Tater Tot Hotdish, also known as Tater Tot Casserole, is a classic comfort food recipe best known in Minnesota. This 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.

Tater tot hotdish on a plate with the pan of tater tot hotdish in the background

Tater Tot Hotdish

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I’m not from Minnesota. I’ve only been there a couple of times. I grew up in California and I had actually never heard of a Tater Tot Hotdish until recently. Tater Tots? You bet. I love them. But I had no idea what a hotdish, let alone a tater tot hotdish was.

What is Tater Tot Hot Dish?

Turns out, a hotdish is just another name for casserole. Speaking of casseroles, if this hotdish recipe looks good, you’ll definitely want to make Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole or how about a Pierogi Casserole?

I wanted to make sure that when I made this tater tot hotdish recipe, I stayed true to how Minnesotans enjoy it. Turns out I’m lucky enough to have a good friend from Minnesota who was happy to advise me.

You see, the West Coast girl in me wanted to add all sorts of ingredients, namely vegetables, to my hotdish. My friend said that wouldn’t be a true Minnesotan hotdish, so I stuck with just corn.

How to Make Tater Tot Hotdish

If you’re looking for a Tater Tot Hotdish without cream of mushroom soup, this isn’t the recipe you’re looking for. But let me tell you, this super simple recipe tastes amazing.

Some recipes make tater tot hotdish with sour cream, however, I would only do that if I were to incorporate some sauteed mushrooms, basically making my own cream of mushroom soup.

With the combination of ingredients used, I felt the dish had plenty of creamy texture and great flavor. The cheese wasn’t needed at all but of course you can add cheese to make this into a cheesy Tater Tot Hotdish!

Tater tot hotdish in a pan

How do you cook a Tater Tot Casserole?

Cooking Tater Tot Hotdish couldn’t be easier!

  • Brown ground beef and onions. I’m sure plenty of hotdish recipes out there don’t call for onion however, I think it adds a ton of great flavor and texture.
  • Transfer it to a baking dish, or you can cook the casserole in the pan you cooked the meat in if it’s large enough and oven safe.
  • Add the corn to the top of the meat and then top that with the cream of mushroom soup.
  • Cover with a single layer of tater tots and bake

How Long to Cook Tater Tot Hotdish

This casserole cooks about 45 minutes. If you’d like to make it ahead of time this tater tot hotdish can be refrigerated overnight before baking.

Remove it from the refrigerator about 20 minutes before baking (while the oven heats up). If you like the tater tots extra crispy, allow them to defrost a bit before you bake them.

More Casserole Recipes You’ll Love

Tater tot hotdish on a plate with the pan of tater tot hotdish in the background
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Tater Tot Hotdish

Tater Tot Hotdish, also known as Tater Tot Casserole, is a classic comfort food recipe best known in Minnesota. This 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.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients  

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 medium yellow onion chopped
  • 1 - 14 ounce can corn drained
  • 2 - 11 ounce cans cream of mushroom soup
  • 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.
  • Either transfer meat mixture to a 9x13 casserole dish or keep it in the skillet if it is 12" diameter and oven safe. Top with corn, then cream of mushroom soup, then tater tots.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until everything is heated through and tater tots are crisp on the outside.
5 from 9 votes↑ Click stars to rate now!
Or to leave a comment, click here!

Nutrition Information

Calories: 579kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 1209mg | Potassium: 571mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin C: 9.5mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 2.3mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.

Course Main Course
Cuisine American

Repin this Great Casserole

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About the author

Krissy is married to the Leftover King, has two food-loving kids, and lives on a 10 acre farm with 5 goats, 22 chickens, and one barn cat named Barn Cat. Krissy left a life in the suburbs and a career in the high tech industry that spanned almost two decades to devote all of her time and energy to her family, recipe creation, photography, and eating. You can find hundreds of delicious recipes on her blog, Self Proclaimed Foodie, and you can read about her farming adventures and mishaps on her new, more personal blog, Ten Acre Baker.
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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    A once-a-week casserole for us when I was growing up. This is a great quick recipe for busy families. I will add that my mom always crisped up the tater tots first, either by deep frying them or in the over, and then put them on the bottom and the top. Also, as a true Norwegian, let me offer you a little tip: “You bet” is definitely spot on but if you want to sound like a citizen of the state with 10,000 lakes bump it up to ” Ya, you betcha!” lol

  2. Technically, a “hotdish” is four things: meat, starch, and veg in a creamy sauce (usually condensed cream-of soup) that you serve from a pan. A casserole is a shallow baking dish which can contain all those things but is baked as well–usually with cheese on top.

    I spent fourteen years straight stuck in Minnesota–sixteen total–and the hotdish name applied to the tater tot dish never made sense to me. “It’s a casserole” I’d say, frustrated, just like I’d feel frustrated Minnesotans pronounce “bag” as “baeg”. (Later I learned Norwegian and understood *why* they pronounce it that way, haha. Oops on my part for not understanding the cultural root. Also oops on theirs they didn’t explain it.) Hotdish, like your Scandinavian-Americans in the Upper Midwest, is very practical. One pan to clean up after! 🙂

  3. When considering “cream of….” soups, never forget about cream of potato soup. I substitute cream of potato soup for many soups. Green bean casserole? Try a different taste by adding cream of potato instead of cream of mushroom soup. I don’t care for mushrooms and their soup!
    Enjoying this site!

  4. This dish sounds great byt I have a problem. I live on the West Coast of South Africa…never heard of Tater Tots….how do you make them?
    Thank you. Antoinette