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A fabulously easy dinner: meet the chicken tamale pie, combining the flavors of a tamale, with some good old American convenience!
Update: This was originally posted in July of 2014, and has been updated with new photos! As always, I keep a lovely *cough* shot at the bottom of the post – scroll down and see it!
I do love me some comfort food and this Tamale Pie Recipe is no exception. All the flavors of a green chicken tamale, baked in a skillet and topped with a crust. I mean… can you believe this only takes around 30 minutes?
I love that it uses polenta (secret ingredient!!) and can feed the whole family.
DID YOU KNOW? You can buy precooked polenta right in the grocery store! It comes in a roll, and can be easily sliced. If you can’t find it – go ahead and use corn muffin mix (make the mix and pour the batter over the top in place of the polenta)
One-pot meals are SO my jam but, if you don’t’ have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer the food to a casserole dish or baking dish after cooking the chicken mixture.
It isn’t overly spicy (but you could kick it up a notch if you aren’t attempting to feed kids) but has a lovely, robust flavor.
Give it a try!
Want more comfort food? try my Salisbury Steak and Shepherd’s Pie!
Ingredient Notes
The full list of ingredients and quantities is found in the printable recipe card below.
- Chicken. Chicken breasts. Diced into small pieces (you can sub shredded chicken if you’d like to!)
- Onion.
- Garlic, Cumin, Coriander, Salt & Pepper.
- Cilantro.
- Green chiles. 2 small 4.5oz cans.
- Sweet corn. I use cream-style corn in this.
- Polenta. I use a Premade Polenta found in the pasta section of the grocery store. It comes in a log! I slice it into 1/2 inch slices.
- Cheddar cheese.
- Crescent rolls. I grab these at the grocery store in the refrigerated section. Any brand will do!
How to make this recipe
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The full list of ingredients, quantities and instructions can be found in the printable recipe card below.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat a cast-iron or other oven-safe large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add chicken, and onions and stir fry until browned.
- Add garlic, cumin and coriander, salt and pepper and cook for a further minute or two.
- Add cilantro, green chilies, and corn; stir to combine. Cook about 3 minutes or until heated.
- Remove from heat and top with cheddar.
- Arrange polenta slices in an even layer over the top.
- Unroll crescent roll dough; separate into 8 triangles. Place the shortest side of each triangle on the rim of the skillet over cheese with points in the center.
- Bake 15 minutes (up to 20 minutes) or until dough is golden brown.
- Remove from oven, and let stand 5 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.
- Devour.
Kylee’s Notes
If you can’t find premade polenta, you can use a corn muffin mix. Just make the batter, and pour it over the top. Make sure it’s fully cooked when removing from the oven.
If you’d like to make a tamale pie with ground beef instead of chicken, just add a little taco seasoning, (or some chili powder) and maybe some enchilada sauce!
Want some more One Pot Dinners?
- Chicken Pot Pie – Creamy, tasty and comforting, the addition of biscuits to the top makes this a popular dinner with the whole family!
- Ham & Cheese Pasta – ready in less than 30 minutes that makes EVERYONE need seconds. Change up the pasta, and the cheese, but make it over and over!
- Creamy Sausage Pasta – using just one pan and items from the pantry, it’s super-fast and perfect for weeknights!
If you have tried this recipe or any other recipe on Kylee Cooks, leave a comment and rating – I truly love to hear from you!
Find me on Pinterest, Facebook & Instagram for more delicious recipes!
Chicken Tamale Pie
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (diced small)
- 1 onion (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- Salt and pepper
- 2 Tbs cilantro (chopped, plus more for garnish)
- 2 4.5oz cans chopped green chilies
- 14.75 oz cream style sweet corn
- 1 lb package of ready made polenta (cut into 1/2-inch slices)
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded )
- 1 can crescent rolls
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat a cast-iron or other oven-safe large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add chicken, and onions and stir fry until browned.
- Add garlic, cumin and coriander, salt and pepper and cook for a further minute or two.
- Add cilantro, chilies, and corn; stir to combine. Cook about 3 minutes or until heated.
- Remove from heat and top with cheddar.
- Arrange polenta slices in an even layer over the top.
- Unroll crescent roll dough; separate into 8 triangles. Place the shortest side of each triangle on the rim of the skillet over cheese with points in the center.
- Bake 15 minutes (up to 20 minutes) or until dough is golden brown.
- Remove from oven, and let stand 5 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.
- Devour.
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Erin says
You could also definitely use corn bread mix for topping. Done this in similar recipes and it’s really yummy. ?
Kate says
The crust totally makes this dish!
USA Kiwi (Kylee) says
Thanks so much, Cheri! We really really like this. I couldn't believe how many of us it fed, either!
USA Kiwi (Kylee) says
You could easily use flaky pastry instead, if you had some hanging around!
Cheri Savory Spoon says
Hi Kylee, love your one pot dinners. This looks gorgeous!
Eva says
Looks great, Kylee! This would give an excuse to eat refrigerated crescent rolls…