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Total time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes
A one-pot vegan Tater Tot Casserole with a creamy, savory filling of veggies and vegan sausage covered by a golden, crispy layer of tater tots. A fun and easy recipe that can also be gluten-free and soy-free.
This vegan Tater Tot Casserole is guaranteed to thrill the child inside you but it'll appeal just as much to the adult you are.
Let's deal with the kid inside you first. This dish is basically a thick, delicious pool of creamy, savory veggies and bits of vegan sausage, topped by a crunchy, golden layer of tater tots. It just makes you want to pick up a fork and start stuffing your face until eternity. And if you actually have one of those little monsters around, you'll find that it's never been so easy to stuff that picky little tummy with this many veggies while getting told, "You're the best cook in the whole world, mom (or dad)!"
All that praise for a recipe with mushrooms? Genius.
And now for the adult. You know this is a one-pot dish because you read that right up there in the header, so you're already going, easy cleanup! But there's more. It's a pretty easy dish to put together too. Almost all the ingredients come from the freezer so there's minimal prep. The tiny amount of chopping and cooking that's required takes no more than 15-20 minutes, tops. After that it's the oven that does all the work for you while you relax and get a manicure. Or a pedicure.
Or, if you're not overly obsessed with the state of your digits, a nap.
You could read a book too. Or watch TV.
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Point is, this is a breeze: easy prep, easy cooking, easy cleanup.
If you don't have a cast-iron skillet, you can certainly use any other oven-safe skillet, or make the creamy filling in a skillet, pour it into a baking dish, and then top with tater tots before baking.
Tater tot casseroles enjoy a high degree of popularity in the upper Midwest, and especially in Minnesota, where a tater tot casserole recipe, known as hotdish, is something of a food staple. The story goes that the frugality of hotdish, and the fact that it combined starch, vegetable, and protein, secured its place as a popular family recipe during the Great Depression. I can totally see why. There are no exotic, expensive ingredients here, and although one couldn't -- and probably shouldn't -- argue that tater tots are healthy, the recipe in totality is pretty nutritious with 377 calories per serving and 13 grams of protein from the vegan sausage.
And here's the best part for the cook, which I saved for the last, or probably not because you've already seen the photos. This is one gorgeous dish, and everyone will be rather impressed when you carry it to the dinner table and put it down. Be sure to do it with a tiny flourish. And no, you won't get pronounced a genius by the James Beard Foundation, but you will certainly see lots of happy faces and hear many satisfied burps, and in the end isn't that even better?
More delicious vegan casserole recipes:
- Vegan Breakfast Casserole
- Savory Spinach-Potato Cobbler
- Vegan Zucchini Breakfast Strata
- Vegan Hash Brown Casserole
Vegan Tater Tot Casserole Recipe
One-Pot Vegan Tater Tot Casserole
Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan
A one-pot vegan Tater Tot Casserole with a creamy, savory filling of veggies and vegan sausage covered by a golden, crispy layer of tater tots. A fun and easy recipe that's also gluten-free and soy-free.
5 from 95 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course Main/Casserole
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings
Calories 377 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 small onion (finely chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (smashed and minced)
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 14 oz vegan Italian sausage (Tofurky, or the vegan Morningstar version or Beyond Meat are all fine)
- 1 cup cremini mushrooms or button mushrooms (finely chopped, crimini or button or portobello are all fine)
- 16 oz frozen veggies (I used a mix of green beans, wax beans and carrots. You can choose your own, including corn, green peas, and green peppers)
- 1 teaspoon sage (or thyme)
- ¼ cup unbleached all purpose flour (sub rice flour if glutenfree)
- 2 cups almond milk (or any nondairy milk, unsweetened)
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 4 cups (approx) tater tots
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Add the garlic and onions, season with salt and ground black pepper, and cook over medium heat until soft but not brown.
Add the sausage and stir for a couple of minutes until it starts to brown.
Add the mushrooms and stir well. Saute for a few minutes until the mushrooms start to soften, then add the sage or thyme and the flour and mix well. Cook, stirring, for another couple of minutes.
Add the frozen veggies, mix, and then add the nondairy milk. Stir frequently until the mixture just comes to a boil. Add more salt and pepper as needed. Turn off the heat.
Arrange the frozen tater tots on top of the veggies. You can make a simple but appealing design, like I did, by arranging the tots in concentric circles.
Place the skillet in the oven and bake 55 minutes or until the tater tots are golden-brown.
Remove the skillet from the oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 377kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 13gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 5gSodium: 839mgPotassium: 484mgFiber: 6gSugar: 1gVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 96mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know in the comments below!
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- Slow Cooker Vegan Breakfast Casserole
- 15 Cozy Vegan Casseroles
- Vegan Tamale Pie
- Vegan Asparagus Potato Tart
About Vaishali
Hi! I'm Vaishali, a journalist turned food blogger. At Holy Cow Vegan I share easy, tasty recipes made with clean, wholesome ingredients that the entire family can enjoy.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Chef John Andrews
A delicious way to get lots of vegetables into your diet ! Even carnivores will love it. I used Beyond Spicy Ground Sausage and used about 1 1/2 cups of milk. It makes its own gravy so if you want more gravy, simply add the full 2 cups. Thank you !Reply
Vegan Chef
A delicious way to get a lot of vegetables into your diet ! Even carnivores will love it. I used Beyond Spicy Sausage and about 1 1/2 cups almond milk. It makes its own gravy so if you want more gravy, use the full 2 cups of milk. Thank you !
Reply
Rachel
I love the flavor of this dish! I added a little bit of soy sauce. I also don't have a cast iron skillet so I put it in a 9in pie dish, but it was almost overflowing so probably would put it in something else next time. Also only needed to cook for 45 minutes, probably because the pan was more shallow.Reply
Mary
This recipe was so good & so easy to get rolling on as a new vegan. I substituted TVP (textured vegetable protein) browned in vegetable broth for the vegan Italian sausage (as it’s what I had on hand). Then I added a dash of both liquid smoke & liquid aminos (flavorful & saltiness=savory) to compensate for the omitted Italian sausage and the vegetable oil. Fresh sage was so good, a first time try for me. Fresh Baby Bella mushrooms finely chopped rounded it off. This was excellent-will fit this into my rotation! I’d leave a picture if I could. Thank you!Reply
Anonymous
Perfect⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Reply
Dee
This is super. I made for our Sunday lunch today and it was well received by vegan and non-vegans. None left. Made exactly as you instructed but used oat milk (because what I had on hand). Will be making again and bringing to the next pot luck. Thanks for a great, easy recipe.Reply
Monika
I was craving something like my mom would have made growing up. I found this recipe through a quick internet search and I can say that I am 100% pleased! This was perfect and balanced. I forgot to get Italian "sausage", so I added Italian spices to make it flavored correctly. This is getting added to the rotation! Also, to make this extra easy, I cubed the mushrooms and onions into 1/2- to 1-inch chunks before using my food processor to pulse them separately into minced veggies. Super easy, super quick, super tasty. Thank you!Reply
Vaishali
So happy you enjoyed the casserole!
Reply
Melodie Majcherek
Have you ever made this ahead of time and reheated in oven ? Any recommendations for making day before?
Reply
Elizabeth
Non vegan family members raved and asked for the recipe.Reply
Ramae
We just made this (for the second time) today, and once again, it was amazing! I'm a Minnesota girl, and I grew up loving the tater tot hot dish served at school (it was the ONLY thing I liked for school lunch). I was thrilled to find your recipe and even more thrilled it was vegan. We used Beyond Sausage and followed the recipe to a tee and baked it in a 9x13 glass dish. SO much better than the school lunch version. Thank you!Reply
Vaishali
Hi Ramae, that's wonderful to hear, especially from a Minnesotan. Happy I could bring back some nice memories and so happy you enjoyed the casserole. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words.
Reply
5 from 95 votes (67 ratings without comment)
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