Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole is the ultimate comfort food with a savory bacon burger filling, melty cheese, and crispy tater tots.
When it comes to easy, filling, kid-friendly Dinner Recipes, it’s hard to beat Tater Tot Casserole. This dish takes that basic idea and adds even more flavor with melty cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and sour cream. What’s not to love?
If you’re looking for an easy way to change up your typical weeknight dinners, adding traditional tater tots is a delicious twist on casseroles. The tater tots cook to crispy perfection and perfectly balance out the flavors of this Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole. And if you love this Cheeseburger version, you’ll love other ways to make tater tot casserole like Chicken Tot Pie and Tater Tot Taco Casserole, that taste like your favorite dishes with a fraction of the work.
This Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole is a perfectly easy, comfort food dinner. The burger filling is a combination of ground beef, onion, plus cream of mushroom soup and sour cream for a creamy casserole. It’s poured between two layers of delicious tater tots and with a layer of bacon and cheese to give it that bacon cheeseburger taste. Once that’s finished baking, it’s all topped off with even more bacon. It is the ultimate yummy casserole sure to be a hit with kids and adults alike!
Some good sides for Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole are light, fresh veggie dishes that balance the hearty, cheesy casserole. Veggie sides like a green salad with a tangy vinaigrette dressing, Roasted Broccoli, or Sauteed Green Beans add a little extra nutrition and are easy to make. A side of tangy pickles or Coleslaw would work well with this burger flavored casserole too!
How to Make Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole
- Prep time: To start, preheat oven to 375 degrees and prep your casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray to make sure the casserole doesn’t stick to the pan.
- Brown Ground Beef: Add the ground beef and onion to a cast-iron skillet or another saute pan. Let the skillet brown the mixture for 5-7 minutes.
- Creamy Mixture: Add in the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup to the pan and whisk the ingredients together. Leave the mixture for 5 minutes of cooking on low heat.
- Layer: Layer tater tots along the bottom of the pan. Pour the meat mixture over the tots then top that off with another layer of tater tots. Cover the beefy filling mixture with shredded cheese and half the bacon bits.
- Bake: Cover the Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole and bake for 40-45 minutes until bubbly and crispy. Finish cooking the casserole and top it with the other half of the bacon and green onions before serving.
FAQs for Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole
The secret to achieving crispy tater tots on a Tater Tot casserole is to arrange the tots in a single layer, leaving some space between them to allow hot air to circulate. Baking them at a high temperature, such as 425 degrees, will help to crisp up the exterior and baking the frozen allows them to crisp up without burning.
To thicken a Tater Tot casserole, you can increase the amount of cream of mushroom soup or sour cream in the recipe, or add a thickening agent such as cornstarch slurry or a little flour with the beef before adding the soup. You can also let it simmer uncovered a few minutes longer to reduce down.
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Key Ingredients
- Ground Beef: The ground beef is of course a key ingredient in a cheeseburger casserole. It is seasoned similar to ground beef patties with onions and Worcestershire sauce, so it’s super flavorful and beefy.
- Gravy: The burger mixture gets extra savory and delicious thanks to the sour cream and mushroom soup gravy. Cream of mushroom soup is rich and creamy, with earthy mushrooms, and makes the perfect base to keep this casserole moist as it bakes. The tangy sour cream balances out all the rich, savory and umami flavors.
- Tater Tots: Tater tots are the best little bites of fried shredded potato goodness and make a great base for casseroles. They are soft and tender on the inside while the outside gets golden and crispy. You want to use frozen tots so that they don’t burn during the longer cooking time. If they do start browning too fast, cover the pan with foil.
- Cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese covers the beefy filling right then tots are placed on top. You put it under the tots so it doesn’t burn and stays gooey and melty. You can put a little more cheese over the tots during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Bacon: Can you have a bacon cheeseburger without bacon? Of course not! Cooked, crumbled bacon goes with the cheese layer so it adds flavor without overcooking. A little extra crispy bacon finishes off the casserole.
- Garnish: Sliced green onions make a great garnish, giving it a pop of color and freshness. You can also pile on other burger toppings like tomatoes, lettuce, and burger sauces.
Can Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole be made ahead of time?
Absolutely, this Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole is a great recipe for meal prepping in advance so it’s ready to pop in the oven on busy weeknights. You can assemble the casserole without baking and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months and baked from frozen, just add 10-15 minutes to the baking time so it cooks all the way through.
Variations
- Cheese: There are plenty of different kinds of shredded cheese you can use in this recipe to add to the cheddar cheese blend. Try adding pepper jack, provolone, Swiss, or any of your other favorite cheeses.
- Add-ins: For some delicious texture and extra nutrients, try adding mixed vegetables to the cheeseburger mixture. Peas, diced tomatoes, carrots, and red onion slices could all make great additions. For some more flavor, you can also add minced garlic cloves, and mix tomato sauce in with the creamy soup. To add heat, mix in a little hot sauce. Taste test as you go to make sure you don’t add too much hot sauce.
- Pickles: If you like pickles on your cheeseburgers, then top this casserole off with pickles after baking. Butter pickles or dill pickles would both taste great.
- Canned cream soup: In place of the mushroom soup you can use other canned soup. Cheddar soup makes a great replacement for the cream of mushroom soup. Since you’ll no longer have a mushroom mixture if you use cheddar cheese soup, you can add in some sliced mushrooms and other mixed vegetables to the Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole.
Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole
- To make Slow Cooker Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole, start by browning the meat and onion in a large skillet.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup, and mix the meat gravy together. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Spray your crock pot with nonstick spray.
- Layer the tater tots along the bottom of the crock pot then pour the meat mixture over the top. Sprinkle on the cheese and half the bacon. Put another layer of tater tots over the top.
- Cook the Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole for 3 ½ hours on low. Sprinkle with the remaining bacon bits and green onion, then cook for a final 10 minutes and serve.
More Delicious Easy Tater Tot Casseroles
How to Store
- Store: This Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole at room temperature for up to 2 hours, but it’s best served hot. After the casserole cools, cover it tightly with plastic wrap or transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat: It’s best to reheat this casserole in the oven at low temperature, 300-325 degrees, covered with foil so it doesn’t dry out.
- Freeze: You can also freeze the Cheeseburger Casserole for up to 3 months. Either bake it in a freezer safe baking dish so you can store it in the same pan, or put it in a freezer container. Let it thaw in the fridge before reheating in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion , diced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 32 ounces package frozen tater tots
- 2 cups cheddar cheese , shredded
- 6 slices thick cut bacon , cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 cup green onions , sliced
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cook the ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat until completely browned, 5 to 7 minutes, then drain any additional fat.
- Add in the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup and whisk together.
- Let the mixture cook for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Put a layer of tater tots along the bottom of the pan then pour the meat mixture over the tater tots.
- Cover with the cheese and half the bacon.
- Cover with remaining tater tots and bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is browned and bubbly.
- Garnish with remaining bacon and green onions.
Nutrition
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This recipe is a great meal and so easy to make . Thanks for your great recipes.