Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie)
A baked casserole of seasoned beef and chicken with egg, olives and raisins, under a thick, lightly sweet fresh-corn topping.
Chilean · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 60 min
~717 cal · 51g protein · 56g carbs · 33g fat · 6g fiber · 17g sugars · 12g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pastel de choclo is one of Chile's best-loved summer dishes, a baked casserole of savoury meat filling under a thick, sweet topping of ground fresh corn (choclo). It belongs to the season when corn is at its peak, and it is a fixture of Fiestas Patrias tables in September.
The base is pino, the same seasoned mixture of onion and beef, scented with cumin and paprika, that fills Chilean empanadas, layered here with pieces of chicken, hard-boiled egg, black olives and a few raisins. Blended fresh corn cooked with basil and a little milk is spread over the top and baked until it sets and browns, often with a dusting of sugar for a lightly caramelised crust.
Comforting and a little sweet-savoury at once, it is home cooking that many Chileans associate with family lunches and the warm months.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 lb ground beef
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
3 onions, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sweet paprika (aji de color)
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup beef or vegetable
3 tbsp raisins
1/2 cup black olives
3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
2 1/2 lb fresh corn kernels (about 8 cups)
12 leaves fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup whole milk
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp fine cornmeal
1 tbsp sugar, for the topping
2 tbsp
to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
1
Cook the pino: soften the onions and garlic in the oil, then add the beef and brown it, breaking it up. Stir in the cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper, add the stock, and simmer until moist but not soupy. Stir in the raisins and set aside.
2
Make the corn topping: blend the corn kernels with the basil and milk until coarse but spoonable, then cook in a wide pan with the butter, sugar and a pinch of salt, stirring, until it thickens like soft polenta. Stir in the cornmeal to firm it up.
3
Spread the beef pino in a baking dish and lay the shredded chicken over it. Tuck the quartered eggs into the filling and scatter the olives across the top.
4
Spoon the hot corn topping over the filling and spread it to the edges, then sprinkle the surface evenly with sugar.
✎ Chef’s note
The sugar on top is what gives pastel de choclo its lightly caramelised, speckled crust.
5
Bake at 375F (190C) for 35 to 40 minutes until the filling bubbles and the corn top is browned in patches. Broil a couple of minutes if it needs more colour.
6
Rest 10 minutes before serving so the filling settles, ideally with a simple tomato salad alongside.
Chilean Central Valley summer tables.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Central Valley. Summer here means pastel de choclo, a bake of ground fresh sweetcorn spread over beef, a piece of chicken, olives and hard-boiled egg, dusted with sugar so the top caramelises under the heat. Winter means cazuela, a clear broth holding one piece of meat, a wedge of pumpkin and a whole potato.
🗺️
Chile. Pastel de choclo has no pastry: a meat and onion filling under a lid of ground fresh corn, sugar sprinkled on top and browned in the oven, served in the clay dish it was baked in. Ceviche is eaten here too but it is shared with and argued over against Peru, so nobody on this coast gets to claim it outright.
🌍
South America. Migration reworked the plate within living memory. Japanese arrivals in Peru and Brazil produced Nikkei cooking, Italians made pasta and pizza entirely ordinary in Argentina, Uruguay and Sao Paulo, and West African cooking carried into Bahia by the slave trade gave Brazil dende palm oil, okra and a whole ritual repertoire.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Chile
Porotos GranadosSummer stew of fresh beans, corn, squash, and basil, Chile’s pre-Columbian trinity in one pot.
SopaipillasGolden pumpkin-dough fritters, soft and faintly sweet, fried up on cold Chilean mornings and eaten with pebre or chancaca syrup.
CompletoA hot dog buried under diced tomato, mashed avocado, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise, Chile's overloaded snack-lunch.
Browse all Chile recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Blender.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie)?
A baked casserole of seasoned beef and chicken with egg, olives and raisins, under a thick, lightly sweet fresh-corn topping.
Where does Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) come from?
Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) is a Chilean dish from Central Valley, Chile.
Can Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie) take to make?
About 90 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 60 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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