said they liked it better than pizza or even French fries!
Not sure if I did something wrong. Although it was good, and my husband had two helpings, I thought it was more like chili with cornbread. Am I missing something? I did like the idea of cornbread on top, something like dumplings. Maybe I will try to do that with my chili recipe.
This recipe seems to be a carbon copy of the Taste of Home recipe. But other recipes for Slow Cooker Tamali Pie/Casserole, all say to make the cornbread according to recipe on box. I’m with you… just two eggs sounds like an awfully dry cornbread topping. And with all the comments, I’m wondering if others just haven’t noticed it doesn’t say ‘according to recipe on box’. I’ve also noticed other comments where ppl have used their own homemade recipe. Hope this helps!
I am just beginning to use my crock pots more. Was this recipe intended for a 3.5 quart crock pot or larger? Thank you.
Hi Carole. We love the convenience of our slow cookers! Most of us have 6 – 7 quart slow cookers. That is what we use when we make this recipe.
Will this work on high for 3 hours and 1 hour on low for cornbread?
The cornbread cooks for the last hour of the total cooking time. You should be able to cook it on high for less time. The main thing is to be sure it is heated through. You may want to turn it to low when you add the cornbread. Just keep a close eye on it where you are changing up the cooking temp and cooking time.
This is a major go-to here in Texas! Anyone ever use masa (like you would use for regular tamales) instead of cornbread?
Ooh…I forgot…y’all may want to try Martha White’s Gladiola yellow cornbread mix!! Jiffy is just TOO Yankee…especially the sweet stuff…bless your hearts!) And I also agree about adding sliced or diced fresh jalapenos since I can’t eat cilantro.
Exited about this recipe! Is there an Instant Pot version?! Would love to see that!
This post will help you convert recipes. https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/how-to-convert-recipes-into-instant-pot-recipes/
I tried this for the first time today. Cooked on low for 8 hours then used a gluten free cornbread mix and doubled the mix and eggs to cover the top. My cornbread didn’t seem to cook or rise, even after a second hour. The base tasted good, but I may have to scrape off the top! I added lots of toppings (Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, jalapeño, avocado, cheese, and green onions). Maybe I’ll just try Jiffy next time.
I wondered if I could make this recipe in the oven and make it like a “Cowboy Shepherd’s/Tamale Pie with tater tots.” Several gluten-free people are coming to the party, and I thought this might be a better way to do it. If I were to do it like a casserole, how long would you bake it? Or would the flavors not blend as well?
The flavors won’t blend quite as well as it would on the slow cooker, but I don’t see why you couldn’t make this as a casserole in the oven. I would try baking at 375F for about 40 minutes. Let us know if this works out for you
Sounds so good!