BBQ Tater Tot Casserole is a hearty and easy dinner that would even fill up a hungry cowboy!
Two things happened this week that inspired this recipe. First, I saw a delicious breakfast tater tot casserole from NeighborFood. It made me remember the first time I heard about tatertot casserole when I was in college. I thought it sounded weird, tried it anyway, and fell in love. I have since kind of forgotten about it, but when I saw that breakfast one, it gave me a hankering. I started to think about how I could make a recipe that was somehow different than the standard cream of mushroom soup version. Then someone probably said, “Mommy!” and I got distracted and forgot about tater tot casserole existing again.
Then, a few days later we had french fries for dinner. No news there, but I decided I wasn’t in the mood for plain fries and got some BBQ sauce for dipping. That reminded me of how much I like fries and BBQ sauce, and that reminded me of my tatertot casserole craving. That’s how we got here.
I don’t know why I called this Cowboy Casserole exactly. It just seems like something a cowboy would eat, but I don’t have a cowboy handy to ask if they are into tater tots and BBQ sauce and corn. We sure liked it, and it’s plenty easy. It’s also easy to make the meat part ahead of time and bake when you’re ready.
Oh, and as a side note, I like to use BBQ sauce with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. That usually is hard to find and expensive, but I noticed that Target’s Market Pantry brand uses real sugar and is really reasonably priced. This only feeds my Target addiction, as if I needed help with that. Use your favorite BBQ sauce in this recipe, and enjoy a tasty comfort food dinner!
| Prep Time | 3 minutes |
| Cook Time | 45 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 20 ounces ground turkey A pound of turkey or beef is fine.
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup frozen corn (or 10 ounces can whole kernel corn drained)
- 15 ounces can pinto beans drained
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
- 28 ounces bag frozen tatertots
Ingredients
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Rate this recipe!
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- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray, and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, ground meat, chili powder, hot sauce, and salt. Stir and cook until meat is almost cooked through. Stir in corn and drained beans, and cook a couple more minutes until hot.
- Pour meat mixture into the prepared baking dish. Drizzle BBQ sauce over the meat, and spread shredded cheese over that. Arrange tater tots in an even layer over the top of the cheese.
- Bake uncovered in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are golden brown. (I like to bake mine a little longer so the tots get pretty crispy on top.)
Want more hearty dinner ideas? Try these!
DJM says
I made this tonight. Both kids and adults were satisfied.
Had to make it with green onions, because that’s all I had on hand. No problem. Doubled the chili powder and hot sauce (we like strong flavors) and also added a tsp of garlic powder and a half tspn of cumin to the meat mixture. Next time, I plan on adding some ground mustard, or even some French’s yellow into the meat mixture. I think that would add a nice zing. Another thing I did was add a light sprinkling of shredded cheese to the top of the tots for the last 10 minutes of the 40 minute bake time., mostly for appearance’s sake. Also added some chili powder and dried parsley to the top, and it was a pretty nice looking dish.
Good, fun dinner. I never would have thought of using tater tots in a casserole. Will make again.
Emily Woodruff says
what would you use as a side?
Andi Gleeson says
I would serve it with a simple side salad or maybe steamed green beans or broccoli.
Nicole H. says
This was really easy and tasted great! The only really minor change I made was that I used a whole can of corn. Thanks! This will be a repeat. :)
Andi Gleeson says
I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks, Nicole!
Jennifer says
I’m about to try this recipe out. I don’t have any ground beef, but I do have leftover pulled pork so we will see how this turns out. Any suggestions on if I should substitute any of the ingredients to compliment pulled pork would be appreciated.
Andi Gleeson says
Hi, Jennifer! I don’t think you need to make any substitutions. It will taste great with pulled pork!! I hope you enjoy it :)
Jenna Hermann says
I hardly ever post a review but oh man….how could I not? This is simple and out of this world delicious. Just what I needed to satisfy my craving for barbeque.
Andi Gleeson says
Oh thank you so much, Jenna!! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Susan Nixon says
My son said he’d try it. No, he isn’t a cowboy either. =) I find no high fructose bbq sauce and ketchup at most of the grocery stores in TN, and it isn’t outrageously priced. Now if I could just find a bologna sold in markets and which didn’t have the HFCS, I’d be truly thrilled. =)
mary ann biggs says
excited to try some new recipes. thank you
Andi Gleeson says
Thank you, Mary Ann! I’m glad to have you as a reader :)
Lorie says
Can I use Potatoes O’Brien instead of Tater Tots?
Andi Gleeson says
Sure, that should turn out well too, Lorie. Thanks!
Sharon says
Made this the other night with a few adjustments and it was wonderful.
My hubby hates beans, so I left those out, added a can of drained, diced tomatoes and 10 ounces of sautéed mushrooms to the hamburger.
Cowboy casserole is now part of our line up.
Andi says
Thank you, Sharon! I’m so glad you were able to adjust it to suit your tastes. :)
Alison says
This sounds so yummy and I’m sure my teenage boys will want me to try this one! And like you I prefer real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Weber makes an awesome BBQ sauce without the corn syrup and is reasonably priced. I buy mine at my local grocery store.
Andi says
Ooh thanks for the tip, Alison. I’ll look for that one!
Alison says
I made this last night and it’s a winner! My boys loved it and was so easy to make. I did have to make adjustments based on what I had in my kitchen. I used ground venison instead of ground turkey, black beans instead of pinto beans, and garlic salt instead of salt(just because we love garlic). We will definitely be making this again! Thanks for sharing Andi!
Andi says
Thank you, Alison. I’m so glad you liked it! I have never tried venison, but several people have said they substituted it in my recipes. I bet it tastes great!
Paula says
I don’t know if my boys would like this, they’re weird when things are mixed together, but I sure would!! Love this Andi!
Andi says
Thanks, Paula! My boys aren’t casserole fans either. They would be very happy if they had individual foods on divided plates every night. Drive me crazy because they are missing out!
amanda @ fake ginger says
I love everything about this! And I know my kids would love it, too!
Andi says
Thanks so much, Amanda! I wish my kids were more adventurous. They would turn their noses up at BBQ sauce and corn mixed in, but my husband and I sure liked it :)