Turkey Tater Tot Hot Dish | Food Wishes

This easy to make turkey tater tot hot dish is comfort food at its finest. In the American upper-Midwest, a casserole is called a hot dish, or hotdish, depending on who you ask, and this one features savory, saucy, meaty turkey on the bottom, and a crispy, cheesy tater tot topping. Enjoy!

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[jeffralston]

I love how Chef John is making America grate again.

[deb]

This reminds me that it’s almost the time of year where Chef John teaches us how to use the left over turkey for 2 weeks after the big day 🤣😂

[common-sense-is-dead]

As a lifelong Minnesotan i never imagined tator tot hotdish with ingredients other than hamburger, corn, and cream of mushroom soup. This version looks pretty damn tasty and i will be trying it in the future.

[nikkihayes]

I appreciate and even giggle at our Chef John's honesty in wanting us to use the cheese of HIS choice!🤭💖

[KJ-xxxr]

Wisconsin girl here, have avoided tatertot hotdish for...all my life, even when I lived in Minnesota. You have also forgotten the obligatory jello salad with colored mini marshmallows that goes with this. LoL that's just not midwest nice Chef John, its a sacred food combo as far as I've been able to tell. you already left out the cream of mushroom soup and the green beans, you are in danger of being chased down by farm women armed with cans of soup if you don't appease them with the jello salad.
Also in Minnesota, the tatertots was the vegetable, along with the greenbeans lol.

[tweetiebirdism]

This Midwest gal saw Tater Tots and hit that button to watch! Looks delish for a cold day.
Indiana gal here, I think the older generations use the term casserole more than the younger ones.

[redmageviewer]

Can confirm that chives count as a side of veggies here in Minnesota. Looks pretty good and thanks for calling it a hot dish too!

[danmcconnell]

This is like a midwestern take on cottage/shepherd's pie!

[RR-VanityInKnickers]

I made this yesterday but I did change it slightly. I used 1 1/2 lbs of mushrooms and a pound of ground turkey because I've never been a fan of ground turkey and really wasn't sure what I was getting into 😁 lol. The other change I made was that once my sauce thickened, I added 1tsp Worcestershire and used tater rounds instead of tots because they were on sale (a shorter, flatterer, cheaper version of tots). Oh yeah, I also waited to add the rest of the cheese to the top until 10 minutes before done.
This was REALLY delicious!! The subtle notes of cayenne with the added sweetness of the peppers and the earthiness of the mushrooms...these worked so well together! I can't wait to eat the leftovers 😊!!

[moogie]

I'm going to try this soon! My son (who is my "caretaker" cause I'm old, LOL) lives with me.... However, he can't have dairy or eggs. Finally a casserole that doesn't require either! I can use vegan cheese and it will be just a tasty, I'm sure!

[daisysmum]

Thank the lawd there is no canned soup. In all my 62 years I’ve never used a can of soup in my recipes. I really dislike recipes (crock pot, casserole) that have canned soup. I’ll make my own cream soups from scratch first. There! I feel I finally got that off my chest 😊

[kswck]

Note that Chef John is using a standard fry pan-that you can buy at any restaurant supply house-and doesn't cost $200 +. Any old thing will do.

[nphillips]

Generally I love your style of presentation, the best way to explain, fast, fun, efficient and mainly about the food unlike most others that is about the chefs

[TsunamiWombat]

For crispier tots you can par-cook them separately in the oven, then let them cool before topping them to the casserole and cooking as normal.

[tennesseetexanhousewife]

Oh my my my!! You did it again!! I made this dish for my family tonight and it was a huge hit! I loved it too! Delicious!!
Thank you! I always trust your recipes!!

[justachick]

Midwest cuisine is tragically underrated. ❤

[marymayer]

Hot dish ingredients can be somewhat flexible, but you had very good tot formation and DID mention Cambell's cream soup and green beans, so Minnesota approved. 😜

[rachaelhoffman-dachelet]

As a certified Minnesotan I approve this hot dish, and may add it to my Thanksgiving plans.

Last year we broke down our turkey into a bone in skin on breast which we roasted, and ground all the dark meat and made a turkey meatloaf, seasoned like stuffing, which I covered with the back skin and it was the best part of the meal! I used the bones to make stock for gravy which we had with both the meatloaf and the breast.

By the way, after your recent chili dog Mac recipe I decided I had to finally try chili Mac. I was spending the entire weekend out side in the cold working, and even though I got a frozen version which was vegetarian I have to report that it was amazing! Will absolutely make for real soon.

[pattyamato]

I made this and really like how it turned out. I will make it again. Years ago I'd made an 'easy' similar version - ground meat, tots, green beans and a can of mushroom soup. It was just kind of blah. This was different - mostly because Chef John uses interesting seasonings and shows specific techniques. The mushrooms, red bell pepper, cheddar, everything worked well together. Not only tastes good but nice textures, too. I did add about a cup of fresh green beans, trimmed, about half inch pieces, worked for me.

[akiraprime]

Chef John really helped me and my family survive the lockdown in our country, thanks for making excellent recipes.