Hotdish

Hotdish is the ultimate Upper Midwestern comfort food. Growing up in Minnesota, we ate hotdish all the time. Several times a week.

If you’re not familiar with the term, hotdish is similar to a casserole. But there are some key differences. Hotdish is more likely to contained canned condensed soup (like Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup). It’s likely to have hamburger or canned tuna in it. And it’s likely to have a crunchy topping.

Csserole is perhaps more refined, a little bit more fancy. But for those of us who grew up on hotdish, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

The most popular hotdish recipe is probably tator tot hotdish. While recipes can vary, it’s likely to contain a mix of browned hamburger, cream of mushroom soup, and mixed frozen vegetables on the bottom. Then, it’s topped with tator tots and the dish is baked until the tator tots are browned.

There are a million recipes for tator tot hotdish out there – and there’s no reason for me to throw my hat in the ring. So I like to focus on lesser-known hotdish recipes like chow mein noodle hotdish and chicken broccoli hotdish.

I even like to experiment with new and unique hotdish recipes like crab rangoon hotdish. Yes, that’s the popular Chinese take-out appetizer turned into cheesy, noodley goodness.

This recipe collection is for you, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Enjoy your hotdish.