Tater Tot Thai Casserole

If you love cozy comfort food, then you’ve gotta try my tater tot casserole. It’s an explosion of flavor filled with bacon, cheese, homemade ranch dressing, and tons of fresh herbs. This casserole be ready before you know it.

Why You’ll Love This

This tater Thai casserole is like the ultimate comfort food. It’s just this amalgam of all these nostalgic flavors coming together in one super easy dish. I love making it, especially when there is like even the slightest chill in there. That is an explosion of flavor, those fluffy crunchy tater tots, the crispy bacon, the gooey cheese and that homemade ranch dressing with the fresh herbs, it’s beyond delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of yellow onion
• 1 cup of scallions or green onions
• 3 cups of cheddar cheese (about 12 ounces)
• about 1 tablespoon of fresh chives
• fresh dill
• 8 slices of bacon
• 2 tablespoons or 30 ml of bacon fat
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1 and a quarter cups or about 300 ml of whole milk
• 32 ounce package of frozen tater tots
• a quarter cup of sour cream
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Chop 1 cup of yellow onion.
2. Chop 1 cup of scallions or green onions, and just remove the withered parts if you will.
3. Set those aside into a bowl.
4. Shred 3 cups of cheddar cheese.
5. Get about 1 tablespoon of fresh chives and fresh dill.
6. Remove the stalks from the dill.
7. Set those aside for later.
8. Give a very rough chop to 8 slices of bacon, cutting mine into roughly 1 inch pieces.
9. Do most of the prep for this casserole in a large Dutch oven, but you could definitely use a big pot if you prefer.
10. Place the Dutch oven over medium heat.
11. Add the bacon in right away.
12. Cook the bacon over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
13. Keep an eye on it.
14. When your bacon’s close to crispy, add some paper towels on a cooling rack.
15. Start fishing the bacon out as it’s ready.
16. Reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
17. Discard the rest of the bacon grease or use for other recipes.
18. Add 2 tablespoons or 30 ml of bacon fat back into our pot.
19. Add that 1 cup of chopped onions.
20. Cook these over medium heat for about 5 minutes until they’re softened and a little bit translucent.
21. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter right into the pan.
22. Add in 2 tablespoons of flour, just sprinkle it in.
23. Stir the flour into the onions, make sure it’s all coated, and then cook it for about 2 minutes.
24. Pour in 1 and a quarter cups or about 300 ml of whole milk.
25. Stir until combined and turn the heat off.
26. Stir in about half of the cheddar cheese.
27. Stir in half a cup of sour cream.
28. Stir in about half of the scallions as well.
29. Stir to combine.
30. Stir in 16 ounces or half of that 32 ounce package of frozen tater tots.
31. Get your 9 by 13 inch baking dish out.
32. Assemble this so we could pop it into the oven.
33. Get it out of the Dutch oven and into the casserole dish.
34. Smooth that out.
35. Sprinkle the top with the remaining tater tots, it’s the other 16 ounces.
36. Try to get some nice coverage there.
37. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
38. Get a nice even distribution.
39. Finish it off with all that delicious bacon that you haven’t eaten yet.
40. Pop this into the oven, 350 for about 35 minutes.
41. Into a medium bowl, add a quarter cup of sour cream.
42. Add 2 tablespoons of milk.
43. Add all that amazing chopped fresh dill and chives.
44. Add salt and pepper to taste.
45. Give it a good pinch of each to begin.
46. Stir it up and just give it a really nice whisk together.
47. Sprinkle the top with the remaining scallions.
48. Drizzle the homemade ranch over the top now.

Cooking Tips

Watch your knuckles on this grater. It is not your friend in the kitchen. Three cups of shredded cheddar equates to about 12 ounces, but really it’s kind of up to you. It’s not gonna kill the recipe if you add a little bit more or a little bit less. That goes for substitutions too. You don’t have to use cheddar. It could be jack. Kind of whatever, like semi sharp, semi mild, hardest cheese you like. You don’t add bacon into a hot pan, you can let it warm up. You want to make sure the bacon has not like clumped together, basically. If you know you’re a snacker or if you have them in the house, you can totally add a couple extra slices of bacon so the recipe can be complete, but people can have a little bite too. The rest of the bacon grease can be discarded or used for other recipes, but in either case, it has to get dumped someplace because this pot needs to be empty. Though one tricky part is getting it out of the Dutch oven and into the casserole dish. I mean I put it in a piping bag, but you could totally just spoon it over. It’s herbs, like this herbs really clog up the piping bag, live and learn.

Serving Suggestions

Drizzle the homemade ranch over the casserole as soon as it’s done. Drizzle the homemade ranch over the top now. Time to plate up this cozy comfort food onto the plate, you go.

I hope you get a chance to make this because the smell and the taste are beyond the beyond. I really hope you get a chance to make this recipe and if you like my videos, and I’ll see you in the next side dish video.