Easy Slow-Cooker Tamale Dinner

Christmas prep is at maximum intensity. The pernil shoulder is ordered — twenty-four pounds this year, the biggest I have ever attempted, because the table keeps growing and the pork shoulder must grow with it. I have made lists. I have made timelines. I have made Eduardo promise to stay out of the kitchen from Wednesday through Christmas Day, a promise he makes every year and keeps every year because Eduardo understands the consequences of being in Carmen kitchen during Christmas prep. The consequences are immediate and verbal.

Lucas is eight months old and crawling. CRAWLING. He moves across the floor with the determination of a man on a mission, which at eight months is usually the mission to reach something he should not touch. He crawled toward the oven on Saturday and I intercepted him with the reflexes of a grandmother who has spent twenty years working in a commercial kitchen where reflexes mean the difference between safety and disaster. I scooped him up and said, No, mijo. The oven is not a toy. He looked at me with his big eyes and his Delgado nose and he grabbed my nose and I forgave him immediately because you cannot stay mad at a baby who grabs your nose. It is physically impossible.

Shopping for Christmas ingredients at the bodega. Don Felix, who has been my produce vendor for twenty years, set aside the best plantains for me — three dozen, perfectly green, the exact shade that means they will fry into tostones that are crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and golden as a Bayamon sunset. He also had fresh culantro, which is rare in December, and I bought all of it because you do not leave fresh culantro at the store in December. That is a sin.

Mami came shopping with me. She walked the aisles of the bodega slowly, touching things — the cans of gandules, the bags of rice, the bottles of sofrito that she would never buy because buying sofrito is beneath a Delgado woman. She said, This store is smaller than the market in Bayamon. I said, Everything is smaller than Bayamon, Mami. She said, Except your opinions, Carmen. They are bigger than Bayamon. She is not wrong. My opinions are vast. My opinions span oceans. My opinions about food could fill the library at the University of Puerto Rico, where I got my nutrition degree, which I bring up whenever my opinions need academic support. Mami is right. She is always right. My opinions are magnificent.

Between intercepting Lucas from the oven and guarding three dozen plantains like they are my firstborn, there is simply no room in my December for a recipe that demands my full attention. Tamales are a holiday tradition across so much of Latin cooking, and while my hands are deep in pernil marinade and sofrito, the slow cooker does the honorable work of carrying this dish to the table — no supervision required, no verbal consequences for anyone who wanders too close. It is the one thing in my Christmas kitchen that does not need me standing over it, and during these weeks, that is nothing short of a miracle.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 5 hours | Total Time: 5 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef
1 can (15 oz) cream-style corn
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Sour cream and sliced green onions, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Brown the beef. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef until no longer pink, breaking it up as it cooks, about 6–8 minutes. Drain excess fat and set aside.
Make the batter. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream-style corn, drained whole kernel corn, diced tomatoes with chiles, cornmeal, eggs, milk, chili powder, cumin, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper until well combined.
Add the beef. Stir the cooked ground beef into the cornmeal mixture until evenly distributed. Fold in 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar.
Load the slow cooker. Lightly grease the insert of a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Pour the tamale mixture into the slow cooker and spread into an even layer.
Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, until the center is set and the edges are lightly golden. Resist lifting the lid during cooking.
Add the cheese. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar evenly over the top. Cover and cook an additional 10–15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
Serve. Scoop into bowls and top with sour cream and sliced green onions if desired. Serve hot directly from the slow cooker.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Slow-Cooker Tamale Dinner — A Holiday Shortcut for the Busiest Cook in the Kitchen