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Totchos, a.k.a. tater tot nachos with ground beef can be dinner, party food, or a tasty appetizer for Game Day. Crispy tater tots are topped with super delicious taco meat and all the classic nacho toppings for a crazy-fun dish!
Tater tot nachos are as good as they look! Amazing. And you can keep them simple by topping with ground beef taco meat. A recipe that only takes a few minutes to put together.
Of course I love regular nachos with tortilla chips (like my oven baked nachos), but swapping those chips for crispy-on-the-outside and soft-on-the-inside tater tots is otherworldly!
Even with all my weeknight dinner recipes to choose from, these classic totchos are near the top of the list.
If you're looking for an easy way to meal plan, then this dinner should be on your schedule. Download my Meal Planning Starter Kit to make dinnertime enjoyable instead of stressful.
Jump to:
- What are totchos?
- Ingredients for totchos
- How to make them:
- Why you'll love this recipe
- Expert tips:
- Toppings and Variations for Tater Tot Nachos
- Storing and Using Leftovers
- More Mexican-Inspired Recipes
- Totchos (Tater Tot Nachos)
What are totchos?
This delightful nacho-style dish is made with crispy tater tots and toppings. Riff on your favorite nachos but swap the traditional tortilla chips for potato tater tots!
The foundation of totchos is of course the tots, and you can choose to make them vegetarian, or top them with meat.
I make my classic totchos with seasoned ground beef, but you could top them with carnitas, BBQ pork, brisket, steak, or buffalo chicken!
Totchos are classically covered with nacho toppings. Cheese is a main component and gets melted on top. Then, the sky is the limit and you can include things like scallions, cilantro, avocado, jalapeño, bell peppers, and beans.
Ingredients for totchos
The ingredients for my ground beef totchos are similar to my beef tacos except I use tater tots instead of taco shells.
You'll find my super flavorful ground beef taco meat is the perfect topping for crispy tater tots and here are the simple ingredients:
- Tater Tots: Crispy, golden nuggets of potato goodness. These are the base for totchos, they come frozen, and will need to be baked.
- Ground Beef: Ground beef adds a hearty, meaty component to the totchos, and doesn't need slow cooking like shredded beef or carnitas.
- Yellow Onion: Finely chopped yellow onion provides a savory flavor to the beef mixture.
- Tomato Sauce: Rich and tangy, tomato sauce binds the beef and onion together, creating a luscious, savory topping.
- Cornstarch: A little cornstarch for thickening the sauce, ensures it's not dry or too wet to top totchos.
- Salt: Essential for enhancing all the flavors, a bit of mild, kosher salt brings out the best in every ingredient.
- Oregano: This dried herb adds a classic Mexican compliment to the tomato sauce.
- Garlic Powder: A dash of garlic powder infuses the dish with a warm, savory flavor.
- Cumin: Ground cumin introduces a subtle smokiness.
- Jalapeño: This is an optional add in to the ground beef mixture. You can also use it as a topping.
How to make them:
- Heat oven to 425°F (220°C).
- Spread a bag of frozen tater tots evenly on a baking sheet.
- Bake the tater tots in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy. Turn them halfway through the baking time for even crisping.
- While the tater tots are baking, prepare your desired toppings and the ground beef.
- Once the tater tots are done, top with the cooked ground beef. Sprinkle with the black beans and corn, then shredded cheese.
- Return the dish to the oven and bake for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Remove the totchos from the oven and add the remaining fresh toppings.
- Serve the totchos hot, with sides of sour cream, guacamole, salsa, or any other preferred condiments. Enjoy your delicious totchos!
Top Tip
Use leftovers to make a half batch in the air fryer! I often have leftover ground beef taco meat, but not an entire recipe. So make half the recipe for these totchos with those beef leftovers and cook a few tater tots in an air fryer super fast! A small dinner will come together in minutes!
Hint: This is actually the BEST after school snack for teenagers!
Why you'll love this recipe
This totchos recipe has some pretty great qualities, hitting all your cooking pain points!
- Crowd-Pleasing - Who doesn't love tots? No matter who you are feeding, this dish is a hit.
- Comfort food - Mixes the warm, familiar taste of tater tots with the exciting, spicy flavors of nachos.
- Versatile - You can add any toppings you like, whether you want meat, veggies, or something different.
- Perfect for sharing - Perfect for parties, family dinners, or hanging out with friends when you want to share something fun.
- Game Day perfection - This is the best snack for The Big Game, or those basketball playoffs!
- Gluten Free - Make sure to find gluten-free tater tots and this entire meal is gluten free.
- Kid-Friendly - Everyone loves them, but kids really like the small size and cheesy taste.
- Quick and easy - Simple to put together and doesn't take much time, which is great when you're in a hurry or have a busy night.
Expert tips:
As an expert recipe developer and cookbook author, I'm sharing some extra tips with you for this recipe!
- Achieve perfect crispness: Bake your tater tots spread out on a tray at a high heat so they get really crispy. If they're too close together, they might get soft instead.
- Bake them in the oven, flipping once to get a golden crust on all sides, or for an extra crunch, consider air-frying them.
- Layer strategically: Put down a layer of crispy tots, then lots of cheese, and your choice of meat or cooked veggies. Bake it until the cheese melts. Finish by adding fresh ingredients like chopped herbs or a spoonful of sour cream for extra yum.
- Prep toppings: Prepare your toppings before you make the dish, or even while the tater tots bake. You'll want to serve the tots right away when they're hot, so get the rest of your meal or party together before finishing these.
Toppings and Variations for Tater Tot Nachos
Load your totchos with things like my Mango Salsa for a twist. Or try topping them with classic beef chili or authentic creamy black beans. You'll also want to make my Easy Guacamole if you aren't using avocado slices.
Here are some variations on the classic:
- Loaded Totchos: This is how I do it! The crispy tots, with cooked ground beef or turkey, and lots of cheese. Top with black beans, pico de gallo, avocados, and sour cream. And try my cilantro salsa!
- Breakfast Totchos: Make them for breakfast by adding scrambled eggs and bacon bits, with some Monterey Jack cheese. Serve with salsa on the side.
- BBQ Chicken Totchos: Top your tots with shredded BBQ chicken, mozzarella and gouda cheese, and a bit of red onion. For serving, drizzle some more BBQ sauce and sprinkle cilantro on top.
- Veggie Totchos: Use black beans, corn, and diced bell peppers on your tots, and add pepper jack cheese. You can also add cooked mushrooms with taco seasoning for a more meaty flavor.
Storing and Using Leftovers
Leftover totchos are actually WAY better than leftover nachos. They can be re-heated or re-purposed in the most delicious ways.
Store leftovers in a covered container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can bring them back to life by re-heating them in an air fryer, or on a baking sheet in the oven. That being said, your fresh toppings will then be cooked, so plan on adding more fresh salsa to brighten up the re-heated dish.
Better yet! Make a Southwest Breakfast Bake:
Beat a few eggs with a splash of milk and salt and pepper. Pour over your totchos leftovers in a buttered baking dish and top with extra grated cheese. Bake at 350ºF until the eggs are done. This will usually be 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve the breakfast casserole with some fresh salsa and sour cream.
Let me know how it went!
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Totchos (Tater Tot Nachos)
Tara Teaspoon
Crispy tater tots are topped with super delicious taco meat and all the classic nacho toppings for an easy dinner or Game Day snack!
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Work Time 25 minutes mins
Total Time 40 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 28 ounces (1 package) Tater Tots
Ground Beef:
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ¾ cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 jalapeno (Optional) (seeded, and very finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 8-ounce can) tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
Toppings:
- ½ cup canned black beans (drained)
- ½ cup frozen corn (thawed)
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- Avocado
- Sliced jalapenos
- Sour Cream
- Cilantro
- Pico de Gallo
Instructions
Heat oven to 425ºF. Spread tater tots on a baking sheet. Bake until just heated through and crisped, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile make the ground beef and prepare the toppings.
Ground Beef
In a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add ground beef, the chopped onion andchopped jalapeno if using, with the kosher salt. Using a wooden spatula or ground meat chopping tool, break beef into small pieces as the mixture cooks. Cook until onions are soft and translucent and beef is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, and cornstarch and stir to combine evenly with the meat and onions.
Let mixture simmer in the tomato sauce until sauce is glossy, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat anduse.
Toppings
Top hot tater tots with as much of the ground beef as desired, add the black beans, corn and cheese. Return baking sheet to the oven to melt the cheese, 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with desired fresh toppings and serve immediately.
Notes
- Achieve perfect crispness: Bake your tater tots spread out on a tray at a high heat so they get really crispy. If they're too close together, they might get soft instead.
- Bake them in the oven, flipping once to get a golden crust on all sides, or for an extra crunch, consider air-frying them.
- Layer strategically: Put down a layer of crispy tots, then lots of cheese, and your choice of meat or cooked veggies. Bake it until the cheese melts. Finish by adding fresh ingredients like chopped herbs or a spoonful of sour cream for extra yum.
- Prep toppings: Prepare your toppings before you make the dish, or even while the tater tots bake. You'll want to serve the tots right away when they're hot, so get the rest of your meal or party together before finishing these.
Nutrition
Calories: 454kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 25gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 62mgSodium: 1316mgPotassium: 824mgFiber: 6gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 451IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 141mgIron: 4mg
Watch Tara's recipe videos all in one place!Check out the Youtube channel and see more.
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About Tara Teaspoon
I’ve been in the food publishing business for over 20 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television & advertising. Order my new cookbook & stick around for amazing things to eat.
Find out more!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Tara
I hope you all enjoy this family favorite!
Reply
Mia
What a fantastic idea! I quite like "tots" so this was a must-try. Turns out...they are now a Taco-Tuesday quick and easy dinner! This recipe will be a regular at our house-the teenaged boys love it too.
Reply
Tara T.
Great to hear Mia and I'm so glad your family enjoys it as well. Enjoy!
Reply
Britney
This is the weeknight meal I've been looking for! More filling than nachos with lots of flavor variations. I honestly can't wait for the leftover breakfast casserole!
Reply
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