Tater Tot Casserole is one of those popular recipes that just about everyone loves. It’s fairly easy to make, cheap and nutritious at the same time, what could be wrong with this as a regular part of any meal? Well, like lots of tasty treats, tater tot casserole is loaded with calories.
Ingredients of Tater Tot Casseroles
Different brands of tater tots have different caloric content. The caloric content of a regular 3 ounce pack of tater tots is about 150. The ingredient labels on two popular brands indicate:
• Ore-Ida Tater Tots (3 ounces or 85.0 grams) list 150 calories per servings. Of this amount 63 calories are from fats.
• Sonic tater tots (regular- 84 grams) have 220 calories per servings. The calories from fat are 126.
The caloric content listed on ingredient labels for commercial tater tots is just for the tots, so this does not include any other ingredients you may add. Also note that the caloric content listed on these ingredient labels are based on a 2000 calories per day diet.
Tater tots are just the commercial term for hash browns, which are simply deep-fried, crispy brown potatoes. These tasty treats go by various names in other countries such as potato gems in Australia. They are even called different things depending on where in the USA you are or which restaurant or fast-food establishment you get them from.
Experimenting with other ingredients can help cut down the calories in this meal. Vegetarians can substitute meatless items such as tofu for the beef. Some persons substitute mushroom soup for chicken soup. For vegans, they also go without the cheese. And for those non-beef eaters, you can use turkey or even chicken if you wish in place of the ground beef. In fact, tater tot casserole is one of those dishes that were made to be experimented with.
One of the great things about this meal is that children generally seem to love it.
Trivia: Tater tots have been around since 1954.
Recipe for Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
2 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 lbs tater tots
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Optional
Chopped carrots
1 can frozen peas or green beans
1 can corn
Method
• Preheat oven
• Cook seasoning such as onion, garlic in a little oil in a skillet, add ground beef and cook until brown
• Spread the ground beef into the bottom of the casserole dish (13x9x2 is adequate for this recipe)
• Spoon the soup over the meat and cover with cheese
• Put tater tots over the cheese
• Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees
• Remove cover and bake for another 15 minutes
Tater tot casserole can be eaten as is or served with a nice salad or broccoli. This recipe serves around 8.
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