Welcome friends to another edition of Free Recipe Wednesday! Today's recipe is something new that my wife and I tried this past week. Now obviously Tater Tot Casserole isn't a new concept, I've been eating this since I was a kid. However, as I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, I'm a huge fan of slow cookers so when I saw this recipe on Facebook I had to give it a try. Before I get into the recipe let me just mention a few observations and things I will do differently when I make this again. First, forget about the tater tots keeping any sort of form when you're scooping this out of the crock pot. You might get a few that stay together but you basically end up with hash brown casserole when all is said and done. That being said, it's still super delicious. Second, we felt there was too much potato in this and it didn't let the bacon and cheese shine. Next time we're going to cut down the amount of tater tots by 1/3 or even 1/2 of what the recipe calls for. The other option would be to increase the amount of cheese and/or bacon but the original recipe makes A LOT so I think it would be better to cut down the amount of something rather than increase it. We're also considering making this with hamburger (mostly cooked through before adding to the crock pot) next time. The chicken was good but I like modifying recipes and seeing what I can come up with. On that note, let's get to the recipe. As always leave me a comment with your opinions or modifications you came up with for this dish.
Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot Casserole - Slow Cooker Style
- 1 32oz Bag of Frozen Tater Tots
- 1 3oz Bag of Bacon Pieces
- 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, diced
- 2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 3/4 cup Milk
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
1. Spray the bottom and sides of the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place half the bag of tater tots in the bottom of the slow cooker.
3. Add 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the bacon on top of the tots.
4. Add the cut up chicken pieces on top and season with salt & pepper.
5. Add another 1/3 of the cheese and 1/3 of the bacon on top of the chicken.
6. Add the remaining tater tots to the slow cooker.
7. Add the remaining cheese and bacon on top.
8. Pour 3/4 cup of milk all over the top.
9. Cover; Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Be sure to check a piece of chicken to make sure it's thoroughly cooked (safe temp is 165 degrees).
Yes I would imagine that this style of cooking tater tots would simply turn them into a glob of mush. Some things should just never be cooked in a crock pot.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say tater tots should NEVER be cooked in a crock pot but you certainly shouldn't expect them to come out looking like tater tots, although if you're super careful scooping them out of the crock pot you still get some resemblance of a tater tot. Regardless, this dish is easy to make and still tastes good even if the tater tots do become hash browns in the end.
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