This easy and cheesy cowboy casserole recipe is the perfect dinner for busy nights. A simple, hearty casserole with ground beef, veggies, spices, crispy tater tots and lots of cheese. You could also make it with ground turkey or ground chicken, too.
It’s so quick to layer in a casserole dish and pop in the oven to bake. For more casserole recipes your family will love, check out our awesome lasagna casserole, tuna casserole, and our vegetable casserole.
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Cowboy casserole is made of layers of creamy beef filling, cheese, and tater tots. We first heard about it from the Pioneer Woman, but there are many ways to make this hearty dish. It’s a twist on a classic Tater Tot Casserole, with layers of meat, cheese, and veggies added.
Cowboy casserole is inspired by other dishes like cowboy potatoes (baked potatoes and veggies). Easy and quick to make, this recipe is loved by cowboys and busy families alike.
Ingredients for Cowboy Casserole
- 1 pound ground beef
- Half of a medium yellow onion, diced
- One 10 ounce can Rotel tomatoes, not drained
- One 15.25 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
- One 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
- 1 ½ cups Colby and Monterey Jack cheese, shredded, divided
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
- One 32 ounce bag tater tots
Substitutions & Additions
One of the best parts of this recipe is that you can customize it to fit your family’s tastes. Love cheese? Add a few more handfuls. Not a fan of tomatoes? Leave out the can of Rotel. This is an easy recipe to experiment with and create your own version. Here are some popular changes:
BEANS: Pinto or black beans give this casserole a southwestern flair. Stir them in at the same time as when you add your Rotel tomatoes.
VEGGIES: Add mixed peas and carrots to make the base layer of your casserole more similar to that of chicken pot pie. This is a tasty twist that goes well with the creaminess and crispy tots in the recipe.
How to Make Cowboy Casserole
STEP ONE: Lightly spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan with cooking spray. Place the tater tots in the dish and pre-bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and transfer the tater tots to a bowl. Turn the oven up to 425 degrees.
STEP TWO: In a large skillet over medium heat, cook your onions and ground beef until the beef is no longer pink and the onions are tender. Add the Rotel tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper into the skillet. Cook until the liquid has reduced, about 8 minutes.
STEP THREE: Remove the skillet from the heat and add sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, drained corn, and ½ cup of cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.
STEP FOUR: Pour the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and spread it in an even layer.
STEP FIVE: Sprinkle ½ cup of cheese over the top of the mixture.
STEP SIX: Layer the tater tots on top, pressing them down into the mixture. Layer your tater tots side by side to fit the most into your dish. By creating an even layer of lined-up tater tots you’ll get a nice, even amount of tater tots in each slice of your casserole (plus, it looks pretty)!
STEP SEVEN: Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheese over the top of the tater tots.Sprinkle the chopped chives over the cheese. Cover and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.
Making this recipe in a slow cooker
This recipe is also easy to make in your crockpot. Use the same instructions, but create all of the layers in your slow cooker (instead of a baking dish). Cook the casserole, covered, on low for 5 hours.
What to Serve with this dish:
Since this casserole is such a great all in one dinner, I usually keep the sides easy too. The recipe has potatoes and corn already so I usually make a nice side salad to go along with our cowboy casserole.Try this easy Caesar salad recipe, it’s a favorite! If you want an easy dessert idea, pair this meal with our blueberry cobbler.
For a fun way to turn tater tots into an all-in-one meal, this cowboy casserole is a favorite of little cowboys and cowgirls everywhere! It’s a family favorite that makes dinnertime easy.
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Cowboy Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- Half of a medium yellow onion diced
- One 10 ounce can Rotel tomatoes not drained
- One 15.25 ounce can whole kernel corn drained
- One 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup undiluted
- 1 ½ cups Colby and Monterey Jack cheese shredded, divided
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chives chopped
- One 32 ounce bag tater tots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Lightly spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Place the tater tots in the dish and pre-bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl.
- Turn the oven up to 425 degrees.
- In a large skillet cook your onions and ground beef until beef is no longer pink and onions are tender.
- Pour in the Rotel tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper. Cook until the liquid has reduced, about 8 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and add sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, drained corn, ½ cup of cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted.
- Pour the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle ½ cup of cheese over the top of the casserole.
- Layer the tater tots on top pressing them down into the mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of cheese over the top of the tater tots.
- Sprinkle the chopped chives over the cheese.
- Cover and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and serve.
me too, no matter how busy I am – I will cook for my kids, and this recipe is really a great help! and yummy 🙂
This is so similar to something my my mom used to make all the time. So good!
I would live off these tater tots in my university days so imagine my excitement when I saw this recipe. OMG, it is so good!
Am I missing something? I don’t see the recipe telling you when to add the spices? I got it all together and then realized they were never added.
You add it at the same time as the Rotel after cooking the meat! Enjoy 🙂
My whole family loved this!! We love corn so when you sprinkle the first cheese layer I add a can of corn sprinkled..also unless I missed it you didn’t specify size of bag of tots so I just guessed. Bought a 5lb bag and split it in half. It worked out great! Yes I know a lot of extras but I have 2 teenage boys, it’s never enough! 😉 oh and also easy to make