This skillet cornbread chili casserole is the ultimate comfort food! It’s starts with a flavorful turkey chili layer and then a fluffy, buttery cornbread is layered on top. If you love chili and cornbread then this is your kind of recipe! Top it with your favorite toppings for a cozy weeknight dinner that everyone will love.
The Ultimate Comfort Food: Chili Cornbread Casserole
Is there a better combination than chili and cornbread?! It’s a classic, so comforting, so cozy, SO DANG GOOD.
This skillet cornbread chili pie gives you the cornbread and chili situation of your dreams! First, there’s the layer of perfectly seasoned ground turkey chili with plenty of spices, veggies, and beans. Then, it’s topped with extra fluffy and delicious gluten free cornbread. Can you even?!
Finally, you’ll finish things off with your favorite toppings like Greek yogurt, avocado, shredded cheddar, and plenty of fresh cilantro. Not only is it delicious, this chili pie recipe is also so easy to make and customize!
Cornbread Chili Casserole Ingredients
- Veggies & Aromatics: we’re using a combination of veggies like onion, bell pepper, crushed tomatoes, and green chilies along with fresh garlic to give the chili layer some great flavor.
- Ground Turkey: I love using ground turkey in this recipe because it’s packed with protein and takes on the chili spices so well.
- Spices & Seasonings: dried spices like oregano, paprika, cumin, and of course chili powder.
- Kidney Beans: to make the chili layer even more hearty and delicious we’re using kidney beans!
- Cornmeal & Gluten Free Flour: the base of the cornbread layer is made from yellow cornmeal and, to keep things gluten free, gluten free flour.
- Egg: you’ll need one large egg to bind the cornbread ingredients together.
- Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter when baking.
- Honey: not too much but just enough to add a little sweetness to the cornbread.
- Buttermilk: this is my secret for really delicious, fluffy cornbread!
Customize Your Casserole
- Ground Turkey – feel free to swap the ground turkey for ground chicken or ground beef in this recipe if you like!
- Kidney Beans – I’ve also made this recipe with black beans and it’s very tasty.
- GF Flour – don’t need to worry about this recipe being gluten free? feel free to use all purpose flour instead.
- Butter – melted vegan butter will also work well!
- Buttermilk – you can swap the buttermilk for full fat coconut milk to keep the recipe dairy free.
How to Make Skillet Chili Cornbread Casserole
Kitchen Tools You’ll Need to Make This Recipe
Get all of my favorite kitchen essentials, here!
Topping Ideas
This cornbread chili pie is good on its own but it’s even more delicious when you add your favorite toppings! There are so many great ways to top your bowl of goodness – here are a few of my favorite options:
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
- chopped cilantro
- shredded extra sharp white cheddar cheese
- sliced avocado
- fresh or pickled sliced jalapeño
More One Skillet Recipes You Will Love
- Gluten Free Chicken Enchilada
- One Pan Greek Chicken with Artichokes and Olives
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Asian Inspired Chicken Stir Fry
- Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Skillet
I hope you give this Cornbread Chili Casserole a try! It’s the perfect cozy comfort food! If you do give this recipe a try, I want to know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you know and love.
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Cornbread Chili Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This skillet cornbread chili casserole is the ultimate comfort food! It’s starts with a flavorful turkey chili layer and then a fluffy, buttery cornbread is layered on top. If you love chili and cornbread then this is your kind of recipe! Top it with your favorite toppings for a cozy weeknight dinner that everyone will love.
Ingredients
For the Chili Layer
- 1/2 tablespoon olive or avocado oil
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 4 oz hatch green chilies
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 15 oz kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes
For the Cornbread Layer
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup gluten free flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
Toppings
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
- cilantro
- shredded sharp white cheddar
- avocado
- sliced jalapeno
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat a large, deep, 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat.
- Once hot, add the oil and then add the yellow onion, diced bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until fragrant and the veggies start to become tender.
- Add the ground turkey to the skillet and brown, breaking it up as it cooks.
- Once the turkey is brown, add the the green chilies, dried oregano, paprika, cumin, and chili powder. Sauté for another minute until the spies are fragrant.
- Next, add the crushed tomatoes and kidney beans and stir until well combined. Let the chili simmer on low for 5 minutes and then remove from the heat.
- Make the cornbread layer: Add the cornmeal, gluten free flour, baking powder, and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk together until well combined. To another mixing bowl, add the melted butter, honey, buttermilk, and large egg. Whisk together until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir together until well combined.
- Pour the cornbread batter over the chili and spread out into an even layer in the skillet.
- Place the skillet into a preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees until the cornbread is cooked through and golden and the filling is bubbling around the edges. Let the cornbread pie rest for 10 minutes before serving with your favorite toppings.
Recipe by: Ashlea Carver / All the Healthy Things | Photography by: THE MINDFUL HAPA
This post was originally published in December 2021 and republished in September 2026.
What an excellent and tasty dinner! Really good flavors, and so easy to put together. I used a spelt flour instead of gluten free flour for the cornbread and it turned out really great. Thanks so much for this lovely meal!
I’m so glad you recently re shared the recipe! It is delicious. The cornbread came out so tasty and perfect baked on top! Next time I will have to make a double batch because it was so popular with the family. Thank you!!
So delicious! It’s the perfect amount of spicy and sweet with the chili and cornbread combo! Family hit tonight!
I’m so glad you love this one, Lauren! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
I love that the cornbread is right on top of the chili! So good!
Another winner! Delicious, Ashlea! Thank you so much for sharing your kitchen creations!
Left out the turkey to make this vegetarian friendly and WOW sooooo good! such a hearty, warm meal. Will make again!!
Made as described except I used all purpose flour in the cornbread and it was delicious! The cornbread cooked on top made it extra delicious and special. My hubby loved it too!
Can you replace the GF flour with regular all purpose? It’s all I have on hand. Thanks so much!
Hi, Amanda! Yes! I cover this in the blog post.