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
I made this earlier this week for dinner and it was delicious! I halved the recipe as I live alone and I still had leftovers for the next day and to freeze. I left out the corn and cream cheese as I didn’t have them and then added some ketchup and hot sauce to the manwich sauce to kick it up some. Thanks!
You’re very welcome and thanks for sharing, Emily. Hot sauce is great! Love that addition. I’m a big fan of Cholula hot sauce 🙂
It was good for what it was. Made the recipe exact. Family liked it for something different. I am not a fan of Manwich but gave it a shot anyway. It made a quick easy meal and left overs as well.
I’m glad you tried it out and thank you for coming back to let me know how you liked it. I’m a big fan of quick meals with tons of leftovers – great for lazy days! If you don’t like Manwich, I do have a homemade sloppy joe sauce you can try instead.
My boys loved this!
I’m happy to hear it! It’s a kid favorite 🙂
My husband and my 2 year old love this dish. So glad I found this recipe
Sounds like you found a new staple for the whole family. I’m so glad and thanks for sharing!
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. 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
That is a huge serving for kids! I’m so glad they liked it that much. 🙂
Can you freeze this?
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.
I’ve made this recipe several times and it always turns out great! My toddler also approves. Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re very welcome, Laura! Happy cooking!
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
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!
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.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you Bryann. But thanks for giving it a go.
This dish was amazing!!!! No leftovers to be found!!!!!!
Thank you for coming back to let me know, Manon!
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
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!
It was fun to make and also tasted great.
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 😉
This recipe is my go to recipe when I am preparing a meal for a family with kids. It is always a hit !
I’m glad to hear it! Who can resist tater tots?!
Are you able to freeze this recipe? 🙂
I should think you can, Madeline!