Tex-Mex Cornbread Chicken Pie
Take a Southern Favorite - Cornbread - and Jazz it Up
Ole! Enjoy a zesty Tex-Mex inspired chicken pie that is easy to make and tastes great.
Southerners, like others, get tired of the same dishes night after night. It’s nice to see comfort dishes but also nice to have some variety. Tex-Mex chicken pie builds on a Southern favorite – cornbread. But, this cornbread recipe is more of a meal than a bread, and it has those south-of-the-border flavors that are definitely hot in the South.
Tex-Mex Chicken Cornbread Pie Recipe
- 1 cup yellow plain (not self rising) cornmeal
- ½ cup plain (not self rising) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup water
- 1 egg
- 2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded) – 1 cup in crust – ½ cup in filling – ½ cup to top off dish
- 16 oz of cooked chicken (chopped in bite sized pieces)
- 1 jar salsa (12 oz)
- ½ cup black olive slices
Directions:
- Mix together the cornmeal, flour, and baking powder in a bowl.
- Add water, egg and 1 cup of cheese to crust mixture.
- Put about ¾ of the crust mix in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Grease or spray the pie plate with Pam before adding the cornmeal crust mixture.
- Save the ¼ of the crust mixture to top the chicken cornbread pie. This will form a cute top – but not covering the entire pie.
- In another bowl, mix together the pie filling including the chicken, salsa, and ½ cup of cheese. Pour this mixture over the crust mixture evenly. The cornmeal crust will “cup” up around the chicken mixture. This is fine. It sorts out and makes a crust during the cooking stage.
- Take the saved cornmeal crust mixture (1/4 cup) and pour that on top of the filling mixture. Do not cover the filling totally. Just spoon the extra crust mixture in the middle and spread it a bit to cover the top with about an inch of the filling showing around the edges. The topper is kind of like a hat but not covering the mixture totally. Filling peaks out between the pie edges and the center cornmeal mixture.
- Bake the Tex-Mex cornmeal chicken pie for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F. The top crust ring in the middle of the pie should be golden brown at this point. If it’s not, cook it a little longer.
- Add the ½ cup of grated cheddar cheese over the top of the pie and sprinkle on the black olives. Return the pie plate to the oven and continue to bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese topping is melted.
This Tex-Mex dish is great served up with a salad. A basic garden salad is fine, and a Tex-Mex inspired salad is even better.
If you have slices of your Tex-Mex pie left over, this is also a dish that freezes well. Just wrap individual slices well and freeze. They can be warmed up in the microwave for a quick dinner or carried to work when you don't have time to go out for lunch.
The copyright of the article Tex-Mex Cornbread Chicken Pie in Tex-Mex Food is owned by Cyndi Allison. Permission to republish Tex-Mex Cornbread Chicken Pie must be granted by the author in writing.
