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Tater Tot Hotdish, also known as Tater Tot Casserole, is a classic comfort food recipe best known in Minnesota.This Tater Tot Hotdish recipe is a combination of five ingredients you will most likely already have on hand – ground beef, onion, cream of mushroom soup, corn and tater tots.
If you love tasty easy ground beef dinner recipes, you’ll surely love my American Goulash with bell peppers or Salisbury Steak with cream of mushroom soup.
Why this recipe works
This is definitely one of our favorite go-to casserole recipes.
- Super easy to make and one skillet to clean.
- Only five ingredients: ground beef, onion, corn, cream of mushroom soup, tater tots.
- Even the pickiest of eaters tend to love this casserole.
- Tastes like pure comfort food. You can always lighten up the meal by serving it with a fresh green salad.
Here’s how to make it
- Preheat the oven because you will be transferring the skillet from the stove to the oven.
- Brown the ground beef with the onion in the skillet until it starts to crumble (photo 1). Top with corn (photo 2) and the cream of mushroom soup (photo 3).
- Then, cover with tater tots (photo 4) band bake in the oven until everything is heated through and the tater tots are crisp.
Cooking tips
- My friend Julie who was born, raised, and still currently resides in Minnesota (she calls it “supper” instead of “dinner” and says “Ya”) insists that true Minnesota Tater Tot Hotdish is made with corn. Based on all the comments from my midwest readers, you can definitely change up the ingredients and still call it Hotdish.
- Vegetable variations: Try swapping out the corn with your other favorite vegetables. Readers have recommended using mixed vegetables, green beans, carrots, mushrooms, etc. You can also increase the amount of vegetables in the recipe.
- Crispy tots: When making a Tater Tot casserole, you definitely want the tater tots to be crispy. To do this, you can: ensure they are in a single layer, allow them to partially thaw before baking, or even pre-fry them before making the casserole.
- Other add-ins: my Midwest readers have also recommended adding sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, cream of chicken along with the cream of mushroom soup, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and additional shredded potato mixed into the ground beef.
Tater Tot Dinner Recipes
There is quite a lot of debate as to whether a Tater Tot Hotdish is a Tater Tot Casserole. Some people say they are one in the same and others argue they are completely different.
Either way, here are some other Tater Tot Casserole recipes that you might enjoy.
- Sausage Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
- Sloppy Joe Casserole
- Cheesy Ham and Broccoli Tater Tot Casserole
- Tater Tot Casserole with Bacon
- Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 2 cups corn 14-ounce can, drained; or approximately 2-cups frozen or fresh corn
- 22 ounces cream of mushroom soup I used 2-11oz containers of Trader Joe's Portabella Cream of Mushroom; if using condensed, you must follow directions to add the appropriate amount of liquid
- 2 pounds tater tots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once meat is starting to brown and is crumbly, remove from heat. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Either transfer meat mixture to a 9×13 casserole dish or keep it in the skillet if it is 12″ diameter and oven safe. Top with corn.
- Next top with cream of mushroom soup.
- Finally, top with tater tots. You can just dump them on, but I like to make a pattern because I’m weird like that.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until everything is heated through and tater tots are crisp on the outside.
Notes
- Vegetable variations: Try swapping out the corn with your other favorite vegetables. Readers have recommended using mixed vegetables, green beans, carrots, mushrooms, etc. You can also increase the amount of vegetables in the recipe.
- Crispy tots: When making a Tater Tot casserole, you definitely want the tater tots to be crispy. To do this, you can: ensure they are in a single layer, allow them to partially thaw before baking, or even pre-fry them before making the casserole.
- Other add-ins: my Midwest readers have also recommended adding sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, cream of chicken along with the cream of mushroom soup, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and additional shredded potato mixed into the ground beef.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was originally created for Centsless Meals in April 2018 and has been updated with more cooking tips, helpful information, and photos. Don’t worry – I haven’t changed the recipe because it’s just too darn delicious!
My mom mixes Cream of Mushroom soup and Vegetable Beef soup from Campbell’s together in her version of Tater Tot Hotdish. Usually tosses in a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and diced up potatoes with the ground beef.
*Born and raised Minnesota!
The whole family loves this, especially the grandkids. Super simple!
2lbs lean gr beef, drained and rinsed.
1/2 can cream of mushroom
1/2 can cream of chicken
1 can French cut green beans, drained
Mix it all up in 9×13
Tot it up- my grown sons prefer the tots to stand on end rather than lay down for more tots-per-inch and less surface touching the mushy mix.
In “the lean years” (parents of large teenage boys understand being grocery-poor) we would add a diced potato to “stretch” a pound of meat. Also cut the tots in half (still stand on end). Which they hated 🙂
I’ve been making tater tot hot dish since it first came out here in Minnesota. In the 70’s, and yes the original recipe called for “mixed veggies!! So hamburger, onion, mixed vegetables, cream of mushroom soup and tater tots. Never heard of there being a difference between hot dish and/or casserole, they were always either, or, exactly the same. So enjoy this wonderful “supper” , so delicious!!
I agree, hotdish and casserole are not interchangeable. Hotdish has the cream of ……… in it. I was born, raised and still live in Minnesota. Camp through out the year (yes even in winter). I also say you can use mixed vegetables in the hotdish. There are many hotdishes with tater tot hotdish being the best known I think. Many variations of it. I always add cheddar cheese to mine.
I’m a born-and-raised-in-Minnesota 56 year old gal who is versed in ‘hotdish’ vs ‘casserole’. The 2 terms are NOT synonymous or interchangeable. The 2 are easily distinguishable. A Hotdish contains Cream of _____ Soup whereas a casserole does not. One can’t invoke the traditional French’s Green Bean Casserole as an exception to this rule. French’s just fancied up the name of their dish by Frenchifying it into a ‘casserole’ which sounds more posh than ‘Hotdish’.
This might just be the best comment ever! Love it!
Another born and raised in Minnesota here! I always add onion, garlic salt, pepper to the ground beef, plus add 1/4 cup sour cream to soup, green beans and corn (peas in a pinch), 1/2 cup grated cheese of choice and 10-15 toys. Mix all together to coat, then pour into 9×13. Layer the rest of the tots over the top in single layer. Cook at 375 for 45 min. Serve with hot sauce. Yum!!!
Yours looks like the most beautiful tater tot hotdish I’ve ever seen, dontcha know! 🙂
Dontcha know! Hahahaha! Love it.
Hi there, Just another born & bred Minnesotan weighing in over here. Any hot dish can go from good to great by upping the veggie content and variety. Tater tot hot dish in particular will benefit from the following:
-onions, carrots and green beans, we need to round out our daily needs here.
-Sliced mushrooms and a few dashes Worcestershire sauce, to dial up the umami.
Diced potatoes mixed into the “filling”, their added starch helps hold this north woods shepherd’s pie together.
And most importantly, pre-fry your tots. Bake them all you want and they’ll get crispy; but if you pre-fry your tater tots, you the texture evolves into a mouthful of bliss.
I’m from Wisconsin these last 11 years. Just across the river from Minnesota. We make tatertot hotdish several times a year. I add a bag of frozen mixed veggies. Our favorite mix now is the Japanese stir fry mix. Sometimes I use mini tater tots. You can also add a layer of cheese before adding the tater tots or mix in some sour cream with the soups. So many ways…!
Where on earth does one find mini tater tots? YUM!
Mini Tater Tots are usually sold as “Crowns” and are about the size and shape of the Potato Oles from Taco Johns. 🙂
They are Tater Tot “Crowns”
I’ve lived in Minnesota all of my life, don’t ya know? Ok, dumb Fargo joke out of the way and no, I don’t know anyone that talks like they do in that movie. I do in fact know that tater tot hotdish is our unofficial State meal. I love it my kids love it, I think it’s in our dna up here. But I have always had it with mixed vegetables instead of just plain corn so your green vegetable is covered that way. So if you enjoyed your recipe maybe you sould try it with the mixed vegetables and then you may love it too.
Hey Dan, My whole family loves eating this so next time I will try it with mixed veggies. I’m sure it’ll be great!
I’m from South Dakota and have always used green beans instead of corn. A lot of people used the Frozen mixed veggies. I have never heard of using just corn.
One of my good friends in Minnesota told me she makes hers with just corn. Of course you can use green beans or mixed veggies too. Personal preference.
I i I make it for pot luck lunch by mixing all ingredients in a crock pot and letting it cook about 4-5hours and it comes out perfect.
I just have a question.
Should I drain the beef before putting into my 9×13?
If it’s extra greasy, yes. I almost always use lean grassfed ground beef, so I never have excess grease.