An easy twist on taco night your family will love!

I have a couple of particular eaters in my family, but we all agree on Mexican flavors. Taco anything tends to go over well. I first tried this recipe on them a couple of months ago. Since then I’ve made it a few times because we all liked it so much and it’s easy.

While my family would be happy eating tacos a couple of times a week, I like to change things up. This recipe still gives that taco flavor but in a different way. Who can complain about combining tacos and cornbread? We love both around here!

It starts with a basic Jiffy cornbread mix. You know, the one you buy that is less than $1, which is super nice! Mix it together with an egg and 1/3-cup milk into a batter then spread into a greased 8×8 pan. I use a glass baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

The prepared batter spread into the baking dish.

Stick that in the oven at 350-degrees for 15 minutes. While that is baking, prepare your meat that will go on top of it. While you could use more meat or add in some black beans, my family isn’t big on meat or beans. I use with 1/2-pound of seasoned ground chuck and find it’s the right amount. That said, we also use about 1/2-pound of seasoned ground chuck for the four of us when we eat tacos. We really aren’t meat-heavy around here.

HOWEVER, that works in my favor. I usually fresh ground chuck when making tacos, which is usually packed in 1-pound packages at my local grocery store. So, I cook the full pound, season it and then freeze the 1/2-pound we don’t eat in a Ziploc bag. When it’s time to make this (or nachos!), I pull it out of the freezer, thaw it (usually in the microwave because it’s easiest for me) and it’s ready to use. I freeze it flat to take up less space.

Whenever I freeze cooked hamburger, I mark it clearly along with the date.

So, for this recipe, preparing the meat for me means thawing it out. While the meat thaws, I mix together sour cream, shredded cheese and onion for the top layer.

The cornbread layer will be finished after 15 minutes as being soft-set. It looks like this:

Once you have the cornbread layer out, spread the meat gently over the top. If you are using more than 1/2-pound, it will cover the cornbread more densely. Below you can see below that 1/2 pound covers it completely.

Top the meat layer with the sour cream/cheese/onion mixture and spread evenly over the top. I usually dollop the mixture out in blobs over the top and spread each just a bit. Minimal spreading for this works best!

Once the sour cream layer is on, it goes back in the oven at 350-degrees for 20-25 minutes until it’s warm and the cheese is melted. It comes out looking like this:

All that’s left is to cut and serve! I usually let it set for about 5 minutes before cutting into it. It doesn’t come out in slices and looks a bit messy but it’s so good! You can easily top the bake with diced tomatoes or lettuce or whatever other taco toppings you like. We don’t do that in our house. We serve it alongside tortilla or corn chips and dip the chips right into it for some added crunch.

It’s so yummy that even my most particular eaters will eat it and get seconds, which is great! This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9×13 dish to feed a crowd.

Taco cornbread bake

Ingredients
  

  • 1 package 8 1/2 oz corn bread/muffin mix
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/2- pound ground chuck cooked with taco seasoning
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup onion chopped

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
  • In a large bowl, combine the cornbread mix, egg and milk until well blended.
  • Spread it into an 8x8 baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 15 minutes.
  • While the cornbread is baking, prepare the ground chuck. You can either cook 1/2-pound ground chuck (or more if your family desires) with 1/2-packet taco seasoning or used taco meat is frozen and thawed.
  • Mix the sour cream, cheese and onion together in a bowl. (I usually rinse and dry the one I used for the cornbread mix and use it again to save on the number of dishes.)
  • Carefully spread the meat over the baked cornbread.
  • Dollop and spread the sour cream mixture over the meat.
  • Put it back in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until it's heated through and the cheese is melted.
  • Top with shredded lettuce and diced tomato, if desired, or eat as is (which is what we do around here!).

About the Author: Stacey A. Shannon

Stacey A. Shannon is a freelance journalist and blogger who has been published internationally. She's also a Christian, a wife and a mom of two school-aged children. She started Families with Grace in 2019 to encourage Christian moms as they create homes filled with grace, love and faith.

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Taco cornbread bake recipe