French Onion Tater Tot Casserole
Don’t tater tots just take you back to childhood? They also make me think of Napoleon Dynamite!! I was excited to try this recipe and it did not disappoint! I can’t recall ever trying (cooking or eating) a tater tot casserole before this but I love the idea of it, haha! My friend Cathy recently introduced me to the blog Half Baked Harvest on Instagram and when I saw this recipe posted a few days later, I knew Darrell would be all about it!
Tater tots have typically been a food I’ve avoided just because I’ve been unsure if they’re gluten free. Sometimes ingredient lists are vague on foods like tots and everywhere seems to say they contain gluten so I just didn’t risk it. As always, I’m including my standard disclaimer in this post because you really just have to decide for yourself, but from what I can tell, Trader Joe’s “Trader Potato Tots” ingredients don’t set off any alarms, at least not for me being someone who is gluten intolerant and not celiac. So I figured we’d give it a try. I’ve had zero issues since eating the dish and I ate a decent amount - so in my book, they’re something I’ll buy again!
As Darrell put it, this recipe seemed a little more “involved” than our typical weeknight meals but it was simple and easy nonetheless. I think part of it was that we started cooking it as we were still chopping up ingredients instead of prepping everything prior to diving in. As with most recipes you try, the first time takes longer as you’re figuring it out.
The blog’s website offers a way to cut the recipe’s ingredients or increase based on the number of servings you say you’re cooking. The original recipe was for 6 servings so we cut it to 3 servings and the ingredient amounts changed accordingly which was really helpful. Attempting to change it to a meal with just two servings made ingredient measurements really wacky so 3 was just easier.
Notes
Since we were cooking fewer servings, I felt like the cook times for some of the steps didn’t take as long. The tot-to-mixture ratio seemed a little off but I also think this may be because of us cutting it down. I did not use a full 1 lb bag of tots, just used as many as it took to cover the mixture.
Ingredient Changes:
We used a large shallot instead of the yellow onion since that’s just the type of onion we keep on hand.
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour instead of regular flour.
Coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. (By cutting the recipe down we essentially used “a dash” of the coconut aminos.
Ground beef as our meat of choice.
For the dry white wine, I used Unorthodox Sauvignon Blanc 2019.
What I’ll do differently next time: more cheese!! We just really love cheese. I used a full cup of shredded Gruyere cheese which is double what it technically called for when cooking just 3 servings but I think it could’ve used more! :)
You can find Half Baked Harvest’s recipe here!
What are some fun ways you’ve been cooking up frozen favorites?
Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or medical professional and while I share what ingredients work for me or what I choose to eat (at my own risk) while dining out, I advise you do your homework when choosing ingredients and places to eat. I highly encourage everyone to do their own research when it comes to the products they cook with or restaurant’s procedures. I do not have celiac disease but rather a gluten-intolerance and I’m not an expert on gluten or other food intolerances, autoimmune diseases, or food allergies. I simply share the ingredients I have found work for me, the places where I’ve dined and my personal experiences.