Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole is a flavorful, easy weeknight dinner. Your favorite ground meat, bacon, cheeses, tater tots and more!
We always keep a big bag of tater tots in the freezer. Every so often we make some sort of casserole with tater tots all over the top of it! This is just one of them. Honestly, I just love tater tots and crave them at times.
This easy dinner is so easy to prepare and totally delicious. You will love this Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole as much as we do!
Our most common combinations of ground meat are ground pork and beef, just ground beef, and ground pork and ground turkey. I find that the ground pork stops the ground turkey, and sometimes the lean ground beef from tasting dry. Maybe it is just me.
I am overly critical of everything I make or is made for me and I just can't seem to help it. I usually keep my thoughts to myself but I am always trying to figure out what I would do differently, if anything. Am I the only one who does this? I sure hope not!
Now, back to this Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole. I encourage all of you to taste your meat mixture before you spread it in your pan. Maybe you want to use some more cheese, find it needs more pepper, hot sauce or ketchup. You get the idea. Always taste before you bake whenever possible.
When I was young I always followed recipes exactly, no matter what. I did that for years until I was lucky enough to sit beside a friend of my mothers who was amazing at everything in the kitchen. She was known for supreme kitchen skills.
I thought at the time, how lucky am I? I had no idea how lucky I really was until after. She shared a bunch of great kitchen tips with me as well as some of her own recipes, including her homemade pasta sauce.
Some day I will get around to putting it on this site. She is Italian and her sauce is the best I ever tasted, freezes beautifully and I think I am going to get off my behind and get it done! I am also going to check and see if I have any in the freezer too.
Ingredients for Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole
- your favorite ground meat
- bacon
- shredded cheese
- onion
- garlic
- ketchup
- mustard
- relish
- salt
- pepper
- jalapeno or hot sauce
- tater tots
- diced tomatoes or fresh tomato
- dry onion soup mix
- green onion, lettuce, pickle, tomato for garnish, if desired.
How to make Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 9 inch deep cake pan lightly coated with cooking spray or butter. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble or dice and set aside. Reserve some bacon to sprinkle on top of casserole, at the end, if desired. Do not discard grease.
- In the same large skillet, with bacon grease, over medium heat, cook ground meat and onion together, stirring occasionally, until meat is no longer pink. Drain if desired and return to skillet, (I never drain it.)
- Sprinkle with flour and stir until flour is absorbed and blended in.
- Stir in Worcestershire sauce, pepper, garlic and onion soup mix.
- Once blended remove from heat.
- Add 1 cup shredded cheese, canned tomatoes, bacon, ketchup, mustard, and relish and jalapeno.
- Taste your mixture and add salt and pepper accordingly.
- Spoon mixture into prepared casserole dish and flatten until even and smooth.
- Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese across the top, if desired.
- Arrange the partially thawed tater tots in an even layer over flattened mixture. A 9 x 9 inch pan will need 63 tots or about ½ of a 2 pound bag.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining bacon and then ½ cup cheese (or add even more) on top of the tater tots.
- Change oven temperature to broil.
- Return pan to the oven for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
- Let casserole stand for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkling of green onions, pickles and tomatoes on a piece of lettuce or bed of lettuce, if desired.
We love casseroles, or all in one meals, around here and I have listed some of our favorites below! I am hoping you find at least one other you would like to try! I can't wait to hear what you think or did differently!
Delicious Ground Beef Casseroles to Try
Chili Cheese Tater Tot Hot Dog Casserole
Supreme Layered Beef Casserole
Cheesy Potato Sausage Casserole
Easy Creamy Potato Pork Chop Casserole
Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef pork, veal or turkey
- 5 slices bacon, chopped, almost crisp ⅓ cup or more to taste, ham works too
- 1cup small onion chopped or 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce -
- 1 tblsp garlic, minced if desired
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons Dry Onion Soup Mix ½ pkg, optional
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup ketchup
- 1 tblsp yellow mustard
- 1 tblsp pickle relish or 1 diced medium pickle
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced or hot sauce to taste
- 1 can (14 oz) canned tomatoes, diced and drained or 1 large ripe tomato, diced
- 2 cups cheese, shredded divided, more or less to taste
- 1 bag (28 oz) tater tots, frozen you will have extra
- butter or cooking spray for greasing
For Serving
- 6 iceberg lettuce leaves
- 1 small tomato
- sliced pickles
- 1 green onion. thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare an 8 x 8 inch or 9 x 9 inch deep cake pan lightly coated with cooking spray or butter. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium high heat 5 to 7 minutes or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Crumble or dice and set aside. Reserve some bacon to sprinkle on top of casserole, at the end, if desired. Do not discard grease.
- In the same large skillet, with bacon grease, over medium heat, cook ground meat and onion together, stirring occasionally, until meat is no longer pink. Drain if desired and return to skillet, (I never drain it.)
- Sprinkle with flour and stir until flour is absorbed and blended in.
- Stir in Worcestershire sauce, pepper, garlic and onion soup mix.
- Once blended remove from heat.
- Add 1 cup shredded cheese, canned tomatoes, bacon, ketchup, mustard, and relish and jalapeno.
- Taste your mixture and add salt and pepper accordingly.
- Spoon mixture into prepared casserole dish and flatten until even and smooth.
- Sprinkle ½ cup shredded cheese across the top, if desired.
- Arrange the partially thawed tater tots in an even layer over flattened mixture. A 9 x 9 inch pan will need 63 tots or about ½ of a 2 pound bag.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining bacon and then ½ cup cheese (or add even more) on top of the tater tots.
- Change oven temperature to broil.
- Return pan to the oven for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
- Let casserole stand for 5-10 minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkling of green onions, pickles and tomatoes on a piece of lettuce or bed of lettuce, if desired.
Notes
- Recipe can be doubled to fit perfectly in a 13 x 9 inch pan or casserole dish.
- Substitute ham instead of bacon.
- Instead of shredded cheese top with your favorite cheese slices instead.
Nutrition
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