New Ulm Hotdish

Recent news from my husband’s original stomping grounds has inspired us to come out with a new tater tot casserole recipe.

This easy tater tot casserole is an elevated version of Tim Walz’ “New Ulm Hotdish”, which he recently shared on social media.

Porter is a huge fan of hotdish, and was eager to be a recipe tester when I joked that we should do our own riff on the recipe.

We brainstormed up what our version would be like, and I banged out a recipe for it.

... damn. This is sure to become a family favorite!

Porter says: “I LOVE it. What really makes this different, to me, was his use of Brats as the meat. I’ve never seen that before... and I love what you did with the sauce.

It’s got such a refined flavour and depth to it. Very different from the hotdishes I grew up on, and tastes more... adult, I guess. Kinda bougie, but still comfort food?”.

He actually got so inspired by Tim Walz going “weird” with the protein, that he started brainstorming up all kinds of other hotdish recipes he wants me to develop. (Like the Mafioso Hotdish!)

Let me tell you this... they’re gonna take away his Minnesota card, LOL! He has very definitely become a product of living in the GTA.

What is Hotdish?

“Hotdish” - yes, one-word spelling - is basically a genre of casserole recipes in the midwest, that follow a certain set of rules, and are made of cheap ingredients.

There are 4 main components to a hotdish: A meat, a vegetable (or combination of vegetables), some kind of starch, and a binder. They usually involve lots of cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese, and are sometimes topped with fresh chopped parsley - if you’re feeling fancy.

The meat is usually some form of ground meat - usually ground beef, we tend to use ground turkey.

In terms of vegetables, they’re usually either canned or frozen vegetables, and fairly basic - corn, carrots, and/or green beans.

In theory, the starch can be almost anything - even wild rice - but it’s usually potatoes. A lot of times - probably most of the time - they are topped with crispy tater tots.

Finally, there’s the binder. This is usually some kind of cream of soup - cream of mushroom, cream of celery, cream of cheese, or cream of chicken soup.

Sometimes there’s a bit of sour cream involved, sometimes you’ll see a tomato-based pasta sauce used, but it’s usually cream soups.

It’s the ultimate comfort food, makes for an easy weeknight dinner - or contribution to a potluck - and makes for great leftovers.

What more could you ask for in a casserole?

Tim Walz’ Hotdish Recipes

The couple of recipes I’ve seen from the Minnesota Governor tend to veer off a bit from tradition, which I appreciate.

For example, the most common hot dish seems to be cooked beef, green beans, condensed cream of mushroom soup, and a whole bag of Tater Tots on top of the beef mixture.

Walz seems to include more fresh veggies and “weird” ingredients than some Minnesotans usually deem acceptable. I saw some SERIOUS pearl clutching over his use of olives in one recipe - scandalous!

(I can relate - I got all kinds of rude comments when I first published my Midwest Goes Southwest Hotdish. Apparently jalapenos are ... triggering. LOL.)

Upgrading the Original

Anyway, the original recipe I’m basing my recipe on is one that Walz published to Twitter - see below.

It still uses canned soup - 2 different cans of soup - but veers off from tradition in terms of the meat used, and a bit in terms of the cooking method.

The general consensus among my Minnesota friends seems to be that it’s “a bit weird”, but has potential to actually be a great recipe.

In recreating - and upgrading - his recipe, I went with a from-scratch angle. I’ve never been a fan of canned cream-of soups, so it features an easy, homemade cheesy cream sauce.

I took his cooking method of the brats a step further, and made it a beer-cheese sauce, with a little Dijon mustard to round it out. (My husband has told me that this will be controversial, LOL!).

I’ve included mushrooms as a nod to his use of cream of mushroom soup, and put the onions IN the mix - rather than just flavouring the cooking liquid with them.

(Really, his method isn’t that far from just waving onions over the casserole to get flavour from them).

In the end, my version doesn’t take THAT much more effort to make. It’s also easy to make gluten-free (just use a GF beer), and is customizable, too!

My husband LOVED it, saying it’s among his favourite hotdish recipes ever - hope you and your whole family love it just as much!

Hotdish Ingredients

This hotdish recipe uses super simple ingredients - many are pantry/fridge/freezer staples, and anything you don’t have on hand will be easy to find in any grocery store!

A few ingredient notes for you:

Bratwurst Sausages

For best results, use your favourite brats, cooking them from raw - in the beer.

As my husband can’t process red meats anymore, we used a turkey bratwurst - still fantastic!

Beer

Tim Walz’s “New Ulm” hotdish recipe calls for a beer produced in New Ulm - Schell’s.

If you’re in Minnesota - or anywhere else it’s available - by all means, use it.

I was unable to find any distribution for it here in Canada, so we used Molson. According to my Minnesotan husband, it’s probably the closest thing we have.

He doesn’t specify WHICH Schell’s beer to use, though - I recommend using a lager. It’s my go-to for boiling brats in, and it’s a good option for a lighter-tasting beer cheese sauce.

Sharp Cheddar

I like to use a sharp cheddar - “old cheddar”, here in Canada - because it holds its own against the other flavours in the sauce.

I recommend freshly shredding a block, rather than buying pre-shredded. You’ll end up with a smoother texture!

Dijon Mustard

IMHO, no beer-cheese sauce is complete without a touch of Dijon, so I included some in this recipe.

We like it with 1 tablespoon of Dijon... but using 1 teaspoon or so would probably be more in the spirit of the original recipe, and hotdish in general.

Heavy Whipping Cream

I use heavy whipping cream in the sauce, as I like the richness it gives.

That said, feel free to use milk - or a plant-based milk alternative - if you prefer.

Most of the thickening comes from the cheese and corn starch!

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Frozen Tater Tots / Tasti Taters
Crimini Mushrooms
Celery Ribs
Onion
Garlic Cloves
Corn Starch
Olive Oil, or vegetable oil
Salt and Ground Black Pepper

... I just really don’t have anything else to add, as far as these ingredients go. Super simple recipe!

How to Make New Ulm Hotdish, From Scratch

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the beginning of this post, here is the visual walk-through:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 x 13" baking dish or large casserole dish with pan spray of choice, set aside.

Measure out 1 cup of beer, set aside. Add remaining beer into a medium pot or large skillet, along with the brats.

Remove from heat, transfer the sausages to a cutting board, and discard the boiled beer. (Or not - see notes below!) Chop brats into bite sized pieces, set aside.

Add garlic to the pan, continue cooking until everything is soft and onions are translucent. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste.

As the beer mixture is heating, toss 2 cups of the shredded cheese with the cornstarch, making sure the corn starch is well distributed. This will prevent clumps in your sauce.

Add the cheese and cornstarch mixture to the pot, and turn the burner down to medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese has melted and the mixture has thickened.

Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan.

Once the bake time is up, scatter remaining shredded cheese over the entire surface of the casserole, return to oven, and bake for 10 more minutes.

Leftovers

Once cooled to room temperature, leftovers can be covered with plastic wrap - or transferred to an airtight container - and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Note: For more brat taste in your cheese sauce, use all of the beer to cook the brats.

Once you’ve removed the brats, skim any foam off from the beer. Measure out 1 cup of the cooked beer, for use in the sauce.

More Midwest Inspired Recipes

Looking for some more recipes inspired by my time living in Minnesota? Here's a few for ya! (Oh ya, you betcha?)

Beer Battered Corn on the Cob
Boozy Sparkling Cider Float
Candy Bar Salad
Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Hotdish
Chicken Based Swedish Potato Sausage
Doubles Hotdish
Jalapeno Artichoke "Backfire" Dip
Mafioso Hotdish - Italian Tater Tot Casserole
Scalloped Corn Casserole
Southwest Hotdish
Spinach Hand Pies