A lot of people grew up on Tater Tot Casserole (which you might be accustomed to calling Hotdish), but I am not one of them. I’m late to the party. In fact, the first time I tried it was working here at 12 Tomatoes and it turns out to be an easy thing to fall in love with. But you don’t always have to go with the classic version — you can also do Tater Tot Casserole with a little twist, like maybe a taco twist. That’s just what we’ve done here and it’s a great way to bring comfort food to taco night.

The basic Tater Tot Casserole is ground beef cooked up, layered with some peas and carrots or maybe green beans and then topped with Tater Tots and baked. This one follows the same basic idea, except we’re switching up the veggies for ones that are more “taco friendly” and adding in some zesty taco seasoning. Oh, and enchilada sauce. And you get to top it with your favorite taco toppings, what a delight.

If you want crispier tots, you can start by pre-baking the tots for ten minutes before you start to assemble the casserole. It tastes delicious either way, so this optional step is all about preference.

Then you just brown up some ground beef with some onion, garlic, and taco seasoning before you mix in some black beans, corn, green onion, and green chilies. It’s zesty already! But then you also stir in some enchilada sauce and a generous portion of shredded cheese before you transfer it to a baking dish.

The tots go on top and you want to bake it for about forty minutes before you top it with some cheese and return it to the oven long enough to get melty.

From there, you can top it with whatever you like — sour cream, pico de gallo… maybe some sliced olives and green onion. You can’t really go wrong with taco toppings, even when they’re on a casserole!