Southwestern spiced feel-good ingredients and dollops of flavorful golden cornbread come together creating comfort food at its best. This ultra satisfying and delicious Vegan Tamale Skillet is a fun twist on the traditional Mexican Tamale. Keeping all the flavors, but ramping up more of that tasty filling goodness in the form of hearty beans, nourishing veggies, and aromatic spices. A perfect dish for Cinco de Mayo celebrations or an everyday dinner, this tasty meal is bursting with flavor and will surely have the entire family running to the dinner table.

Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no processed highly processed ingredients.

Hi! Robin here!

As y’all know by now, I simply can’t get enough Southwestern food! I look for every opportunity to cook up a Southwestern dish. I knew Cinco de Mayo was on the horizon, so I started testing this tamale pie several months ago.

I kept tweaking the recipe and tweaking it some more, trying to get it just right, but then realized that I really just wanted to keep eating it over and over again. The tweaking was just an excuse to enjoy this delicious dish.

Tasty Topper

I love cornbread!  I could eat it every day if I allowed myself. Back in the day, I would slather a ton of butter and honey on cornbread and called it a meal. Since then, I’ve found ways to sneak in healthy cornbread into casseroles.

I knew this would be a perfect opportunity to do the same. I recently placed a cornmeal crust on our Veggie Cassoulet, oh my goodness, sooooo yummilicious!

Amount of Cornbread Topper

We were a little divided on the amount of delicious cornbread that should be used. I am all for LOTS of cornbread; however, that means less juice and beans to cornbread ratio. While Monkey wanted less cornbread topping and more juice and beans.

For this recipe, we used the quantity that uses MORE cornbread, but if you’re like Ameera just cut the cornbread mixture ingredients in half. Both work fantastic.

Also, as a note, the images in this blog post show the full amount of cornbread.

Personal Taste

The beauty of this dish is that you can totally get the flavor just how you want it before adding dollops of cornbread, then popping it in the oven. I always consider that a bonus, when you already know what the end result is going to taste like.

I love stove top to oven casseroles like that, takes the guess work out of “How is it going to turn out?”stress away, ya know?

I absolutely loved it and we hope you will too!  I’ll let Monkey tell you more.

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Yup, I totally agree with Mom. This vegan Tamale Pie has excellent flavor and the cornbread topping is amazing. It is moist yet crumbles perfectly into the sauce so you enjoy the combination of the two. So much goodness!!!  It is definitely Southwestern comfort food!  My personal preference is using less of the cornbread topper unlike Mom who is all about the cornbread topper.  LOL

We hope you give this deliciousness a try!  We just know you are going to love it!

If you try this Vegan Tamale Skillet, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Products Used:

• Oven proof ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven, deep skillet, or similar large deep skillet.

Vegan Tamale Skillet

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 20 Minutes
• Cook Time: 40 Minutes
• Total Time: 60 Minutes
• Yield: 4-5 Servings 1x
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Stovetop/Oven
• Cuisine: Mexican

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Description

Southwestern spiced feel-good ingredients and dollops of flavorful golden cornbread come together creating comfort food at its best. This ultra satisfying and delicious Vegan Tamale Skillet is a fun twist on the traditional Mexican Tamale. Keeping all the flavors, but ramping up more of that tasty filling goodness in the form of hearty beans, nourishing veggies, and aromatic spices. A perfect dish for Cinco de Mayo celebrations or an everyday dinner, this tasty meal is bursting with flavor and will surely have the entire family running to the dinner table.

Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no processed highly processed ingredients.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup red onion, small dice
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, small dice
• ½ red bell pepper, small dice
• ½ green bell pepper, small dice
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon flour (WFPB thickener of choice – we used GF flour)
• 2 Tablespoons masa harina (optional)
• 1 – 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• ½ cup vegetable broth *
• 1 ¼ cups water (or broth)
• 1 – 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 – 15.5 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 – 15 oz. can corn, drained (or frozen)

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion flakes
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon mild chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder (+/-)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon Mexican oregano (or regular dried oregano)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)

Cornbread Topping Ingredients (See Notes):

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, fine dice
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3 Tablespoons almond flour (or WFPB flour of choice) *
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted almond butter
• ¼ cup unsweetened plain plant milk
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons organic maple syrup
• 3 Tablespoons organic unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/- to taste) *

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients in a small bowl, mix well, set aside.
3. In a large oven proof ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven/pot (or similarly large stockpot/skillet) add the diced red onion, jalapeno, and bell peppers, sauté over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until tender.
4. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds, then add the flour and tomato paste, sauté for one minute. Add the Herb/Spice Ingredients, and sauté for 30 seconds to release their fragrance.
5. Add the vegetable broth, water, tomato sauce, and masa harina, then increase the heat to a boil, stir well, then immediately lower to a low simmering boil. Then add the beans and corn. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste test and add additional seasoning to achieve the desired flavor. Remove from stovetop.  You don’t want to evaporate the juices as it continues to cook in the oven.  Take note of the liquid currently in the skillet, this will reduce, so if you think you need more liquid, add about 1/4 cup more broth, mix well and set aside until ready to dollop with the cornbread topper.
6. In the meantime, make the Cornbread Topping by adding all the ingredients (except the jalapenos) into a bowl and mixing just until combined. Then stir in the diced jalapenos until combined.
7. Dollop the cornmeal topping over veggie/bean mixture in scattered sections, place in a preheated 400 F oven for 22 to 25 minutes (Note: if the cornbread starts to overbrown, cover with a flat piece of foil or parchment paper), or until a toothpick inserted into the cornbread layer comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then serve with some fresh cilantro.

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Notes

*Vegetable Stock:   We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Cornbread Topping: Use half the amount of cornbread topping if you want more juice and tamale mixture to cornbread ratio.

*Serving:  4 to 5

*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 5 days.

*Nutrition Information: Does not include optional add-ins of masa harina.

*Nutrition Information: Recipe using half the amount of cornbread topping has the following estimated nutritional facts for 5 servings: Calories: 352  |  Total Fat: 4.7g  |  Cholesterol 0mg  |  Total Carbohydrate: 66.1g  |  Dietary Fiber 15.2g  |  Protein 15.5g

This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.