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Home » Ingredient » Beef

Beef

Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole

Published: October 24, 2014   |   Updated: July 1, 2022   |   61 Comments

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Sloppy Joe tater tots in a white casserole dish.
Some sloppy Joe tater tot casserole cheese strings with a fork.
Sloppy Joe tater tots in a white casserole dish.
Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole on a white plate.

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid-friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

Today we’ll be making sloppy Joe tater tot casserole. It’s an easy meal to put together that’s kid-friendly and super yummy. I wanted to play around with some tater tots because they are so darn cute so in today’s recipe, we’ll be doing just that.

And seriously, these little things are like an army. I had a ton of fun lining them up in the casserole dish so this could also be a group activity with your kids.

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

It has all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe with all the fun of tater tots. There’s also a ton of cheese to appeal to the cheese-loving eaters out there. There’s some cream cheese mixed in with the beefy sloppy Joe sauce and generous layers of cheddar in between that and the tater tots.

So despite being a very simple casserole to throw together, this is not lacking in flavor and should appeal to both kids and adults alike. So let’s start cooking.

How To Make Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole (1 Min Video)

What You Need For Tater Tot Casserole

Here’s what you need to make this delicious casserole. You can use any kind of color for the bell peppers, I just went with red. I used canned corn but you can also use frozen corn. Also, feel free to substitute the onions and garlic for onion and garlic powder.

Shred your own block of cheese or buy the pre-shredded bagged kind to make things easier. The sloppy Joe sauce flavor really stands on its own but I added some smoked paprika because the smokier, the better! I used the canned Manwich sauce for this recipe.

Ingredients in individual bowls to make sloppy Joe tater tot casserole.

SLOPPY JOE TATER TOT CASSEROLE RECIPE TIPS

Sauté the onions, garlic, bell peppers, corn and some ground beef in a skillet. Then add in the cream cheese, Sloppy Joe sauce and season it with smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread the meat base in a 9×13 casserole dish and top with some cheddar cheese. Have fun lining up your army of tater tots and top it with even more cheese love. You don’t need to cook the tater tots beforehand and it’s perfectly fine using them straight from frozen. All you need to do is let them sit at room temperature for a little while so they don’t stick together and are easy to separate and line up.

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

Some notes: I used about 90% of the bag of frozen tater tots so you might have leftovers like me. I also added some smoked paprika and salt and pepper because even though the Sloppy Joe sauce tastes great on its own, I wanted even more flavor and smoked paprika really brings the flavor together.

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

And that’s about it. Enjoy your tater tots and happy eating!

MORE KID-FRIENDLY RECIPES TO TRY

  • Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole
  • Slow Cooker Beef and Cheese Pasta
  • Pizza Pasta Casserole
  • Oven-Baked Chicken Strips
  • Sour Cream Beef Noodle Casserole

Did you make this recipe? Rate it!

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Some sloppy Joe tater tot casserole cheese strings with a fork.

Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole


★★★★★

4.8 from 11 reviews

  • Author: The Cooking Jar
  • Total Time: 40 mins
  • Yield: 6-8 1x
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Description

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid-friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1/2 sweet/yellow onion, diced
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 can (15 oz.) corn, drained
  • 1 can (24 oz.) Sloppy Joe sauce
  • 4 tablespoons cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
  • 32 oz. frozen tater tots

Instructions

  1. Over medium-high heat, brown beef until cooked. Drain any fat and remove and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, saute onions and garlic until translucent.
  3. Add red bell pepper and corn and cook until soft.
  4. Add beef, Sloppy Joe sauce, cream cheese, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.
  5. Simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Pour the beef mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish and spread evenly.
  7. Top with a layer of 1 cup of cheese.
  8. Arrange tater tots and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
  9. Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes or until the tater tots are crispy and golden.
  10. Dish and serve hot.
  11. Enjoy!
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins

Did you make this recipe?

Let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below or share a photo of the recipe on Instagram by tagging @cookingjar

Sloppy Joe tater tot casserole is both quick and easy and kid friendly. With all the flavors you love in a Sloppy Joe and the fun of tater tots!

posted in: Beef, Casseroles, Oven, Popular Recipes

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    Comments & Reviews

  1. Hillary says

    January 16, 2023

    My boys loved this!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      January 18, 2023

      I’m happy to hear it! It’s a kid favorite 🙂

      Reply
  2. Tiffany says

    December 28, 2022

    My husband and my 2 year old love this dish. So glad I found this recipe

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      December 29, 2022

      Sounds like you found a new staple for the whole family. I’m so glad and thanks for sharing!

      Reply
  3. Cindy says

    November 9, 2019

    Don’t know if this place is still active, but wanted to tell you that after finding this recipe online, I made it for a potluck and it was a smash! I made a double batch based on the amount of people and it came out perfect. Heavy, but perfect. People were asking who made it and asking for the recipe. 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      November 14, 2019

      That’s great to hear, Cindy! Thanks so much for having enough confidence in the recipe to bring to such a huge gathering. Together we fed a lot of people! 🙂

      Reply
  4. A_Rollo says

    November 15, 2018

    My 16 month old and 3 year old gobbled it up ate 1/3 of the casserole in one sitting. I’d say the casserole fit way better in my 8×8 brownie pan versus my 9×13 pan. I had to change mid cooking realizing the meat mixture was way too sparse in the 9×13, if the recipe were doubled up that would be the ideal size though!

    Pretty darn good food overall, thanks!

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      December 18, 2018

      That is a huge serving for kids! I’m so glad they liked it that much. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Rachel Wells says

    September 25, 2018

    Can you freeze this?

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      September 27, 2018

      I think you should be able to. I don’t have much personal experience with freezing meals but if you do and you’re familiar with the ingredients and how well they do frozen, I would use your best judgement.

      Reply
  6. Laura says

    December 12, 2017

    I’ve made this recipe several times and it always turns out great! My toddler also approves. Thank you so much for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      January 29, 2018

      You’re very welcome, Laura! Happy cooking!

      Reply
  7. Amanda c says

    April 13, 2017

    Hi, I can’t use the manwhich because I’m allergic to green peppers so when I do make sloppy Joes I use the seasoning packet that calls for water and tomato paste. Would it still turn out for such a big pan? Or should I double the recipe or use a 20×20 pan. Hope you reply thank you

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 17, 2017

      I wish I could give you a definite, Amanda. I’ve never used the seasoning packet myself so I’m not sure exactly how much it yields. If it gives you about 3 cups of sauce then that’s perfect for the recipe. Try doing a taste test and maybe add more of the seasoning packet/water/paste until you get 3 cups worth. Hope this helps!

      And I’m not entirely sure how the previous comments slipped my notice. I’m normally good about replying to each one. I guess I must have missed the notifications!

      Reply
  8. Bryann says

    February 11, 2017

    This recipe is not worth making. Made it last night and it was awful. I have made a lot of sloppy joes and thought this sounded good, a twist on one of our favorites. Followed the recipe to the letter, however we were very disappointed. Way to heavy and the oven time is wayyyyy to long. The cheese was hard and crunchy when it came out despite checking on it every few minutes. We won’t be making this one again.

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 17, 2017

      Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you Bryann. But thanks for giving it a go.

      Reply
  9. Manon says

    January 30, 2017

    This dish was amazing!!!! No leftovers to be found!!!!!!

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      April 17, 2017

      Thank you for coming back to let me know, Manon!

      Reply
  10. Leigh says

    December 11, 2016

    So I accidentally bought a 14 ounce can of sloppy joe mix and noticed it at cooking time, grrr I hate when I do that! 🙂 well I am use to having ketsup and mustard sloppy joes, so I just added that and it was as soooooo good

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      January 23, 2017

      Hey it happens to all of us, Leigh. I’ve been as bad as forgetting to season some recipes I’m memorized with with salt! Ooops. I’m glad you managed a workaround though and enjoyed it!

      Reply
  11. Corsa says

    December 5, 2016

    It was fun to make and also tasted great.

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      December 7, 2016

      Yay! Isn’t it fun lining up the little tater tots into an army all ready to march into the oven?! I have way too much fun with my food sometimes 😉

      Reply
  12. Best meal when making a dish for a family ! says

    October 5, 2016

    This recipe is my go to recipe when I am preparing a meal for a family with kids. It is always a hit !

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      October 8, 2016

      I’m glad to hear it! Who can resist tater tots?!

      Reply
  13. Madeline says

    August 16, 2016

    Are you able to freeze this recipe? 🙂

    Reply
    • The Cooking Jar says

      August 16, 2016

      I should think you can, Madeline!

      Reply
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