Cornbread Chili Pie {Leftover Chili Recipe} (2024)

Chili Pie is a wonderfully easy, and exceptionally delicious way to reinvent leftover chili! Made with tender corn bread and filled with hearty chili, this makes the best way to eat pie for dinner!

Best Leftover Chili Recipe

Chili is one of our favorite meals to make though out the fall, winter and even into the spring. There is something so comforting about a big simmering pot of chili on the stove ready to warm everyone’s bellies.

Once we are done with the chili there is pretty much always a lot of leftovers. Although it reheats well, it can get old when we eat it meal after meal, so this Chili Pie became one of our favorite ways to eat the leftovers.

It remakes the leftovers into a meal that feels completely new. Plus it has all of the components that kids LOVE! It starts with a bed of cornbread then is packed full of hearty chili and all baked together with lots of delicious cheese on top.

What to Serve with Chili Pie

Chili Pie is a hearty all-in-one kinda meal. With the meat, bread, and dairy all being wrapped up in one dish, you can serve this alone and have a filling meal.

If you want to add a little something though, there are several side dishes that make a great accompaniment to this recipe.

Here are a few of ouor favorites:

• Chips with Salsa and Guacamole
• Salad drizzled with jalapeno ranch
• Mexican Street Corn Casserole
• Mexican Rice
• Sautéed Peppers and Onions

Hopefully this gives you a few ideas to fill up your table! If you have a favorite for serving with this recipe, make sure and let me know in the comments below.

Recipe Notes

Nothing is easier than making this Chili Pie out of your leftover chili. I am going to go over a few frequently asked questions to help answer anything that may come up along the way.

Make sure to find the entire recipe card at the bottom of this post. If there are any more questions that pop up you can leave them for me in the comments section below.

Ingredients

There are only THREE main ingredients in this recipe. It couldn’t be easier!

• Cornbread– You can use any cornbread you like for this recipe. I highly recommend our buttermilk cornbread. It is AMAZING! You don’t have to use my recipe though, you can use your favorite, make it from a box, or pick up some pre-made from the bakery of the grocery store.
  • Note: super dense cornbread doesn’t work as well as lighter cornbread for this recipe.
• Chili– The beauty of this recipe is that you can use up your leftovers! You can use chicken chili, or ground beef chili, chili with beans or without or even cream cheese white chicken chili. All of them work well and will give you a delicious recipe!
  • Note: If you want to make this but don’t have leftover chili, you can make some up fresh or use canned chili. They all work well!
• Cheese– Use your favorite variety. You can use cheddar, colby, colby jack, monterey jack, or mexican blend cheese.

Tips and Tricks

Once you have your ingredients gathered, this dish comes together in as little as 5 minutes. With a few tips you will be well on your way to the best leftover dinner yet.

Use Light Cornbread

As mentioned above, the best kind of cornbread for this recipe is lighter, not super dense and moist.

The reason for this is that the chili juices will run down into the cornbread and make it super flavorful and delicious. When you have really dense moist cornbread it can end up a little more mushy than desired. With lighter cornbread it soaks up the extra moisture like a champ and avoids getting soggy.

Since the cornbread gets moisture from the chili, you can even make the cornbread a day or two in advance and even if it dries out a little, it will still have plenty of moisture from the chili.

Poke Holes in the Cornbread

Poking holes in the cornbread acts much like a poke cake where the flavors sink right in to add tons of flavor. The holes give the juices from the chili somewhere to go, while also keeping the cornbread moist and adding tons of flavor too.

I use the back of a wooden spoon which is the perfect size to make the holes.

Adding the Chili

You can use any kind of chili you want for this recipe. The key is adding the right ratio. You want to pile it up nicely so that once you cut into it you have enough chili to eat with the cornbread. No one wants to skimp on the chili!

3 cups is recommended in the recipe, but it might vary based on the size and shape of your cornbread.

More Leftover Recipes

If you love the idea of using leftovers to reinvent dinner, make sure to stick around and browse my other recipes.

I have a section at the bottom of most of my recipes that gives you multiple ideas on how to reuse the the leftovers and make them in to a completely new meal.

You can browse all of our EASY recipes here, or find a few of our most popular recipes that offer leftover recipes below. (Make sure to find the leftover section at the bottom of the post.)

• Monterey Chicken Bake
• Mexican Shredded Beef
• Cajun Chicken Bites
• Salsa Chicken
• Crock Pot Tuscan Pot Roast

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