Tater Tot Casserole

By HollyRN

A well loved casserole of ground beef, and I like to also add smoked sausage, seasoned with sweet onion and bell pepper and a cream soup sauce and topped with crispy, crunchy tater tot potatoes and cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 (10-ounce ) can cream of mushroom or chicken soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
• 1/4 cup of chopped green bell pepper
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1/2 pound of smoked sausage, chopped, optional
• 1 tablespoon of fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 pound package of frozen tater tots

Details

Servings 4
Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 75mins
Adapted from deepsouthdish.com

Preparation

Step 1

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A well loved casserole of ground beef, and I like to also add smoked sausage, seasoned with sweet onion and bell pepper and a cream soup sauce and topped with crispy, crunchy tater tot potatoes and cheese.

Ah yes... and let us not forget the fabulous famous Tater Tot Casserole! A recipe I'm pretty sure every southerner has in their recipe box. The basic tater tot casserole is very simple, including cream of something soup, cheese, milk or sometimes sour cream, seasoned simply with a bit of salt and pepper, and is usually served as a side dish. Somebody along the way thought to add meat to make it a more substantial main dish, usually ground beef or turkey. Some folks layer the ground beef in the bottom of the casserole raw, but I prefer to pre-cook mine and drain off the fat.

Just one thing to note here with this casserole. A lot of people mix all of the ingredients together, others put the hash browns on the bottom and pour the mixture on top of them. Well, in my little ole humble opinion, you want those tater tots to be crispy on top, really you do! This ain't hash brown casserole y'all. So I put the meat mixture on the bottom, top that with a little bit of cheese, pour the soup mixture over that and arrange the tater tots on top. Bake that uncovered and in the last five minutes, sprinkle just a bit of cheese on top and return to the oven to melt the cheese.

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray a 9 x 9 inch casserole dish with non-stick spray; set aside. Whisk together the cream soup and milk until well blended; set aside.

Add olive oil to a large skillet and saute the onion and bell pepper until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the ground beef and brown; drain if needed and return to the skillet. Add the minced garlic, cook and stir another minute. Add in the chopped smoked sausage and cook about 3 minutes. Stir in the basil, thyme, Cajun seasoning; taste and add salt and pepper only as needed. Transfer meat mixture to the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese. Evenly pour the soup mixture over the top. Arrange the tater tots on top and bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until potatoes are nicely browned and crisp. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheese on top and return to the oven just until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately with a green vegetable or a mixed garden salad.

Variation:

Add a layer of vegetables (about 1 cup) thawed if frozen, drained if canned. Good choices are green beans, peas, corn and mixed vegetables. Top with the 1/4 cup cheese, followed by the cream soup mixture and tater tots; bake. To make a breakfast casserole, substitute a 1 pound roll of cooked, crumbled breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean) and 4 to 5 slices of cooked crumbled bacon for the ground beef/smoked sausage. Eliminate the meat to make this a side dish.

I used Savoie's 7-links spicy hot smoked sausage this time, so I eliminated the Cajun seasoning but added in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder. Okay to use lower fat products. Double for a 9 x 13 inch casserole.

19 HUNGRY PEOPLE COMMENTED. ADD YOURS!

It makes me hungry just reading about it. I will definitely be making this for our next office pot luck. Thanks!

Love tater tot casserole. I haven't had one in forever though it seems. Always made my nanny make it for me when I come home but now I guess i need to start doing it myself!

I haven't made this for ages Mary, but it almost always turns up at our church potluck dinners. Then I eat my fill. The addition of sausage sounds yummy, and the tots must be on top. Gotta have it crunchy!

Heather

OMG! I am from Louisiana. I lost my mom when I was a teenager. I live in Florida, so I can no longer taste my grandma's cajun food. Just looking at your food reminds me of my childhood. I always thought it would be difficult to cook my moms potatoes and sausage, until I found it on your blog. When I cooked your recipe, the sweet taste of the onion and potatoes together brought my mom's memory back to me. Thank you for that. I can't wait to cook every recipe on your blog. Just like mom and grandma used to make. Cajun French for life! C'est bon! P.S. hint hint...Dying for that cookbook. :)

I love your blog and have found many new recipes that I have tried and love. I am a cookbook fanatic and would love to have this cookbook. I used to make tater tot casserole, when my daughter was home and am going to try it again on my grandkids. I used to put a can of mixed vegetables in it too.

I made a tater tot casserole a while back after stumbling upon it in a cookbook. Being from southern CALIFORNIA and not necessarily the SOUTH, everyone thought I was out of my mind! But they all ended up loving it. You have inspired me to make it again and mix it up.

I love the Tator Tot Casserole, but am anxious to try this with the meat added to it. I, too, am a Mississippi girl transplanted in NC now. My sister shared this site with me, and I'm so glad she did. (P.S. Would LOVE to win a cookbook).

Hi Lorelei and welcome!! It's very good with the meat added & makes it more of a main dish kind of meal. Hope you enjoy the website!!

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Oftentimes what makes a recipe southern, is as much a state of mind as it is a matter of geography - Southerners simply decide a particular food is southern, and that's that." ~Rick McDaniel, Food Historian