Tater Tot Casserole

What's up guys, we're back with a little spin on one of our classic recipes, this tater tot casserole. It's packed with protein, great for meal prep, and made with super simple ingredients. If you liked our loaded tater tot slow cooker chicken, you're going to love this one. So let's jump right into it. Speaking of tater tots, if made perfectly, are you going tots, wedges, fries, hash browns, or something else? Drop your choice in the comments below. Start this one by taking out a large stove top pan and putting it over medium heat. Add in a tablespoon of oil. After it heats up, choose your vegetables. Today I'm going with a chopped up green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, orange bell pepper, and half a red onion. You can really use whatever vegetables you think would pair well with this recipe. I'll put some other options on the website with their metric conversions, which is always linked up here or down below in the description. Keep everything moving for a couple minutes. Next, choose your lean ground meat. I went with a 96.4 beef, but ground turkey or chicken worked great too. Break that up and let it cook until browned over medium heat. While it's browning, add in 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1⁄4 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of some Italian seasoning. Mix everything together as it continues to brown. Once brown, drop your heat to low and add in a can of 98% fat free cream of mushroom or chicken. If you don't have access to these, you can use a can of gravy as a substitute. I'll put a couple tips on substituting this on the website too. Let everything cook on low heat for a couple minutes. From here, take out at least a 2 quart baking dish and add that mixture into the bottom of it. Top that with a pound of frozen tater tots, followed by 3⁄4 of a cup of shredded cheese. Put that into the oven on 350 for around 35 to 40 minutes or until your tots turn golden brown like this. A couple tips to this one. Number one, reheating it. To keep it crispy, I'll usually throw a piece of mine in the air fryer for around 5 to 7 minutes. If you're looking for speed, a minute in the microwave does the trick. Number two, use a cheese you like that fits your macros. It all works great. Number three, for a kick, add a little chili sauce or crushed red pepper to your mix. Number four, vegetables are optional, though I like them for both texture and taste in this one. Speaking of vegetables, the winner of our last test in your guesstimating for the onion was Ben. Congrats to you. For this week's test in your guesstimating, we're going to go with this much pasta. Guess how much you think it weighs in the comments below and the first one closest to it will win a shirt or shaker. One guess per person. With that said, thank you for watching. Hit that thumbs up button for more quick meal ideas. Subscribe if you haven't already so you never miss a recipe. Don't forget to check out TheProteinChef.co for all your healthy recipe needs and of course, stay healthy.