Critter Fritter Casserole

15 Reviews

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 50 min
Ready In: 1 hr 5 min

“This year at the Texas State Fair, I had a treat called a Critter Fritter, which was a deep fried battered, meat-filled jalapeno. The combination of tastes was so great, I decided to try and replicate it in casserole form at home. The following is what I came up with.” - by Kelly

Adjust Servings

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Metric US

Original recipe yields 6 servings

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, and cook, stirring to crumble, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain off most of the fat, leaving enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Add onions to the fat in the pan; cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Return the meat to the skillet and season with garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and oregano. Mix in jalapeno slices and cook until heated through. Transfer this mixture to an 8 inch square baking dish.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the cornbread mix, butter, milk and egg. This can be done while the meat is cooking. Spoon over the top of the meat mixture in the baking dish, then top with shredded cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly, then cut into squares to serve.

Nutrition

Amount Per Serving (6 total)

Calories
838 cal
42%

Fat
61.4 g
95%

Carbs
31 g
10%

Based on a 2,000 calorie diet

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Reviews (15)

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Mrs. Houston

Oct. 6, 2008

"The reason I am giving this a 3 is because it had a funny texture. The bottom meat part was crumbly, nothing held it together. You need to add probably 3/4 c. ketchup to the meat, or add cheese. In..." See morestead of covering the top of the cornbread part with the shredded cheddar, next time I will probably add the cheese into the meat mixture. We doused ours in ketchup to eat it. I will try again, because the flavor was really good (I doubled the onion and salt)."

Kelly

Mar. 5, 2009

"After making this numerous times more, I realized that it holds together a little better if you put the cheese on top of the meat and then top all of that with the cornbread mixture...." See more"

Elene

Dec. 14, 2009

"This recipe was awesome! I only made one change (well, besides following the instructions from the other comments about putting the cheese directly on top of the ground beef), I used green chiles ins..." See moretead of jalapenos - wasn't quite as spicy as it could have been. We served it with sour cream - I think we'll add a bed of lettuce next time. I'm also wondering if I reduce the amount of ground beef and substitute some refried beans, if the flavor would change drastically or if it would just help hold the bottom together a little more. My daughter wasn't crazy about the corn bread part (but she's not a bread eater) but loved the meat. Oh, and, instead of using a boxed mix of corn bread, I mixed up 1/2 of a batch of "Homesteader Cornbread" (it's another favorite recipe of ours from allrecipes) and poured that on top - absolutely delish!! Thank you for your wonderful creation!"

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