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Lean, flavorful chili baked over a layer of cornbread and topped with lots of melted cheese. This Chili Cornbread Bake is the perfect casserole to serve at your next game day gathering or makes for a delicious meal any night of the week.
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Many, many years ago, when my big grown boys were just little itty bitty cutie pies, people started figuring out maybe we should back off the red meat now and then. Recipes calling for ground turkey began to circulate like crazy. This Chili Cornbread Bake is one of the very first recipes I made using ground turkey and it has stood the test of time.
What goes together better than chili and cornbread? Red wine and chocolate, okay, maybe that, but chili and cornbread is mui delicioso. We are going to make it real easy by using a packaged mix for our cornbread layer and we’ll bake it together with the chili in the same pan, casserole style. Yes, there is cheese involved, but we get to feel a little less guilty because we are using lean ground turkey.
Ready? Let’s get cookin’!
For the grocery list – Lean ground turkey, onion, celery, garlic (pretend it’s there), chili powder, cumin, fresh ground black pepper, crushed red pepper, tomato sauce, chili beans with chili gravy, cannellini beans, 2 packages Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheese blend, light sour cream (optional). You will also need some milk and eggs to prepare the cornbread. See the package for instructions specific to the brand you have. I highly recommend that you have some tortilla chips on hand.
Spray a large pan with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, celery, and onion. Cook, breaking up the turkey with the spoon, until meat is thoroughly cooked.
Add chili powder, cumin, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Ground turkey is quite bland on it’s own so it really needs a lot of spice to wake it up. Wake up!!!
Add the tomato sauce, chili beans with chili gravy (undrained), and cannellini beans (drained).
Let the mixture simmer while you prepare the cornbread.
Prepare cornbread according to the package directions.
Now grab a deep baking dish. I have this nice, deep 13 x 9 pan. If your 13 x 9 pan is not deep like this one, I recommend using a slightly larger pan. A lasagna pan would work nicely. Coat your pan of choice with some cooking spray and spread the cornbread mixture into the pan.
Now grab that chili you just made and spoon it over the unbaked cornbread layer.
Ready for the oven. Bake it at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or till it appears set in the center and the edges of the cornbread are golden brown.
Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes, just till cheese is melted.
Hot from the oven. Top it with a little light sour cream and serve it with tortilla chips for scooping up the chili.
Perfection.
CHILI CORNBREAD BAKE
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Chili Cornbread Bake
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 1/2 cup celery chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper or to taste
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 16 ounce can chili beans with chili gravy
- 15 ounce can cannellini beans or small white beans, drained
- 2 (8.5) ounce packages Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
- 2 eggs (see corn muffin mix for amounts suggested)
- 2/3 cup milk (see corn muffin mix for amounts suggested)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheese blend
- light sour cream, optional
Instructions
- Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Cook turkey, celery and onion until turkey, breaking up the turkey with a spoon. Cook till turkey is no longer pink. Add garlic, chili powder, black pepper, cumin, and crushed red pepper. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and beans. Turn heat down to low and allow to simmer while preparing cornbread.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a deep 13 x 9 casserole dish with cooking spray. Prepare corn muffin mix with eggs and milk according to package directions and pour batter into prepared baking dish. Remove chili mixture from heat and spoon over the batter. Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes. Edges of cornbread should be nicely browned and center should appear to be set. Carefully remove dish from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake 5-10 minutes more, until cheese is melted.
- Serve with tortilla chips and top with sour cream if desired.
Peppa says
I tried this yesterday . Next time I will not use Jiffy cornbread mix, it made the dish entirely too sweet. The sugar in the cornbread, the spicy chili ingredients and cheese topping didn’t taste well together. After the dish came out of the oven the cornbread was to much and overwhelming. I made my own homemade chili and used that, I also substituted the 15 ounce can cannellini beans or small white beans, with black beans.
Jerrie says
Just made this and it’s DELICIOUS!
I substituted with ground beef & and used only baked beans instead of other beans. My chili came out thin because I didn’t drain the beans so I added 1:2 cornstarch/ water and it worked perfectly . I forgot to add cheese to jiffy mix so I added it all on top. Will make again.
Leslie Woodworth says
I used a 9×13 pan and I feel like it was to much cornbread. It was good but the cornbread almost overtook the chili. I think next time I may try one box of Jiffy. It was good but like I said the chili was almost absorbed by so much cornbread.
Karen says
I wanted to print this recipe at it looks so good! However, the first paragragh says the recipe is about french toast! Ha! Hope the rest of it is correct!
Valerie says
Super weird! No idea how that happened but the summary on the recipe card has been updated and the rest is A-OK. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 🙂
patricia says
I noticed that it says 6 servings, but this seems like a lot for 6 people. If this is served with a bowl of tortilla soup, would that stretch the servings. I plan a ladies luncheon for cinque de mayo (12 guests) and wonder if this plus the tortilla soup and a side salad would be adequate for 12 ladies
Vanessa says
Made this today… must say it is a new favorite. It’s sooo good. Only thing I changed was the meat. I used ground beef rather than Turkey… not a fan of turkey. I also made extra chili and poured over the top of the cornbread chili bake.
Shaunetae Douglas says
I saw this recipe on Facebook, and thought I would try it. I tested it at a Brunch. OMGosh… it was a big hit! Everyone loved it. I made the dish to specification, except I added an extra 1/4 cup of onion (I love onions). IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!! I will use this again and again!
Sandra says
I’m Cooking it to night that’s how much I like it,yummy!!!
Nancy santiago says
Can you use ground chicken?
Paige Ayers says
How many calories are in a serving of this dish?
Jennifer says
Does this freeze well? I do freeze meals for when we take our RV out for a couple weeks at a time.
Linda Henderson says
I was wondering if this could be a layered casserole??? A layer of cornbread mix than chilli an top it off with remaining cornbread mix??