Frito Pie With Real Frito Crust

The first time I made Frito pie, I expected it to be more like an actual pie, not a pile of Fritos with chili, onions and cheese dumped on top.  Don't get me wrong, Fritos with chili dumped on top is good, but anyone can make that.  What I had in mind was a pie with an actual Frito crust, filled with chili, onions and cheese.  But I never could find a recipe for it like that.  So I pretty much stopped making it.  I felt lazy for serving nothing but a pile of chips with stuff dumped on top of it for dinner.

Well, recently my husband started asking to have Frito pie for dinner again, and I thought, well, maybe if I can figure out how to make an actual pie instead of the way I was making it before... So I did some searching online.  I didn't find much, but I found some comments on a Q&A site where someone else had asked about Frito pie crust.  Using the information I found there plus a recipe for a graham cracker crust, I came up with the perfect recipe for Frito Pie.  Here goes:

Frito Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups crushed Fritos or other corn chips

2 egg whites beaten with 2 tsp water

1/4 cup melted butter

Mix chip crumbs, egg whites and melted butter in a bowl.  Press into an ungreased 9 inch pie plate.  Bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 7-9 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

Frito Pie:

1 pre-made Frito pie crust, cooled

2 cups of chili

2 eggs

1/3 cup onions

1/2 cup cheese

Mix the chili, eggs and onions in a bowl.  Pour into the pie crust.  Top with cheese.  Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve.

I was really happy with how it turned out.  As with any new recipe, I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was exactly what I was expecting the first time I made Frito pie.  Delicious!