Mexican Cornbread
Mexican Cornbread casserole recipe filled with ground beef, cheddar cheese, onion and jalapeños. This is my grandma’s signature dish and a tried and true family favorite. An easy dinner for any night of the week!
Mexican Cornbread is the perfect weeknight dinner and a delicious ground beef recipe. Amazing comfort food that is a family favorite and perfect for company. Made with pantry staples, jiffy mix needed!
Ingredients For Mexican Cornbread Casserole Recipe
Ground Beef Filling:
- Ground Beef
- Onion
- Cheddar Cheese
- Garlic Powder
- Chili Powder
- Ground Cumin
- Kosher Salt
Cornbread:
- Cornmeal
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Kosher Salt
- Eggs
- Milk
- Canned Cream-Style Corn
- Bacon Drippings or Vegetable Oil
- Jalapeños
Step-by-Step Directions for Mexican Cornbread
- Brown ground beef and drain any excess grease. Combine with seasonings, chopped onion and shredded cheddar cheese.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Add milk, eggs, cream style corn, bacon grease and chopped jalapeños. Mix well.
- Grease a cast iron skillet with bacon drippings or vegetable oil, add half of cornbread batter.
- Top with ground beef, cheese and onion.
- Then top with remaining cornbread mixture.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350° until golden brown.
Recipe Notes and Variations
- Crunchy Crust: Grease the cast iron skillet and place it in the oven while it preheats. A hot skillet will make the crunchiest cornbread crust.
- Cheese: I used medium cheddar. Colby-Jack cheese , Monterey Jack cheese, Pepper Jack cheese or any Mexican cheese blend would all be great.
- Peppers: I used fresh jalapeños, pickled jalapenos, candied jalapenos or a can of green chiles will work fine too. If you aren’t a fan of spicy foods, you can cut down on the jalapeños or leave them out.
- Cornbread Mix: Homemade cornbread is so easy to make from scratch but if you are a fan of jiffy cornbread mix, it will work just fine.
- Baking Dish: Use a 9 x 13 X 2 inch baking dish if you don’t have a cast iron skillet.
- Serving: Garnish with sliced green onions and serve with sour cream if desired.
- Storage: Store leftover Mexican cornbread casserole in an airtight container or on a plate covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
- Reheat: Place cornbread slices on a baking sheet or in a cast iron skillet. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350° for 15- 20 minutes or until heated through.
Why You Will Love this Easy Mexican Cornbread Recipe
- Delicious Dinner: This casserole takes regular cornbread to the next level of deliciousness with simple ingredients and hearty ground beef for a wonderful recipe that the entire family will love.
- One Dish Meal: Make this a one-dish meal by using the same cast iron skillet to brown the ground beef and make the Mexican cornbread casserole.
Delicious Dishes and Drinks to Complete Your Meal
- My grandma always served a green salad and on occasion mac and cheese just for me! My Skillet Mexican Street Corn would be the perfect side dish or add Cucumber Onion Salad for something light.
- I love fruit punch and my Easy Party Punch is perfect for the whole family. Of course a batch Pineapple Margaritas or a Pineapple Paloma would be great cocktails to finish out your Mexican feast.
More Mexican Recipes to Try
Brisket Tacos are my absolute favorite and the best idea for leftover smoked brisket and we can’t get enough of these Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. If you love Mexican inspired cuisine, you will love our Mexican Fiesta Menu that is perfect for feed a crowd.
My husband and I were discussing dishes that our grandma’s made when we were growing up and it got me to thinking about my grandma’s homemade Mexican Cornbread Recipe.
This Mexican Cornbread casserole has become one of our favorite dinners to make with ground beef, Mexican flavors and classic southern cornbread. Add it to your list if you are looking for new recipes to try this week.
If you love this Recipe as much as I do, please leave a comment and a five star review, and be sure to help me share on Pinterest!
Mexican Cornbread
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 large onion diced
- 8 oz cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Cornbread:
- 1 1/4 cups cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 can 14.75 ounce creamed corn
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup bacon drippings or vegetable oil plus more for greasing the skillet
- 3 jalapeño peppers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place a 12 inch cast iron skillet in the oven to get hot.
- Brown ground beef in a skillet and drain any excess grease.
- Combine ground beef with diced onion, cheese, garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add cornmeal, flour, soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add eggs, creamed corn, milk, bacon grease and jalapeños, mixing to combine.
- Carefully remove skillet from oven and grease well with bacon drippings or oil.
- Pour half of cornbread mixture into bottom of the skillet.
- Top with ground beef and cheese mixture, spreading evenly.
- Top with remainder of cornbread mixture.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until well browned.
- Slice and serve.
I’m from SEast Texas, over 72 years old, and I have never seen or heard of anyone making Mexican cornbread this way. Cream corn, whole kernel corn drained, jalapeño pepper, a little pimento for color but nothing like you fixed up here. Mexican’s like good sausage with some heat btw.
Hi Ed,
I was just thinking this would be good with sausage! I’ve never known anyone else to make this besides my grandma. It’s really delicious, I hope you give it a try.
~Milisa
Im from southeast texas and this is the way we have eaten and cooked mexican cornbread since we were kids and im 43 yrs old
I’m from Southeast Texas also! We’ve been eating this Mexican Cornbread recipe since I was very small. It’s delicious!
This is a wonderful meal pair with salad and my homemade ranch dressing, but as many times as I have made this I never thought to put it together like you,very good Missy.
This sounds a lot like the recipe my Momma fixed us growing up and that was vintage, too! I’m glad to see this because it will be gracing the table tonight! Thank you.
Mrs. Pamplin,
You have made my day!
~Milisa
I make this sometimes without the ground beef and serve it with a pot of pinto beans.
Hi Annette,
That sounds so good! Thanks for stopping by.
~Milisa
That sounds like a great idea. I grew up with beans and cornbread for dinner on Saturday nights but it was just plain cornbread.
This stuff is so good! My family loves is always happy to see Mexican Cornbread on the menu board!
Your recipe Is about the most frustrating recipe I’ve ever read. You mentioned beef you don’t say how much. Is it a pound of beef, maybe 2? You don’t say how much onions how much anything. At least I can’t find them. Those are obviously essential in a recipe and they’re not included at least I cannot find them. A big waste of my time….
Hi David,
The recipe card with ingredients and instructions are at the very bottom of the post. The link to the printable card is here:
https://www.missinthekitchen.com/wp-json/mv-create/v1/creations/642/print I hope that helps.
~ Milisa
Honey, if you can’t look at a recipe as simple as this and figure it out then you need to go back to square one. I had no problems and couldn’t tell you what the recipe called for. I just looked at it and then simply cooked it. Not everything is rocket science. Good luck in the future.
I agree with you David ,I agree with you David.
If i’m using self rising cornmeal mix how much would i use?
Hi Kelly,
I had to google cornmeal mix, so I haven’t actually tried this recipe with it. I’m thinking you can use 2 1/4 cups of the cornmeal mix in place of the cornmeal and flour and skip the baking powder and salt since you are using self-rising mix. I hope this helps.
~ Milisa
I’m from Southeast Texas, this is my Momma’s exact recipe! Always so good! She also served with a lettuce tomato and cucumber salad!
Hi Sandy,
That’s amazing and my grandma always served it with the same salad! Thanks for stopping by.
~ Milisa
I always enjoyed this cornbread meal! When your Grandma would tell me she would have it ready when I arrived at her home, well I would step on the pedal! Glad to see it.
Hi Doodle,
So glad to have her recipe to share! Such great memories.
~ Milisa
If you don’t like spicy but want the pepper flavour, try bell peppers!
Hi Teresa,
Great idea!
~ Milisa
Creamed corn is hard for me to come by. Can I simply omit it? Will I need to add more or less of the cornbread ingredients (cornmeal, flour, or milk) to make up for it?
I’ve eaten it with whole kernel corn and it was good………
From West Texas and have always eaten it this way, except with green chilis instead of jalapenos. Can use regular can of corn and add 3 oz cream cheese. Serve with sour cream and cholula.
Hi Nan,
That sounds so good and I love the idea of adding regular corn and cream cheese. I always forget to buy cream corn because this is the only thing I use it for.
~ Milisa
I love Mexican cornbread, I’m actually making it tonight for my mother. She’s never had it before so I thought I would introduce her to it. Your recipe is the same I’ve used for many years. Have a blessed day!
Hi Tammy,
One of our favorites! Glad you got the chance to make it for your mother. Thanks for stopping by.
~ Milisa
I really don’t understand hateful people! If you have a question just ask it nicely. If this recipe isn’t how you, your mama or grandma makes it then don’t cook it. This is a recipe that someone has taken the time to shop for the ingredients, cooked it, posted the recipe, took pictures of it and answered peoples questions afterward.She isn’t forcing anyone to read it, agree with it or make it. Seriously life is too short. BTW I do not know Missy, have never met her, messaged her or anything I just looked at her recipe and some of the comments got under my skin. Thank you for the effort you put into sharing your recipe with me.
Hi Donna,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I so appreciate readers like you!
~ Milisa
I came up with a similar recipe after trying one like this one from a friend. To me it was just kind of blah so I substituted cooked ground sausage for the ground beef. I too used cream style corn and grated cheddar or Mexican blend cheese. To speed up the process frozen cooked pork or turkey sausage (or half and half) and Jiffy cornbread mix can be used. I also substitute chopped green cities for the jalapeños and cream style corn. It’s one of my family’s favorite dishes!
Why not use chorizo instead of ground beef….?
Hi Jeff,
I am sure chorizo would be amazing. I use ground beef because that is the way my grandma always made it. Also we are cattle ranchers and tend to have lots of ground beef in the freezer.
~ Milisa
Mine is in the oven now! The only thing I did differently is I used the whole kernel and substituted buttermilk for the milk. I added a little more buttermilk due to losing the moisture from cream corn and regular milk. We’ll see how it turns out. Thank you for the recipe! and for the jerk that was so nasty.. smh… go to FB if you want to be dramatic.
My Momma lost her cookbook from the auxiliary club. It was a dramatic loss, seriously. When I came across your recipe on Pinterest I immediately went to your blog to see what you and everyone else was saying about this recipe. I made it and it was just like the one in Momma’s beloved cookbook. My husband and I (we met later in life) said he has eaten a lot of these but none have came close to the ones he had back in the 80’s but this, this recipe, is a keeper. It may not have the fame of Julia Child’s beef bourginon, but the feelings off of this recipe when we have it are priceless. We’re foodies if you can’t tell. Thank you for this recipe. I hope you have more recipes from your grandma posted down the road.
Hi Tracy,
I’m so glad you found the recipe that you remembered from the lost cookbook. I do have a few of my grandma’s recipes shared here. Her strawberry slab pie and best ever sugar cookies are my favorites. Thanks for taking the time to leave the kind comments, you have made my day!
~ Milisa
This recipe is pretty much the same one as has been passed around in my family since the 70’s, except in our version the ground beef is added into the entire cornbread mixture instead of layered. It’s SO good!!
Hi Dana,
Great idea mixing the ground beef into the cornbread, I bet that is delicious!
~ Milisa
I’ve made this recipe several times, but lately added a few things. First I add a well drained can of ROTEL tomatoes to the meat for a little more heat. I also add a chile relleno for more pepper flavor and lastly a bunch of chopped cilantro. I’m making it tonight with ground turkey and a can of black beans for extra protein and fiber.
Sounds absolutely delicious Ron!
I just made this for my family and we loved this recipe. The only thing we would change is to add a little more heat such as hatch chili’s. We live in Maryland and love to add Mexican food to our list of dinners. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Jenne,
I am so glad your family enjoyed it. I bet it would be so delicious with hatch chilis. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
~ Milisa
Have you tried mixing all together? Instead of a pie like?
Hi Kim,
I haven’t ever tried it that way but I really don’t know why it wouldn’t work. Let me know if you try it that way.
~ Milisa
I loved this cornbread casserole. It had so much flavor and was over-the-top delicious. Definitely going into my regular dinner rotation.
Thanks so much, I am so glad you enjoyed it.
~ Milisa
We had this, and it was fantastic. The ground beef and cheese are so comforting. The kids loved it with the bacon drippings!
I liked this but thought it was a bit too dry. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Denise,
I am sorry it turned out a bit dry for you, thanks for stopping by.
~ Milisa