Gluten Free Tamale Pie

Gluten free cornbread is topped with a savory meat filling to make this one-pan meal that is reminiscent of the taste and texture of tamales. All the goodness of a classic tamale but without all the effort!

Once again I’m bringing you a classic dish made into a quick and easy, one pan meal because…that’s how we roll! A few years after gfHubs and I were married (and pre-food allergies), I stumbled on a recipe for tamale pie and knew I had to try it. I’ve always loved a good tamale, and making it into a one-dish meal certainly sounded appealing. It was a good one and we made it several times, but it was forgotten after gfHubs was diagnosed with food allergies.

A few months ago I was sorting through all my old recipes and came across that one. Now that I feel we’ve gotten this gluten free thing down, I was so excited to whip up a gluten free version of it! I made a few tweaks to get just the right combination of meat and cornbread and the perfect flavor. I think you’ll love it!

You’ll notice I use my cast iron skillet A LOT. I love it because it is easy to clean, cooks evenly, and browns the edges just perfectly. Plus it doesn’t have all the chemicals that traditional non-stick cookware is coated with and it cleans up easily. That’s a lot of wins in my book! Here’s a link to the one I use, which is listed under $20 right now on Amazon.

You can customize this dish by piling on your favorite toppings. Think sour cream, chopped avocados or guac, green chiles, fresh cilantro, a little squeeze of lime or even refried beans. It’s a fun dish the kids will love as much as the parents. You could even make individual ones by baking in well-greased muffin tins and scooping out with a spoon.

Technically speaking, gfHubs is the only person in our family who has to eat gluten free. But about a year after his diagnosis I realized it wasn’t practical to make two separate dishes of everything for dinner. The worries of cross contamination further complicated things so I decided to throw out all the wheat flour and just make the same thing for everyone. Our kids still eat wheat bread and sometimes pasta and snacks (they have their own “gluten” area), but I haven’t baked with wheat flour in years.

You might expect that our kids complained or have been begging for ‘regular’ food again, but they’ve actually done the opposite! Our oldest has repeatedly told me that I’m a better cook since we started eating gluten free, and they often say how much better the gluten free food tastes. That’s why I love dishes like this. They taste great to everyone, and everyone can eat the same meal, together.  You can find the printable below-enjoy!

~Celeste

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