The History of the Minnesota Tater Tot Hotdish (2024)

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What is the history of the Tater Tot Hotdish in Minnesota? ›

The first published recipe for hotdish was in a 1930s community cookbook published by the Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid from Mankato, Minnesota. The 90-year-old recipe was submitted by Mrs. C.W. Anderson.

The Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid Cookbook, published in 1930, contains what is believed the be the first hotdish recipe ever printed. Familiar ingredients include hamburger, as the protein; macaroni, as the starch; a mix of veggies; and tomato soup, as the binder.

The term hot dish is typically utilized in the upper parts of Minnesota and North Dakota because people up there like to coin their own verbiage, much like “uff da” or “you betcha.” You probably called it a casserole, like this one, and, not to sound like a hot dish snob, but the parameters of hot dish are a bit more ...

In years past, a pasta was the most frequently used starch, but tater tots and local wild rice have become very popular as well. In 2016, Food & Wine credited a 1930 Mankato church congregation as the first written record of a hotdish recipe.

Tater tots were invented by F. Nephi Grigg of Ore-Ida in 1953 as a way to use excess potato shavings that came from making frozen french fries. Originally, the shavings were sold as livestock feed. The term “tater tot” is a proprietary name owned by Ore-Ida.

Tater Tot Hotdish is a quick and easy comfort food staple recipe all over the Midwest! This hotdish is full of meat, veggies, soup, cheese, and topped with tater tots for a super satisfying meal!

Macaroni and cheese is the oldest written casserole recipe found in 1250.

1930: The first recorded hot dish recipe appears in the Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid Cookbook from Mankato, Minnesota. The recipe calls for two pounds of "hamburger" (i.e., ground beef), Creamette brand elbow macaroni and canned peas. 1934: Campbell's debuts its condensed creamed soups.

You might call it a casserole, but we Minnesotans call it a hotdish.

Minnesota nice is a cultural stereotype applied to the behavior of people from Minnesota, implying residents are unusually courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered compared to people from other states and more akin to their Canadian neighbors in Northern Ontario.

Why do Minnesotans sound Scottish? ›

The appearance of monophthongs in this region is sometimes attributed to the high degree of Scandinavian and German immigration to these northern states in the late 19th century.

Particularly popular is Tater Tot hotdish, which Minnesotans claim to have invented. (I'm fairly sure that this claim has gone largely unchallenged.) Hotdish is a tribute to Minnesotan practicality: easy to make and clean up after, easy to transport.

The word "hotdish" was first used in a 1930 Minnesotan cookbook published by the Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid. This landmark recipe called for hamburger meat, onions, celery, canned peas, canned tomato soup, and Creamettes — Minnesotan macaroni — all to be stirred together and baked.

There are several stories of how Tater Tots got its trademarked name, but Steve Grigg, Nephi's son, prefers the version in which Ore-Ida employee Clora Lay Orton came up with the name in a factory-wide contest. Tater Tots were slow to take off when they first appeared in grocery stores in 1956.

Totchos were invented by publican Jim Parker in Portland, Oregon. Some Mexican-style fast-food restaurants offer seasoned tater tots: Taco Time and Señor Frog's call them "Mexi-Fries", while Taco Bell used to sell them as "Mexi-Nuggets" and "Border Fries".

All hotdishes are casseroles, but not all casseroles are hotdishes. But the main difference between hotdish and other casseroles is where you make it. What someone in Minnesota or North Dakota would call hotdish, a person in Indiana would simply know as tater tot casserole.