Best Ever Tater Tot Casserole is a classic comfort food recipe that everyone loves! This casserole is packed full of meat, green beans, corn, soup, and cheese for a totally satisfying dinner!
This post first appeared over at I am Baker, where I am a contributor. Be sure to try out my Chicken Tater Tot Casserole and my Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole too!
What is Tater Tot Casserole?
Tater tot casserole is also sometimes known as tater tot hotdish depending on where you live! It's a simple and comforting casserole with a few main components. Typically in these casserole recipes, you will find meat, potatoes or some other kind of starch, along with a combination of vegetables, cheese, and canned soup.
Tater tot casserole has been popular around family dinner tables for years because they are convenient to make using only one pan. They are also a favorite meal because they are very budget friendly! You can feed a crowd with a single 9×13 inch pan of tater tot casserole, or, you can easily get two meals from one casserole for a family of four.
How to Make Tater Tot Casserole:
My tater tot casserole recipe is so simple to make. A lot of times you will see hotdish made by the layering of ingredients with the meat first, then the soup, then the tater tots.
My version varies a bit from the traditional layering. But, I have found after making this casserole for years, that my way makes for the most flavorful casserole with the most accurate cooking time!
I start by cooking my ground beef with seasonings, then draining the grease if necessary. Instead of layering the casserole, then I mix the cooked beef together with two cans of soup, sour cream, the vegetables, and cheese.
Then, spread the beef mixture in the pan, and top with an even layer of tater tots. By mixing everything together, the meat has excellent flavor, and you don’t have to worry about it drying out!
Tater Tot Casserole with Green Beans:
Feel free to use canned or frozen vegetables in this recipe, both work just fine. I typically always use canned green beans and canned corn, because those are my family’s favorites. Tater tot casserole is also great with peas, carrots, broccoli, or whatever veggies your family likes best!
Same goes for the cheese for this recipe. I typically like to use sharp cheddar but have added parmesan as well and it adds great flavor. You can experiment with a mixture of cheeses to make this casserole your own.
How Long to Cook Tater Tot Casserole:
You will want to cook your tater tot casserole at 350 degrees. As tempting as it might be to cook this casserole at a higher temperature, it is best to go a little lower and slower.
Baking at 350 ensures that the casserole will be hot and bubbly, the cheese melted, and the tater tots perfectly light brown and crispy! This will take about 50 minutes total. Next, you will add your extra shredded cheese right on top of the casserole and place it back into the oven for about 5 minutes, just until the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
- 32 Ounce Package Frozen Tater Tots
- 1 Pound Lean Ground Beef
- ½ White onion, Diced
- ½ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Pepper
- 2 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- ⅓ Cup Sour Cream
- 1 10 Ounce Can Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
- 1 10 Ounce Can Cream of Mushroom or Chicken Soup
- 2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Divided
- 1 15.2 Ounce Can Corn, Drained
- 1 14.5 Ounce Can Green Beans, Drained
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large skillet brown the ground beef along with the onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce until the beef is no longer pink. Draine grease if necessary.
- In a large bowl mix together the beef mixture with the sour cream, both cans of soup, corn, green beans, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese.
- Spread the beef and soup mixture into the prepared pan. Top with an even layer of tater tots and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, until tater tots are brown and the casserole is bubbling.
- Top the casserole with the remaining shredded cheese and bake for 5 minutes longer until cheese is melted.
Video
Nutrition
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If you're looking for other easy weeknight dinners give these a try:
Easy to fix, and it tastes amazing. It is the ultimate comfort food. If making this for two or three people, fix it in two 9x9 pans and freeze one for later. I haven't tried that yet, but I am sure it would do well. Just leave off the cheese that tops the casserole at the very end.
We loved this tater tot casserole but there is only the two of us can we freeze what is left?
Yes!
This was DELICIOUS!!! The only revision was that I did not have the cheddar cheese soup so I used broccoli cheese instead. I also used French style green beans. This is most likely the best tator tot casserole recipe I have made. Thank you!!
Can this be prepared in advance and kept in frig until ready to bake or will that mess up the tater tots as they will have defrosted
Hi! I think that should be fine, your cook time might be a little bit less, so just keep an eye on it 🙂
I never liked tater tot casserole but my husband does. So every once in a while I make it for him. When I found your recipe I decided to make it. He loved it. I tried it and have to say it is so much better than the old recipe I used for over 30 years. So from now on we use your recipe and I will enjoy it too! You definitely have allot of great recipes!
This is in our biweekly rotation. It never lasts long and is my 18 year olds most requested dish! Thank you!!!!
Hi, I see the calories, but not the serving size. Could you tell me serving size for the 415 calories please?
I eat what I want, but do have a calorie budget and stick to serving sizes?
Thank you!
It says 8 servings so I would divide it into 8 portions. Each should have about that amount of calories
its up above, 8 servings!
8 servings per pan. So good. I could easily eat 2 servings. Yikes
Can I use thawed frozen veggies instead of canned? I don't like the taste of the canned veggies. Thanks!
Yes, frozen works fine
Thank you so much for this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and my husband and I love it. ❤️ Definitely a comfort meal.
Delicious and simple this is how my mom always made it I add a tsp of liquid smoke to the meat to up the flavor! Yum
I going to make this for my family on Sunday this will be my first time making it
My family and I were shocked at how good this actually was. I will definitely make this again!
I have tried many different versions of this recipe and this one is by far my all time favorite! It's so filling and delicious. I don't know if its the veggies in it or the cheese soup that makes this version the best.. All I know in our house with 3 teens and 1 tween; leftovers never last long. This last time I made it, I didn't have any regular cheese soup. I found some nacho cheese soup and it gave it just the right amount of flavor. Also not that it makes it a ton healthier, but I have used ground turkey instead of beef and it is just as delicious and cuts down the calories a little.
I don’t buy cheese soup but use cream of mushroom soup & use a can of Rotel
I’ve made this recipe for years but don’t put green beans n it. I do use corn & Rotel
I had a question abut the tater tots/ i thought I had some but they ended up to be corn nuggets. I hope it turns out!
I used Rotel instead of a can of cheddar soup and it was really good! I think that hint of spice was needed, great suggestion!
This recipe is truly amazing! I was looking around for something to use up 1.5 lb ground beef. I made this recipe as stated minus the Worcestershire sauce (I was out) and I used 1.5 lb of ground beef because I didn’t want to waste what I had. My picky hubby and kids loved it and my daughter requested this as her birthday dinner next month!
This was seriously the best ever tater tot casserole. It will be my go to recipe! I made it for dinner and my family of 3 loved it so much it was gone by morning the next day! So yummy.
I just made the tatertot casserole. I used cottage cheese, and French onion soup instead. Tried the corn and green beans. On top I used the fried onions on top the last 5 minutes. This is the first time to make this dish, after finding it a year ago. Thank you for the recipe.
This recipe was easy and DELICIOUS! Everyone went back for seconds. The recipe was similar to another recipe that I've used in the past. However, that recipe didn't call for Cheddar Cheese Soup and/or sour cream..... Game-changer!! ? I also liked the idea of mixing everything rather than layering! I did use peas instead of green beans because I already had peas. I also added a pound of hot sausage because my family really likes the flavor that it brings to dishes. We couldn't stop eating last night!! Thank you for this delicious recipe!! Its definitely a keeper!!
My family LOVED it! Thank you so much! My tater tots were in the deep freezer. I didn’t take them out until everything was fixed in casserole dish and then I added them. They were not soggy at all! Perfect crunchy texture as well. I didn’t have a white onion had only a sweet onion and ground turkey instead of beef. Also used lite sour cream. Husband and kids loved it! Thank you salty marshmallow ???♥️
Made lunch for 3 grand kids who hardly ever clean up their plates. Was totally surprised when they all asked for seconds and ate everything. Will be making again.
I don't have cheese soup. Can I use 1 can Mushroom soup and 1 can chicken soup?
I also didn’t have a can of cheddar cheese. I used can of cream of chicken and can of cream of mushroom and it can put amazing!!! Great dinner