Slow Cooker Tater Tot Casserole
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An absolute crowd-pleaser! Loaded with ground beef, cheese and everyone’s fave: TATER TOTS! Made in the crockpot! EASY!!!
My birthday has been extended for the week.
It involved this beef and broccoli ramen stir fry on my actual birthday.
Then it was this sheet pan shrimp broil during the week.
And today.
Well, today, I get a double load of this cheesy Mexican tater tot casserole.
For breakfast.
At 7:52 in the morning.
But don’t worry.
I did a bottom layer of tater tots as well as a top layer.
Because.
I mean, it’s really the only way to do it properly, no?
Slow Cooker Tater Tot Casserole
An absolute crowd-pleaser! Loaded with ground beef, cheese and everyone’s fave: TATER TOTS! Made in the crockpot! EASY!!!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 1 cup salsa, homemade or store-bought
- 1 4.5-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix
- 1 10-ounce can mild enchilada sauce
- 1 16-ounce package frozen tater tots
- ¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and onion and cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat and remove from heat.
- Stir in black beans, corn, salsa, green chiles, taco seasoning and enchilada sauce.
- Lightly coat the inside of a 4-qt slow cooker with nonstick spray.
- Spread half of the tater tots onto the bottom of the slow cooker; top with ground beef mixture and remaining tater tots. Cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours. Add cheese during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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My family loves this. I’ve made it for them for years. I don’t eat beef though and I’m not very adventurous with changing recipes. I hate to waste a batch if it doesn’t turn out but has anyone made it with ground chicken, or turkey? I think a ground beef alternative might be ok but they’d scoff at that. 🙂
Thanks
Amazing. we added sour cream and ate with tortilla chips.
This is on repeat in our house. We love it! So easy and inexpensive. I like to mash up an avocado for my serving.
This was very tasty. I will definitely make it again. I used 1 pound ground beef instead of 1.5 pounds. I also added more tater tots and cheese than it called for. Thank you for the recipe, we really enjoyed it.
At 3 hours is was fully cooked, but the top tots were soggy. So I transferred it to a 200º oven for the final hour. Then turned the oven to broil to brown the tots, added the cheese, and let the cheese melt under the broiler.
I made this for the weekly slow cooker meal I do for Sabbath after church. It was one that was on the shortlist for quite a while, and the stars fell into alignment. With one that was bubbling for over 12 hours while I was sleeping and attending church, by the time I was home it was good and ready.
My housemate had already tucked into a portion, and was impressed. So much so, he went back for seconds. I am a big spice fiend, so anything that is this rich and spicy will automatically warm up in the opinion. As per normal. I tested the capacity of the pan with cooking the mince mixture; this had two portions of mince meat, two shucked corn cobs, and all the other trimmings. There was thankfully enough space in the crock pot.
My backlog of recipes is only getting more extensive with these discoveries.
Made this today and while the taste is great, I find it very dry. Did anyone else find this? Not sure where i went wrong. Maybe I used too many tots? I also added green pepper and mushrooms instead of chiles. And I did 3 layers of tots and threw some cheese in the middle layer.
What about on high heat for the slow cooker?
Everyone at church loved it!!!
Now it’s in the rotation – thanks Chungah
Used hot seasoning and enchilada sauce (we like it with more kick). Everyone loved it. Definitely a do over.
Question***
Has anyone tried this recipe in an oven instead of slow cooker?
This was tasty but like some others said it would be even better with crispier tots. I made it without any meat and can’t say I missed it. My one question is the 16 0z tatertot ingredient – normal frozen tots come in 32 oz bag and that’s what I used. Would have been SUPER soupy with half the tots.
I used a bag of 20 oz sweet potato tots. I’ve only bought tots once in 25 years as a mom so no clue on sizing. I figured the 20 oz was being generous with my crew. I may do cubed potatoes next time to avoid the processed factor but thought I’d follow the recipe as-is first time.
If you have a ceramic crockpot dish, you can pull that out and put it in the oven with lid off to get crispy tater tots on top. Just a suggestion.
Such a good recipe!
I doubled the beans and used 1/2 lb ground beef instead because I don’t eat that much meat. Instead of tater tots as a layer on the bottom, I put the tots on top only. Forgot the salsa but it came out great!! My little brother came over to help me with something at the house so I had him try it and he said it was really tasty!!! I think the one thing I would change would be maybe cooking the tots before so they stay crispy. But otherwise, definitely keeping this recipe!
Thank you so much!!
I’ve made this recipe many times and am never disappointed. It’s so good. I do use a can of Bush’s (want to say its fiesta flavor) beans that has black beans, corn and spices. Have not been able to get it because of the pandemic. Hardly any head available here. Its super simple and my kids love it. Great the next day warmed on a tortilla with salsa and more cheese.
I’ve made tachos. Which are delish but this is easier . One pot no fuss no mess. It will now be one of my go to meals. Highly recommend.
My kids are typically pretty picky eaters, unfortunately!! But they loved this dish as did I! So much goodness in this, thanks to whoever submitted this outstanding recipe!!!
Also, my tots were not too mushy – actually just perfect. I had a bigger crockpot so I used more tots and started them frozen, plus added a touch more cheese. Hope that helps anyone!! And I used fresh ingredients and really good local beef.
Just made this last night, tastes great! My only issue is that the tater tots came out soggy and mushy. Would you recommend maybe putting them in the oven or air fryer before putting them in the slow cooker?
another thing to try is putting a sheet of paper towel in between the pot and the lid while it’s cooking. This helps prevent the condensation from the lid to drip onto the tator tots. Tried this method with a different recipe that called for biscuits – it really did the trick to keep them from getting soggy!
How many calories?
Question: the recipe says it serves 8 how large are the portion sizes?
I have a question.
I am obsessed with my Inatant Pot.
Can I use the “slow cooker” setting on it to make this?
I wouldn’t recommend EVER using the slow cook setting on IP. Just use your crock pot. Or layer in a 9*13 and bake in the oven.