Chili Cheese Tots Recipe
On hot summer days, I’m reminded of when our kids were younger, running wild with the neighborhood crew. We were lucky to live in a place where they had free range of the streets, backyards, and common areas: digging holes, building forts, and inventing endless games.
At lunchtime, they took turns cooking for the group, and Chili Cheese Tots quickly became a crowd favorite. If your kids aren’t quite old enough to handle the oven yet, they can still assemble everything themselves and get help for the baking part. Just be sure to bake it long enough for crispy tots and lightly browned, gooey cheese. Totally worth the wait.
I hope your family enjoys this recipe as much as ours did. And I hope your kids find time this summer to dig, build, and play a board game or two. Because those carefree summers go by fast.
Chili Cheese Tots
Ingredients
- 4 chicken sausage links I like a savory flavor. You can also use turkey hotdogs or hotdogs of any kind. I always choose healthier versions and most kids don't notice a difference.
- 16 ounces Frozen tater tots Half of a large 32 ounce bag. Or substitute cauliflower tots. Or try half cauliflower, half regular tots.
- 1 can Hormel turkey chili 15 ounces
- 1 cup Shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Arrange tater tots in a single layer in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. (If you use a deep dish plate, you can add more tots.) Using a small spatula or large spoon, spread the chili over the tater tots.
- With a table knife, cut the sausages or hotdogs into 1-inch pieces and place them over the chili. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
- Place pie plate in preheated oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the tots are crispy on the outside and the mixture is hot in the middle. Using oven mitts, remove from the oven. Cool for 5 minutes before eating.
Notes
“You’re always alone in the kitchen…”
…so go ahead and lick the spoon, bend the rules, and turn mistakes into magic. I won’t tell if you don’t.
This recipe was adapted from one of our most dog-eared, sauce-splattered cookbooks, The Semi-Homemade Cool Kids Cooking by Sandra Lee. If you have young kids who are interested in helping in the kitchen, you can’t go wrong with this cookbook. Simply buy a few ingredients and mix them together to make something special. It’s a great place to find basics that even young children can prepare mostly by themselves.
Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of 15 books and a seasoned ASL interpreter. She splits her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus and children’s books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.
In 2025, two of her children’s books were selected for the CBC Favorites Award Lists, honored by teachers and librarians nationwide for excellence in children’s literature. Parents, kids, and educators love the Duke the Deaf Dog books and activity guides because they introduce ASL and the Deaf community through engaging stories.
And if you enjoy a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, the Cassandra Sato Mystery series will have you connecting the dots faster than a group project thrown together the night before it’s due.
A proud mom to four adults, head of the dog-snuggling department, and grandma to a growing brood of perfectly behaved grandkids, Kelly and her husband call Nebraska home.