Chicken Tamale Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is tamale pie made of? ›

Tamale pie is prepared with a cornmeal crust and typical tamale fillings arranged in several layers. Beef is traditionally used, but it can also be prepared using other meats such as chicken and turkey meat, and can also be prepared as a meatless dish.

Chicken Tamales Ingredients

Chicken filling: We turn shredded chicken into a thick, savory filling by cooking it with canola oil, flour, chili powder, salt, garlic and pepper. Tamale dough: This savory corn dough is a combination of shortening, chicken stock and masa harina, a flour made from dried nixtamalized corn.

Traditional Tamale Sauce is made from red, dried chilies, garlic, and cumin. It begins by roasting peppers briefly in the oven, followed by a soak in water. Then, the chilies and water are blended into together with spices.

Cornmeal is coarsely ground hominy often used as a breading, in cornbread, and more. Masa harina is made from hominy that is treated with a lye solution and ground very fine, more like flour. It is used to make tortillas, tamale dough, and the soup dumplings chochoyotes.

Tamales are full of nutrition thanks to their high fiber content, well-rounded macronutrient composition, and micronutrients. Filled varieties in particular make great meals since they're higher in protein. Therefore, they're wonderful foods to incorporate to promote your health.

Estimate how many guests will come to your party and for the main meal, calculate between 2 and 3 tamales per person if you're serving them by themselves except for a frothy hot chocolate, champurrado or an agua fresca. For dessert, consider 1 or 2 per person. Our tamales are 4oz.

You can serve tamales with a variety of sides such as fried plantains, potatoes with rajas, Mexican rice and black beans. “When planning a tamalada, or tamal party, you can accompany your tamales with bowls of red and green salsa, crumbled cotija cheese or queso fresco, fresh lime and pickled red onion,” Sibley says.

One of the most common mistakes we've experienced with making tamales is having corn husks that are not soft enough to maneuver, fold, and seal. In order to have a husk that doesn't split and can be easily sealed together, you'll need to make sure to fully submerge your corn husks before you start filling and wrapping.

While Mexican-style and other Latin American-style tamales are featured at ethnic restaurants throughout the United States, some distinctly indigenous styles also are made. The Choctaw and Chickasaw make a dish called banaha, which can be stuffed or not (plain).

How to eat chicken tamales? ›

Eat your tamale with a fork and knife.

Unwrap the tamale and discard the wrapper. Then, throw it on a plate and cut it into bite-sized pieces. That way, you won't have to hold it the whole time you're eating or worry about getting your hands dirty.

A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaves. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate.

Sweet tamales are a Mexican dessert made from a sweet masa corn dough and filled with a variety of fruit, nut and sugary fillings. Common fillings include raisins, pineapples, fruit preserves, cajeta and dulce de leche.

For the TAMALE CAKES coarsely puree 1 cup of the frozen corn in a food processor. Combine pureed corn with softened butter, sugar and salt. Blend well with electric mixer until smooth. Add masa and flour and blend well.

Using fresh, nixtamalized corn flour makes a difference.

Not only is the masa more flavorful — it tastes like corn! — it's also moist, and you don't have to drown your flour in chicken stock or more lard to make up for the difference.