- If you love cozy comfort food, then you've gotta try
my tater tot casserole. It's an explosion of
flavor, filled with bacon, cheese, homemade ranch dressing,
and tons of fresh herbs. And you're watching "Preppy Kitchen," where I, John Kanell, teach you how to make delicious home cooked dishes, to share with your family and friends. This casserole will be
ready before you know it, so let's get started. First off, let's do some prep, starting off by chopping
one cup of yellow onion. Just give it a rough chop,
doesn't have to be fancy. Now it's time to chop one cup
of scallions, or green onions, and just remove the
withered parts, if you will. Set those aside into a bowl. Time to shred three
cups of cheddar cheese, and just watch your
knuckles on this grater, it is not your friend in the kitchen. Three cups of shredded cheddar
equates to about 12 ounces, but really, it's kind of up to you. It's not gonna kill the recipe if you add a little bit
more, or a little bit less, and that goes for substitutions too. You don't have to use cheddar. It could be jack, kind of whatever, like semi sharp, semi mild,
hardest cheese you like. Now I want about a tablespoon of fresh chives and fresh dill. Just remove the stalks from the dill, those were a little bit too much. I love dill so much, one
of my favorite herbs. That was a very generous tablespoon, okay. A tablespoon of chives, and just have those set aside for later. Last bit of prep is to
give a very rough chop to eight slices of bacon, cutting mine into roughly one inch pieces. Doing most of the prep for this casserole, in a large Dutch oven, but you could definitely use
a big pot, if you prefer. I have this over medium heat, and we're gonna add the
bacon in right away. You don't add a bacon into a hot pan, you can let it warm up. We're gonna cook our
bacon over medium heat, for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally, just keep an eye on it. You wanna make sure the bacon has not like clumped together, basically. This smell totally takes me back. It reminds me of breakfast,
when I was growing up, my mom would make bacon,
pancakes with real maple syrup, and of course, some scrambled
eggs on the weekends. Weekdays were a little bit more harried. When your bacon's close to crispy, it's time to add some paper towels. I'm putting my on a cooling rack, just so it's not on my counter, and start fishing the
bacon out, as it's ready. If you know you're a snacker, or if you have them in the house, you can totally add a couple
extra slices of bacon. So the recipe can be complete, but people can have a little bite too. I have more bacon grease
than I need in my pot, so I'm going to reserve
two tablespoons, carefully. The rest of the bacon
grease can be discarded, or used for other recipes,
but in either case, it has to get dumped someplace, because this pot needs to be empty. Okay, let's take it out. Now, let's add two tablespoons,
or 30ml of bacon fat back into our pot, and that
one cup of chopped onions. We're gonna cook these over medium heat for about five minutes,
until they're softened, and a little bit translucent. We can also add in two
tablespoons of butter, right into the pan. This tater tot casserole is
like the ultimate comfort food. It's just this amalgam of
all these nostalgic flavors, coming together, in one super easy dish. I love making it,
especially when there's like even the slightest chill in the air. My onions have softened
up, they smell delicious. It's time to add in two
tablespoons of flour, just sprinkle it in. Stir the flour into the onions, make sure it's all coated, and then cook it for about two minutes. We're in the home stretch, this is gonna come together so quickly. Pour in one and 1/4 cups, or about 300 milliliters of whole milk. Stir until combined,
and turn the heat off. Oh, this is like a dreamy mixture of so many delicious flavors. Now we're gonna stir in about
1/2 of the cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup of sour cream, so
stir, stir, stir, stir, stir. And about 1/2 of the scallions as well. Just sprinkle those in, stir to combine. Whoa, do you see this? Look at that cheesy sour creamy. Oh my gosh, it's good. The last thing we're
doing, in our Dutch oven, is stirring in 16 ounces, or
1/2 of that 32 ounce package of frozen tater tots. Oh my goodness (laughing). There's some casserole
magic happening in this pot. Okay, we're done in the Dutch oven. It's time to get your nine
by 13 inch baking dish out, and we're gonna assemble this, so we can pop it into the oven. Though one tricky part is
getting it out of the Dutch oven, and into the casserole dish. So let's see if I can manage
this, it's very heavy. Okay, smooth that out. This is the delicious
base for your casserole. It's gonna cook and be amazing. We're gonna sprinkle the top with the remaining tater tots,
it's the other 16 ounces. Just try and get some nice coverage there. Now sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Oh, the luxury. Again, the only thing you're looking for is to get a nice, even distribution. Finish it off with all
that delicious bacon that you haven't eaten yet. I know some of you are snacking. Time to pop this into the
oven, 350 for about 35 minutes. It'll be golden, and bubbly. While this bakes, we're gonna make our homemade ranch dressing. This homemade ranch
comes together in a snap. So, into a medium bowl, I'm
adding a 1/4 cup of sour cream, two tablespoons of milk, all that amazing chopped
fresh dill and chives, what. We're going to add salt
and pepper to taste, but I'm giving it a good
pinch of each to begin. A pinch, I tells ya. Stir it up, and just give it
a really nice whisk together. That is really nice and refreshing. I'm gonna drizzle that over the casserole, as soon as it's done. So we're back in a moment,
with the magic of editing. (bells chiming) My casserole's out of the oven, and it was like crackling
and bubbling, and oh, this is amazing, even sound wise. Alright, sprinkle the top
with the remaining scallions. I'm gonna drizzle the homemade
ranch over the top now, and just because I'm me,
I put it in a piping bag, but you could totally just spoon it over. I can't help myself. Ooh, those herbs like, those herbs really clog up the piping bag, live and learn (laughing). So, beautiful, beautiful (laughing). There we go, nice. Time to plate up this cozy comfort food, onto the plate you go, all that amazing, like
potato, cheese, bacon, everything delicious in the world. I hope you get a chance to make this, because the smell and the
taste are beyond the beyond. Before I take a bite,
if you like this recipe, check out my side dish playlist, all of my favorite delicious side dishes, in one playlist for you. Now it's time for a bite. That is an explosion of flavor. Those fluffy crunchy tater
tots, the crispy bacon, the gooey cheese, and that
homemade ranch dressing, with the fresh herbs,
it's beyond delicious. I really hope you get a
chance to make this recipe. And if you like my videos, hit that like button and subscribe, and I'll see you on the
next side dish video.
