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Instant Pot Easy Tamale Pie

Slice of tamale pie with sour cream and green salsa over top
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5 from 6 reviews

Instant Pot Tamale Pie, filled with your favorite meat, vegetable, and cheese combo, and cooked up to perfection in the pressure cooker

Ingredients

Scale

For the Tamale Dough

  • 2 1/2 cups drained, canned corn (can substitute fresh corn)
  • 2 cups masa harina
  • ½ cup warm chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup melted coconut oil

For the Filling

  • 1 1/2 cups Green Chili Shredded Beef (or meat of your choice)
  • 1 1/2 cups desired veggies (corn, black beans, green onions, chopped spinach, diced bottled jalapeno, chopped roasted red bell pepper, or a medley of all)
  • 1 ¼ cups shredded pepper jack, cheddar, or quesadilla cheese

Optional toppings: Mexican Crema, sour cream, or greek yogurt, Tomatillo Avocado Salsa (see recipe below) or favorite store-bought salsa, chopped avocado, guacamole, Cilantro Lime Sauce, crumbled cotija cheese, etc

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa (optional, could substitute with your favorite salsa)

  • ½ pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and chopped
  • 1 avocado, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons diced onion
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1 jalapeno, membrane and seeds removed, minced
  • juice of 1 lime
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

Instructions

  1. To make masa dough: In a blender, add corn and pulse until partially pureed.  
  2. Pour the corn into a large bowl and add masa harina, broth, baking powder, salt, and coconut oil.  Use hands to combine all of the ingredients into a soft dough. Set aside.
  3. Divide dough in half.  Place half of the dough in a ziplock bag and store it in the fridge or freezer for another day.  
  4. Lightly coat a 7-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  5. Break off two-thirds of the masa dough and press it into the bottom and three-fourths of the way up the sides of the pan.  It will be thin, that’s okay, it’ll thicken when cooked.
  6. Note: if your pan is larger than 7 inches, you will need more dough.
  7. Layer in 3/4 cup shredded meat.  Top with veggies, 1 cup of cheese, then add the rest of the meat.
  8. Break off pieces of the remaining one-third of masa dough and flatten the pieces in your hand.  Layer them over the top of the meat and lightly press them together.
  9. Fold the dough that is pressed up the sides of the pan down to cover the edges of the pie.  The filling should now be completely encased in the dough.
  10. Cover the top of the pan with foil.
  11. Add 1 ½ cups water to the pressure cooker pot.  Place a trivet inside and center the pan on top of the trivet.
  12. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position.  Cook at high temperature for 35 minutes.
  13. While the tamale pie cooks, prepare Tomatillo Avocado Salsa by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
  14. When pressure cooking is complete, use a quick release.
  15. Turn oven broiler to high.  Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese on top of the pie and place under the broiler until the cheese is melted and browned, about 2 minutes.
  16. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the pie to make sure it’s not sticking, then remove the ring from the pan.  Use a sharp knife to cut wedges of pie.
  17. Top with a big scoop of Tomatillo Avocado Salsa and other desired toppings.
  18. Store leftovers in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Notes

  • Masa dough freezes great so I suggest making the full batch of dough written in this recipe and freezing half of it for another day
  • To freeze leftovers, cut the tamale into wedges, wrap with foil, place in a freezer safe ziplock, and freeze for 3 – 4 months.  This makes it easy to grab the desired number of servings for another day. To prepare from frozen, let thaw overnight in the fridge, reheat in the microwave.  Another option would be placing the foil covered wedges of pie on a rack in the Instant Pot and cooking it for 15 -20 minutes
  • Meat, vegetables, and cheese options are very versatile.  Stay away from any fillings that are overly watery to prevent the tamale dough from going soggy
  • Can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge up to 8 hours before cooking
  • Tomatillo Salsa can be made 2-3 days in advance by omitting the avocados.  Stir them in just before serving
  • I suspect the entire tamale pie would cook well from frozen, maybe 50 minutes.  I will update if I try it

Find it online: https://instafreshmeals.com/instant-pot-tamale-pie/