Cornbread Topped Chili Recipe

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Who doesn’t love a warm, hearty bowl of chili? It’s especially great for the chilly days of fall and winter, perfect for a football party. And of course, chili needs to have cornbread on the side. This dish combines the familiar flavors of chili with the cornbread you love.

One of the best things about making chili is that it’s easy. Usually, you just brown the meat and add a few other ingredients like tomatoes, beans, and corn. This recipe is even easier and it makes a one-pot meal that makes everyone feel full and satisfied.

Chili Cornbread Casserole

This recipe is as easy as it gets. You just need to brown the ground beef, add a can of already seasoned chili beans, a jar of salsa, a bag of frozen corn, and simmer the whole thing for a while. You use cornbread stuffing mix and bake it on top. Even better than having cornbread on the side is having it be like a crust on top of a casserole.

But you can also customize this recipe to suit your family’s individual preferences, too. You can use diced tomatoes with green chilies instead of salsa if you want a chunkier texture. Many people like their chili with diced onions in it as well. If you really like spicy food, you can serve it with jalapenos, too.

You can also use cornbread mix instead of cornbread stuffing to make the top crust of this hearty casserole. Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese to make it even better.

As this recipe is written, chili is an easy one-pot meal because you brown the meat in a casserole dish and add the ingredients to it. But you can also make it on the stovetop in a large Dutch oven and it’s still a one-pot meal. Just brown the meat in the same pot that you plan to cook the chili in. Put the cornbread mixture over top and stick the whole thing in the oven.

Green Chili Cornbread

There’s a lot of debate about the best way to make chili. One of the most debated questions is whether or not chili should contain beans. If you’re from Texas, the idea of putting beans in chili will definitely get you some raised eyebrows. The Texas way of making chili is just beef and tomatoes.

An alternate way of making chili that you really may enjoy is making it with green chilies. This is also called a white chili because it doesn’t use tomatoes. White chili uses chicken broth and ground or diced chicken instead of beef. You use a few cans of chopped green chilies or frozen roasted green chilies from New Mexico.

White chili still tastes great with added corn and with a cornbread topping as well. Consider serving with shredded Monterey jack cheese or pepper-jack cheese.

But you can also make regular chili with tomatoes, beef, and beans, and add green chilies as well. That’s part of the beauty of chili: you really can’t make it wrong. I’ve had friends who made chili with venison, ground turkey, green peppers, and even mushrooms. The hallmark of chili is that you just need to let everything simmer in one pot so that all the flavors blend together.

Chili is the kind of meal that makes everyone happy. You get a nice, hearty bowl of stew. The cornbread is the perfect complement to the slight heat of the chili. And then you don’t have a whole lot of clean-up when everyone’s sitting around with full bellies. You can’t ask for much more out of dinner.

If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure to check out our Farmhouse Sausage Chili Recipe and our Baked Chili Recipe.

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The image featured at the top of this post is ©iStock.com/DebbiSmirnoff