Okay, so I was scrolling through my social media feed the other day, and I stumbled upon this recipe for something called “Buffalo Chicken and Tater Tot Casserole.” It sounded kinda wild, but also delicious, so I thought, “Why not give it a shot?”
First things first, I gathered all the ingredients. I already had some chicken breasts in the fridge. I made a quick run to the grocery store to grab some tater tots, buffalo wing sauce, ranch dressing, cheddar cheese, and a few other things. I was also planning to use cauliflower instead of chicken, following a recipe, I found, but I totally forgot to buy it. Anyway, that’s fine.
I preheated my oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. While that was heating up, I cooked the chicken breasts. I just seasoned them with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then pan-fried them until they were cooked through. Once they were cool enough to handle, I shredded them up with a couple of forks.
Next, I grabbed a large baking dish and greased it up with some cooking spray. I spread a layer of frozen tater tots on the bottom. Then, I mixed the shredded chicken with some buffalo wing sauce, I used a good amount of sauce. On top of the tater tots, I evenly distributed the buffalo chicken.
Then I drizzled ranch dressing over the chicken. It felt like I was going crazy, but that’s what it said to do. Finally, I sprinkled a generous amount of shredded cheddar cheese over the whole thing.
I popped the casserole into the oven and baked it for about 25-30 minutes, until the cheese was all melted and bubbly and the tater tots were golden brown and crispy.
The smell coming out of the oven was amazing. When it was done, I let it cool for a few minutes before serving it up. It was seriously good. The combination of the spicy chicken, the crispy tater tots, the creamy ranch, and the melted cheese was just perfect.
I will definitely be making this again. Maybe next time, I will remember to buy cauliflower and actually make it with cauliflower. But honestly, it was pretty darn good with chicken, too!
