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Layers of corn masa, chipotle honey pulled pork, roasted poblano peppers & spicy cheddar cheese make up this delicious gluten free tamale casserole recipe.
Let me start this post by stating two facts:
- Tamales are really delicious.
- Tamales take a long time to make.
Given these two facts, I decided to combine my love of tamales with my love ofsimplifying recipes and make this totally scrumptious Pulled Pork Tamale Casserole!
All the deliciousness of a tamale without having to wrap up each individual tamale!
I layered the traditional corn masa filling that I use in my Chicken andSweet CornTamaleswith one of my all time favorite recipes on the blog, Chipotle Honey Pulled Pork!
For this recipe you’ll want to put the pulled pork in the slow cooker in the morning and let it slow cook all day, then with less than30 minutes of prep time in the evening, you can toss this casserole together and have a mouth-watering dinner on the table in under an hour!
Pulled Pork Tamale Casserole Ingredients
- 3 large poblano peppers
- 2 cups harina de maiz (or cornmeal)
- ½ cup lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 egg
- 4 ears of corn (kernels removed)
- 4 cups chipotle honey pulled pork*
- 2 cups spicy cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 2 cups avocado cream sauce (optional – for topping)
*I cut the original recipe for chipotle honey pulled pork in half and it made almost exactly 4 cups.
Pulled Pork Tamale Casserole Instructions
Heat the broiler on the oven to high. When hot, place the poblano peppers directly under the broiler. Cook for app. 10 minutes per side, or until the skin of the pepper is black & bubbling on both sides.
Remove from the oven and place in a plastic bag. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Add the harina de maiz, water, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg and butter to a food processor and puree. Add the corn kernels to the food processor.
Blend until creamy.
Add ½ of this mixture to the bottom of a 9″ x 12″ casserole dish.
Top with the pulled pork and 1 ½ cups of cheese.
Remove the poblano peppers from the plastic bag, peel the skin from the peppers, slice the peppers in half, de-stem and seed. Layer the roasted poblano peppers on top of the cheese.
Top the casserole with the remaining corn masa mixture and the remaining cheese.
Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
While the casserole is in the oven, prepare the avocado cream sauceto drizzle on top of the casserole. While you can skip this step,I highly recommend taking the 5 minutes to make this delicious sauce!
Slice it up and dig in!
I absolutely love, love, love the balance of sweet and spicy from the corn masa filling andchipotle honey pulled pork to the roasted peppers and spicy cheese!
While I totally love the pulled pork in this recipe, the great thing about this casserole is that you can make it with a variety of different fillings!
Ihave so many ideas for different ways I want to make this casserole again, from filling it with shredded Sriracha Lime Chicken to roasted veggies!
Pulled Pork Tamale Casserole
Layers of corn masa, chipotle honey pulled pork, roasted poblano peppers & spicy cheddar cheese make up this delicious gluten free tamale casserole recipe.
Servings: 6 people
Prep Time: 30 minutes mins
Cook Time: 30 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr
Author: Whitney Bond
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 3 poblano peppers
- 2 cups harina de maiz, or cornmeal
- ½ cup lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 4 ears of corn, kernels removed
- 4 cups chipotle honey pulled pork
- 2 cups spicy cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup avocado cream sauce, optional – for topping
Instructions
Heat the broiler on the oven to high.
When hot, place the poblano peppers directly under the broiler.
Cook for app. 10 minutes per side, or until the skin of the pepper is black & bubbling on both sides.
Remove from the oven and place in a plastic bag, set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Add the harina de maiz, water, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg and butter to a food processor and puree.
Add the corn kernels to the food processor, blend until creamy.
Add ½ of this mixture to the bottom of a 9 inch x 13 inch casserole dish.
Top with the pulled pork and 1 ½ cups of cheese.
Remove the poblano peppers from the plastic bag, peel the skin from the peppers, slice the peppers in half, remove the stem and the seeds.
Layer the roasted poblano peppers on top of the cheese.
Top the casserole with the remaining corn masa mixture and the remaining cheese.
Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
While the casserole is in the oven, prepare the avocado cream sauce for topping.
Notes
Vegetarian Option: Instead of pulled pork, fill the casserole with 4 cups of vegetarian ingredients, such as black beans, sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes.
Nutrition Facts
Serving 6gCalories 820kcal (41%)Carbohydrates 82g (27%)Protein 32g (64%)Fat 41g (63%)Saturated Fat 20g (100%)Cholesterol 148mg (49%)Sodium 651mg (27%)Potassium 1036mg (30%)Fiber 10g (40%)Sugar 24g (27%)Vitamin A 1615mg (32%)Vitamin C 58.2mg (71%)Calcium 378mg (38%)Iron 4.2mg (23%)
Did you make this recipe?Tag @WhitneyBond on Instagram and hashtag it #WBRecipes!
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