Spice up your traditional Tater Tot Casserole with this Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole! Let your slow cooker do the hard work for you and have a tasty, full of flavor meal ready to go when you are. This easy recipe will be a favorite for sure!
Tater tot casserole is a staple in our house. Cheesy comfort food is a crowd pleaser! Since I can keep the ingredients on hand we often have it when I haven’t planned anything else or forgot to put something in the slow cooker. But I have to admit that I, the person who puts almost everything in the slow cooker, have only ever made it in the oven. I know people make it in the slow cooker all the time so I knew it was time to finally give it a try. But if I’m going to try something new I might as well really try something new, right? So instead of plain tater tot casserole I went for a Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole. The verdict? Success!!
In keeping in line with making just a little more of the meal from scratch (like with these Slow Cooker Cheesy Beef Tacos) I did not use any canned soup. Instead I made a creamy ranch sauce from scratch, and wow did that taste so much better than anything you could get from a can! Your friends and family will thank you, and I promise it’s much easier than you think!
Want to have your own homemade ranch mix on hand? Try my homemade version!
A few simple steps and this Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole is prepped in no time at all!
- Brow up your ground chicken in the skillet before it goes in the crock. OR, better yet, use a multi-cooker
and only have one pot to clean!
- Once fully cooked, sprinkle in some flour, simmer in the chicken broth, and thicken it all up with some cream (or buttermilk).
- Now, add some yummy seasoning and you are set! It might take a few more minutes than opening up a can but I promise you it is worth the added effort!
Assemble in the crock with some optional veggies and you are all set!!! I had this going all day when we ended up making plans to head over to Grandma’s for dinner and to swim. So I just packed up the crockpot and took dinner along! Plugged it in to keep it warm while we were at the pool and came in to dinner already done. What more can you ask for on a hot summer day? Cheers to easy recipes!
Take this Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole on the road! This family friendly meal is perfect for:
- Potluck Dinners
- Church Gatherings
- Dinner with Friends/Family
- Birthday Parties
Spice up your traditional Tater Tot Casserole with this Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Tater Tot Casserole! Let your slow cooker do the hard work for you and have a tasty, full of flavor meal ready to go when you are. This easy recipe will be a favorite for sure!
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup cream buttermilk, or milk
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 32 oz frozen tater tots
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots optional
- 1/4 cup chopped celery optional
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese I used sharp cheddar
- 1/2 cup blue cheese optional, depending on taste
- Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat
- Add ground chicken and cook (breaking up with spatula) until no longer pink
- Sprinkle in flour and stir to coat cooked chicken
- Slowly stir in chicken broth and bring to a simmer for 2-3 minutes to thicken and reduce sauce
- Stir in cream (or buttermilk or regular milk)
- Add dried seasonings and salt and pepper and stir all to combine
- Let cook an additional 2-3 minutes until sauce is nice and thickened up
- Melt butter in microwave in large microwave safe mug or cup
- Add buffalo sauce and stir to combine
- Spray crock well with nonstick spray
- Add 1/2 of the tater tots
- Drizzle with 1/2 of the buffalo sauce/butter mixture
- Cover with the meat mixture
- Top with carrots, celery and blue cheese if desired
- Add remaining tater tots and drizzle with remaining buffalo sauce
- Top with shredded cheddar cheese
- Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours
I made this in my 5 quart oval crock and it set it to keep warm for several hours while we swam and it was still delicious!
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This looks amazing Jennifer! I love tot casserole in the slow cooker, and I love anything buffalo. Pinning!
Thank you so much!!
I love everything about this dish, but I have Celiac’s so I can’t add flour in as a thickener. Is it necessary?
You do need the flour but there are plenty of gluten free flours that would make a perfect substitute!! Pamela’s makes one that’s pretty easy to find at most grocery stores and there are lots of others as well. Let me know which one you end up using 🙂
Corn starch is a great gluten-free flour replacement for thickening in recipes like this!
Thanks!! Great tip! 🙂
This looks delish! I’d rather make it in the oven and was planning on following your instructions as written and then popping it in oven at 375 until done- unless you had any additional tips/ideas. Thanks!
That sounds just right! I’d think it will take 20-30 minutes depending on the size of dish you use. Hope you enjoy!!
Thanks for your help. Made it for dinner. Was so easy and 2 of my 3 boys (ages 6, 8 and 43) loved it and ate with no complaints. I consider that a huge success. Will make again.
Awesome!! When the boys eat it you know you have a winner 😉
I made this but all my tator tots fell apart – it was a little mushy but still REALLY DELICIOUS!
Bummer that they ended up mushy but so glad it still tasted good! 🙂
Is there a way to do this so it can be frozen then cooked at a later date? Would I just do all the skillet work and put together then freeze? Or should I not even try that?
This recipe is perfect for freezing! I would do it just like you mentioned…. get the meat mixture done in the skillet and let it cool and freeze it. Then when you are ready just thaw it and assemble with the tots, buffalo sauce, veggies and cheese. I actually did a basic Tater Tot Casserole as a freezer meal and you can read about it here!
Jennifer, how many people (adults) would you estimate that this dish serves?
It would easily serve 4 adults. If serving with other sides you could probably stretch it to 5 or 6. 🙂
Someone made this for a potluck at work and OMG, it was SO delicious. I’m not much of a cook, but today I bought all of the ingredients to make it myself. Can’t wait!
So glad to hear everyone enjoyed it! I’m sure yours will turn out great too! 🙂
you said you didn’t use soup? What kind of soup would you use if you did? I’m a pior college kid so im trying to find easy recipes and this looks great!
I made this again and use cream of chicken soup in place of the flour and chicken broth.
It was delicious and so much easier to make!
I have some boneless skinless chicken breasts to use up. Do you think they could be substituted for the ground chicken?
Yes! I think if you just finely dice the chicken and sauté it should work just as well.
Just wondering, is there a way you can make this recipe completely in the crockpot without cooking the chicken in a skillet first?
Hmmm. Haven’t tried it in this recipe but may have to give it a shot just to see. My concern is that it might be too watery? If I tried it I would probably cut up boneless skinless breasts instead of ground chicken…
Gotcha! Thanks!
About how many servings do you think this recipe makes?
Easily 6. Even 8 if you had a big salad or another side.
Hello Jen,
Not being from the States, but from the Netherlands in Europe, can you please explain to me what Rated Tots are. I get the taters, but not the tots?. Anything tater like I might use as a substitute?
Kind regards,
Monique
I mean Tater Tots obviously?
Hi Monique! Too bad you can’t find bagged frozen tater tots, so easy and quite tasty 🙂 Kind of like a french fry and kind of like hashbrowns. Although I’ve never tried it I’m told you can easily make them homemade. Here is one recipe I found but I’m sure there are plenty of others. Good luck!! I think it would be well worth the effort if you haven’t had them.
In England they are called oven crunchies at least they were up until 5 yrs ago when I moved to USA.
Thanks!! Good to know!
I also live in Europe! I just use frozen hash browns! It works! 🙂
Perfect!
In England they are called oven crunchies at least they were up until 5 yrs ago when I moved to USA.
Hi Jennifer! This looks delicious and I’m so excited to make it. I’m new to using a crock pot and this will be my first recipe I make in it. My settings have 4-6 hours on high and 8-10 hours low. Should I stick with your setting recommendations and just keep track of time on my own? or should I cook it 6 hours on high? Thank you so much for your help!!!!
Hi Jessica! I have not used a slow cooker similar to what you are describing but I’m assuming they get to the same temp as others. So, I would say that 6 hours on high would be way too long! If you can keep an eye on it that would be much better. Let me know what you think!!
Could I substitute the tator tots for diced up red potatos?? Or would it not cook the same? I have picky eaters in my family who won’t eat tator tots (weird I know).
I don’t think that regular type potatoes would work at all for this recipe. Even if you shredded them I fear they would have too much moisture? Would they eat shredded hash browns or are those too similar to tater tots for them? That would probably be a better substitute. My daughter would faint if she heard there was someone who didn’t like tater tots, I’m pretty sure she would eat them every day if I let her 😉
I found this recipe on Pinterest and can’t wait to try it! (I’m also following you now and loving LOTS of recipes on your website!) Quick question though, do you think this could be converted to a vegetarian recipe?
Hi!! so glad you found my site and please let me know what you try and how it turns out! And yes, I think you could easily convert this to be vegetarian. Maybe swap out the chicken for some canned pinto beans? Add a few more veggies? Let me know what you do with it 🙂
Hey Jennifer, this recipe sounds amazing however i’m not a fan of buffalo sauce. Is there a different kind of sauce that you would recommend? Thank you!
Hi Shanna! There are a few other flavors of hot sauces I’ve seen or even just plain hot sauce although I would probably suggest cutting back a bit or it may end up too spicy. I also have these other two tater tot casserole recipes, one for regular and one for taco so they might work better for you? Let me know what you decide to try!!
I was looking for inspiration for a different crockpot meal as my husband wanted to cook. I found this and a few others so I sent them to my husband. Yay! He chose this. It is currently cooking and can’t wait to try this!
OMG I’m DYING! This is sooooo good! And dangerous! 😉 Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe.
I was looking for a tater tot casserole with chicken and found this amazing recipe! I read your recipe for make ahead tater tot casserole also, and using it as a guide, doubled this recipe to aet now and freeze half for later. The first time i made using the exact recipe ingredients, but baked at 375 for about thirty minutes, instead of crockpot. Delicious, and making the sauce was as easy as you said! My 16 yo son did not like it, i think because of the dill, but the rest of us LOVED it! Did not use the optional carrots, celery or blue cheese. With the second batch, i used a 20 oz. bag of sweet potato tater tots, and added the optional celery. I only put about ten tots in the bottom of the dish, needed the rest to go on top. Poured all the hot sauce mixture on top instead of dividing. Used fiesta blend cheese, it is what i keep on hand. Since there were less tots, it fit in a 7 x 11 casserole dish, baked at 375 for about 30 minutes again. It was SOOO good, i could not believe it was even better than the regular tater tots! Thank you so much for a delicious recipe, and the make it yourself cream sauce that can be used instead of canned!
Hi Renee!! Thanks so much for letting me know! I also LOVE the sweet potato tots but can’t quite get everyone else in my family on board as much as me 🙂 But, the regular version is still one of my go to dinners and in fact, we just had it tonight since it’s about the only thing my daughter really loves to eat. Have you also seen my taco version?
Hi there! Was wondering what the minimum size crockpot one would need to make this?
Thanks
Hi Christina! You will need to use at least a 4 quart slow cooker.
I would like to know if this can be made without the chicken? I’m looking for a side dish for Christmas Eve and like the idea of buffalo sauce, but we only eat seafood (no meat) on Christmas Eve. Just wondering if anyone has tried making it with buffalo sauce and no chicken?
I haven’t tested it, but I think it could work well to sub out white beans for the chicken if that helps?