Stuffed Mexican Cornbread

Here’s the perfect dish to take on your next family picnic or potluck!

Cornbread stuffed with ground beef, Mexican chorizo, onion, tomatoes, smoky chipotles, black beans, corn, and a whole host of delicious spices and flavors!

I recently went through my pantry to take an inventory of what we had.  I made a separate list of items we had in large quantities that needed to be used.  A few of those items included pinto beans, steel cut oats, millet, and…cornmeal.  Lots of it.  Somehow I hadn’t realized we already had a large bag of it on hand before I went out and bought more.  So that became my project…creative ways to use up cornmeal.  (And this is just one of several recipes to follow!)

What are some of your favorite ways to use cornmeal?  Leave a comment below!

I originally had in mind to make something my husband could take with him to work for lunch.  Something that would transport easily and not be too messy to heat up and eat.  I thought about making some jumbo stuffed cornmeal muffins.  That idea would still work great for this recipe.  I just ended up making it in a casserole dish this time.  Feel free to go the jumbo muffin route though – just spoon some batter into the jumbo muffin tin, scoop some filling into it, and spoon more batter on top.

This Stuffed Mexican Cornbread is perfect for taking on the go, to potlucks, or family picnics.  It tastes great heated up or at room temperature.  And leftovers taste just as good the next day.

You’ll love the fabulous interplay of flavors!

This recipe uses Mexican chorizo – it’s delicious!  BUT, I strongly recommend you not buy it from the store but instead make it yourself.  It freezes really well and you can always have it on hand when you need it.

So easy to make!  Click here:  Easy Homemade Mexican Chorizo.  

Click on the link above for the recipe and to find out WHY you need to make it yourself!

Let’s get started on that Stuffed Mexican Cornbread!

Measure out your cornmeal in a medium bowl.  Stir in the milk and let it sit for at least 20 minutes while you’re preparing the rest of the ingredients.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven and cook the onions until soft, 5-7 minutes.  Add the ground beef and chorizo and cook until no longer pink.  Add the spices and cook for another minute.  Add the petite diced tomatoes and chipotles along with the extra adobo sauce and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.  Add the black beans, corn and parsley or cilantro.  Simmer the mixture for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the cornbread batter.  Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and beat just until combined, leaving some lumps.  Add the eggs and the oil and beat just until incorporated.  Be careful not to over-mix or the cornbread will be dense.  Pour half of the cornbread batter into a 9X13 inch baking dish.  Spoon the filling evenly over the batter.  Evenly pour the other half of the batter over the top of the filling.  Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees F and bake uncovered for 15-18 minutes.  Sprinkle some grated Cheddar cheese over the top and bake for another 2 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Let the cornbread cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!