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Kick the can! This easy Tater Tot Casserole features ground beef, green beans, and a creamy homemade mushroom sauce instead of canned condensed soup. This comfort food recipe is a dreamy Sunday night dinner idea.
Where I come from, Tater Tot Casserole is simply known as “hotdish.”
However, the term is not mutually exclusive to Tater Tot Casserole. Hotdish is any casserole that includes meat, starch, a canned vegetable, and canned soup all in one.
I like to revise the comfort food classics so they taste even better than you remember. As a result, my Tater Tot Casserole features a homemade mushroom sauce (made with milk, not cream) and frozen veggies instead of canned.
Let’s keep the frozen tater tots, though. Modern food science has yet to improve on those!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Chicken broth: Buy a box or a can, or use Homemade Chicken Broth in the mushroom sauce to really drive home the from-scratch vibes.
- Ground beef: I prefer 85/15 or 80/20 blends for ground beef casseroles. If you prefer, trade-in ground turkey, chicken, or pork.
- Frozen green beans: Frozen at the peak of freshness, frozen vegetables are your best bet unless you have fresh green beans in your garden or can snag some at the farmers market this week.
- Frozen tater tots: Potato tots are traditional, but vegetable-boosted varieties are becoming widely available and are certainly trending. Feel free to use the tots made with sweet potato, broccoli, or cauliflower to sneak in a tiny bit more nutrition.
Step-by-step instructions
- To make the mushroom sauce, in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter until foaming. Add mushrooms and cook until they have released most of their liquid, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bring to simmer. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together milk and flour.
- Stir in milk mixture and cook until soup has thickened, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, brown the ground beef, celery, and onions until the beef is cooked thoroughly. Drain.
- Stir in mushroom sauce and green beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Carefully spoon the mixture into a 2-quart casserole pan. Top the mixture with the frozen potato tots.
- Bake uncovered until the casserole is bubbly and the tots are golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Tater Tot Casserole makes six dinner-sized portions, ideal for a cozy family meal.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: The mushroom sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance or frozen up to 2 months in advance. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- To go: Bake this hot dish in the oven-safe insert of a 9×13-inch crockpot and then tote it with you to your family gathering. Bonus, you won’t have to ask your host to keep it warm!
- Switch up the sauce: If your family is used to Tater Tot Casserole with canned cream of chicken soup, consider my homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup instead of the mushroom version explained here, if you’d like. Just thin the soup into a sauce-like consistency with milk as necessary.
- Protect the topping: Everyone’s oven runs a little differently. If yours errs on the hot side, cover the casserole with foil to protect the tots if they’re beginning to brown too quickly.
Recipe FAQs
This casserole has protein, veggies, and a starch all in one delicious, tasty hot dish. Pair it with something light like a garden salad or a salad with fruit. Or, serve with dinner rolls to soak up the extra sauce.
Tuna Noodle Casserole
This Tuna Noodle Casserole is made from scratch with a simple mushroom cream sauce and a buttery cracker crust. It’s better than you remember and ready in under an hour.
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Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
For the mushroom sauce:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 16 ounces white button mushrooms sliced
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the casserole:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3/4 cup onion chopped
- 1/2 cup celery chopped
- 1 cup frozen cut green beans thawed
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
Instructions
To make the mushroom sauce:
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter until foaming. Add mushrooms and cook until they have released most of their liquid, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir in chicken broth, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bring to simmer. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together milk and flour.
- Stir in milk mixture and cook until soup has thickened, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
To make the casserole:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, brown the ground beef, celery, and onions until the beef is cooked thoroughly. Drain.
- Stir in mushroom sauce and green beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Carefully spoon the mixture into a 2-quart casserole pan. Top the mixture with the frozen potato tots.
- Bake uncovered until the casserole is bubbly and the tots are golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes.
Notes
- Chicken broth: Buy a box or a can, or use Homemade Chicken Broth in the mushroom sauce to really drive home the from-scratch vibes.
- Ground beef: I prefer 85/15 or 80/20 blends for ground beef casseroles. If you prefer, trade-in ground turkey, chicken, or pork.
- Frozen green beans: Frozen at the peak of freshness, frozen vegetables are your best bet unless you have fresh green beans in your garden or can snag some at the farmers market this week.
- Frozen tater tots: Potato tots are traditional, but vegetable-boosted varieties are becoming widely available and are certainly trending. Feel free to use the tots made with sweet potato, broccoli, or cauliflower to sneak in a tiny bit more nutrition.
- Yield: This Tater Tot Casserole makes six dinner-sized portions, ideal for a cozy family meal.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: The mushroom sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance or frozen up to 2 months in advance. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Switch up the sauce: If your family is used to Tater Tot Casserole with canned cream of chicken soup, consider my homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup instead of the mushroom version explained here, if you’d like. Just thin the soup into a sauce-like consistency with milk as necessary.
- Protect the topping: Everyone’s oven runs a little differently. If yours errs hot, cover the casserole with foil to protect the tots if they’re beginning to brown too quickly.
- Adapted from Pillsbury Complete Cookbook.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
Really liked/appreciated the milk sub for the cream! Tasted delicious and who doesn’t like tater tots!?