Crock Pot Tater Tot Casserole is one of my family’s favorite slow cooker meals! It’s loaded with ground beef and cheese and an easy way to please everyone at your table!
We love using our Crock Pot to make dinner time a little easier. Especially, by making Mexican Casserole and Crockpot Ground Beef Stroganoff.
One thing you will notice with my freezer to crockpot meals and especially this Cheesy Crockpot Tater Tot Casserole is that they are easy to make last minute if you have the right ingredients on hand. I have quickly whipped this one up really for a potluck dinner after church and have baked it in the oven, but I LOVE throwing it in the slow cooker.
Can I Substitute Hash Browns for Tater Tots in Tater Tot Casserole?
Yes, that should work just fine. Since they’ll be a little more dense, you may need to decrease the amount of potatoes you add.
Do You Have to Freeze Crock Pot Tater Tot Casserole?
Because I specialize in Crockpot Freezer Meals, I love sharing how to make your recipes ready for the freezer, especially when it’s simple. It sure helps when you have a few of these easy meals thrown together in the freezer for you to pull from when your life is in chaos mode, like mine!
Where Did Tater Tot Casserole Come From?
We first heard of it and tried the recipe that was given to us from another large family. Since that time, several other large families have mentioned it’s a staple in their home as well. The recipe was passed around as an easy meal to serve that would stretch and feed many. We also saw that a famous reality TV show had shared the recipe as well.
After a little research, we discovered that tater tot casserole originates in the Upper Midwest region of the United States, where it remains popular to this day. Particularly in Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.
How To Make Cheesy Crockpot Tater Tot Casserole Recipe with Ground Beef
Making tater tot casserole is pretty simple. I’ll quickly outline the steps, but feel free to jump down to the recipe below for more details:
- Brown ground beef.
- Dice onion.
- Mix together all ingredients, except tater tots and cheese.
- Place tater tots in slow cooker.
- Pour ground beef mixture over top.
- Cook on low in slow cooker.
- Top with cheese once done cooking.
- Enjoy all the comments your family gives on how great this dish is!
MORE EASY SLOW COOKER RECIPES FOR YOU TO ENJOY:
- Crockpot Meals made with Ground Beef!
- Crock Pot Shepherd’s Pie
- Crockpot Chalupas Recipe
- Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken & Potatoes
Cheesy Crock Pot Tater Tot Casserole with Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 32 oz bag tater tots
- 1 lb ground beef browned
- ½ t. salt
- ¼ t. pepper
- 2 cans green beans
- 1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
- ½ chopped onion
- ¼ c. milk
- Shredded Cheese optional for sprinkling over after cooked
Instructions
- Cook ground beef and drain.
- Chop 1/2 an onion.
- Mix together cooked ground beef, onion, cream soups, milk, salt, pepper, and green beans.
- Line crockpot with tater tots.
- Poor ground beef mixture over the top of the tater tots.
- Cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for 3.
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
Freezer to Slow Cooker Version:
- Mix together all ingredients except cheese and tater tots and place in a gallon size freezer safe bag.
- Label and lay flat to freeze.
- Thaw before cooking.
- Follow instructions above to cook.
Notes
Nutrition
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Liz says
If freezing the meal, do you still need to brown the beef? Or will it just cook once in the crockpot?
Sarah says
Yes, definitely brown the beef. Otherwise any oil from the meat would make your dish extra greasy and it will clump together too much to make it enjoyable.
Christin Mullins says
Hello! I just realized that I don’t have any tater tots, but I do have a bag of shredded hash browns. Can I use that in leiu of the tots?
Sarah says
Yes hashbrowns would also work just fine.
Julie says
Awesome recipe. My hubby is extremely picky. Would have never dreamed it would end up being one of our favorites.
Tara says
WAS Looking for hamburger meat slow cookers and stumbled on to this page. It’s amazing! This Tater Tot Casserole brings back so many memories when I was a child and my mother made this. I don’t think she did it in a slow cooker because we wasn’t fortunate to have one so she used the oven. It always came out AMAZING. All of our families recipes from candies casseroles and pies etc were passed down to me. I’d love to share some of them as long as the other family members to make sure it’s ok first. If they do agree could you or someone on here help me get started!!! I’m only on fb. I don’t have any other app. Well I will definitely be trying this very soon
Kimberly says
Do you drain the green beans?
Sarah says
Yes, I do.
Chad says
Well that explains what I did wrong. Still good but extremely runny. This is also very good when putting mashed potatoes on top like Shepherd’s pie.
Spencer says
How long is the food good for in the freezer?
Sarah says
at least 3 months, but probably up to 6.