Roast Turkey Tater Tot Casserole Recipe

Roast Turkey Tater Tot Casserole is a delicious twist on a comfort food classic and is a great way to use up your leftover turkey.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

You made it through Thanksgiving and are now in the post-holiday quiet (or chaos!). And hopefully, you have lots of Thanksgiving meal leftovers. I know I always prepare way more food than we need.

Why do I over-prepare for this meal? Well, I want the whole family to be able to enjoy as much as they want to and (almost more importantly) I want the leftovers!

For me, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and one where I find a lot of cooking inspiration from the leftovers. For the Thanksgiving meal, many people will cook a traditional version of their favorite dishes because that is what our families and friends expect. I also tend to do this, although I can’t help tweaking our traditional favorites every once in a while.

Trying Something New

With the pressure of that meal over and done with, I am now free to take those same ingredients (i.e., the leftovers) and try something new and different. I am typically looking to make an easy recipe because of all the work that went into the main holiday meal. Sure, we could just heat up the leftovers and recreate the main meal (which I’ve done!), but trying something new and different is fun, too.

Here are other great examples of some delicious recipes using Thanksgiving leftovers:

• Sourdough Stuffing Egg Casserole
• Slow Cooker Turkey Noodle Soup
• Turkey and Sweet Potato Risotto 
• Roast Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

This particular year, I happened to have a lot of leftover turkey and was wondering what fun I could have with the turkey meat. As I was digging through my pantry and freezer, I came across a bag of frozen tater tots.

Tater Tot Obsession Confession

Confession time. Hot on the heels of a well-crafted, hand-cut french fry, comes crinkle fries and tater tots! Basic, but I love them!

Listen, frozen tater tots are making a big comeback. As kids, we loved those crispy tater tots, but I guess they weren’t fancy enough to serve in many restaurants. Fast forward to today, and tater tots are everywhere.

So, with frozen tater tots and leftover turkey on hand, it was time to pull together an easy tater tot casserole recipe. I wanted to make a great recipe, with a nod to the traditional version, but update it a bit and have some fun with it.

Tater Tot Casserole

But first, let’s take a walk back through time. As I was growing up, if you got together with a large gathering of friends or family and you asked what to bring, you were likely told to bring a “hot dish”. What is a hot dish, you ask?

A hot dish is the same as any other casserole dish you might make. Pretty much anywhere outside the Upper Midwest, you have casseroles. But, in the Upper Midwest – hot dish!

Well, one of our favorites was the tater tot hot dish (casserole!). It’s a comfort food classic. Not particularly healthy, but one of the tastiest casserole recipes of the time.

I will admit, it was an easy recipe. Brown some ground beef, throw in a can of cream of mushroom soup, season with a little bit of salt and black pepper, and then put that beautiful even layer of frozen tater tots on top. Bake until the ground beef and cream of mushroom soup were bubbly and you had crispy tater tots on top.

This was basically a two dish meal. A large skillet to prepare the ground beef mixture and a casserole dish to put in the oven. It’s easy to see why it was popular as you could easily get the ingredients and they were typically inexpensive.

Roast Turkey Tater Tot Casserole

Fast forward to today, and I want to make a roast turkey tater tot casserole. It’s an updated twist on the classic tater tot casserole, but just as comforting as the original that you grew up with.

It’s also less of a guilty pleasure because it’s got a delicious, easy-to-make homemade sauce instead of canned cream soup. Plus, it has more veggies than the classic tater tot casserole recipes.

What If I Don’t Have Roast Turkey?

Your guests left you no leftover turkey meat? Good for them, but sad for you!

Can you substitute something else in place of the (lack of) leftover turkey? Absolutely!

You can replace the 3 cups of roast turkey called for within this easy casserole recipe with 1 pound of ground meat. If you are staying on the healthier side, lean ground turkey is an excellent substitute as is ground chicken.

Make-Ahead and Freeze

This casserole is also great because you can make it ahead of time and freeze it for later. I actually like to divide this into two smaller pans, eat one right away and tuck one away in the freezer to pull out for an easy weeknight dinner.

Make the roast turkey mixture and put into a casserole dish. Do not put the frozen tater tots on top. Simply cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and put into the freezer. It will be good for 3-4 months.

The best way to reheat is to leave in the fridge overnight to thaw. Once thawed and ready to bake, put the frozen tater tots on top of the casserole and put into a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• If you don’t have red bell pepper or mushrooms on hand, you can substitute any combination of fresh or frozen, corn, peas, carrots or green beans.
• I recommend whole milk, but you could also use 2% milk or for a richer sauce, half and half.
• The turkey mixture can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. When you’re ready to bake, put a layer of frozen tater tots on top of the casserole and bake according to instructions, until warm and bubbly and tater tots are heated through and golden brown.

Ingredients Needed to Make Roast Turkey Tater Tot Casserole

Full instructions can be found below in the Recipe Card

• Olive oil
• Onion
• Red bell pepper – If you don’t have red pepper on hand, green yellow or orange bell pepper will work just fine
• Celery
• Cremini mushrooms – I don’t recommend using canned mushrooms for this dish. If you can’t find cremini mushrooms, button mushrooms can be substituted.
• Garlic
• Flour
• Turkey or chicken stock
• Whole milk – You can substitute 2% milk for a lighter sauce or half and half is you would like a richer sauce
• Fresh or dried thyme
• Fresh or dried sage
• Flat leaf parsley
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Leftover roast turkey
• Frozen tater tots

How to Make Roast Turkey Tater Tot Casserole

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Coat 1- 9×13 pan or 2- 8×8 pans with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.
• Add onion, red pepper and celery.
• Sauté until vegetables are starting to soften.
• Add mushrooms and sauté until they release their moisture and start to brown.
• Stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute.
• Sprinkle mixture with flour and stir until coated.
• Slowly add stock and milk, stirring constantly.
• Bring mixture to a bubble and cook until thickened.
• Stir in thyme, sage, parsley, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and diced turkey meat.
• Pour mixture into prepared casserole dish and top with frozen tater tots.

More Delicious Recipes Using Leftover Turkey

• Slow Cooker Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup
• Leftover Turkey Casserole
• Turkey Ala King
• Leftover Turkey Shepherd’s Pie
• Turkey Salad Sliders

ENJOY!