Cowboy Cornbread Casserole
With Southwestern-inspired flavors, this Cowboy Cornbread Casserole recipe is a perfect comfort food dinner. It comes together in one skillet for a bold and savory meal with beef, veggies, and a golden brown cornbread topping!
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Everything comes together in one skillet for this super tasty meal with warm and comforting flavors paired with a sweet cornbread topping. It's perfect for feeding a crowd!
Why This Recipe Works
With a combination of classic ingredients, this filling and hearty casserole is perfect for a weekend dinner! It combines taco-seasoned savory ground beef with onions, corn, and beans.
Using a cornbread mix creates a quick and easy topping that pairs perfectly with the flavorful filling. The end result is a crowd-pleasing casserole that has everything you need for a full meal!
And if you can't get enough of cornbread, try this Easy Honey Cornbread or a Southern Cornbread Dressing with Sausage!
Ingredients Needed
- Ground Beef: Ground turkey or chicken will also work.
- Onion: For some additional savory flavor.
- Taco Seasoning: Use store bought or my homemade taco seasoning.
- Black Beans: Any beans can be used.
- Corn: Frozen or canned.
- Salsa: Use a thick salsa.
- Green Chilies: Provides a little bit of heat.
- Shredded Cheese: I use Pepper jack and cheddar but you can use whatever you prefer.
- Cornbread Topping: Using a Jiffy cornbread mix paired with creamed corn, milk, egg, and sour cream will quickly create a tasty golden cornbread crust.
How to Make this Cowboy Cornbread Casserole
- Step 1: In an oven safe skillet, brown ground beef with the onions for 5 to 7 minutes and drain off additional fat.
- Step 2: Add the taco seasoning, salt, pepper, corn, bean, and chilies and mix until heated through. Evenly sprinkle cheese on top of the meat mixture.
- Step 3: In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cornbread mix with creamed corn, milk, egg, and sour cream.
- Step 4: Spread the cornbread mixture in an even layer over the cheese.
- Step 5: Bake until the cornbread topping is cooked through and golden brown.
- Step 6: Serve with all of your favorite taco fix-ins!
Recipe Tips
- For a slightly lighter version of this dish, use ground turkey or ground chicken instead of the ground beef.
- Omit the green chilies if you want a dish that's not as spicy.
- If you don't have an oven-safe skillet, you can transfer the beef mixture to a 9x13 baking dish and top it with the cornbread batter.
- Leftover cowboy cornbread casserole can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Reheat in the oven or the microwave, and let frozen casserole thaw beforehand for more even heating.
Recipe FAQ's
The flavors are inspired by classic Tex-Mex ingredients and dishes, which is a popular cuisine in the Southwest.
Yes, green chilies do have a little bit of heat to them. If you want the pepper flavor without any heat, you could use green bell peppers instead.
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Cowboy Cornbread Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup onion diced
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning or 1 store bought packet
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can black beans drained
- 1 (14.5 ounce) canned corn drained
- 24 ounce jar thick salsa
- 4 ounce can green chiles
- 2 cups shredded cheese I used pepper jack and cheddar cheese
Corn Bread Topping
- 1 (8.5 ounce) box Jiffy corn muffin mix
- 1 (14 ounce) can creamed corn
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Heat a large oven safe skillet on medium high heat and add the ground beef, and onions and cook until ground beef is browned about 6-7 minutes. Drain off any fat.
- Add in the taco seasoning, salt, pepper, salsa, corn, beans, green chiles and mix until combined, turn off the heat.
- Sprinkle the cheese evenly on top.
- In a medium bowl add the Jiffy cornbread, creamed corn, milk, egg and sour cream and mix until combined.
- Spread the cornbread topping evenly over the tip of the cheese.
- Bake 35-40 minutes or until the cornbread topping is cooked through.
- Serve with your favorite taco toppings!
Notes
- I recommend using a thick salsa so it doesn't make your beef mixture watery.
- Kidney beans, pinto beans or black beans all work nicely.
- If you don't have an oven safe skillet transfer the beef mixture to a 9x13 baking dish.
I made this tonight for my family and everyone loved it! I did cook it a bit longer, as my oven cooks slow, and I wanted to be sure the cornbread topping was done. It was delicious. The contrast of the somewhat sweet cornbread topping with the Tex-Mex casserole was a great flavor contrast. I make my own Taco seasoning, since I have family members that have to cut back on sodium. Thanks for sharing a great recipe.
I would say more like 3-4 cups. Let me know how it turns out for you 🙂
How much cornbread would you substitute for the Jiffy? We don’t like sweet cornbread and Jiffy tastes more like cake. So, do you think 2 cups regular cornbread would work?