Tater Tot Casserole

This is unduly complicated in its effort to avoid using the proper ingredients: the "Lutheran binders", aka undiluted Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken soups. Also, there is no need to layer the meat and soup -- just mix it all together, add a layer of cheese, top with Tater Tots, and bake at 450 for 30 minutes. Top with another layer of cheese and stick it back in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts. I made three pans yesterday for a lunch today after church!

For people who truly enjoy cooking, the extra step of making the cream soup from scratch is a labor of love, and the flavor is more than worth it. There's nothing wrong with using highly processed convenience foods if that's what you prefer, but you shouldn't criticize a recipe you haven't actually made.

Jane, Mary, Debra and Randy got it right. The point isn’t to make it cause it’s fancy, it’s because it’s a hot dish—hot and fills a family fast. And don’t knock it till you’ve met a Minnesota winter.

For those of you that want to scream Sodium, Calories, and Heartattack, skip this recipe. For the rest of you, this is a very good comfort food dish. Two caveats - you can complete the casserole assembly, minus the tator tots and keep in the frig until ready to bake. Add the tots in their frozen state, then bake as directed. And, I cheat on some of the time by using a can of condensed cream of celery soup and 1 cup milk or cream for the homemade cream soup. Cuts the time almost by half

Hello, Minnesconsinite here. I am making this ‘bougie version out of curiosity but cannot tell my grandmother or any of my kinfolk about this roux-travesty. The beauty of tatortot *hot dish* is that it’s flavorful, easy, and inexpensive! (Get outta here with “casserole business”. food culture and food history is important and nothing grinds my gears more than when foodies take midwestern food that I saw my grandmother’s hands make and don’t respect it enough to use the proper terms.)

I swapped out the ground beef for ground pork. I subbed the tater tots for silken tofu, removed the carrots, and all milk products. I then sauteed the pork and tofu into some simmering sichuan peppercorns, douchi and doubanjiang and called it mapo tofu.

I, for one, am glad to have a recipe that doesn't call for canned cream of something soup. I have yet to find one that is gluten free and tastes decent. I would rather make it from scratch anyway.

The first time I came across a Tater Tot casserole recipe was in a cookbook put together by the residents of a retirement home in central Illinois, by a woman named Opal. Spiral bound, what looks like mimeographed pages. I've made this recipe religiously for around 13 years with add's and sub's along the way. However, if you are using tater tots you also have to use the "cream of" soups with it. It is known (as the Mandalorians say).

@Debra, the whole point of hotdish is convenience. Why not go full on foodie and make the tots from scratch, too?

I enjoyed all the comments. As a transplant to the MN-IA-SD area, I have to speak up for the canned soups. I also love cooking from scratch; but using the cans isn’t just about economy. I lived for six years 15 miles from a town with a grocery, and learned quickly to keep shelf stable items (like cans of condensed soup) on hand, especially in winter. With frozen hamburger and tater tots and a few cans , you and the family will still eat, even if you can’t get to town, or even across the road!

My wife and I enjoyed this tater tot casserole receipe at dinner tonight. We both grew up in Iowa in the 70's and ate many a hot dish. Now we are vegetarians and I substituted vegetarian hamburger. Making one's own cream sauce was so much better than the cream of mushroom soups our mothers used. We both agreed that this receipe was tastier than the tater tot casseroles we remember as kiddos! How often does that happen? Thanks :)

If you switch every other tot with a half grape tomato, it’s much more delicious.

Hard to believe someone in Minnesota made this recipe so complicated!

Agreed! I grew up on hot dish, and while my diet is 98% Mediterranean and whole foods now, I still throw one of these together occasionally. For a weeknight I'd just do it with condensed soup and frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, whatever) and it really won't be much different than recipe. Amy Klobuchar's recipe works well. Beyond Meat's burger brick or the crumbles work well here.

As a born and raised Midwesterner, reading this recipe was a good laugh. No need to layer the meat/vegetable mixture and the "cream of" soup... just mix it all together and throw it in the casserole, top with cheese and tater tots, and you're ready to go. Also, in my neck of the woods (northeastern Iowa), the overwhelming style is cream of mushroom soup and green beans. I don't think I've ever seen it with any other combination, although peas sounds good. I'll have to try that.