Easy Homemade Enchilada / Tamale Casserole AND Individual Pies – Freezer Meal Recipe

These are some of the most unique looking, yet delicious tasting, tamales ever.


   
   

Crust Ingredients:1 1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cup water
additional 2 1/2 cup water

Crust Directions:
Whisk 1 1/2 cup water with cornmeal with salt
In a sauce pan bring the 2 1/2 cups water and butter to boil
Gradually stir in the cornmeal mixture (it will thicken)
Continue stirring while reducing heat to a simmer
Cook an additional 4-5 minutes then remove from heat
Mixture will be thick

 

Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins - Fill approximately 1/3 of the way full
(I made 12 muffins and 1 8x8 pan.)
Set aside and prepare the filling

 

Filling Ingredients:1 pound chicken - cooked and shredded
1/2 can whole kernel corn
1/2 can black beans
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 can (approximately 15 ounces) enchilada sauce
Shredded cheese for topping (optional)

Filling Directions:
Prepare the chicken by cooking and shredding it.
Mix the chicken with the beans, corn, enchilada sauce, and tomatoes
Spoon onto the crust 



BAKE:350* for approximately 20-40 minutes.

If Freezing, leave in freezer over night before removing the individual pies. They will slide right out of the muffin tins. Place them in a zip lock bag with cooking directions written on the outside. Place back into a muffin tin before baking!

 

For the 8x8 pan I first lined it with foil in order to make removing it from the pan easier, but Im sure it will slide right out too once frozen. The foil made clean up (after cooking) much easier though.



After removing the frozen casserole from the 8x8 it will slide easily into a zip lock bag and lay flat for easy (space saving) storing in the freezer. Again, write the cooking directions on the outside of the bag.



When cooking straight from the freezer add additional baking time

 

The unique thing about these is that the crust will not become hard. It will retain a “tamale” texture. I used white cornmeal, but you can use yellow as well. You can add an egg and 1/4 cup flour to the cornmeal mixture in order to make it a little more “crusty”.

Serve with refried beans, mexican rice, and some chips.