Dutch Oven Taco Tots
Seasoned beef, corn, and cheese sauce under a lid of tots, baked over coals.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 65
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 70 min
- total time
- 80 min
- water
- 240 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 2 lb | 80/20 renders enough fat to brown without oil |
|---|---|---|
| Dry taco seasoning | 1/2 cup | about two packets |
| Water | 1 cup | |
| Canned corn | 1 15-oz can | save the liquid, it goes in the meat |
| Canned nacho cheese soup | 2 11-oz cans | |
| Frozen tater tots | 2 lb | keep them frozen in the cooler until the lid goes on |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and set the 12-inch dutch oven over it hot, around 375F. That is roughly 20 briquettes underneath.
- Brown the beef in the bare oven, breaking it up as it goes. Leave the fat in.
- Add the seasoning, the water, and the drained liquid from the corn. Pull most of the coals out to drop to a low simmer.
- Simmer five minutes, stirring now and then, until it thickens and stops sloshing.
- Layer the corn over the meat, then pour the cheese soup over the corn. Do not stir.
- Cover the top with a single layer of tots, edge to edge. Any that do not fit stay in the bag.
- Set the lid on and rebalance coals for about 350F: roughly 8 underneath, 17 on the lid. Bake 50 minutes.
- Move every coal to the lid and give it 15 more minutes to brown the tots. Serve straight from the oven.
This is a car-camping dinner, not a pack-in one. Everything about it is heavy and cold: two pounds of beef, four cans, a bag of frozen tots, and the dutch oven itself. That is fine when the cooler rides in the trunk.
The layering is the whole method. Meat on the bottom holds the heat, corn buffers the cheese so it does not scorch on the iron, and the tots sit on top where they can dry out and crisp instead of steaming. Moving all the coals to the lid at the end is what browns them. Stir it together early and you get a pan of grey mush that tastes the same but eats worse.
Packing
Cans, seasoning, and the oven go in the bin. Beef and tots stay in the cooler, tots on the bottom where it is coldest. Bring a lid lifter and long tongs for moving coals.
Variations
- Swap the beef for two cans of drained black beans and a bag of soy crumbles if someone in camp does not eat meat.
- A can of diced green chiles under the cheese layer cuts the richness.
- Shredded cheddar in place of the soup works, but add a splash of water so it does not go dry.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/taco_tots-2447.asp