Cowboy Casserole

This cowboy casserole is a super easy, hearty, dinnertime classic that your family is sure to love. Loaded with ground beef, beans, and flavorful veggies. Bake to perfection under an irresistible layer of crispy tater tots.

Cheesy Cowboy Casserole With Tater Tots

My cowboy casserole recipe will have your family full and happy come dinnertime! It’s a perfect weeknight family dinner. It’s quick to put together, uses easy-to-find ingredients, and it’s flexible!

If you’ve tried my cowboy stew (one of the all-time most popular recipes on my site!!) it’s time to cowboy on and try this wonderful casserole.

It’s a delicious version of the classic tater tot casserole with lots of extra goodies and spices to make it a new favorite! With loads of delicious ground beef, beans, and veggies, my cowboy casserole recipe is the best way to fill up your family!

Try my taco casserole and/or my  John Wayne casserole next! I guarantee you’ll only see cleaned plates after you serve this!

What is a Cowboy Casserole?

A traditional casserole made up of a layer of sautéed aromatic vegetables, browned ground beef, a southwestern mix of spices, beans, tomatoes, sour cream, and cheese topped with a crispy blanket of tater tots.

Perfect to serve for a busy weeknight family dinner, potluck, or church supper.

Cowboy Casserole Ingredients

• Ground Beef: I use a mix of 80/20. I like the flavor the 20% of fat brings to the dish.
• Chiles: This recipe uses a whole can of diced green chiles. Before you dismiss this recipe as too spicy for you, hold up! Green chiles actually aren’t spicy at all. They just add a delicious, mellow chile flavor to the dish.
• Tater Tots: Don’t feel trapped by your tater tot choices! Traditional is great for this recipe, but branch out too — try topping your dish with some veggie tots!
• Chili powder is no trivial matter for true chili aficionados. My family prefers meals on the milder side, so I usually go for a good commercial blend like McCormick chili powder. The result gives you a sturdy chili flavor with deep tones and detectable smokiness without burning your tastebuds!

Tips + Tricks

• Toasting the Spices: Don’t skip the step of adding the spices to the pan and cooking them until fragrant. This really intensifies their wonderful flavors, allows them to marry a bit, and gives a more a lot of complex taste.
• Corn: Make sure the corn is thawed then well-drained. If not, the corn will add unwanted water to the casserole.
• Tater tots: These can be added frozen. No need to thaw them.

Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?  This cowboy casserole with tater tots will last up to three to four days in the fridge! Any longer, and the tater tots get soggy and the texture is off.
  • To reheat, you can throw your leftovers in the oven to get a little bit of crispiness back into your tater tots!

• Can You Freeze This?  Yes! This cowboy casserole with potatoes freezes just as well as any other casserole. Either wrap it up before you bake it or wrap it up after — either, way your casserole can freeze for two to three months.
  • To cook, let thaw in the fridge overnight, then either follow the remaining instructions if you didn’t cook it before or reheat in the oven until it comes to temp!
• Make-Ahead Tips: This recipe is ideal for make-ahead magic! Follow the steps above for freezer meal goodness so you can have a fully-prepped, delicious dinner on hand whenever you need it.

How To Make Crockpot Cowboy Casserole

Here’s How:

1. Lightly spray a 4-6 quart crockpot with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Follow the same recipe instructions below through step #4 but pour the ingredients from the skillet into the prepared crockpot instead of a baking dish.
3. Arrange a single layer of tater tots over the beef mixture.
4. Cover and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours. Sprinkle cheese over tater tots the last 30 minutes of cooking.
5. Serve.

What Goes Well With Tater Tot Casserole?

This cowboy casserole with beans is a great meal in itself dish! But if you want to add a side dish, I’d serve it with my authentic southern cornbread, beer bread, or buttery crescent rolls and a crisp green salad dressed with my quick and creamy caesar mayonnaise dressing.

How To Make Cowboy Casserole

1. Sauté onion, add garlic, stirring constantly, and sauté until fragrant.
2. Add beef, and continue to cook until there is no longer any pink. Drain excess fat from the skillet. Sprinkle beef with chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Continue to cook.
3. Stir in black beans, pinto beans, diced tomatoes, green chiles, sour cream, 1 cup of cheddar, and hot sauce.
4. Cook until the liquid thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Mix in frozen corn.
5. Pour it into the prepared baking dish.
6. Arrange a single layer of tater tots over the beef mixture. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, remove and discard aluminum foil, and sprinkle cheese evenly over tater tots.
8. Return to oven for 20 minutes, or until casserole is bubbly around the edges.
9. Allow cooling slightly then serve.

***See the full instructions below.

More Beefy Casserole Recipes

• Dorito Casserole
• Beef Noodle Casserole
• Sloppy Joe Casserole
• Shredded Beef Enchiladas
• Hamburger Casserole
• Johnny Marzetti Casserole
• Bisquick Taco Bake
• Alton Brown Shepherd’s Pie
• Baked Spaghetti Recipe
• Mexican Casserole

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Cowboy Casserole

This Cowboy Casserole is loaded with ground beef, beans, and flavorful veggies. Bake to perfection under an irresistible layer of crispy tater tots.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 1 pound 80/20 ground beef
• ▢ 2 tablespoons chili powder
• ▢ 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• ▢ 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, including juice
• ▢ 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
• ▢ 1/2 cup sour cream
• ▢ 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• ▢ 1 teaspoon hot sauce, optional
• ▢ 1 cup frozen corn, thawed and well drained
• ▢ 1 (32-ounce) bag tater tots

Topping:

• ▢ 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat 350°F. Spray a 9X13 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil (2 tablespoons) in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion (1), stirring frequently, until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic (4 cloves), stirring constantly, and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef (1 pound), continue to cook, crumbling with a spoon until there is no longer any pink. Drain excess fat from skillet.
• Sprinkle beef with chili powder (2 tablespoons), cumin (1 1/2 teaspoons), oregano (1 teaspoon), salt (1 teaspoon), pepper (1/2 teaspoon), and brown sugar (1/2 teaspoon). Continue to cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the spices become fragrant.
• Stir in black beans (1 (15-ounce) can), pinto beans (1 (15-ounce) can, diced tomatoes (1 (14.5-ounce) can, green chiles (1 (4-ounce) can, sour cream (1/2 cup), 1 cup of cheddar, and hot sauce (1 teaspoon). Cook until the liquid thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Mix in frozen corn (1 cup), then pour it into the prepared baking dish.
• Arrange a single layer of tater tots (1 (32-ounce) bag) over the beef mixture. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven, remove and discard aluminum foil, and sprinkle cheese (1 cup) evenly over tater tots. Return to oven for 20 minutes, or until casserole is bubbly around the edges. Allow to cool slightly then serve.

Fans Also Made:

• 
  Chili Cornbread Casserole
• 
  Fiesta Chicken
• 
  Mexican Chicken Soup
• 
  Taco Casserole

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Notes

1. Ground Beef: I use a mix of 80/20. I like the flavor the 20% of fat brings to the dish.
2. Chiles: This recipe uses a whole can of diced green chiles. Before you dismiss this recipe as too spicy for you, hold up! Green chiles actually aren’t spicy at all. They just add a delicious, mellow chile flavor to the dish.
3. Tater Tots: Don’t feel trapped by your tater tot choices! Traditional is great for this recipe, but branch out too — try topping your dish with some veggie tots!
4. Toasting the Spices: Don’t skip the step of adding the spices to the pan and cooking them until fragrant. This really intensifies their wonderful flavors, allows them to marry a bit, and gives a more a lot of complex taste.
5. Corn: Make sure the corn is thawed then well-drained. If not, the corn will add unwanted water to the casserole.
6. Tater tots: These can be added frozen. No need to thaw them.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 671kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 1389mg | Potassium: 1066mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1207IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 328mg | Iron: 5mg

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