4 Hotdish Rules Minnesotans Take More Seriously Than They’ll Admit

Every Minnesota family seems to have a hotdish along with a firm opinion about how it should be made.

Locals may shrug and just call it dinner, but a few rules come up again and again.

Here are the hotdish rules Minnesotans take more seriously than they’ll admit.

1. Hotdish Is More Than a Casserole

Hotdish is one word, not two, according to the 2017 guide to eating like a Minnesotan from Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine.

Casserole only names the shallow baking dish, while hotdish is the whole meal.

Many people will correct you if you split it.

If you call yours a casserole, you’ve named the pan and skipped the dinner.

If you’re writing out the recipe card, spell it as one word.

2. Tots on Top

A tater tot hotdish goes in the oven with the tots on top.

In 2023, a Reddit user in the Minnesota subreddit posted a tater tot hotdish with a different potato on top.

The post had drawn more than 400 comments by then.

CBS Minnesota said few of those replies were the usual Minnesota nice.

Its breakdown of the dish says three of the four key ingredients leave room for flexibility.

The tots are the exception.

If you’re bringing tater tot hotdish to a potluck, you’ll want tots covering the whole top.

3. Cream-of-Something Soup

Every hotdish needs a binder to hold it together, according to Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine.

That binder is commonly cream of mushroom soup, also known as the Lutheran binder.

The cream matters more than the mushroom.

CBS Minnesota’s breakdown of tater tot hotdish names the same element, a cream-of-something soup.

If you’re out of mushroom soup, you have room to reach for another cream soup.

Whichever you pick, stir it in well before the tots go on.

4. The Congressional Formula

Minnesota's members of Congress competed in an annual hotdish contest from 2011 through at least 2019.

At the 2011 contest, the judges tasted the entries blind, MinnPost reported.

The April 2019 event was the ninth annual.

At the 2014 contest, Minnesota Public Radio reported, each hotdish had to contain a starch, a protein and some liquid, either canned soup or a dairy product.

That year was the first time all ten members of the delegation took part.

Rep. Tim Walz won for the second year in a row with a Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hotdish.

That's a formula you can check against any hotdish recipe.

If you're sizing up a neighbor's recipe, count the starch, the protein and the liquid.

Fox 9 reported that the 2019 winner, Rep. Betty McCollum's hotdish, featured ground beef, tater tots, egg roll wraps and Thai chilis.

The 9-by-13 Pan

Hotdish goes in a pan, preferably 9-by-13, according to the formula in Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine.

That formula pairs a starch, noodles or potatoes, with veggies, maybe green beans or peas, a bit of protein and a binder.

One commenter in the Reddit thread joked that the proper portion size in Minnesota is a 9x13 pan, serving one, CBS Minnesota reported.

If you're packing hotdish for a potluck, you'll want a pan with a lid for the drive.

Church Basements and Funeral Meals

Hotdish comes out in church basements and at neighborhood potlucks.

In 2012, the Star Tribune described volunteers on church funeral committees who spend half a day cooking, serving and cleaning up.

A rising number of funeral meals were prepared and served by a caterer, amid a dwindling number of volunteers on church funeral committees.

The tradition was shifting in 2012.

If you're bringing hotdish to a church kitchen, put your name on the bottom of the pan.

The First Written Recipe

Food & Wine credited a 1930 cookbook from Grace Lutheran's Ladies Aid in Mankato with the earliest printed hotdish recipe.

Minnesota Public Radio reported that Ann Burckhardt, author of Hot Dish Heaven, had never heard that Mankato was ground zero for hot dishes.

If you're wondering what the recipe is called, it spells hot dish as two words, on page 49.