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This chicken tamale casserole is simple to prepare and great for company, even your in-laws.
What’s the first thought going through your head when you hear your in-laws are coming to town and staying with you and your significant other? Is it frustration? Is it horror? Or if you’re anything like me, it’s “OH MY GAWD, I have to clean the entire house from top to bottom and crap, what am I making?!” Yup, that’s what I did two weeks ago when they came to town. I love it when they come to town, but I always have this pressure of having to make something super delicious because they know about this blog (and are probably reading this right now) and it’d be sheer disappointment if I made something complete opposite of what I’d usually make for the blog.
And so I scoured my saved recipes on my computer and at the time, I was craving some sort of Mexican dish but I also wanted it to be easy since I was also working the day they were coming in. I found this chicken tamale pie that Lindsay had posted and it was like fireworks, y’all. Haha, super easy decision for me. It made a large portion and I knew it was going to be a hit!
Needless to say, there wasn’t a single bite left in this casserole dish after we were all through with it. It had the perfect amount of spice and it was so flavorful. The cornbread was such an awesome addition. My in-laws LOVED it. They couldn’t get over it.
I did learn a few things from their visit, though: 1. my house had never looked cleaner, maybe they should come more often so my house will be pretty much spotless ;) 2. shredding chicken sucks. The whole fork and fork method blows. I wish there were a faster way to shred 2 cups of chicken. I almost shoved it in the food processor but then it would’ve turned it to mush Not anymore! Put it in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment!! 3. Adding cornbread to Mexican food is not a bad idea, at.all. and this is unrelated to their visit but I’m freaking starving right now and I want a huge hunk of this at 8 in the morning. It can be spun into a breakfast casserole, right?
Chicken Tamale Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) milk
- ¼ cup (63 g) egg substitute
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ tablespoon taco seasoning, divided
- 14.75 ounce (418 g) can cream-style corn
- 8.5 ounce (241 g) box corn muffin mix
- 4 ounce (113 g) can chopped green chiles
- 10 ounce (284 g) can red enchilada sauce
- 2 cups (280 g) shredded chicken
- ¾ cup (84 g) shredded white cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F (204 °C) and spray casserole dish with cooking spray. My casserole dish was 9 x 13.
- Combine the first 7 ingredients, using just 1/2 tbsp. of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, and mix until moist. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- While the corn mixture is baking, toss the chicken with the remaining 1 tbsp. of taco seasoning. Set aside.
- When the cornbread is done, it will be barely set and golden brown. Pierce the entire surface liberally with a fork. If it’s sticking to the fork, it needs to cook longer or rest for about 10 minutes before piercing (if it sets up, it won’t be as moist so it won’t stick to the fork as much)
- When ready, pour the red enchilada sauce over the top, then top with chicken and sprinkle liberally with cheese.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Yes! Use your kitchen aid mixer to shred chicken if you have one! Takes no time at all!!!
Looks gorgeous Julie. The in-laws will be totally lucky to have such a cooking fiend as a daughter in law :)
I always fret much more about what I am cooking than the house being clean. I usually add that to Paul’s “list”. Heehee! This sounds so perfect, Julie! I think I could probably finish off that whole dish!
Gorgeous casserole, Julie. I’m sure the in-laws were super impressed. I once invited Jason’s parents over for dinner and I was SO stressed to make the most perfect dinner – it’s hard people pleasing!!
Oh and I totally agree. Shredding chicken is an absolute bitch. Crap, am I allowed to use words like that here? I just wanted to get my point across that it sucks big time.
haha this post made me laugh – i am absolutely TERRIBLE at shredding chicken. Seriously. why isn’t there an easier way? this dish looks fab though. i love casseroles.. so easy and they please pretty much anyone!
anything mexican. anything casserole. I love.
I made chicken in a slow cooker with salsa and little bit of chicken stock and by the time it was done, I could stick my tongs in the chicken and it would literally shred itself – it may have been the best surprise ever since I was making chicken tacos with it! I’ve done the fork method, too, and I know it is no fun :(
Love your blog!
Girl, just use your hands! It’s way faster! Love this casserole… looks delish! And I totes feel ya on the in-laws thing. Although, our place always looks amazeballs when we have guests coming. I should treat every weekend like someone’s coming haha
I see someone already mentioned it but we shred our chicken in our stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Works perfectly. Just make sure it’s cooled a little. It shreds better.
Also, if you plop a fried egg on top of this casserole, I’m pretty sure you can call it breakfast.
How good does this look? I always thought shredding meat was a huge, time-consuming pain but figured there was just something wrong with the way I was doing it! At least this is a nice-sized casserole, so it (hopefully) gives you a break from cooking for a day or two :)