Taco Tater Tot Casserole Recipe

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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.

Serving Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Tacos are always a hit, and taco casserole is a timeless favorite. This taco tater tot casserole puts a convenient and fun spin on the classic, using tater tots as the foundation layer. Even the pickiest eaters can’t resist this one—it’s hearty, flavorful, and packed with those taco flavors everyone loves.

This recipe is quick and easy to prepare. Start with a layer of tater tots at the bottom of your casserole dish, then cook the seasoned ground beef and layer it on top. Add a generous layer of cheese, bake it to golden perfection, and serve it with your favorite taco toppings. The result is a comforting, delicious dish that’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

For an even faster meal next time, prepare double the taco meat (through step 2) and freeze half. It makes assembling this casserole even easier when you’re short on time.

How to Make Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Taco Tater Tot Casserole ingredients
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

Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking sprayPrepare an 8 x 8 casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.

place tater tots in the bottom of the dishPlace a layer of frozen tater tots in the bottom of the casserole dish and set aside.

brown hamburger in skillerIn a large skillet, brown the ground beef until it’s no longer pink.

Add water, seasoning and sauce to browned ground beefWhen the ground beef is browned, add the water, taco seasoning mix, and barbecue sauce.

Cook beef and sauce until thickenedCook over medium heat, stirring often, until thickened. The beef mixture will be very saucy.

spoon beef mixture over prepared tater totsSpoon the taco beef mixture over the tater tots.

sprinkle cheese over beef mixtureSprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese.

Cover with aluminum foilCover with foil and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes.

Prepare taco toppingsWhile the casserole is baking, prepare your favorite taco toppings.

Remove baked casserole from oven.When the casserole is finished baking, remove from the oven.

top casserole with taco favorites Top the casserole with your favorite taco toppings.

Serving Tater Tot Casserole Enjoy Taco Tater Tot Casserole immediately.

Close up of taco tater tot casserole

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 for Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Taco Tater tot casserole plated

  • 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.

More Taco-Flavored Recipes You’ll Love

Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Taco Tater Tot Casserole

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.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: casserole, taco
Servings: 4
Calories: 477kcal

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

Calories: 477kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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160 Comments

  1. Well this isn`t something Just my grandparents did, because there are a lot of people that do this….I could never kill something to eat! I`d starve or eat dirt. I thought of this because i remember my grandmothers, as well as my mother, killing and dressing chickens, My mom stood on their neck and pulled their feet, grandmas both , wrung their necks by grabbing their necks and twirling over their heads. I could never do that! Then they caught the headless flapping chickens and dunked them in boiling water and plucked & picked their feathers off, and etc etc.. Lots of nasty work even after killing them. Bless those women, best cooks and mothers ever…. I miss all three of them. ( Theyall 3 made the absolute best noodles and dumplings!)

  2. I have enjoyed reading all of these comments. My answer would be mainly the same as a lot of others. My moms family were raised on a farm with 10 children. Both of my grandmothers were quilters and also made most of the clothes for their families. My mom also made most of our clothes. I have done a little sewing but that was with a modern sewing machine. Both sets of my grandparents were born in the 1800’s or very early 1900’s. My dad was born in 1924 and my mom in 1927.

  3. My grandmother Avent could make lace, crochet, tat, do cutwork, and do them all beautifully. I have one of her corset covers she made and the stitches are almost microscopic! She was a woman of faith as was my grandmother Mitchell. My Avent kin are from western TN and my Mitchells are from Plano TX. They had to go through some heartbreaking times with sick children, one of my aunts had severe epilepsy and my momma developed terrible rheumatoid arthritis at a young age. She never talked about her life before she got sick, except for one time. She was a very private person, but I was playing my guitar when I was about 13 and she got a real funny look on her face. She just said, “I used to play guitar too, before I got sick.” Then she opened up a little about it. I was diagnosed at 30, after she had already gone home. I was thinking this morning, now I know why momma always said, “oh, lordy” every time she tried to get out of a chair! I miss her every day.

  4. When my grandmother married a sharecropper he moved her to he Duke home place in Durham NC. They had seven children all born at home and dudnt make enough money to survive so when her father died and left her a farm, she took all they owned on a wagon pulling a cow behind and some chicken in crates sitting on top of everything packed in the wagon and walked and rode the wagon to Franklin County NC. There they bartered with a store to get enough seeds to grow a corn field with their old mule. The next year the corn profits paid the store back and they had to buy a new mule as the old one died. Her husband died when her last child was a baby and she raised her children by herself living off the land and the hard work she and the children were able to do. Her children and their spouses, plus the grandchildren adored her. She had everyone call her “Mammy”. When the neighbors children got sick they would bring them to her and she would keep the child until they recovered. I remember two little children bringing a sick baby to her when I was staying with her one summer. They didn’t bring anything to feed or dress the baby with but she tore up old sheets for diapers and made do. When the baby was well enough to go back home we put the baby in a little red wagon and pulled the wagon with baby all the way back home. What a wonderful woman. I am her only name sake and am looking forward to being with her again in Heaven.

  5. My grandmother grew up on a farm and picked cotton (which I could probably do if I had to). My mom has told me the story of the time she got an Easter chick and when it grew up, her mom killed it and they ate it for dinner. She was devastated, but to her mom, it wasn’t a pet. That’s the whole reason I wasn’t allowed to get a chick in the 4th grade. I don’t think I could kill a chicken, much less one that was considered a pet to some extent!

  6. My grandparents lived in a dugout in OKLAHOMA during the land rush. They also had 12 of their 16 kids there.

  7. I suspect that most people could and would do most, if not all, of the things they say their grandparents did if they needed to in order to support and protect their families.
    My maternal grandfather had lost both eyes in two separate accidents before he was thirty. He and my grandmother raised 5 children at the beginning of the 20th century to become well adjusted productive members of society. They had several endeavors to support the family including a cafe and a boarding house. Tom (grandfather) would not wear dark glasses to hide his damaged eyes because he got around so well people might claim he was faking blindness.
    My advice is do not sell yourself short. You could wring a chickens neck, slaughter hogs, sew clothes, cook without microwaves, etc IF you had too.

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