One of our friends likes to say that he won’t order foods from a restaurant that are easy to make at home. Instead, he tries to order dishes that he would never make for himself.
The list includes plenty of time-consuming, delicious meals.
For me, one of those items is tamales.
I did make tamales once. They were awesome. But it was also when we were stuck at home for the pandemic, and time was a little easier to find. Someday, I’ll do it again.
In the meantime, though, I have been satisfying those cravings by ordering tamales from our great local Mexican spots. Except now I have a way to get the same flavor profile with none of the intense work, thanks to a tamale-themed casserole.
This comes from the blog “Life Made Simple.” You can find the original post at https://lifemadesimplebakes.com/chile-verde-chicken-tamale-casserole-9/. I added extra sauce, extra cheese and extra garlic powder in mine.
Chicken Tamale Casserole
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken deboned and shredded
- 1 cup chicken broth or stock
- 19 ounce can chile verde enchilada sauce divided
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped (plus more for serving)
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 4 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese divided
Tamale Dough Ingredients
- 3 cups masa harina
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 12 tablespoons cold butter cubed
- 3 cups frozen corn thawed, divided
- 1 roasted poblano pepper deseeded and diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 1/4 cup chicken broth or stock
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch deep baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray, and set it aside.
- Add the chicken, broth, half of the sauce, cilantro and garlic powder to a large skillet. Heat it over medium-low, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the tamale layers.
- Add the masa, sugar, baking powder, butter, two cups of corn, the poblano, salt and pepper to a food processor or blender. Process until everything is in coarse crumbs. Add the broth and process until the mixture is smooth and thick. Fold in the remaining corn.
- Spread half of the tamale mixture evenly across the bottom of your baking dish. Sprinkle about one and one-fourth cup of cheese over that. Add in all of the chicken mixture, spreading it out over the cheese layer. Add another one and one-fourth cup of cheese. Spread the rest of the tamale mixture on the top.
- Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce on the top, and then finish with the rest of the cheese.
- Cover the dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Serve topped with more chopped cilantro. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
This was absolutely delicious, and it reheated phenomenally. (Thank goodness, because it makes a ton of food.) All of the flavors of a good, chicken tamale were there, and we will definitely be making this again—much sooner than I’ll probably be making traditional tamales.
As a side note, I roasted my poblano by placing it under the broiler until it was charred on all sides and then placing it in a glass bowl with plastic wrap on top to steam for about 10 minutes. Then, I could scrape off the skin, scoop out the seeds and dice it up. Easy peasy. If you’re nervous about a poblano being too spicy, try an Anaheim pepper instead.
Now that I have a good copycat for tamales, I’ll have to explore some other tough dishes at our local restaurants. I’m looking at you, mole.
This piece first appeared in print Sept. 12, 2024.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
