Taco Tater Tot Casserole Recipe
This scrumptious taco tater tot casserole recipe includes a layer of tater tots loaded with your favorite taco flavors, like taco seasoning, melted cheese, beef, and the toppings of your choice.
I love tacos in any form but have always had a fondness for taco casserole ever since I first remember Mama making it as a child (see her taco casserole recipe here). This taco tater tot casserole recipe is a more convenient (and a little simpler) spin on Mama’s, involving tater tots as the foundation layer. My husband, Ricky, who used to swear he didn’t like casseroles, can’t get enough of this one. I bet you’ll have plenty of takers in your house, too!
The recipe is below, but let me tell you, it’s quick and easy. You just add a layer of tater tots to the bottom of your casserole and cook your flavored ground beef before adding it on top. Then add a layer of cheese, bake it in the oven, and serve it alongside your favorite taco toppings. It’s filled with the taco flavors we know and love, but with the addition of tater tots (and who doesn’t love them?). It’s hearty, filling, and delicious.
If you want to streamline it even more, make double the taco meat (through step 2) and freeze half of it for a quick to throw together casserole next time.
Recipe Ingredients
- Frozen tater tots
- Ground beef
- Taco seasoning
- Barbecue sauce
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Taco toppings of your choice
How to Make Taco Tater Tot Casserole Recipe
Place a layer of frozen tater tots in the bottom of an 8×8 casserole dish. Set aside.
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef until it’s no longer pink. Then add the water, taco seasoning mix, and barbecue sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thickened. It will be very saucy and that is fine.
Spoon the taco beef mixture over the tater tots. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes. Top with your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- You can freeze the casserole for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight before reheating briefly in the oven.
Recipe Notes
- Here are some taco toppings you might want to add on top of your taco tater tot casserole: green onions, shredded lettuce, Pico de Gallo, salsa, hot sauce, crushed tortilla chips or tortilla chips, sour cream, olives, cilantro, and guacamole.
- You can use whatever shredded cheese you prefer or have on hand. Mexican blend, Monterey Jack, and Pepper Jack cheese would all work well.
- Think it can’t be tacos without corn and beans? Feel free to add a can of black beans or pinto beans, and either a can of corn or a cup of frozen corn kernels to your meat mixture.
- Add some spice with a can of diced green chiles.
- Want to add more flavor? Feel free to add 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 chopped onion, and some bell pepper.
- Substitute the ground beef for ground pork or ground turkey.
Here are more terrific taco-flavored recipes:
Taco Soup (The World’s Easiest Supper)
Taco Pizza – Fast, Fresh, Delicious!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen tater tots small bag, you won't need them all
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 packets taco seasoning mix
- 1.5 cups water
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese I use sharp
- Taco toppings of your choice
Instructions
- Place a layer of frozen tater tots in the bottom of an 8x8 casserole dish. Set aside.1 bag frozen tater tots
- In a large skillet, brown the ground beef until it's no longer pink. Then add the water, taco seasoning mix, and barbecue sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thickened. It will be very saucy and that is fine.2 pounds ground beef, 2 packets taco seasoning mix, 1.5 cups water, 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- Spoon the ground beef mixture over the tater tots. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes. Top with your favorite taco toppings and enjoy!1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, Taco toppings of your choice
Nutrition
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
~Maya Angelou
I don’t think I could slaughter animals I had raised, too much like pets. Guess we would eat lots of eggs and run a home for old animals! On a very serious note, I have often thought of how my grandparents had no idea what was happening to their sons during WWII and had to wait so long for news. It must have been terrible, I know it was their faith that got them through!
So true Lucy, as a mother I can’t even begin to imagine the agony of waiting on news.
I’m sure there are many things my grandparents did that I couldn’t, times are just SO different now! The first thing that came to mind though, was —- play golf! My maternal grandmother was an avid golfer! I tried hitting a bucket of golfballs once, didnt have much luck. My brother was much more athletically inclined so he took up the sport with her guidance. I used to get a kick out of all her ‘golf clothes’ – the shoes with spikes on them and several pair of crazy plaid pants and matching swaters (it was the 60”s – 70s)!!! My grandmother was born in 1905 and lived to be nearly 90 years old. I’m convinced her active lifestyle is what kept her going strong for so long!
Oh my goodness, I bet she was a fun person to be around!!!
I probably could do it – but would not want to – have 13 children. At home, no hospital! I had my son without pain medication but he was born in a hospital with a doctor in attendance. I guess I’m just a scaredy cat!
13 children… WOW… Twila in FL
The morning, before the chicken dinner, my grandmother would go out back & grab a chicken & “wring it’s neck”! It was just how it was done. But, I could never do that and it broke my heart, as a child. I thought of the chickens as “pets”. Even though I am in my 70’s, I still remember that.
I too,Dianne,had a grandma that wrung chickens necks,then did all it took to take off feathers and prepare it for cooking. They also grew,raised most all of their food..of course the food was so much more tasty than todays and grandma cooked without recipes!! Her home made pound cakes with all that fresh eggs,butter etc. was so delish,as was her fried chicken,and homemade biscuits and fresh produce! Oh how I would love to be back at her table eating again!! I just turned 70 in Jan. as well!
Dianne, I too, couldn’t slaughter animals. I certainly know what it takes to raise, kill, and dress animals for food, and I’m NOT a vegetarian, so it’s not like I oppose it, I just also take on every animal that comes my way as a “pet”, so, if it was left to me to do it, I guess I WOULD be a vegetarian!! And yes, my grandparents raised and killed most of the meat they/we ate when I was a kid, but since we only visited on weekends, it was usually done before I got there. I was also not allowed to feed the chickens when I was there. Which was a chore that all my cousins that lived close to my grandparents did regularly, and I resented not being allowed to at least help on weekends, since we lived in the city (about 90 miles from my grandparents). I now realize my parents didn’t really want me to get “friendly” with the chickens!!
My grandmother did the same thing! Then she would put it in a big pan of scalding hot water to get the feathers off! Ohhhh, and every dog my grandfather had (for some reason I never figured out and DEFINITELY couldn’t do this) needed to have a “short or no tail”, so he put rubber bands around the part he wanted to fall off, leaving no circulation…poor animals! Guess they did what needed to be done (and what they were taught by their parents) ….
the older generations were better at doing any and everything they had to without thinking about the struggle, inconvenience, complaining, they just did it because it needed doing. They seem happier than folks today.
My grandparents killed hogs… I could NEVER do that even though I love ham and bacon!
I love your Mama’s Taco casserole and this one looks fantastic too. We love tater tots. I’m even gonna try it with some veggie (cauliflower) tots that I have in my freezer….I was wondering what to do with them. I’ll let you know later how it turns out. I can’t stand tornado weather. I thought it was bad when we lived in GA and TX but ut has become just as deadly here in the mountains of NE TN. All y’all keep safe down in AL. Love ya.
Wow this was really good. I had to bake the cauliflower tots ( I broke them up into a level layer) in the oven while the meat cooked in the skillet because of the higher water content than tater tots. I laid 4 slices of Borden American cheese on the cailiflower before adding the beef mixture then topped it with shredded mexican blend cheese and baked it covered for 30 minutes. then I took the foil of, turned the oven off and set the dish back in the oven on the top rack for 10-15 minutes. then served it with lettuce, onion, tomato guac and tostitos queso dip.
Thanks for sharing Barbara!!!