Vegan Tater Tot Casserole with Mushrooms

Here’s a perhaps unpopular opinion: if it were up to me, all fries would be replaced with tater tots. There, I’ve said it. For our blog, I’ve already created homemade tater tots, combined them with broccoli, and topped them with jackfruit, gravy, and red cabbage. So what’s next?

It’s time for a tater tot casserole! Since store-bought tater tots are prepared in the oven anyway, it seemed pretty obvious to combine them with a baked recipe right away – and a casserole is just what we need right now. Unfortunately, many store-bought tater tots aren’t vegan as they contain lactose, egg powder, or other animal ingredients. So don’t just grab them at random but make sure to check the ingredient list first.

But now, let’s talk about the creamy bed of mushrooms on which the tater tots are allowed to make themselves comfortable. In principle, it’s nothing but pan-fried mushrooms with sauce, so all you have to do is to chop mushrooms, onions, and garlic first, then fry them with thyme. We used button mushrooms and soaked porcini mushrooms, but you can use any type of mushroom you like (the same applies to the dried mushrooms). If you don’t want to use dried mushrooms at all, just use more fresh mushrooms and water or vegetable broth instead of the mushroom stock. This is the great thing about this dish: you don’t have to stick strictly to our recipe. Instead, you can adapt and change a lot of these ingredients without compromising the result. For example, omit the vegan white wine completely and add some lemon juice to the fried mushrooms at the end. The only important thing is to make sure that your mushrooms are surrounded with some sauce at the end, so they don’t get dry in the oven.

We used a cast-iron skillet for preparing the mushrooms as it’s also oven-safe. If you don’t have an oven-safe frying pan, just transfer the mushroom mixture to a baking dish. Last but not least, sprinkle a layer of vegan cheese on top of the mushrooms and cover it with your frozen tater tots. For the following 20 minutes, you can look forward to your casserole, which will be wonderfully juicy below and slightly crispy on the top.