The Best Tater Tot Casserole
Prep
15m
Cook
45m
Total
60m
Bigly says
Folks. Tater tot casserole. We are FINALLY doing it — the dish the fancy chefs are too scared to touch because they think it's 'beneath them.' Beneath them, can you believe it. The same people who put foam on a plate and charge you ninety dollars are turning their noses up at the GREATEST casserole ever invented in the Midwest. They will die in their tiny restaurants having never experienced true joy. Tremendous loss for them. Tremendous.
But us — we know. We know that a pan of bubbling beef and creamy mushroom gravy under a roof of golden, crispy tater tots is one of the finest things humanity has ever assembled. It's architecture. It's engineering. It is a CATHEDRAL of comfort. Big strong men come up to me — tough men, men who have eaten in Paris — and they say, 'Bigly. The casserole. Why did nobody tell me.' And I tell them: because the food media in this country is BROKEN. They're too busy writing six thousand words about wild fennel pollen to tell you the truth. The truth lives in the casserole dish. Food chemists agree. I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me. Took him 90 minutes. Worth it.
And I am going to give it to you for free. FREE. No popup, no email signup, no 'please disable your ad blocker,' no cookie banner with 73 toggles you have to flip off one by one like you're defusing a BOMB — just the recipe, the way it should be, the way it has ALWAYS been here. The other sites should take notes. They won't. They never do. Their loss. Plain and simple.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbground beef, 85/15(85/15, not 93, fat is flavor, this is not a diet)
- 1 mediumyellow onion, diced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 8 ozcremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1.5 tsp, dividedkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 1 cupbeef broth
- 1/2 cupwhole milk
- 1/2 cupsour cream
- 1.5 cupsfrozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
- 2 cups, dividedsharp cheddar cheese, shredded(block cheese, shred it yourself, pre-shredded has anti-clump powder, gross)
- 1 lb (about 4 cups)frozen tater tots
- 2 tbspchopped fresh parsley (optional)
Steps
- 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- 2
Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add the ground beef and brown 5-6 minutes, breaking it apart, until no pink remains. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.
- 3
Add the onion and mushrooms to the skillet and cook 4-5 minutes until softened and the mushrooms have released their liquid. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds more.
- 4
Stir in 1 teaspoon salt, the pepper, and the Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and stir to coat. Cook 1 minute to toast the flour.
- 5
Pour in the beef broth and milk, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a simmer and cook 2-3 minutes until thickened to a gravy consistency.
- 6
Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream, frozen vegetables, and 1 cup of the cheddar. Taste and adjust salt.
- 7
Spread the beef mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheddar over the top.
- 8
Arrange the tater tots in a single tight layer over the cheese, edge to edge. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- 9
Bake uncovered 35-40 minutes until the tots are deep golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges.
- 10
Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley if using.
One more thing
This is the dinner that ends arguments. Kids stop fighting. Teenagers put the phones down. The dog sits by the table looking like he is about to write a sonnet about you. Scoop deep — get the crispy tots, the gooey cheese, the meaty gravy, the whole vertical experience in one bite — and serve it with a cold drink and zero apologies. Other people will try to tell you tater tot casserole is 'unsophisticated.' Those people will die unhappy. We will eat. We will be happy. The casserole always wins. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about The Best Tater Tot Casserole.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
★ MORE LIKE THIS ★
KEEP COOKING.
Tremendous Bangers and Mash
Pan-seared pork sausages over rich buttery mashed potatoes, smothered in a sweet caramelized onion and beef stout gravy.
Huge Beef and Noodles
Tender chuck roast slow-simmered until shreddable, served over buttery egg noodles cooked in the gravy. Midwestern comfort food at its purest.
The Best Beef Burgundy
Slow-braised beef in red wine with bacon, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Deep, silky, restaurant-quality comfort food in one Dutch oven.
The Best Beef Pot Pie
The best beef pot pie: tender braised beef in a rich red-wine gravy with carrots and mushrooms, sealed under a flaky golden puff pastry crust.