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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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Sloppy Joe Tater Tot Casserole
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 6-8 1x
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
- 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
- Over medium-high heat, brown beef until cooked. Drain any fat and remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, saute onions and garlic until translucent.
- Add red bell pepper and corn and cook until soft.
- Add beef, Sloppy Joe sauce, cream cheese, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.
- Simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
- Pour the beef mixture into a 9×13 casserole dish and spread evenly.
- Top with a layer of 1 cup of cheese.
- Arrange tater tots and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Bake at 450°F for 20 minutes or until the tater tots are crispy and golden.
- Dish and serve hot.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
Comments & Reviews
Love this, I’m going to make it tonight but was wondering if i could put a layer of tots on the bottom also? or would they not cook completely?
They might not cook completely like you said. One way to solve this is to blind bake (pre-bake) the bottom layer of the tots first and then add in the remaining layers and follow the rest of the recipe!
Cherie…I tweaked the recipe a lil bit when I made this. I fried my tots in a deep fryer to a golden brown and laid them on papper towels to drain. After my meat mixture was done…I did place tots on the bottom. And some over the top. It turned out just fine.
it was GREAT!!!! I’ll be cooking this again!
Thanks for coming back to tell me, Sue!
Made this tonight- big hit with the family and a light hit on the budget- it’s a keeper! Thank you!
“Big hit with the family, light hit on the budget”. Love it! So catchy 😉 You’re welcome and I’m happy everyone enjoyed it.
Should I cover it with tin foil while baking it
I didn’t cover it when I made it. As long as it’s in the middle rack, it will be fine uncovered. Good luck, Chelsea!
Personally, I wouldn’t cover it. How would the tots get crispy if you covered them!!
Can I use a little sour cream instead of cream cheese maybe? My tummy.can’t take cream cheese
I’m not 100% sure on this because the sour cream might curdle over high heat when it’s baking. If you do try it out, let us know the results? Another option would be to omit the cream cheese.
just made it tonight and it was delicious! 😀 we like it with a bit of sour cream
Wonderful to hear, Lana! Always happy to hear feedback of recipes 🙂
Tater tot casseroles have been poppping up on my Pintrest board lately but I think this recipe will hit the spot for me! I have a question regarding your lovely deep baking dish, can you please share where you got it from? Thank you in advance!
Alice
Sure, Alice! I bought them from Crate and Barrel. They sometimes have great stuff on clearance 🙂 The one I used for this recipe was the large baking dish. Happy shopping!
Thanks, Farah–that’s an amazing price!! My search for a deep baking dish took me to the Pillivuyt Porcelain pieces and they are certainly much pricier!
Welcome! It’s a steal of a deal for that price! I know I spent hours searching online among super expensive ones before I stumbled across this. Too good to pass up. I have the whole set. The large baking dish is the only one that’s deep dish though.
I am planning on getting the large baking dish this weekend and finally making this casserole! One more question, do you bake this uncovered? This should probably be common sense but I am not familiar with baking with frozen items. 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi,
I’m new to gluten free recipes, the sloppy joe sauce is bought from the store? Also gluten free?
Would love to make this! Thanks in advance!
Hi, Kami! My blog isn’t specifically for gluten free recipes. That being said some of the recipes are gluten free but I’m not a GF expert! I did use a can of sloppy joe sauce from the store. The brand I used was Manwich. I’ve Googled around and some say it is gluten free but I suggest doing more research just in case 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hi!
I made this tonight and it was a hit! Loved how easy and tasty it was!
Glad to hear it, Jesse! Thanks for trying it out 🙂
could I get new recipes sent to me thank you
Heya Iris. I just added your email to the subscription email list. You will be notified when new recipes are posted but there will be an activation link sent to the email you listed here. Just click on it to agree to subscribe.
Wow, how much cream cheese would be appropriate ? A tablespoon, half a stick ? this sounds good. Wouldn’t want to mess it up !
Heya Dave! 4 tablespoons of cream cheese is all it needs. Good luck!
Yum! I brought some tators and looked online for what I can do with them. Since it’s just hubby and I, do you think I can halve this recipe and freeze the other half?
I think you can! All the ingredients look safely freezable to me 🙂 It’s just the two of us too but we ate the other half the next day. Keeps well in the fridge.
This casserole basically combines my two ultimate comfort foods.. sloppy joe’s and tater tots so I can imagine how GOOD it must have tasted. Craving a bowlful to devour right now!
Go for it! 😉
Hi Farrah! Just discovered your blog via Foodgawker. You’ve got a great site here! Love this tot casserole!! 🙂
Thanks for saying that and dropping by Nicole! Always great connecting with other food bloggers 🙂
A great twist on sloppy joe…I may have to give this a try.
I hope you like it, Yolonda!