Hotdish Vs Casserole: Is There A Difference?

No matter where you live in the U.S., you probably have family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation: nostalgic dishes like your grandma's green bean casserole that you remember growing up and loving and bring you comfort and happiness whenever you decide to make them. For me, that's tater tot hotdish, a simple yet delicious meal that only requires four ingredients: tater tots, ground beef, milk, and cream of mushroom soup (or you can swap the soup for a mix of sour cream, cheese, and bacon) . It might not sound like much, but trust me, it's my go-to meal year-round.

You might've noticed that I said "hotdish," which might be a foreign word if you aren't from the Midwest and, more specifically, from Minnesota. Growing up in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," the word "casserole" was almost frowned upon, because the word "hotdish" was ingrained in the vocabulary of that region. Even Minnesota governor and former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz has a hotdish recipe, and an award-winning one at that. 

At first, I thought these two words meant the same thing or similar enough to be used interchangeably. But there is an absolute difference between a casserole and a hotdish, and those differences include the ingredients and cookware used, as well as the meal's role at dinnertime.

A hotdish typically has a structured ingredient lineup that makes up the base of the dish, which is then topped off with an ingredient like tater tots and a thicker soup like cream of mushroom or chicken. On the other hand, casseroles can be anything your heart desires thrown into one pan; one of the early definitions of "casserole" is a recipe that allows you to make multiple meals from leftovers. It's like an "everything but the kitchen sink" meal. But casseroles are also defined by the type of dish they're cooked in. The appropriate cookware, often called a "casserole dish," is typically made from an oven-safe material like glass or ceramic with deep sides to hold a substantial amount of food. 

Since hotdishes tend to have a clear division of ingredients, it's also usually the entreé of the meal. Because casseroles can be any combination of ingredients, it's up to the cook whether it qualifies as the main dish or not. For example, that green bean casserole is almost always a holiday side dish, while the protein it accompanies is the main dish. Regardless of whether you use "hotdish" or "casserole" to describe your oven-baked meal, it'll probably turn out equally delicious, no matter which part of the U.S. you call home.