Like tater tots but dislike processed foods? Try these homemade Tater Tots, which are simply made with potatoes and olive oil and baked until crispy.
What foods make you most nostalgic? Is that your grandma’s peach cobbler? Your mom’s macaroni and cheese? It’s interesting how generational food has become. If you belong to my generation, you may have fond childhood memories. A quick Google search shows they were invented in 1953 when a company was trying to decide what to do with leftover sliced potatoes. They chopped it, mixed it with flour and salt and fried small pieces. Awesome right? Unbelievable, Today, Americans consume about 70 million pounds of tater tots a year (that’s what Wikipedia says).
I always try to take care of it. £70million Tater Tots?
Rule #39 in Michael Pollan’s book eating rules says you can eat as much junk food as you want as long as you make it yourself. He thinks that with the effort required, you will only occasionally give in. That’s exactly how Alex and I feel about Tater Tots. After working to minimize processed foods in our diets, we began making many of the foods we used to buy.
Instead of buying frozen fries, we have a recipe for crispy baked fries where we hand cut them and bake them at home. Not only do they eat clean, but they taste 1,000 times better. Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream? We have a recipe; It is vegan and consists exclusively of whole foods. Granted, it’s a bit of a process to do and it’s nowhere near healthy, but that makes it an occasional treat.
Ingredients for Homemade Tater Tots
For these baked potatoes, you will need red-skinned potatoes, flour, garlic and onion powder, kosher salt, pepper, and olive oil. It is important that you buy mostly red-skinned potatoes, as they are slightly smaller than regular potatoes and parboil faster. Feel free to play around with condiments – Tater Tots go well with so many flavors!
How to Make Tater Tots from Scratch
It’s a bit of a process to make Tater Tots, but they’re worth it! You peel and cook the potatoes until they are slightly tender but not mushy. Then you grate them, mix them with some flour and spices and shape them into nuggets. After the tater tots are brushed with olive oil, they are roasted in a very hot oven, turning occasionally until crisp.
Cooking them this way gives tater tots that are a bit flatter than the traditional fried cylinders, but the flavor is just as good. And frankly, they’re not too bad for you either, as they’re made simply from potatoes and olive oil. (Choose this over Jamoca Almond Fudge every day.)
Since this is a small project, we love making these Homemade Tater Tots as part of a dinner party. While they’re the perfect side to a veggie burger, we just prefer layering them with tasty toppings and eating them as a main course. That’s right, tater tot nachos! Our recipe is inspired by a dish we ate while vacationing in Montana.
Meanwhile, serve up some of these Homemade Tater Tots for a nostalgic trip down memory lane (or maybe not so nostalgic if you’re one of the £70million).
Related: Homemade sweet potato hash browns
How to reheat Tater Tots
If you have leftover homemade tater tots, I recommend reheating them either in a skillet on the stovetop or in the oven. To reheat tater tots in the oven, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake the tots in a 350ºF oven for 15-20 minutes. Check the tater tots halfway through cooking to make sure they aren’t burning or becoming too crispy on one side. Some ovens heat up more than others, so you may need to turn the heat down halfway!
To reheat Tater Tots on the stovetop, pour a little olive oil into a pan and set the stove to medium-high. Cook the Tater Tots until warmed through, about 7-10 minutes, being careful not to stir them too often (you risk breaking them if you stir too often).
Looking for healthy side dishes?
We want to make your favorite side dishes a little healthier without sacrificing flavor. Some of our best healthy side dishes:
Looking for healthy snacks?
When we’re not eating homemade potatoes, we’re opting for healthy snacks. Some of our best healthy snacks:
Looking for vegetarian dishes?
Although we are not 100% vegetarian, we do eat vegetarian on a regular basis. Some of our best vegetarian dishes:
This Homemade Tater Tots recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based and dairy-free.
The description
Like tater tots but dislike processed foods? Try these homemade Tater Tots, which are simply made with potatoes and olive oil and baked until crispy.
- 2 Pound red-skinned potatoes
- 2 tablespoons Flour (all-purpose or gluten-free)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- olive oil
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- peel the potatoes. Place them in a large saucepan, cover with 1 inch of cold water and bring to a boil. Once cooked, sauté until soft but still slightly firm when pierced with a fork (the fork should meet some resistance), 6 to 7 minutes. The goal is to precook the potatoes, not fully cook them, so they’re still dry enough to grate in the next step.
- Remove the potatoes, drain well and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Let them cool for a few minutes (this also helps get the right consistency for grating). Then grate finely with a grater. Place the grated potato in a large bowl and mix together the flour, spices, salt, and pepper with your hands, squeezing the mixture a few times to help it come together. If the mixture is very wet, add a tablespoon or two more flour.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and brush lightly with olive oil. Shape the dough into small cylinders with your hands. Make bites small enough to fit 40 on a sheet pan (you may have some extra batter left over). Lightly brush the tops of the tots with olive oil.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake on one side for 15 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and gently turn each piece with a spoon (being careful not to touch the sheet). Don’t worry if some get a bit disconnected; Just squeeze them together and they will continue cooking. Turn the baking sheet over and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, turn the tots again with a spoon and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the tots are evenly browned on all sides. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving to allow toddlers to firm up.
Remarks
Note that baking these homemade potatoes makes them a little flatter than the traditional cylindrical shape, but the flavor is just as good.
- Category: garnish
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: homemade tater tots, baked tater tots
