Taco Tater Tot Casserole

Taco Tater Tot Casserole is an easy casserole recipe with seasoned ground beef, sour cream, corn and cheese topped with crispy tater tots. Your whole family will love this easy dinner recipe. Perfect for taco night!

If you’re wondering what to make for dinner tonight with ground hamburger meat, this delicious taco tater tot casserole recipe is for you. It’s a family favorite around here!

It’s different from the usual ground beef recipes, and it’s also very kid friendly and super easy to make.

Mexican tater tot casserole is basically your favorite hot dish with kicked-up flavor and lots of melted cheese. If you like ground beef tacos or Mexican food as much as we do, you’re going to love this tater tot taco casserole!

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients for this Mexican tater tot casserole recipe. They should be easy to locate in your grocery store.

• Lean ground beef
• Taco seasoning — a packet of taco seasoning or homemade taco seasoning mix
• Corn — a small can of corn, or shoe peg corn or Mexican corn
• Sour cream — adds creaminess and flavor
• Salsa — chunky salsa
• Cheese — shredded Mexican blend cheese or grated cheddar cheese
• Tater tots — in the frozen food section
• Water or beef broth — for the taco meat
• Your favorite taco toppings

How to Make Taco Tater Tot Casserole

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees f. Then, brown the ground beef in a large skillet on medium heat to medium-high heat.

Drain the grease, if needed. Then, stir in taco seasoning and water or beef broth. I use my recipe for homemade taco seasoning, but you can use a packet if you have one.

Then, stir in a little sour cream, and you’re ready to layer the casserole.

Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish or casserole dish with non stick cooking spray.

Then, start with the taco meat mixture on the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Spread some Mexican blend cheese over the meat, then add a layer of corn.

Top this with some chunky salsa or green chiles if you have some. Sometimes, I use a can of diced green chilies and tomatoes (Rotel).

Then, add your frozen tater tots in a single layer and a little bit more cheese.

Cook Time

Bake the casserole for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. For extra crispy tater tots, set the oven to broil for about 5 minutes after baking.

What to Serve with Mexican Tater Tot Casserole

This is pretty much a one dish meal. But, you can serve the casserole with lettuce, fresh tomatoes, sour cream, black olives, green onions and guac if you want. A simple side salad works well, too!

How to Store, Make Ahead and Freeze

If you want to make the taco tater tot casserole ahead of time and freeze for Taco Tuesday or later, just follow the same steps. Use a dish that goes from freezer to oven.

Instead of baking it right away, cover and wrap it up well with foil. When you’re ready to use the dish, just pop it into the oven and bake!

Store leftover taco casserole in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 4 days. Or, cover the baking dish with plastic wrap once it has cooled down.

Recipe Variations

This is a very versatile dish that you can easily customize to suit your family’s tastes. You can add black beans or refried beans, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers — pretty much whatever you want!

Use your favorite cheese, like Monterey Jack cheese or Colby Jack cheese instead of the Mexican blend or cheddar.

Like my Lighter Tater Tot Casserole, this easy taco tater tot casserole recipe doesn’t use a can of cream of anything soup, but you can add cream of chicken soup, cheese soup or fiesta nacho cheese soup instead of sour cream. Red enchilada sauce will also work!

If you have a pressure cooker, cook taco meat in your Instant Pot instead of the stove.

Sub ground turkey or ground chicken or cooked chicken – rotisserie chicken – in place of hamburger meat.

I hope you enjoy this delicious ground beef casserole as much as we do. If you do try this tater taco hot dish, please leave a star rating and/or comment.

For more easy recipes and casserole recipes try my Pierogi Casserole, Crack Chicken Casserole, Dorito Casserole and more main dish recipes.

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Tater taco casserole recipe first published in 2020 and updated in 2023.