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This has been a family favorite for a few years now. We look forward to having this after our carnitas taco feast.
Gayle
Hi there.
Carnitas. Remember that one?
Still have your face buried in that one?
Have some leftovers of that one?
Me too. Cause as much as I love carnitas, I did not eat 5 pounds of shredded Mexican pork in 2 days. There were too many other distracting things around.
So those carnitas? Turns out they make a great topping for one of my favorite recipes ever: Carnitas Tamale Pie.
My original version had chicken. Now apparently I’m a grown up who makes carnitas, so I made this version of tamale pie with carnitas. From the crockpot. That’s totally grown up.
Can I tell you something?
We love this.
I love putting leftovers to good use.
Bjork loves when I actually make real meals that involve more than cereal, milk, and mangoes.
Oh, the things you thought you knew about us.
But for me, I just love whole thing together – the melted cheese, enchilada sauce, spicy carnitas, and a sweet, mushy tamale-like crust. I like that it can be cut into squares or just scooped into a bowl. I like that it can should be sprinkled with cilantro. I like the melted white cheese. What if I told you I liked putting guacamole on this?
I just don’t stand a chance against Tex-Mex gluttony right now.
PS. I used my regular slow cooker for this recipe which is a Crock-Pot that I’ve had for the last five years. SO MUCH FOOD has come out of that thing over the life of this blog which is pretty impressive for a $28 kitchen appliance.
Carnitas Tamale Pie
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 9–12 1x
Description
This is a re-make of my most popular recipe, the Chicken Tamale Pie, made with Carnitas instead! Total comfort dinner food!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup yellow corn meal
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 can diced green chiles
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 can cream corn
- 2–3 cups leftover carnitas
- 1 cup enchilada sauce
- 1 cup shredded white cheese (Jack, White Cheddar, Pepperjack, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Stir in the oil until the mixture makes soft crumbs. Whisk in the milk and egg. Add the cream corn and green chiles and stir until just combined. Bake in a 9-inch square pan (or larger, depending on how thick you want it) for 25 minutes or until set. Since it’s a tamale-like base, it won’t be completely dry like a cornbread. It’s supposed to be just a little mushy.
- Poke holes in the crust with a fork. Pour the enchilada sauce over the crust. Squeeze or drain excess moisture out of the carnitas and arrange on top of the crust. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350. Cover with foil, return to oven, and bake for 20 minutes. When everything is heated through, remove foil and let bake for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Top with chopped cilantro, allow to cool for 5 minutes, and cut into slices or scoop into bowls.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Tex Mex
Keywords: carnitas tamale pie, pork tamale pie, tamale pie
So you’re going to have an awesome weekend?
Sweet. Me too.
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Worst waste of my carnitas ever . Don’t make this. Insanely sweet.
I made this yesterday and it is one of the easiest tamale pie recipe recipes I could find and it was delicious. The only thing is, I wasn’t sure how big a can of diced green chilies to add I think I would switch it up next time and char and dice some Anaheim peppers. Add some diced red pepper maybe some sautéed onion. Maybe even some frozen corn I’m not sure if this would weigh it down.
I made the “cheaters version” of this recipe last night: I used a box of cornbread mix, a package of Herdez premade carnitas, slices of cheese that I had for lunches and BBQ sauce, because I didn’t have any enchilada sauce on hand. (I used all of the other ingredients in the recipe.) It was delicious, and I know it will be even better when I use all of the actual ingredients in the recipe! I only mention it to say that the recipe is very forgiving if you need to substitute here or there. Thank you!
Do you think one could just leave the can of creamed corn out? I don’t eat corn like that (cornmeal is okay) plus I don’t care for the ingredients in the creamed corn
Great question, Melissa! You could try, but the cornbread layer might not be as moist and flavorful.
Thank you for this recipe! I tossed this together tonight and used shredded beef. The only thing I would tweak is leaving out the sugar. The creamed corn alone would make it subtly sweet enough, in my opinion.
So easy and good. Looking for a way to use up extra shredded pork and this was better than expected. I used green enchilada sauce out of personal preference. Perfect with sour cream, salsa and avocado.
Does anyone know if this can be frozen? I have made it so many times but it never lasts long enough to freeze in my house. Thinking of making this for a new mom to freeze for when baby comes.
We just Love this Tamale Pie..
Tastiest.
Could I get the recipe for the carnitas?
Please!!
Here’s the recipe! Enjoy!
Glad I found this one. Thank you for sharing. It was delicious. You can play around with the cornmeal. I like mine a little soft, so didn’t cook as long. Just keep checking for your desired consistency.
This is a very worthwhile (awesome) recipe.
My husband really likes this Tamale pie.
He is hard to please so I am glad I tried it.
Yummy
Made this and it was a big hit!
Everyone loved it.
Can you post what size (oz) of cans you’re using? I found two different sizes of cream of corn, green chilled, and 3 different sizes of enchilada sauce at my store.
Thanks for your help.
The red enchilada sauce is too bold with the pork and kind of ruined the flavor of the dish. The recipe didn’t specify red or green. I followed the cooking times to a tee, but the tamale part was still too wet. I wouldn’t make this again.
Holy wow was this good. I had to stop myself from getting thirds. About to reheat with an over easy egg for breakfast.
I’ve made this a couple of times – once using leftover Cuban mojo pork roast and again with leftover Pernil roast and it was great both times. Would also be good with leftover brisket.
It’s pretty quick to put together and makes a great weeknight dinner and a great way to use up leftover roasts.
I made this with leftover pork tamale meat I had in the freezer (crisped in up on broil before adding to the pie) and home made enchilada sauce. I also used colby jack cheese since it is what I had It was so good. My kids even enjoyed it which I was a little worried that they wouldn’t.
Topped with cilantro, red onion & jalepeno.
Will definitely be making it again.
Used 2 cans of enchilada sauce as another reviewer recommended and leftover mojo pork roast,instead of carnitas. Very good! The whole family enjoyed it and easy to put together.
Made this using leftover pulled pork. Turned out excellent. I’m going to make it today and add sauteed onions and peppers to the pork. Love it
Would there be something else I could substitute for the cream corn? I get that it needs something wet to hold it together, but that stuff just grosses me out 🙂
Great question. I’ve never thought about a possible substitute for creamed corn. But off the top of my head, I’m wondering if just blending up a can of corn into a liquid-y/gritty mixture would work. If you wanted it creamy, you could maybe add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream or whole milk. Let us know if you give it a try!
Okay this is GOOD. I’ve had this recipe pinned forever but always hesitated to try it (partly because my hubby doesn’t like tamales and I doubted the kids would eat it), but I had no idea what to make for dinner last night, didn’t have much food in the fridge, but had some leftover carnitas in the freezer and just went for it. And not only did I love it, my hubby loves it too! The kids ate a little, which was a win in my books. I love the sweetness from the creamed corn mixed with the spice from the green chiles and the enchilada sauce. Yum!! And it was super easy. This is definitely going in the regular rotation.
We just tried it but added carnita veggies (onion and peppers) too and it was delish! Great corn cake recipe!
This is so delicious! I added diced peppers,onions,fire roasted corn,tomatoes and some salsa in with the carnitas so I only put a little green sauce on top of the cornbread instead of a cup.
Oh and I topped it with spicy queso before I smothered it in cheddar cheese and didn’t cover it to bake. It turned out perfect! Thanks Lindsay. 😋