I’m always looking for simple and easy weeknight dinner recipes that will feed my family and keep them happy, which is why I LOVE this super easy and totally cheese Chicken Tamale Casserole!
It combines all the flavors of those authentic tamales into an easy casserole dish that takes less than one hour from start to finish. Since I’m a major fan of all things Mexican food, I had no doubts that this casserole dish would come in as a success.
The base of the casserole is made with a boxed corn bread mix (like Jiffy) that’s infused with creamed corn, chili powder, cumin and a little cheese.
Once the base is done cooking you simply pour some of your favorite enchilada sauce all over the top. Toss on a some shredded chicken and a little more cheese, then let it finish baking in the oven till it’s nice a bubbly all over.
Whenever I make Mexican food it’s always garnished with fresh diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sliced black olives, chopped green onions, cilantro… I basically go all out. That’s because the more vegetation I put on my plate, the more complete the meal becomes. At least that’s how I see it. So while it’s a great meal straight out of pan… I prefer mine topped with all the trimmings.
Tomato… Tomahto…
Chicken Tamale Casserole Recipe Variations:
- Instead of shredded chicken, try shredded pork or beef.
- Add a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper to the batter to give it a little kick of spice.
- Add a small can of diced green chilies and substitute chicken for sweet corn for a vegetarian option.
- Try using green enchilada sauce instead of red.
Basically this Chicken Tamale Casserole gets 5 stars from this household, and it’s definitely a recipe we will be putting in our rotation frequently.
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Chicken Tamale Casserole
This cheesy Chicken Tamale Casserole is a quick and easy family weeknight dinner that has all the flavors of classic tamales without all the fuss!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 1 package (8.5 oz) corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
- 1 can (14.5 oz) cream-style corn
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 2 cups shredded taco cheese blend, divided
- 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
- 3 cups shredded cooked chicken, from rotisserie chicken
Optional Toppings:
- diced tomato
- sour cream
- shredded lettuce
- sliced black olives
- chopped green onions
- finely chopped cilantro
- salsa
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9×13 inch casserole dish with non stick cooking spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the corn muffin mix, cream-style corn, eggs, milk, chili powder, cumin and 1 cup of cheese. Stir till combined then pour into the casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and use a knife to pierce the cornbread mixture several times all over. Pour the enchilada sauce all over the top of the casserole. Top with the shredded chicken and remaining cheese. Bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing into pieces and serving with optional toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
Substitute the shredded chicken for equal amounts shredded pork or beef if desired.
Keywords: Chicken, Tamale, casserole, baked, easy, delicious
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Wow. Absolutely incredible recipe! I used a little liquid smoke, jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, taco cheese, and added smoked paprika. A little salt takes away most of the sweetness, if you aren’t a fan of the sweetness. I will definitely be making this again!
★★★
Hi Lauren, so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Is there any reason you gave it 3 stars instead of 5?
Wonderful, quick and easy. It doesn’t get better than that. I had left over carnita meat that I used instead of shredded chicken. Everyone loved it. Thank you.
★★★★★
That sounds great Renee! So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this, with a small change. I love the flavor of green chile, so I substituted a small can of green chile for some of the creamed corn, then used green chile enchilada sauce. Absolutely delicious, and my fridge smelled like green chile from the leftovers (that didn’t last long), so double bonus there!!
★★★★★
Love the changes you made! Great ideas!
This looks absolutely Amazing I’m always amazed what people come up with will be making tomorrow night! Thank you for sharing!!!
Made tonight for supper!!! Went right by the recipe and it’s an Easy Meal & Delicious too!!! Ty for the recipe
★★★★★
Fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it Glenda!
It turned out perfect and looked beautiful once it was cut and put on the plate and garnished….however we found it way too sweet for our taste. . Next time I am going to use a non-sweet cornbread mix and no creamed corn….just going to make cornbread according to directions and add a small can of green chilies and the cheese. Otherwise, a great easy dinner! Thank you for another yummy recipe!
You’ll have to let us know how it turns out with the modifications you’re thinking about. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I was looking for a recipe to balance out short ribs that were a little too spicy on their own… this was a perfect solution ! I did add black refried beans with the meat layer and used mild red sauce. I love the taste and simplicity of this recipe!
★★★★★
Love it! Sounds like a great way to use up some leftovers! 🙂
LOVE this recipe!!! The first time I made it I didn’t have chicken, so I grabbed some homemade chili out of the freezer and used it with my homemade enchilada sauce…yum! When I tried it with shredded chicken it was equally delicious! 🙂
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe Cheree!
I had a hard time with mine. I see the smaller casserole in the photos, and I wish I had done that. I made the 2x, but noticed it was also in a 9×13 pan, but with double the ingredients. So, it was overflowing, raw in the middle, and had to cook it an extra 30 minutes so it wasn’t soupy in the middle. The recipe sounds so good! Hope you can modify it for the larger recipe. I see others had trouble with theirs not cooking in the middle. 🙁
Using two 9×13 pans when doubling the recipe should solve your problem. Hope this helps!
So is the base cooked till it’s done or semi done? 20 minutes isn’t long enough to cook it thru.
Hi Kris, In a 9X13 pan the base will cook into a moist bread-like base. If you need you can leave it in an extra 5 or 10 minutes. Hope this helps!
Made this tonight. So good!! I thought the chicken would be a little dry so I added a can of Rotel tomatoes with juice. My husband had 3 big pieces!
★★★★★
AWESOME!! So glad you guys are enjoying the recipe!
Is the cornbread mixture supposed to be moist? I’ve cooked it an extra 20 min and it’s still super moist and feels like it isn’t cooked completely.
Yes, it’ll be moist and not crumbly.
I just made this today and it was so good! I used a 7X11 Corian casserole dish so baking times increased from 20 min to 30 min as it was still liquid in the center at 20 min. I also used 2 10 oz cans of enchilada sauce- on on the bread and the other on top of the chicken. Took 30 min in oven to melt the cheese. Next time, I think I’ll add some jalapeño! Thanks so much – easy, quick, and delicious!
★★★★★
This is my go to potluck dish. So simple to make. I always have the Ingredients on hand. This dish is a winner. Thank you!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Thank you for this amazing recipe. I made it, and it turned out great. I plan to make it again next week.
Fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it!
Was delicious. I made with ground beef instead of chicken. A couple of things I wanted to point out is that a smaller size pan (like a 7 X 12″) would be much more appropriate for this recipe, as the batter will turn out thicker instead of so thin. And because I don’t like Jiffy, I made a homemade version of it to use in recipe (which you can really taste the difference). I used shredded cheddar because it’s all I had. And also, for those who don’t like enchilada sauce, you can substitute with a can of tomato soup. Seriously, it is delectable!
Yes, you can definitely cook it in a smaller pan, you’ll just want to make sure you cook it a tad longer so the filling can get cooked through. 🙂 So glad you enjoyed it!
So good but I used fresh chicken that I cooked in chicken taco seasoning and added some jalapeño to the bread.
Nice! I love the additions you made to the recipe!
Do you think a gluten free corn bread mix would substitute for the regular muffin mix? We have one family member with gluten sensitivity and I’ve seen what happens if gluten sneaks into a dish.
For sure! I think that would work just fine.
Made this tonight and followed the recipe exactly but used green sauce instead of red! It was delicious! My family liked the sweetness the creamed corn added to the corn muffin mixture. Only thing I’d change next time is maybe adding a little bit of salt to the corn muffin mix to give it a little more flavor. I did have to bake the corn mixture for about 25 min vs the 20 minutes stated, but could’ve just been my oven. Thanks for the delicious recipe
Awesome! So glad you liked it with the green sauce. I have to give that a try!
I was excited about trying this recipe, but I was very disappointed with the results.. it tasted as though we were eating sweet birthday cake with enchilada sauce and chicken, and cheese and veggies and sour cream ect.. it was not good, at all but we didn’t want to waste it so we ate as much as we could. Just being honest.
Same here! Very disappointed. But will try switching out the cornbread mix with pre-mixed tamale corn mix (used to make tamales) from our local Hispanic store.
I was also disappointed with how it turned out. Way too sweet. I even added 1/2 tsp of cayenne to the cornbread mixture and topped it off with sliced jalapenos. I really wanted this to be good but…
★★
I’m sorry you found it too sweet. Might be the corn muffin mix you’re using. If you find that mix to be too sweet, you’ll probably find the same results with this recipe. I would suggest finding a brand that tastes more on the savory side.
What is the carb count
Im cookink it now. I cant my bread ‘meal’ mixture done enough to poke holes for sauce. Put back n oven. We’ll see lol
Can you use taco sauce instead of enchilada sauce?
Absolutely fabulous made this last night added a can of green chilies to the cornbread mix and used ground beef with a pack of toco season in place of the chicken and served it with lettuce tomatoes sour cream and green onions this one is a keeper thanks so much for posting it!!!!
Love that you made it with ground beef! So glad you enjoyed it!
Im gonna try making this WITHOUT the corn, by making the cornbread per pkg directions and just pouring that on top.
This looks absolutely DELISH! But there is one small problem…my husband cannot ear corn. Is there something else that could be used in place of the creamed corn??? TIA
He would probably have an issue with the corn muffin mix as well. I would maybe skip this recipe and try for something else like my Mexican Beef and Rice Skillet (omitting the corn of course).
Actually, Shawn, his corn restriction is more due to diverticulitis, so it’s actually the KERNEL that is the problem -he can’t eat onions, seeds, nuts or corn – because they tend to get caught in the diverticuli and as the intestine squeezes, these things become caught and then to decompose, which causes infection = diverticulitis. So the only corn he CAN have is corn meal.
Can I leave out the corn?
I was wondering the same thing. Can you leave out the corn?
what about just blending the corn down even further so there are not any actual kernels left before adding in, but still flavor? i dont know what that would do to the consistency of the dish, but just a thought.
This is so easy and delicious! I made it with ground beef a few weeks ago and today I made it with chicken. Both delicious!!!
OMG, this is sooooo good! I made it last week and again this week. I did add a second can of enchilada sauce and added more cheese. It is super easy to make. Can’t wait to make it again for our neighbors when we all get together.
When would you add the green chilies?