I was DESPERATE tonight for something salty and trashy from my childhood. Yes, tater tot casserole. REALLY trashy and full of everything bad for you. And who the hell said Vegan MoFo had to be healthy anyway? Pffttt!!

BUT of course, I had to try to improve it just a tad right? So here’s what I did: Add a full bag of Daiya cheddar to the veggies along with 2 cups of simple white sauce. Yes, that’s correct, my only improvement was to add more goo ;-P

SnarkyVegan’s Tater Tot Casserole with Daiya® Vegan Cheddar Cheese

This starts with a basic white sauce and then you just dump everything in a casserole and get anal with the arrangement of tater tots. You could probably arrange your tater tots in a decorative pattern but I was in a hurry.


White sauce:

  • 2 cups unsweetened plain soy milk
  • 3 T. Earth Balance margarine
  • 2 T. flour
  • salt and pepper to taste

Casserole:

  • 2 16-ounce bags of frozen veggies, I used mixed beans, peas, corn and carrots
  • 1 bag of tater tots, use only enough to cover the top of the casserole, you may have some left so save them for dipping in BBQ sauce at lunch tomorrow
  • 1 bag of Daiya® cheddar cheese
  • 4 dollops of Earth Balance margarine
  1. Over medium-low heat, create a roux in small saucepan with flour and margarine. When light brown and snappy/bubbly, remove from heat and add soy milk slowly while whisking. Take your time, make sure it’s thoroughly whisked and not lumpy.
  2. Return sauce to medium heat and cook until the sauce thickens. Use a wire whisk constantly as sauce thickens.
  3. Once thickened to coat a spoon, remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. In a 9 x 12 inch casserole, mix the frozen veggies, Daiya and white sauce.
  5. Scatter the dollops of Earth Balance on top.
  6. Top with 1 layer of tater tots, side-by-side, end-to-end.
  7. Bake for 1 hour at 375° F. (My oven runs low so I use 400° F so adjust to suit your oven.)

NOTE: I purposefully did not melt the Daiya in the white sauce before compiling the casserole because I wanted to run into bits of cheesy goodness inside the casserole.

TIP: The darker your roux, the less thick it will be, so they say.

You can see the cheesy Daiya bits and the white sauce through the clear glass casserole. I like to use clear glass so I can see what’s going on. Yeah, I prefer escalators to elevators too.
MONEY SHOT: Click to see super close! Just LOOK at that oozey goozey sauce! And the colorful veggies. OMG, this reminded me of home for sure.

Excuse me while I go get my second serving….