Recipes / Dinner

Better Than the Freezer Aisle: Copycat Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie

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Better Than the Freezer Aisle: Copycat Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie

Heather
The Cook
5 Servings
10 Ingredients
3 Comments

These little Mexican Tamale Pies are easy to make and easy on your wallet! A slice of polenta tops a tasty filling of spiced black beans and veggies for a freezer meal that rivals the original that inspired them.

Read More
5 Servings
10 Ingredients
3 Comments

Ingredients

  • 15 ounces drain and rinse Black Beans, Canned
  • 15 ounces drain Diced Tomatoes, Canned
  • 3 cups dice Zucchini
  • 1 ¾ cups Corn, Frozen
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Chili Powder
  • ½ teaspoons Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • ½ teaspoons Salt
  • 18 ounces Polenta, Pre-Cooked

Containers

  • 1 Gallon Freezer Bag
  • 5 Mini Pie Pans

Supplies

  • Plastic Wraps
  • Labels

Cooking Instructions

Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions

Stovetop

These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).

Why would I want to freeze this?

  1. Combine black beans, tomatoes, zucchini, frozen corn, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt in a saucepan.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions

Bake

These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.

  1. Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions

Stove Cook

These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.

  1. Combine black beans, tomatoes, zucchini, frozen corn, chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt in a saucepan.
  2. Cook on low for 40 minutes, stirring very occasionally as it bubbles.
  3. Divide bean mixture into individual mini aluminum pie plates (or your own ramekins).
  4. Top with sliced polenta.
  5. Place pies on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
  6. Set oven to broil and broil for just a few minutes until top is slightly browned.

Categories

diet, traditional, winter, fall, spring, gluten-free, dairy-free, gluten-free-dairy-free, better-than-the-freezer-aisle, thm-e-meal, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle0-2, soy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free

Categories

diet, traditional, winter, fall, spring, gluten-free, dairy-free, gluten-free-dairy-free, better-than-the-freezer-aisle, thm-e-meal, wwfreestyle, wwfreestyle0-2, soy-free, fish-free, shellfish-free

3 Comments

Join the discussion

  1. This is delicious. I did make some adjustments due to taste preference and ingredient availability. I doubled the recipe and added 1 pound of ground beef, cooked. Due to a remodel at the grocery store, I couldn’t find the precooked polenta so I resorted to the quick cooking polenta in the box and made it with stock. That worked out well and gave me enough to cover 11 mini pie tins. What I will do next time is to increase the spices a little bit to compensate for the ground beef and I would do better about adding salt into the quick cooking polenta. I’m horrible about having veggies in my diet and this recipe is definitely helping me increase my veggie intake.

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  2. To make it like Amy’s, there needs to be pinto beans, FRESH CILANTRO and sliced black olives. 😀 . Those little bits made it stand out from other recipes and it was fabulous.

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