Tater Tot Nachos are a quick and easy dinner that everyone will love!
These Tater Tot Nachos are one of those recipes that I almost did not post. They are so easy to make that they are actually not really a recipe.
Not only that, this recipe makes me admit that yes, I almost always have a bag of tater tots in my freezer. My family loves them for a simple side dish or for a simple dinner like Tater Tot Nachos.
Yes, we love homemade oven fries, but the reality is life gets busy and crazy, sometimes I just need a very quick side dish or meal.
So, yes I will admit that you will often find a bag of frozen french fries or tater tots in my freezer. They allow me to get dinner on the table without a lot of work.
I have been making Tater Tot Nachos for years. The first time I made tater tot nachos was very busy day. I had planned on making pizza for dinner, but I had been gone all day and did not have time to make the dough.
It was one of those days where if we did not live in the country and have food issues, we would have just ordered a pizza. But, since that is not an option, I had to come up with something.
We had already had breakfast for dinner that week and I knew my family would prefer not to have it again, so I needed to come up with something else quick.
I headed to the freezer to see what I could find that would be easy to put together. I found some frozen taco meat and a bag of tater tots and decided to combine them into a one dish meal.
What I ended up serving was basically just tater tots covered in seasoned taco meat and cheese. It was so quick and easy and my kids loved it. It has been a family favorite every since.
I usually keep these really simple, but you could easily add beans, salsa, and other toppings to this.
Tater Tot Nachos are easy to double or even triple for serving a crowd.
They are also gluten free as long as your taco seasoning and tater tots are gluten free.
Tater Tot Nachos
Tater Tot Nachos are a quick and easy kid friendly dinner.
Ingredients
- 2 lb bag of tater tots
- 1 lb of cooked ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning ( I used some from the freezer.)
- 2 cups of grated cheese ( I used a combination of jack and cheddar)
- salsa, either mix it in or serve with salsa
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place tater tots on a cookie sheet and cook for 12 minutes.
- Spread meat over the top of tater tots. Sprinkle cheese on top of meat.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes more or until heated through and cheese is melted.
Notes
This is an easy gluten free dinner as long as your taco seasoning and tater tots are gluten free.
And this is why I love Lynn’s kitchen adventures! Keepin’ it real, thanks!!
Thanks! 🙂
my husband would totally love this. but if i i make it for him, he might want it all the time. haha 🙂
Lynn I am so glad you decided to post this recipe! I tend to have the same thought process- well, it’s not really a recipe- but it’s just too good not to share. I’m always looking for quick gf meals that are hubby friendly. Thank you for this great idea!
Are most tator tots you buy at the grocery store gluten free? My husband is gluten-free and loves the frozen french fries, but we noticed some kinds contain wheat.
I would just say read the labels and/or contact the brand if you are not sure. I have found that most, but not all are gluten free.
I’m making this for dinner tomorrow. Just a quick question about your taco meat. Am I reading it correctly, that you pre-cook your ground meat then freeze it? If so, that’s a great idea that I’m going to have to start doing.
Yes, I cook the meat up, season it, and freeze it. It is one of my favorite things to keep in the freezer. Here is a post I did on freezing taco meat a while ago. I have been doing it for years and love it! https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2010/04/freezing-taco-meat-2.html
I do this too– I made the happy discovery that the 10 pound tubes are A) the cheapest way to buy ground beef and B) fit perfectly in my crockpot with room for a bag of frozen onions, a bag of frozen green peppers, some garlic, salt and pepper, and a little water. I just break it up with my potato masher and let it cook, then drain and freeze flat in bags.
Pull out and thaw and season further if neccesary, but you’re several steps ahead for supper– everything from tacos to pasta to pizza to sloppy joes to maid-rites
Are the tater tots touching? And the meat doesn’t just fall off when it’s served? This would make a great meal for the boys when dad is out of town!!
Yes, I just dumped the tater tots in the pan so they were close together/touching. The meat doesn’t fall off too bad, but this is a meal that you eat with a fork or spoon. It is not something you can pick up with your fingers like real nachos.
I don’t know how well it would work for gluten free pizza dough, but on days I have time to cook I pre-bake and freeze a BUNCH of pizza crusts (think home made Boboli, but frozen instead of preserved) makes home made pizza FASTER than delivery!
I have done this also just not in awhile. I need to do it again though, because you are right, it makes a nice quick and easy pizza dinner.
Thanks for sharing this! This is my kind of “recipe” – one where you say, what do I have and what can I do with it fast?
I make something very similar at our house. We call them sloppy joe hashbrowns. I take hashbrown patties that we cooked up and top them with sloppy joe meat. Then we add on cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion.
Yummy and fast!! (And I usually have all the ingredients on hand.)
I do this, only I “flip it”!!!! The taco meat goes down first… I sometimes mix in Velveeta and a can of diced tomatoes… then the tots and them “smother it in cheese”. We call it Taco Tot Casserole! We love it!!!!! By the way, works well in the crockpot, too!
This “recipe” is so going in our meal rotation. I actually plan these types of meals in for the busy nights. Thanks for sharing. Do you have any more of these, quick, easy, pull-it-from-the-pantry “recipes” to share.
I will try to share more of these types of recipes. I think we all need a few quick and easy, use what you have type recipes.
Thanks for this recipe, Lynn. I made it the very night you posted it and it was amazing…3 ingredients to wonderful! My tac0-loving daughter had seconds and my husband commented after his first bite about how much he liked it, and that’s saying a lot. He’s become so critical of food since having to go gluten-free. Needless to say, I loved it too. It will be made again and again for sure. Thank you 🙂
Thanks! I love coming up with quick and easy recipes that are gluten free. Gluten free eating can be so hard, so I know how nice it is to have recipes like this that we can turn to and enjoy. Thanks for letting me know how much your family liked it!
That’s so funny. We make something similar that I thought was my own creation, lol because I got tired and frustrated of gluten free cooking. Instead of tator tots we use the southern style hashbrowns, but pretty much everything else is the same. Now I’m going to have to try it with tator tots and see if I can convince my kids that this is a “new” idea. They get tired of eating the same thing.
I have made this several times and the whole family loves it. Just a few changes-I add some salsa to the meat and put the tator tots on top. Thanks for such a quick and easy recipe!
We do something similar, only it’s flip-flopped. LOL! I layer taco meat first, then melted velveeta and rotel, then the tots topped with shredded cheese. YUM!
I love quick and easy, too! We have incorporated so many of your recipes into our menus. Thank you soooo much!
That sounds good. I love the rotel idea. And thank you, I am glad that you enjoy my recipes and site. Thank you for reading!
The day I found this in my inbox I had run out of ideas for dinner, and it sounded good. You can’t ever go wrong with Tater Tots. We all liked it a lot, and my son came home for lunch the next day. This is just as good the next day reheated in the microwave, and I will certainly be making it again. It was a wow! Thank you so much for sharing this one. Sometimes something simple and good really hits the spot.