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Tachos (Loaded Tater Tots)

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Tachos is a fantastic comfort food of loaded tater tots, piled high with your favorite nacho toppings! This tater tot nachos recipe makes an easy game day snack, weeknight dinner, or a Super Bowl party meal!

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Looking down onto a platter of game day nachos.

Move over nachos, there’s a new sheriff in town – tachos! This recipe is everything you love about traditional nachos but made with crispy tater tots instead of tortilla chips.

This scrumptious snack is perfect for those who want the flavors of taco night, but with a twist. The tater tots provide a crunchy texture and are perfect for piling high with all of your favorite toppings.

Why We Love Tachos

  1. Crispy and Filling Comfort Food: Filled with your favorite nacho toppings, this recipe makes an incredibly filling snack or meal that can easily feed a crowd.
  2. They’re Perfect for Parties: You can serve a platter of them as an easy game day party snack or meal, and they’re sure to be a hit!
  3. Very Versatile: You can customize this recipe however you like. Just choose your favorite protein and go wild with toppings!

If you love the Tex-Mex flavors of nachos and tacos, and you’re a fan of savory appetizers and game day snacks, we think loaded tater tots will become one of your favorite comfort food meals!!

platter of tachos (loaded tater tots) topped with tomatoes, jalapenos, sour cream, and Velveeta cheese sauce.

There are several different names and spellings for this seriously delicious comfort food going around.

Other names for tachos include tater tot nachos, loaded tater tots, or, as Sonic restaurant spells it, totchos. Regardless of the name, this delicious meal begins with a base of golden, crispy potatoes.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Ground beef
    Using lean ground beef will prevent your snack from becoming too greasy. To reduce the calories and fat, you can substitute ground hamburger with ground chicken or turkey.

PRO TIP
For additional Tex-Mex flavor, use ground chorizo or pork instead. Another great topping idea for tachos is to use Chili con Carne, or shred a few baked chicken tenderloins.

Glass bowls of ground beef, frozen tater tots, cheese sauce and toppings for loaded tater tots.

Recipe FAQ

Who created tater tots and tachos?

Tater Tots were created by F. Nephi Grigg of Ore-Ida in 1953, as a way to use the extra potato shavings that came from making frozen French fries.

Later, Jim Parker came up with the idea for “totchos” aka “tachos” with the combination of tater tots and nacho toppings.

Is it possible to make vegan or vegetarian tachos?

Yes, it is possible to make this recipe vegan or vegetarian. You can use vegan-friendly proteins like plant-based crumbles, refried beans, or black beans. Instead of using dairy cheese sauce, you can use a vegan cheese sauce or vegan nacho cheese sauce.

Notes and Tips for the Best Loaded Tater Tots

  1. Use frozen potato tots.
    To avoid soggy potatoes, it’s important that you use tater tots from frozen.
Frozen tater tots on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
  1. Roast the jalapenos for extra flavor.
    Roasting the chiles will mellow the spiciness, and also adds a smoky flavor.
roasting jalapeno slices in oven above tachos.
  1. Drain any grease.
    If you’re using lean ground beef, it’s important to cook the beef until browned and remove excess fat, if necessary. This helps prevent your tachos from becoming soggy.
Browned ground beef in a cast iron skillet.
  1. Add other seasonings.
    Feel free to add other seasonings, such as a Cajun spice blend or chili powder for extra flavor and heat.
Taco seasoning in a skillet with cooked ground beef for game day snacks.

Other Variations of Tachos

  • Bite sized appetizers – Our Tater Tot appetizer recipe has similar flavors to these tater tot nachos, but this is a party food that’s much easier to eat.
  • Vegetarian – For a vegetarian or vegan version, substitute the beef with a plant-based protein, and use vegan cheese.
  • Breakfast Totchos – Yes, tater tots for breakfast is a thing, and it is so delicious! Top your tater tots with bacon, scrambled eggs, and cheese for a savory Sunday brunch.
White serving platter piled high with tachos.

Need More Ideas for Game Day Snacks and Appetizers?
Make some Taco Wonton Cups, a platter of Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers, or our super popular recipe for Buffalo Chicken Wonton Cups.

Reheating Tachos

Loaded potato tots on a white platter topped with nacho sauce and taco toppings.

Because this dish has cold and hot ingredients, it really isn’t possible to reheat the loaded tater tots after you assemble them.

However, you can make extra, then store the ingredients in your fridge in separate containers. This makes the meal easy to reheat, assemble, and enjoy later.

Best Way To Reheat Tater Tots

The best way to reheat tots is in the oven at 350°F, on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Similar to an oven baked fried chicken recipe, using foil helps to crisp up the outside of the potatoes.

Serving tachos from a white platter.

If you love these loaded tater tot nachos, check out our huge collection of other tater tot recipes!

Loaded tater tots on a white platter.
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4.88 from 8 votes

Tachos (Loaded Tater Tots)

Tachos is a fabulous comfort food of loaded tater tots topped with your favorite nacho toppings! This recipe is an easy dinner or game day snack.
Course Snack, Dinner
Cuisine Tex Mex
Keyword loaded tater tots, game day snacks, tachos, tater tot recipes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 4 – 5 (as a meal)
Calories 711kcal

Equipment

  • large skillet
  • small saucepan
  • serving platter
  • chef's knife

Ingredients

  • 28-32 ounces frozen tater tots
  • 1 pound lean ground beef preferably 80/20 or 85/15
  • 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) taco seasoning
  • 1 ½ cups nacho cheese sauce homemade or store bought
  • 1 large tomato seeded and diced
  • 2 green onions thinly sliced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper thinly sliced (See Notes)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Optional Toppings

  • sour cream
  • guacamole
  • crumbled Mexican cheese

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
  • Arrange tater tots in a single layer on a baking sheet. Transfer the pan of tots to the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until dark golden and crispy, or per package directions.
  • Meanwhile, place a large skillet over medium heat on the stovetop. Add ground beef to the skillet. Using a wooden or silicone spoon, brown the ground beef, using the spoon to break up the meat as it cooks. If necessary, drain any fat from the pan.
  • Add taco seasoning to the pan; Using a wooden spoon, stir to combine seasoning with beef, then follow the package directions for preparing taco meat.
  • Warm the cheese sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. If using store bought sauce, follow heating directions on the container.
  • Assemble Tachos
  • Arrange baked tater tots on a large serving platter. Spoon cooked ground beef evenly over top. Top with diced tomatoes and sliced green onions.
  • Using a large tablespoon, drizzle tater tot nachos with cheese sauce, then top with jalapeno slices and chopped cilantro. Add your favorite garnishes on top. Serve immediately.

Notes

  1. Jalapenos – To decrease the spiciness of jalapeno peppers, remove the inner membrane and seeds. Optionally, bake the slices on a sheet pan at 400°F for 10 minutes. This will give the peppers a fantastic roasted flavor!
  2. Cheese Sauce – We recommend making our Velveeta cheese sauce recipe for the tachos, but any prepared cheese sauce will taste great.
Nutrition Notes
Nutrition shown is for 1/4 entire batch of tachos, without optional toppings.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25recipe | Calories: 711kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 1802mg | Potassium: 1007mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 968IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 4mg


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6 thoughts on “Tachos (Loaded Tater Tots)”

  1. 5 stars
    I use homemade taco seasoning on my tachos, glad it turned out great! We enjoyed our game day because of this scrumptious snack. We’ll surely have this on repeat!

    Reply
  2. 5 stars
    One of our new favorite game-day snacks! This tachos was so filling and indeed a scrumptious snack with a homemade cheese. Such a winner!

    Reply
  3. 5 stars
    We had this last weekend and have it as a snack while we are playing monopoly with my family. They said it was delicious and tasty. I added more Jalapeno for the adults and no jalapeno for the kids.

    Reply
  4. 5 stars
    This was the hit of a weekend get-together with some friends from church. Adults and kids, alike. There was not a tot left to be seen. lol Delicious!

    Reply

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