Mexican Cornbread Casserole
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This Mexican cornbread casserole recipe takes a tasty taco-flavored ground beef casserole and adds a fluffy cornbread topping.
I don’t know what y’all had for supper last night but this easy-to-make Mexican cornbread casserole (known around these parts as canyon casserole) is what we had. I barely had to wash the dish when we were done because my brood scraped it clean! Usually, an 8×8 casserole is enough for the four of us. But I’m going to have to double this casserole recipe next time because while my husband and son ate their fill at supper, they both asked me later in the evening if any was left.
I love suppers like that, don’t you? The beauty of this recipe is that it is pretty economical, a meal in one, and packed with a wonderful southwestern flavor. Our casserole includes ground beef, taco seasoning, chopped tomatoes, and corn. We cook those ingredients together before adding them to the casserole dish. Then we mix our cornbread batter with cheese and add that on top. The only thing left to do is bake the casserole for 30 minutes.
Easy casserole recipes like this taco cornbread casserole are the best weeknight supper ideas. I just can’t get enough of the combination of taco-flavored ground beef with the fluffy and flavorful cornbread topping. As you can see, neither can my family! But this casserole is so quick and easy to make that I’m happy to prepare it every week! If you want some other quick and easy recipes make sure you check out these Easy Chicken and Dumplings With Biscuits, Easy Baked Ziti, Easy Chicken and Rice Soup, Easy Chicken Stew Recipe, Easy Sloppy Joes Recipe, Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe, and Taco Soup (The Worlds Easiest Supper).
Alright, let’s get cookin’ our casserole!
Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Taco seasoning
- Vegetable oil (just a little bit)
- Egg
- Self-rising cornmeal mix
- Diced tomatoes
- Whole kernel corn
- Ground beef
- Shredded cheddar cheese
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How to Make Mexican Cornbread Casserole
Place ground beef in skillet.
Cook ground beef until well done then drain.
Stir in taco seasoning…
And water.
Add tomatoes and juice…
And drained corn into the skillet.
Stir up really well and cook it over medium-high heat just until nice and bubbly.
Grease an 8×8 baking dish and pour in the meat filling.
Add self-rising cornmeal, egg, milk, oil, and cheese to a mixing bowl.
Stir until well blended.
Drop by spoonfuls over the top of the meat mixture.
Evenly spread it out so it covers the entire casserole.
Bake at 400 for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
While this was in the oven, my teenage son came into the kitchen twice to declare:
“Something smells good, when is that going to be done?”
“Is it done yet?”
Yep, it’s done now!
Dig in and enjoy your canyon casserole!
Storage
- Store leftover casserole in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can quickly reheat leftovers in the microwave, oven, or air fryer.
- Alternatively, freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating as above.
Recipe Variations
Here are some variations to make this Mexican cornbread casserole recipe work for you:
- Use any type of cornbread, including a Jiffy cornbread mix or a yellow self-rising cornmeal mix.
- Substitute the diced tomatoes for Rotel tomatoes with green chiles for added spice and flavor.
- Another way to add spice is to add a dash of cayenne pepper, paprika, chili powder, or crushed red pepper flakes.
- Use a Mexican cheese blend instead of shredded cheddar cheese.
- You can also stir some extra shredded cheese into the beef mixture.
- Substitute the ground beef for sausage, shredded chicken, ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork.
- Add 1 can of cream-style corn to enhance the corn flavor.
- Add 1 can of beans, whether that’s black beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans.
- Toss in some chopped red bell pepper.
- Use fresh corn, frozen corn, or canned corn.
Recipe FAQs
How do you serve Mexican cornbread casserole?
You can easily serve this taco cornbread casserole as is. But another option is to serve it with your favorite taco toppings, like salsa, guacamole, freshly chopped tomatoes, jalapenos, shredded lettuce, sour cream, sliced green onion, and sliced black olives.
Check out these other easy casserole recipes:
Taco Tater Tot Casserole Recipe
Stuffed Pepper Casserole Recipe (Easy and Delicious)
Cheesy Chicken and Corn Casserole
Cornbread Casserole With Ham and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 1-ounce packet taco seasoning
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 14.5-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup Martha White self-rising white buttermilk cornmeal mix
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400. Spray an 8-inch casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Brown ground beef in a large skillet until fully cooked. Drain off any grease. Add in taco seasoning, water, tomatoes, and corn. Stir and bring just to a boil. Pour into baking dish.1 pound ground beef, 1 1-ounce packet taco seasoning, 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained, 1 14.5-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained, 1/2 cup water
- In a small bowl, stir together cornmeal mix, milk, egg, oil, and cheese until well blended. Drop by spoonfuls onto the top of the meat mixture in the baking dish.1 large egg, 1 cup Martha White self-rising white buttermilk cornmeal mix, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I make this all the time except I switched up tomatoes and use salsa. I also use frozen corn instead of canned. We love it so comforting .
What a great idea Toni, thanks for sharing!
Can you give me a rough estimate of how long the prep takes – this looks amazing and trying to figure out if I have enough time to make it this evening?
Thank you!
Hello Christy. I just come across your recipes and would love to try this canyon casserole but don’t have self raising cornmeal mix here and taco seasoning,pls what will I use to substitute them. Can’t wait to get your reply cos I’m so desperate in trying it for our dinner today. Thanks Christy
You can search for how to make both the self-rising cornmeal and homemade taco seasoning both are easy to make and have pretty common ingredients. Hope that helps and I hope you enjoy the casserole!!
Hi Christy~
Was searching for something easy & quick to take to our church Life Group for this Tuesday evening…It’s definitely easy & I think this will be a hit..Thanks for sharing.
🙂 Yes, this one is very easy!! I hope everyone enjoys!!
Love canyon casserole !! I first made it off the Martha white cornmeal bag! I didn’t know it was one of your faves too!
Oh my goodness, we love it Sandra!!
Hey Christy, are you sick of hearing from me yet? LOL, I’ve been making so many of your recipes lately! I made this one tonight and it was the bomb! Plus, it was pretty easy and quick for a weeknight meal, which is really great. I love when I can pop the casserole dish into the oven, then wash the pan and the bowl, make a salad, and clean up my kitchen while dinner is in the oven.
At the risk of sounding like one of those people who make twenty changes to a recipe and then say it was a great recipe, lol, I’m going to say how I made it because I just used what I had in and/or what I read in other comments. For the cornbread, I used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix, prepared with the egg and milk according to the directions. Also, I used a frozen bag of Southwest Corn (Birdseye Steamfresh, which I let defrost on the counter for a while). And, I used Rotel for the diced tomatoes, because we just like a bit of heat. Man, was that a good dinner! We dolloped some sour cream on top, and had a salad on the side.
Thanks again, Christy! You have really turned me into quite the cook! I always cooked before, but never really loved it, and didn’t stray too far from the basics. I had a few recipes I used, but mostly kept things on the simpler side. But, since finding your website (and books) I’m cooking up a storm! Your posts and photos just make it look so good and likes something I know I can do. I LOVE this website and your books!! (So does my mom, btw, but she doesn’t post comments). 🙂
I LOVE hearing from you Samantha!!! I will never get tired of it and I love that you make adjustments and use what you have on hand!! It is so great of you to share so that other readers can also see and get inspiration on using what they have. ~HUGS~ and a big Hello to your Mama!!
Christy, we had to have leftovers tonight because I’ve been cooking so much lately that that my refrigerator is stocked with the extra. But, we love having a leftovers night, so no complaints here.
Speaking of my mom, I just checked my email and she sent me one earlier today entitled “Christy” (LOL) that said. “Wait until you see today’s sandwiches. I think we should make these for Super Bowl. I will make them.” I haven’t checked all my email or your new post yet today, so I’m off to read it now. After last night’s dinner, I was thinking this Canyon Casserole would be perfect for Superbowl Sunday too.
Ooh, I just took a quick look…Loose Meat Sandwiches. Wow, there are 95 comments already. I’m off to check out the entire post and the comments. But, I can already tell it looks good, and, hey if my mom is offering to make them for Superbowl Sunday, that sounds great to me! Thanks again, Christy!
I hope y’all love them as much as we do Samantha!!! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Christy, I know this is an old post but tell me if I use a package of cornbread mix(or two) ,do I mix it according to directions on the packsge ,or just use the meal. by the way, what happened to my recipe box?I can’t find it anymore
Hey Julie, just mix it according to package directions and it will be fine. Click here to read about Ziplist, and there are lots of emails from them likely in your spam box explaining. The dumped us all rather suddenly. I explained it all in one of my November newsletters. Details here: http://archive.aweber.com/southernplate/DtmDX/h/SouthernPlate_5_Great.htm