Growing up, my mom made the BEST homemade tamales. Everyone loved them so much, she would sell them to friends, neighbors, and coworkers. My favorite was her chicken tamales! She would make queso dip to go with them and the combo was amazing.
Unfortunately, my mom passed away before I could get her recipe. I know that if I tried to re-create them, they’d never taste as good as hers! Instead, I thought I’d try something that has those same flavors-chicken, cheese, onions, cornmeal, green chilies, and spices.
My Skillet Chicken Tamale Pie is the result of my experiment and it turned out so great!
This beauty starts with a simple chicken mixture. I love using rotisserie chicken in this! I almost always have it in my freezer in 2-3 cup portions. If you don’t have rotisserie, you can precook some chicken breasts. One way is in an Instant Pot or slow cooker.
Just add some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder to give it some flavor. Or you could cube up some chicken breasts, add seasoning, then saute them in oil for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through. Use the same skillet that you’ll use for the
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/3 cup fat free milk
- 1/4 cup egg substitute
- 1 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn
- 1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
- 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
- 1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce – I recommend going with an authentic Mexican brand
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
- 3/4 cup shredded white cheese (I used Raclette – random, I know, but it’s what I had on hand, and it ended up being delicious!)
- cilantro and crumbled Cotija cheese for topping
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400°. Combine the first 7 ingredients (milk through green chiles), using just 1/2 tablespoon of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a round pie plate (mine was glass) coated with cooking spray. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
While corn is baking, toss the chicken in the remaining 1 tablespoon taco seasoning. When corn is done – it will be just barely set and golden brown – pierce entire surface liberally with a fork (it might stick a little bit to the fork). Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with cilantro and Cotija cheese.
