Hotdish (Minnesota & North Dakota)

If you’ve lived in the upper Midwest for any amount of time, more than likely you’ve gathered around the table with family and friends with a hotdish a time or two. There’s really no way around it, we love our hotdishes!

You may be asking…what exactly is a hotdish? Come along as I share all about this Midwest comfort food!

Hotdish is an anything goes one-dish meal from the Upper Midwest, but it’s especially beloved in Minnesota and North Dakota. A creamy sauce binds three essential hotdish components together: starch, protein, and vegetable. The hotdish is a comfort food dish in the Midwest and traditionally served as a main course.

The rest of the country may call this a casserole, but when you come to the upper Midwest you will receive a look if you call any hotdish a casserole! It will forever be a hotdish in my book! 😊

According to How to Talk Minnesotan, the hotdish is abundant throughout the Gopher State:

“It can grace any table. A traditional main course, hot dish is cooked and served hot in a single baking dish and commonly appears at family reunions and church suppers. Hotdish is constructed on a base of canned cream of mushroom soup and canned vegetables. The other ingredients are as varied as the Minnesota landscape. If you sit down to something that doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen before, it’s probably hotdish.”

The documentary Minnesota Hotdish: A Love Story speculates the Great Depression secured hotdish as a food staple and effective, affordable way of feeding entire families, with canned food and limited meat. The word “hotdish” was first used in a 1930 Minnesotan cookbook published by the Grace Lutheran Ladies Aid. This landmark recipe called for hamburger meat, onions, celery, canned peas, canned tomato soup, and Creamettes — Minnesotan macaroni — all to be stirred together and baked.

But hotdish was likely preceded by a 1910s American dish called “hot pot.” According to the hotdish documentary, World War I marked a pivotal moment for American casseroles and thrifty one-dish meals, with the onset of the U.S. Food Administration’s “Food Will Win the War” campaign. The home front war effort called for families to conserve food so surplus food could be shipped overseas to feed soldiers and combat famine. The Food Administration published recipes for “Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays.” The “hot pot” soon became a popular method of stretching a pound of meat for a whole family’s dinner.

One of the most famous hotdishes in the upper Midwest is of course, the tater tot hotdish. Since 1956, which marks the invention of commercial tater tots, a large number of Midwestern cooks started to top their hotdishes with crispy fried tater tots, and the dish is then called tater tot hotdish. I recently read that Mason Jar Kitchen & Bar in Eagan, MN, had the best tater tot hotdish around, so of course I paid a visit. No joke, the tater tot hotdish was delicious – just likes mom’s homemade hotdish! The tater tot hotdish was made of seasoned ground beef, corn, house-made cream of mushroom, and tater tots, all topped with cheddar cheese. Mason Jar Kitchen & Bar also has a modern option made of seasoned ground Beyond Meat, corn, house-made dairy-free cream of mushroom, and tater tots, all topped with plant-based mozzarella cheese; or if you visit during their weekend brunch there is a breakfast option made of two scrambled eggs, chorizo, sautéed vegetables, tater tots, cheddar cheese, and hollandaise. The options are so fun!

There’s even the “Tater Tot Hotdish” song that celebrates everyone’s favorite dish!

Interested in making your own hotdish? It’s easy…

The basic formula is meat + canned creamed soup + vegetables = hotdish. Everything is thrown into a casserole dish and baked until it’s steaming hot and has a golden crust on top. How to Talk Minnesotan provides a starter recipe for a generic hotdish that calls for two cans of cream of mushroom soup, one pound of cooked “pulverized meat,” and two cans of (notably nonspecific) vegetables. The ingredients are combined in a large bowl and stirred. Add a little salt to your liking and pour everything into a dish. Top that with fried onions or some Chow Mein noodles and bake it at 400 degrees “until a brown crust forms.”

Hotdish recipes are passed down through families with as much gravity as oral histories. I’ve been passed down numerous cookbooks from my mom that she used over the years along with handwritten recipes of hotdishes my family has enjoyed. These are priceless!

The next time you’re in the upper Midwest, I hope you have the chance to try one of the famous hotdishes we’re known for! Enjoy!

Resources:

Taste Atlas – Hotdish

Eater – Everything You Need to Know About Hotdish