Canyon Casserole, photo courtesy of Martha White
I don’t know what y’all had for supper last night but this easy to make casserole is what we had and I barely had to wash the dish when we were done because my brood scraped it clean! Usually, an 8×8 casserole is enough for the four of us, but I’m going to have to double this recipe next time because while my husband and son ate their fill at supper, they both asked me later in the evening if any was left.
I love suppers like that, don’t you? The beauty of this recipe is that it is pretty economical, a meal in one, and packed with a wonderful southwestern flavor. I want to thank my friends at Martha White for letting me share their recipe with you. This one came from their website originally (lots of fun recipes there!), but I’ve now adopted it into my personal recipe file. 🙂
While we’re talking about Martha White, how many of y’all are planning on coming to the National Cornbread Festival this year? I’m so excited to have been asked to be a judge again and plan on making it early this time so I have more time to walk around and enjoy all of the great festivities! Food, crafts, fun, and more. This is a big old hometown festival done right and it’s definitely worth the trip! I do hope you’ll join me in South Pittsburg, Tennessee April 27-28, and come hungry!
You’ll need: Milk, Taco Seasoning, Vegetable oil (just a little bit), egg, Self Rising Cornmeal Mix, Diced tomatoes, whole kernel corn, ground beef, and some shredded cheddar cheese.
The cheddar cheese was shy and I hated to make it pose when it didn’t want to so just imagine it there.
Cook ground beef until well done then drain.
Stir in tomatoes in juice, drained corn, taco seasoning, and water.
Stir up really well and cook it over medium high just until nice and bubbly.
Grease an 8×8 baking dish.
Pour meat filling into dish.
Mix up Self Rising Cornmeal, egg, milk, oil, and cheese. Stir until well blended.
Drop by spoonfuls over the top of meat mixture.
Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes.
While this was in the oven, my teenage son came in the kitchen twice to declare
“Something smells good, when is that going to be done?”
“Is it done yet?”
Canyon Casserole
DIG IN!
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 ounce pkg taco seasoning
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 14.5 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
- ½ cup water
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup Martha White Self Rising White Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix (can use yellow self rising corn meal mix)
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- Preheat oven to 400. Spray an 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Brown ground beef in large skillet until fully cooked. Drain off any grease. Add in Taco seasoning, water, tomatoes, and corn. Stir and bring just to a boil. Pour into baking dish.
- In small bowl, stir together corn meal mix, milk, egg, oil, and cheese until well blended. Drop by spoonfuls onto top of meat mixture in baking dish.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Enjoy!
This recipe has a few very minor adaptations. Original recipe may be found here.
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
What did y’all have for supper last night?
What are you having tonight?
I’d love to hear in the comments below!
Yum 
dry ingredients sitting on my table with my casserole dish to start this in the morning and have for our lunch. Thanks!
update: we had this for lunch today. I ended up having to bake a little bit longer because I think my thermostate on my oven is wacky. It was sooooo good! Hubby liked it so much he wanted me to pack it in his lunch for his supper tonight (he had to work this weekend). We decided this recipe is MOST deffinitely a keeper. Thanks, Christy!
I am so glad to hear that yall liked it Cassie!!!
My mom made this dish in the 60s but called it Hot Tamale Pie. Loved it then, still love it now.
Made this for dinner and it was very tasty. I added a couple of ingredients, green pepper and diced olives. We had lefovers that I turned into breakfast by reheating the casserole and topping if with poached eggs. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks!
I am so glad to hear you liked it Sherri!!!
This casserole is great! I added some diced green chilis, chopped onion and garlic. I will be making this again! Thanks!
I am so glad to hear you liked it Cindy!
I just found your blog a couple of weeks ago. I grew up surrounded by good cooks who made many dishes similar to yours. This has brought me so many good memories. Thanks so much!
I am so glad you found me Cherry!!! I hope you enjoy the recipes!
Add a can of pinto beans to that, along with onion, black olives, a little garlic. It’s GREAT!
That sounds great Marianne!! Thanks for the suggestions.
This was delicious! I decided to make my own Taco Seasoning mixture in a pint jar for quick access and less expense.. Thank you so much Christy for your kind ways and sharing your goodness. You brighten my days.
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe!!
I made this the same day you sent the email. It was delicious!! Thanks for sharing it!
Can I use Jiffy cornbread mix and add the meat/tomato/corn? If so, how many boxes?
You sure can. I would imagine two boxes but one might be enough.
My grandson’s name is “Canyon”; therefore, when I saw this recipe, we HAD to have. Canyon’s dad made the recipe (added black beans) and it was delicious! Thanks for another keeper.
Made this for supper tonight…Awesome! I’ve tried quite a few of yours recently. It’s quite the compliment to be told I cook better than my Mother in Law!
That is the best compliment EVER!!! Thank you so much for trying my recipes, I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying them!!
I made all the ingred. up Sunday (except for the Cornbread topping) and let it is ready to roll when I get home tonight! I love cooking ahead
Couldn’t find the self rising corn meal so I just used plain ole yellow corn meal mix and it came out great. Had to double the recipe to have enough for the whole family so for one of the cans of tomatos I used the Italian seasoned kind. The family wants it put into the supper rotation. Thanks for sharing all your great recipes.
Just put this in the oven. I added salsa and black beans. Can’t wait to taste it! I love your blog Christy!
Christy…I made this for supper for myself and 2 grown boys. We all loved it! We put some sour cream and shredded lettuce on top of it, after it was on our plates. Also, I cooked the hamburger in my cast iron skillet, and then just drained it, added the other ingredients and then the cornbread/cheese mixture and popped the skillet right into the oven. A one dish meal! We’re going to try your other recipes too! Thanks!
I am so glad to hear you liked it Linda!!! I hope you enjoy some of the other recipes and can’t wait to hear what all you decide to try.
I am trying this on tonight! I bet my hubby will really like it!
Where I live, we do not have this “Martha White Self Rising White Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix”; nor do I know what it is.
I guess it is based on corn-meal, which we do have and use. How can I replace the ready mix with home-made mix?
It sounds interesting and I’d like to try it, but I need materials that are more generic.
Try Jiffy cornbread mix or small recipe for regular cornbread.
If I use generic cornbread, should I follow the directions on the box? Mine does not call for milk.
Yes Ma’am, that will work just fine!
Always on the look at on veneration on the Shepherds Pie Recipe just can’t wait to make this for dinner. Please keep them coming
I’ve made this quite a few times and everyone enjoys it. Martha White Self Rising White Buttermilk Corn Meal Mix is not available in So.Cal so I use an 8.5 oz box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix made as directed on the box. Thank you for sharing it!
Made this for dinner tonight, Christy! Used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and I baked it in a 9 by 13 casserole because I was afraid all that cornbread would overflow an 8 by 8 since that’s what I usually bake Jiffy cornbread in without all the other stuff and it comes to the top. The bigger pan was a good call, there was plenty of cornbread topping. It was really good except if people use the bigger pan and the Jiffy mix, I suggest they cut the baking time wayyy down, as in check it at 15 minutes because mine was really over done at just over 20 minutes. Oops! Tasted good anyway thankfully and sour cream on top made it even better. Yum!
Oh and it may be true that this recipe can be found in many places, but I NEVER made it until you posted it because it didn’t especially interest me. When you shared it though I knew it had to be good, and it definitely is! And I loved your reply to Sara, had to read it aloud to my husband 😀
😉 I am so glad you decided to try it!! It is a good casserole!
we just tried this recipe it was great !!!very easy and simple to make . thanks!
I just tried this dish and oh girl it is the bomb. I love your recipes keep it up you are a gift from heaven…
What do you serve with it ? Salad??
I will definitely try this, but I think I will try it with Jiffy Cornbread mix instead of the self rising cornmeal. Kathy Radloff, I think I would serve it with black beans and a salad containing avocado.
Can baking powder be added if I don’t have self rising corn meal?
Christy I am still working on putting together all of the cost to do all 35 ground meat recipes for the month plus. It is something to figure out time I do the spread sheet and figure out everything I need. Plus some things I truly didn’t need to buy as I buy, taco seasoning, ranch dressing powder, Italian seasoning, and chili powder, at Sam’s by the big containers so I had these things and haven’t figured out how to count them in the cost. I actually got ground turkey by the roll at Aldi’s for $1.69 a one pound roll. So that being said hopefully I will have a total for you. As soon as i do I will post it. we will be able to feed myself, my daughter and and an elderly gentleman that doesn’t have family that I take supper to each day for at least 70 days and probably more. On the one shopping. I have been using your ideas and cooking more than one pound of meat at a time and making several meals at a time in small pans and just not baking them or in the case of this recipe doing all but the cornbread. I line an 8X8 pan with foil freeze the casserole then when frozen pull the foil out of the pan wrap tightly and put in a freezer bag. So i can use the pan for another day of marathon cooking. So far so good, and it has been a fun challenge. I have used more ground turkey than beef due to the great price.
I can’t wait to hear how it all turns out!!
Hi! Do you think this would freeze well? I only cook for myself, and it’s obviously way too much for one person…
I think it would, we never have enough left over to freeze but let me know how it turns out if you try it please. 🙂
I made this straight from the recipe tonight, because I always want that as a baseline for the first time. It is really tasty. My whole family enjoyed it. Thank you for something easy I could do while everyone else was dealing with after-school activities. 🙂
I think I might try a can of Ro-Tel instead of just straight tomatoes next time. I may also add just a bit of chopped onion.
Another hit! Thanks Christy!
Christy, I know this is an old post but tell me if I use a package of cornbread mix(or two) ,do I mix it according to directions on the packsge ,or just use the meal. by the way, what happened to my recipe box?I can’t find it anymore
Hey Julie, just mix it according to package directions and it will be fine. Click here to read about Ziplist, and there are lots of emails from them likely in your spam box explaining. The dumped us all rather suddenly. I explained it all in one of my November newsletters. Details here: http://archive.aweber.com/southernplate/DtmDX/h/SouthernPlate_5_Great.htm
Hey Christy, are you sick of hearing from me yet? LOL, I’ve been making so many of your recipes lately! I made this one tonight and it was the bomb! Plus, it was pretty easy and quick for a weeknight meal, which is really great. I love when I can pop the casserole dish into the oven, then wash the pan and the bowl, make a salad, and clean up my kitchen while dinner is in the oven.
At the risk of sounding like one of those people who make twenty changes to a recipe and then say it was a great recipe, lol, I’m going to say how I made it because I just used what I had in and/or what I read in other comments. For the cornbread, I used a box of Jiffy cornbread mix, prepared with the egg and milk according to the directions. Also, I used a frozen bag of Southwest Corn (Birdseye Steamfresh, which I let defrost on the counter for a while). And, I used Rotel for the diced tomatoes, because we just like a bit of heat. Man, was that a good dinner! We dolloped some sour cream on top, and had a salad on the side.
Thanks again, Christy! You have really turned me into quite the cook! I always cooked before, but never really loved it, and didn’t stray too far from the basics. I had a few recipes I used, but mostly kept things on the simpler side. But, since finding your website (and books) I’m cooking up a storm! Your posts and photos just make it look so good and likes something I know I can do. I LOVE this website and your books!! (So does my mom, btw, but she doesn’t post comments). 🙂
I LOVE hearing from you Samantha!!! I will never get tired of it and I love that you make adjustments and use what you have on hand!! It is so great of you to share so that other readers can also see and get inspiration on using what they have. ~HUGS~ and a big Hello to your Mama!!
Christy, we had to have leftovers tonight because I’ve been cooking so much lately that that my refrigerator is stocked with the extra. But, we love having a leftovers night, so no complaints here.
Speaking of my mom, I just checked my email and she sent me one earlier today entitled “Christy” (LOL) that said. “Wait until you see today’s sandwiches. I think we should make these for Super Bowl. I will make them.” I haven’t checked all my email or your new post yet today, so I’m off to read it now. After last night’s dinner, I was thinking this Canyon Casserole would be perfect for Superbowl Sunday too.
Ooh, I just took a quick look…Loose Meat Sandwiches. Wow, there are 95 comments already. I’m off to check out the entire post and the comments. But, I can already tell it looks good, and, hey if my mom is offering to make them for Superbowl Sunday, that sounds great to me! Thanks again, Christy!
I hope y’all love them as much as we do Samantha!!! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
Love canyon casserole !! I first made it off the Martha white cornmeal bag! I didn’t know it was one of your faves too!
Oh my goodness, we love it Sandra!!
Hi Christy~
Was searching for something easy & quick to take to our church Life Group for this Tuesday evening…It’s definitely easy & I think this will be a hit..Thanks for sharing.
🙂 Yes, this one is very easy!! I hope everyone enjoys!!
Hello Christy. I just come across your recipes and would love to try this canyon casserole but don’t have self raising cornmeal mix here and taco seasoning,pls what will I use to substitute them. Can’t wait to get your reply cos I’m so desperate in trying it for our dinner today. Thanks Christy
You can search for how to make both the self-rising cornmeal and homemade taco seasoning both are easy to make and have pretty common ingredients. Hope that helps and I hope you enjoy the casserole!!
Can you give me a rough estimate of how long the prep takes – this looks amazing and trying to figure out if I have enough time to make it this evening?
Thank you!
I make this all the time except I switched up tomatoes and use salsa. I also use frozen corn instead of canned. We love it so comforting .
What a great idea Toni, thanks for sharing!