Mom's Tater Tots Casserole

Submitted by Karen Hertzberg

"My mom had a way with taking inexpensive or left-over meat and cream soups and inventing wonderful casseroles. Here's one of my childhood favorites."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced (optional)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 (32 ounce) package frozen tater tots
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken soup)
• 3⁄4 cup milk
• salt & pepper

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In medium skillet over medium heat, sauté celery and onion in butter.
3. Pour into large bowl and set aside (do not add to casserole dish yet).
4. In skillet, brown the beef.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste (I sometimes add a dash of garlic salt).
6. Combine meat with celery and onion mixture.
7. Place 1 layer of Tater Tots in the bottom of a round casserole dish.
8. Top with meat mixture.
9. Add another layer of Tater Tots on top of the meat.
10. In separate bowl, combine soup and milk.
11. Pour soup mixture evenly over top of casserole.
12. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.
13. Cover with foil if Tater Tots get too brown.

Reviews

[Trikster]

Made this dish last night for my family and they really liked it. It's a keeper! I added some shredded cheese on top of the meat mixture and also some garlic powder with the salt and pepper. Yummy!!

 

[Elizabeth Fullerton]

This is comfort food at it's comfyest! I really enjoyed this much more than I thought I would when I first decided to make it. The simplicity of it as well as the inexpensiveness of it make it a good meal for family. I will definitely add this to my regular recipes that I make often. By the way, I used the cream of mushroom soup that has roasted garlic in it.

 

[Sidd9260]

Very good. Instead of onions and celery, I browned my meat in onion soup mix. I also added chedder cheese.

 

[Rosemary Chapman]

I have made this for years. It is a very quick meal for working mothers that have hungry kids to feed quickly. I haven't made it in a long time because my kids are no longer at home, but in a pinch for time I might just make it again. A salad and rolls are all that is needed to complete the meal.

 

[Teresa M]

I'd never heard of it til our daughter was telling me about her Aunt Sherry making it, so I decided to give it a try. We all really enjoyed the combination of the tater tots, ground beef and mushroom soup! This is definitely a fast & simple-to-make "keeper". This does make a lot, so next time I'd halve the recipe for the 3 of us, except I'd still use a whole can of mushroom soup, because we like our casseroles with lots of sauce.