Tater tot casserole (or tater tot hotdish) is an easy dinner recipe the whole family will love. A ground beef and vegetable layer, cheese, and tater tots are baked until hot and bubbly. Comfort food heaven!
Why We Love It
Think shepherds pie, but even better. This classic comfort food uses crisp tater tots rather than mashed potatoes, and is about as ‘dump and go’ as it comes!
This is one of our favorite casserole recipes, we make it every couple of weeks! The flavor is a little different each time, thanks to changing up the soup you use in the casserole. It never gets boring.
It’s also the perfect way to use up any vegetables you have left over in the fridge, everything can just be added in.
Tater Tot Casserole Ingredients
All tater tot casserole recipes use a few key components:
Ground beef – ground beef and onions are sauteed together to add to the beef layer of hotdish.
Vegetables – frozen veggies are perfect in this dish, and they cook right in the casserole so you can add them in frozen.
Cheese – opt for sharp cheddar cheese, it creates a bubbly delicious layer in the casserole that’s arguably the best part.
Sauce – canned soups make quick work of the sauce in the beef layer.
Tater tots – frozen tater tots to top it off.
How To Make Tater Tot Casserole
- Brown ground beef and yellow onion in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add to a large mixing bowl. Stir in veggies, cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, worcestershire sauce, and cans of soup.
- Pour into a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and tater tots.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until tots are crisp and casserole is hot and bubbly.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
To Make Ahead Of Time
If you want to prepare this ahead of time and just pop it in the oven when dinner is ready:
- Prepare beef mixture as above, then add to a casserole dish.
- Top with cheese.
- Store in the fridge until ready to bake.
- Before baking, add the frozen tater tots to the casserole and pop it in the oven!
Tips and Tricks For Tater Tot Casserole
- We like to add most of the cheese underneath the tater tots to give them a chance to crisp up. Too much cheese on top will result in soggy tots!
- If you prefer the tater tots to be nice and crispy, pre bake them for 10 minutes on a baking sheet before adding them to the hotdish.
- Let the casserole rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. This will keep the sauce from being too runny.
- If using lean beef, make sure you drain it well before adding to the mix.
- Place a rimmed baking sheet underneath the casserole dish to avoid any spills.
- We usually opt for low sodium or no salt added soups when making tater tot casserole.
Our Favorite Additions, Substitutions, and Variations
- Use any soup you’d like in this recipe. Our favorites are broccoli cheddar and cream of chicken soup, but cream of mushroom soup and cheddar cheese soup work well too!
- Try using ground turkey or pork in place of ground beef. It’s delicious!
- Have fresh veggies to use up? We love adding chopped broccoli, green beans, and bell peppers.
- For a kick, add a diced jalapeno to the vegetable layer.
- To make taco tater tot casserole, add a package of taco seasoning to the ground beef while it sautees. Top it with fresh salsa or pico de gallo!
- We love to top our hotdish with a heavy helping of sriracha.
- Leftover tater tot casserole makes a delicious breakfast. Top it with a fried egg. It’s seriously delicious – I have this for breakfast every time I make this casserole!
What To Serve With Tater Tot Casserole
While this is an entire dinner on its own, a quick caesar salad or tossed salad adds a light side to an otherwise heavier casserole.
Some garlic bread, or some cheddar bay biscuits make great sides too. We love doing biscuits so we can sop up anything left in the bowl!
Storing and Freezing Instructions
Tater tot casserole can be frozen before baking to make on a later date. Prepare the casserole up until baking, then cover with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 8 months. Add about 15-20 minutes to the baking time.
Once cooked, store tater tot casserole in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 5 days. After 5 days, the textures may change.
To Reheat
Reheating tater tot casserole is easy! Either pop it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350°F (preferred method to keep the tots crispy.
Or, just microwave on high for 1-2 minutes depending on your microwave.
More Ground Beef Dinners
- Ground Beef Stroganoff
- Taco Meatball Casserole
- American Goulash
- Sheet Pan Loaded Nachos
- The Best Italian Meatball Recipe
Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 cups frozen vegetables corn, green beans, peas
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese divided
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup low sodium, 10.5oz
- 1 can condensed cream of broccoli cheddar soup low sodium, 10.5oz
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 pounds tater tots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef and onions until no pink remains. Drain, and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add both cans of soup, frozen vegetables, ½ cup of cheddar cheese, garlic powder, worcestersire sauce, and Italian seasoning.
- Pour beef mixture into a 9x13" baking dish. Top with remaining cup of cheese. Arrange tater tots on top of casserole, and sprinkle with additional cheese if desired.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until tater tots are crisp and mixture is hot and bubbly.
- Rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
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1 thought on “Tater Tot Casserole”
I used your recipe as a template, due to multiple food allergies/sensitivities (gluten, onion/garlic). My replacement sauce: a combo of Miyoko’s Creamery Organic Fresh Italian Style Plant Milk Smoked Mozzarella, Nurishh Cream Cheese Spread Alternative (Plain), Good Karma unsweetened plain flax milk, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and Italian seasoning. The smokiness of the Miyoko’s helped make up no onion/garlic. I also swapped extra lean ground turkey for the beef.
I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I was just winging it. Although this version is quite a bit different from Classic Tater Tot Casserole, my family liked it.