Cowboy Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients

• 1½ lb / 680 g Ground beef
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 1 Green bell pepper, diced
• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) Corn kernels, drained
• 1 can (8 oz / 227 g) Tomato sauce
• 1 can (4 oz / 113 g) Mild green chiles, drained and chopped
• 1 Tbsp Chili powder
• 1 tsp Ground cumin
• ¾ tsp, divided Kosher salt
• 2 cups, divided Sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1¼ cups Yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup All-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Baking powder
• 1¼ cups Milk
• 2 Large eggs
• ¼ cup Unsalted butter, melted

Method

1. Heat the oven to 375°F / 190°C. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. Brown the beef with the onion and bell pepper in a skillet over medium-high, breaking the meat up as it cooks. Pour off the fat. Stir in the garlic, beans, corn, tomato sauce, green chiles, chili powder, cumin, and ½ tsp of the salt. Simmer 5 minutes so the filling is thick, not soupy. A wet filling steams the cornbread from below and leaves it gummy.
3. Spread the filling in the dish. Scatter 1½ cups of the cheddar over it.
4. Stir the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and remaining ¼ tsp salt in a bowl. Whisk the milk, eggs, and melted butter in another bowl, then stir them into the dry mix until just combined. Spoon the batter over the cheese and spread it to the edges.
5. Bake 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick in the cornbread comes out clean and the edges are browned. Sprinkle on the last ½ cup of cheddar and bake 5 minutes more, until it melts. Rest 10 minutes before you cut squares.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. A beef-and-cornbread dinner. Cheese and the fat you leave in the skillet change the plate.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Low-sodium friendly

  Use no-salt-added tomato sauce, rinse the beans and corn, and skip the salt in the filling. Cheese still carries salt, so use 1 cup instead of 2 if you need the plate quieter.

• Gluten-free style

  Swap the all-purpose flour for a cup-for-cup gluten-free blend and keep the cornmeal. Read the cornmeal, baking powder, and chili powder. Some blends and spice jars add wheat.

• No pork

  Stay with beef. Do not add bacon or sausage to the filling.

• No beef

  Brown ground turkey, or use an extra can of rinsed pinto beans and skip the meat. The cornbread lid stays the same.

• Dairy-free

  Leave the cheddar out and use a neutral oil in place of the melted butter. You will have a bean-and-cornbread bake, not the cheese version. Milk in the batter can be an unsweetened plant milk.