Cowboy Dinner {Cornbread Beef and Bean Casserole}
Cowboy dinner is a hearty casserole of flavorful beef, corn and beans topped with soft, fluffy cornbread and a layer of cheese. So delicious!
This easy, comfort food casserole has been a family favorite for over 20 years! After that long, you know the recipe has to be a keeper!
Beef and Bean Layer
This casserole is made up of two parts. First is the beef and bean layer.
It couldn’t be easier! Ground beef and onion are cooked together before adding:
- beans (pinto are my favorite for this recipe, but black, kidney or white beans work, too)
- frozen corn
- salsa
Important Note: choose a salsa that you love the taste of because the majority of flavor in the beef and bean filling comes from that ingredient!
Cornbread Layer
Next up is the cornbread layer! Taking notes from this favorite cornbread recipe, the cornbread topping is a one-bowl recipe that comes together fast.
Dry ingredients:
- cornmeal
- flour
- sugar
- baking powder + salt
Wet ingredients:
- oil or melted butter
- eggs
- milk or buttermilk
Like any good cornbread, don’t over mix the batter! Mixing just until combined ensures the baked cornbread will be light and fluffy!
Assembling Cowboy Dinner
Don’t blink or you’ll miss it (it’s so easy!).
- Beef and bean filling
- Shredded cheese
- Cornbread
The addition of cheese provides a delightful salty flavor boost as well as a creamy texture element between the filling and the cornbread. Don’t skip it!
A Weeknight Wonder
Simple and satisfying, this cornbread casserole may not win any gourmet food awards, but it is perfect for a super tasty weeknight meal.
It also makes a fantastic take-in meal! It is so family-friendly. I’ve brought it to many a new mom or friend in need over the years.
The filling isn’t overly saucy – it’s more “piecey” if that makes sense. We like it just as it is, but if you prefer a more saucy filling, add a cup or two of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (be sure to add salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste if needed).
PS: this cowboy dinner also makes a great dutch oven meal for camping and feels really quite appropriate with the chucwagon-vibe of the cornbread, beef and beans.
5-Star Reviews
Behold the other rave reviews for this casserole (so you don’t have to take just my word for it!).
Winnie says: Never expected to find an empty pan with a request to make it once a week. They loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
J. Wayne says: Been a family staple for years. Sometimes add a little more filling or a little less topping. Just depends on how adventurous we feel. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chrissy says: A neighbor made this for us after I had my second baby. It’s been a staple in our house since, the moment the air gets brisk. I’ve made it for friends going through breakups or having babies. Ultimate comfort food! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tiann says: Thank you! My whole family loves this recipe & I make it often! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What to Serve With This
- Mexican chopped salad
- Sliced apples or other fresh fruit
- 5-Minute Skillet Broccoli
One Year Ago: Cranberry Pomegranate Salad
Two Years Ago: Amazing Easy Fluffy Blender Rolls {My Thanksgiving Roll}
Three Years Ago: Chewy Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Four Years Ago: Fresh Cranberry Apple Relish
Five Years Ago: The Best Chicken {or Turkey} Pot Pie
Six Years Ago: Triple Chocolate Fudge Peanut Butter Cookies
Seven Years Ago: Amazing Crustless Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
Eight Years Ago: Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pie
Nine Years Ago: Creamy Confetti Corn with Bacon
Ten Years Ago: Chocolate and Coconut Cream Pie Bars
Cowboy Dinner {Cornbread Beef and Bean Casserole}
Ingredients
Beef Mixture:
- 1 ½ to 2 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1 ½ cups salsa, store bought or homemade
- 1 (15-ounce) can black, pinto, or white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Cornbread Topping:
- ½ cup (85 g) cornmeal
- 1 ½ cups (213 g) flour
- ⅓ cup (71 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch pan and set aside.
- In a large 12-inch skillet set over medium heat, cook the ground beef, onion, salt and pepper, until the meat is fully cooked. Drain the grease from the pan.
- Stir in the corn, salsa, and beans. Spread the beef mixture evenly in the prepared pan and set aside.
- For the cornbread, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center and add the oil, eggs and milk. Whisk together until just combined (don't over mix).
- Sprinkle the cheese over the beef mixture. Pour the cornbread batter over the top and spread evenly all the way to the edges.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cornbread is baked through. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean and the top should spring back lightly to the touch. Let the casserole rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Recipe originally posted January 2011; updated November 2022 with new photos, recipe notes, etc.
I have been making this dish, or a variation, for quite some time now! Thank you for some great inspiration. Tonight I went out on a limb and substituted lentils in for the beef. While you know you’re not eating meat, it’s still turned out wonderfully! The lentil version will definitely make the rotation. 🙂
Made this substituting Jiffy corn bread mix and rotel. It was terrific.
Making this for dinner tonight, for the second time. Just thought I would chime in and tell you we love it. We basically love everything from your website. Truth be told, I cook something from your website 5 nights a week, at least. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes.
I have to admit I wasn’t excited about this recipe as I was preparing it. I still have nightmares about my mother’s shepherd’s pie and this just seemed too much like shepherd’s pie for me to like it. As I stirred in the beans and salsa into the meat mixture it seemed too dry but I stuck to the recipe and it’s a good thing I did because it was perfect in the end. I’ll just be totally honest as admitt that I ate two huge portions! I haven’t had cornbread in years and this has made me wonder why. Amazing stuff!
This recipe makes way more than we are able to go through in one sitting so I divided the cooked meat mixture into two 8X8 dishes and topped both with the shredded cheese and put 1 of the dishes in the freezer. I then preparred the cornbread topping and put half on the dish we would be eating for dinner and the other half on the now frozen meat mixture and but back into the freezer unbaked. Now I have a cowboy dinner in the freezer for an emergency. I did this prior to reading Katie’s comment above so I’m glad someone else has had some success with this method. I think next time however I will divide the meat/cheese mixture just the same but then just make 1/2 a recipe of the cornbread at at time. It’s takes less time to prepare than preheating the oven and would save baking time in the end. Just write the cornbread recipe on the foil cover of your frozen dish and you’re good to go when you need it.
Made this last night it was AMAZING! I subbed the recipe for your cornbread muffins as the topper because we were reeeeally craving your cornbread muffins the night before. So I had enough batter leftover for 6 muffins, after I had topped the dinner. (two birds, one stone, I thought.)
Also, I only used 1 lb. hamburger and it worked just fine.
I have passed several people the link to your website because I am so in love with your food. Thanks for making dinner inspiring!!!
Loved this! Easy to put together, doesn’t require fancy ingredients, and tastes great! It was a hit at our house tonight. I followed your recipe except I halved it. Was just perfect.
My family was invited to a 5th Tuesday evening potluck at a local “cowboy church”. I was pondering what to cook when I came across your Cowboy Dinner – perfect! Due to sickness we missed the actual dinner w/ the cowboys, but we proceeded w/ our menu & had Cowboy Dinner at home followed by Cowboy Cookies. We knew we loved the cookies – my husband’s co-workers were thrilled when he walked in w/ a fresh batch of them yesterday! This Dinner is a new favorite for us – we really, really enjoyed it!! We planned to have leftovers tonight but my parents are sick so I’m taking them the leftovers along w/ your Creamy Chicken & Veggie Soup (& rolls, of course!). We’ll be trying your Clam Chowder tonight. Can’t wait!!
Christina – a commenter a few above you, Katie, commented about her experience freezing this. Check out her comment – sounds like it will work!
Do you think this recipe would freeze ok?
We made this tonight for supper. Very easy and good!
We always have Jiffy in the house so I cheated and used 2 boxes of that. My package of beef was barely more than a pound but wouldn’t you know I had some BACON in the fridge just dying to fill in for it! LOL. It was amazing. I will always make it with bacon from now on. YUM. I also barely noticed the cheese, so next time I’ll either leave it out completely, or mix it into the cornbread batter. I once made a cornbread topper with pepperjack cheese mixed into the batter. That was GOOD. Thanks for another winner Mel!
I wanted so much for this to work out and taste delish. BUT, it wasn’t that great. My husband liked the cornbread top and even said it would be good to just scrape it off and have with butter and honey; but the mixture of the sweet on top with the spicy meaty mexican on the bottom just didn’t jive together. We all agreed that this was a dish not to be repeated. Sorry.
Made this for the first time tonight. I was searching for a good meal I could use my canned ground beef with. Perfection!
I’ve made several variations of this kind of meal before, none of which have really impressed my husband. However, when I made this last night for dinner my husband said he loved it and had multiple helpings. We LOVED it!
Just checking back in after having this meal again tonight…from the freezer! I stuck this in the freezer UNBAKED about 2 months ago before having my baby, and pulled it out this morning. After having it in the fridge all day it was still mostly frozen, but I put it in a 350 degree oven and baked it for 45 minutes covered with foil. After 45 minutes, I took the foil off, turned the oven up to 400 degrees and baked for another 20 or so minutes. It turned out perfect. Hope that helps anyone else looking for some freezer meals!
You are awesome for checking back with how it went freezing it! Thanks for helping others out!
Thanks for the info. I was hoping to be able to make it ahead and freeze it as well but was a bit worried about how it might affect the cornbread in particular. Good to know the freezing didn’t hurt it
I used black beans and chopped chipolte peppers instead of the salsa and it turned out sooo incredibly GOOD! The smoky flavor of the chipolte peppers with the cornbread was such good combo!
Delicious! Spiced it up a bit with some Cajun spices and some garlic, but I couldn’t stop eating it! Even our nine-month-old daughter enjoyed it!
Hahahahahahahaha! I wondered if you would ever post this. Didn’t we polish off an entire pan of this one night?! Oh how I loved me some Cowboy dinner. I think I’ll make it tonight for nostalgia’s sake as well. (oh, and the “not-so-success” dinner you are referring to is Kiersten’s tuna cassarole right? 🙂
I made this on Thursday night. It was easy to assemble, but I got anxious to pour the cornbread batter on top and accidentally forgot to sprinkle the cheese on the neat mixture first – oops! It still turned out fine and the cornbread wasn’t soggy. We just sprinkled cheese on top after we plated it and a dollop of sour cream. So good. We ate the leftovers tonight – Sat. 🙂
I am having our second baby in about six weeks and am starting to freeze some meals. I read the above comments about freezing, but I think I’m going to try freezing this BEFORE baking. I will let you know how it turns out. *Hopefully* good! :o) Love your site – many of our favorite dishes have come from you!!
It sure does look delicious!
If I halved the recipe how long should I cook it for? The same?
Tessa – for a halved recipe, I would start checking for doneness after 25 minutes.
So I made this last night. I made a few changes just because I am stubborn that way at times but it was loved. I ended up sharing with the neighbors behind us and they loved it so much. Thanks for sharing.
I was looking for something different to try with ground beef and I think this is it!!! I’ll probably use black beans because that’s what I already have. I’ll be back to post how it turns out!
Jessica (sorry for the delay in responding) – I use Pace Picante Medium salsa (sometimes chunky and sometimes not).
Oh cool, this reminds me of tamale pie! I know I’d love it!
i know this by the name cornbread casserole, but i think i like your title better since anything that brings cowboys to mind is a-okay with me. 🙂
This recipe looks so good, makes my mouth water. I love beans and cornbread.
Thank you for sharing! I have to try this!!
Sounds seriously good! I don’t know if we ever made anything that good in college 🙂
Laura – you know, as many times as I’ve made this, I’ve never frozen it so I’m not sure. I think you would definitely want to freeze after baking but I’m wondering if that would dry out the cornbread. Hmmmm, I think before I’d give advice to freeze, I would probably recommend halving the recipe if you don’t want a big dish.
We call this tamale pie too! And I mix up this recipe, depending on what’s on hand, and if the designated eaters are spicy or not! This is a wonderful dish for cold wintery days, taking to a sick friend, pot lucks, etc! Thanks for sharing!
This looks wonderful! A quick question for you – since it makes a lot, do you think it would freeze well? Thanks!
Totally have this same recipe except my recipe calls for Taco Seasoning and Rotel tomatoes but I think fresh or jarred salsa like you listed would be much better!
Wow! This looks yummy!
this looks good and easy. think i’ll use ground turkey with it. I love your blog..:)
We had this for dinner and it was fantastic! The cornbread was crunchy on the top, soft in the middle and just soaked up a bit of the filling from below- perfect! It makes a LOT- good thing my husband liked it so much- he will be eating it for a few more days! Thanks again for another great recipe!
Looks yummy! Do you have an issue with the bottom of the cornbread getting soggy from the meat mixture?
This reminds me of my southwestern pot pie which I adore! Mine uses black beans and also has carrots with a creamy chili-powder laced sauce. I better get it on the menu for this week!
I am going to put this one in my rotation to try. This looks great!
This looks really hearty and delicious:)
So you’d use Pace Picante, like medium? What’s on your pantry shelf?
Now THAT is some comfort food!
Mmm… I used to make something like this with a boxed cornbread mix. Since I try to stay away from packaged food these days, I’m definitely going to try your homemade version soon! My husband will love this – thanks!
I’m making this tonight! Thanks for the dinner idea!
So glad I ended up here… I’m making this tonight. It looks awesome!
This is so going on the menu later this week. I have no grocery money left and I’ve been trying to us stuff from in the house and I have all the ingredients on hand. Added bonus several of those items our on a shelf I need to clean out of the freezer. My mouth is drooling just thinking of it.
I call it Tamale pie too! But I kinda cheat and use leftover chili as the base and Jiffy cornbread mix!
Yum…what a great meal. The cornbread topping is a perfect finisher.
My husband’s familiy calls this tamale pie – a great easy dish to make when you’re in a cooking funk!
I am a huge fan of dishes like this–I still can’t decide if I like it better with cornbread or mashed potatoes. Both are truly delicious though!
I made this tonight and the family loved it! My 7yr old couldn’t get enough! I do recommend adding more salsa but still very yummy! I did do a short cut on the cornbread I used MarthaWhite’s mix which was perfect!