Friday, March 16, 2012

Tater Tot Casserole - Fit for a Kid, Loved by Adults

Ah, the Tater Tot...kids love them, adults love them, and Napoleon loves them so much that he'll tell you to get your own! A few months ago, when we were experiencing the throes of over-committed work schedules, my oldest sister-in-law was watching our children for us for the day; if that wasn't enough, that do-anything-for-anyone woman made us a carryout portion of what her family was having for dinner. She sent us home with tater tot casserole and peach cobbler. Oh. My. Word. - Delicious. After a long work day, basically anything that someone else makes for you is perfect. However, after making this recipe myself for my family later on, I've learned that this is a perfect recipe for any kind of day. It's quick, easy, and loved by kids and adults alike. The nice thing about this recipe, too, is that you can vary it with things you have on hand. The first time I made it, I used a base recipe (ground beef, soup, cheese, minced onion, and tots). A friend of ours happened to be hovering around the kitchen that day and told me that the recipe is also awesome with cream of celery soup. I never even considered using cream of celery...maybe I didn't even know it existed actually? At any rate, it really is good that way and that's how we had it tonight. I also spied some fresh mushrooms in the fridge that I meant to roast earlier this week; I threw those in, too.

I'll give you the rundown below, but basically if you think it would taste good on a burger, it would probably fit in this casserole. I think you could easily steam some broccoli, throw that in and sub out the cream of celery for broccoli cheddar soup and cheddar cheese soup for the cream of mushroom. If you mix it up a different way, let me know in the comments box below. I'm always looking for new dinner ideas!

Here's what you need: 

  • 1.5-2lbs of ground beef
  • 1 small white onion (or half of a large one)
  • 1 package of fresh white mushrooms, washed and sliced
  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can of cream of celery soup
  • 1 bag of seasoned tater tots
  • 1 bag of shredded cheddar or colby
Here's what you do:
  • Preheat your oven to 425
  • Grab a 9x13 baking dish and set-aside
  • Brown the ground beef and sauté with mushrooms and onions
  • Drain ground beef and pour in baking dish
  • Fold-in soups over ground beef
  • Empty bag of frozen tater tots onto beef; arrange in tots into one layer
  • Top tater tots with cheese
  • Bake for 25 minutes; tots should appear done/golden
Let cool and enjoy! Serve with fruit and veggies. 

9 comments:

  1. This looks great and I'm going to do it tomorrow. But I'd think you might want to add the cheese during the last 10 minutes of cooking instead of the entire baking time.

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  2. Thanks for the variation idea! You could certainly add the cheese at the end; we just like our cheese a little on the crunchy side and that's what you get when left on for the entire cook-time. Thanks for the tip and thanks for reading! ~Tess

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  3. My mom made this when I was a kid and we always loved it. She usually added a layer of drained canned corn or green beans before the tater tots.

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  4. I made it with cream of potato and layered with cream style corn so it turned out to be a knock off shepherds pie. Delicious!

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  5. this was fast and easy and i added a few chili flakes to give it a kick really tasty thank you

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  6. I made this like the person above with cream of potato and the cream corn. Then put a layer of peas on top. It was such a hit! This will become a staple in my recipe box. I'm going to try different veggies next time, like green beens, carrots, ect.

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  7. Making for dinner! I used fiesta cheese soup and cream of chicken. There are too many choices for this, but you can never go wrong with tots!

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  8. Im not a huge fan of eating a big plate of meat for dinner (hamburger helper, etc) so I didn't think I would like the dinner, but I knew my family would so I made it anyway. Made as directed and oh my gosh I really like it!!such a fun spin on meat and potatoes Made on a Friday night instead of the usual fun meals like pizza or easy dinners.

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  9. I put my cheese under the tater tots so my tater tots get good and crispy on top

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