National Tater Tot Day – February 2nd

Is National Tater Tot Day a true holiday? A writer in Dallas, Texas, debunked the holiday in 2012 claiming it wasn’t a real holiday.

Can we be honest for a minute? Can we really consider any of these crazy national holidays as real holidays?

Whichever side of the dining room table you’re on, whether it’s a real holiday or not, I still want to pay homage to a Minnesota classic – Tater Tot Hotdish. Microsoft Word doesn’t recognize it as a real word but I promise you, Hotdish is a real word.

If you’re not from Minnesota or have never spent a significant amount of time there, you may be asking, “What in the world is Tater Tot Hotdish?” Let’s take a moment to introduce you to a simple recipe that brings back so many childhood memories for us natives:

The necessary ingredients:

Tater Tots

Did you know these were invented by Ore-Ida potatoes? Prior to tater tots, these magical little scraps from French fries were fed as scraps to the cow.

Ground Beef

We used ground turkey when I was a kid, but I make it with ground beef today.

Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

At my house, this is ALWAYS Campbell’s soup. You can’t use generic in Tater Tot Hotdish.

A can of French-cut green beans

(because we’re classy – none of those fancy fresh vegetables for this recipe)

Your veggie of choice may be different depending on what region of Minnesota you grew up in or what your parents preferred when you were a child. I’m from southwestern Minnesota and my husband grew up in southeastern Minnesota. There, they made their Tater Tot Hotdish with a corn/pea mix – YUCK!

Shredded cheese

Something simple like a cheddar. No need to get crazy with a pepper jack.

Salt & Pepper

That’s it. It’s that simple!

If Tater Tot Hotdish doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, (or bowl of Hotdish) check out Oreida’s website (www.oreida.com/recipes) for over 100 different recipes. They have enough Totcho recipes to have a different kind of Totcho (nachos made with Tater Tots) almost every day in February.

Savor the flavor my friends. And you’re welcome!

Want more recipe ideas? Check out our most recent Lunch Box Hack post.

Beth Bangtson, HR Manager