What foods make you most nostalgic? Is it your grandmother’s peach cobbler? Your mom’s mac and cheese? It’s interesting how generational foods have become. If you’re part of my generation, you might have fond memories of tater tots. A little Google research shows they were invented in 1953 when a company was trying to decide what to do with leftover slivers of cut up potato. They chopped it, mixed it with flour and salt and fried up little bits of it. Genius, right? Incredibly, today Americans consume approximately 70 million pounds of tater tots per year (so says Wikipedia). Still trying to wrap my mind around that. 70 million pounds of tater tots? Rule #39 in Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules says that you can eat all the junk food you want, as long as you make it yourself. He figures that with the effort required to make it, you’ll indulge only occasionally. This is just how Alex and I feel about tater tots. After working to minimize the processed foods in our diet, we’ve begun to make many of the foods we used to buy. Instead of buying frozen french fries, we have a crispy oven baked fries recipe where we hand cut them and bake them at home. Not only are they clean eating, but the flavor is also 1,000 times better. Jamoca almond fudge ice cream? We’ve got a recipe; it’s vegan and made completely of whole foods. Granted, it’s a bit of a process to make it and it’s not even close to healthy, but that’s what makes it an occasional treat.
Homemade tater tots ingredients
For these baked tater tots, you’ll need red skinned potatoes, flour, garlic powder and onion powder, kosher salt, pepper, and olive oil. It’s important that you buy red skinned potatoes in particular since they’re a little smaller than regular potatoes and parboil more quickly. Feel free to play around with the seasonings though — tater tots pair 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 parboil the potatoes until they are slightly tender but not mushy. Then you grate them, mix them with a bit of flour and spices, and form them into nuggets. After brushing the tater tots with olive oil, they’re roasted in a very hot oven, turning occasionally until they’re crispy. Baking them in this manner results in tater tots that are a bit flatter than the traditional fried cylinder, but the flavor is just as good. And honestly, they’re not too terrible for you either, since they’re made simply with potatoes and olive oil. (Pick these over jamoca almond fudge any day.) Since they’re a bit of a project, we like making these homemade tater tots as part of a dinner. While they’d accompany a veggie burger perfectly, we’d rather just top them with delicious toppings and eat them as a main dish. That’s right, tater tot nachos! Our recipe is inspired by a dish we had when on vacation in Montana. In the meantime, serve up some of these baked homemade tater tots for a nostalgic trip down memory lane (or maybe not so nostalgic, if you’re part of the 70 million pounds).
How to reheat tater tots
If you have leftover homemade tater tots, I recommend reheating them either in a skillet on the stove or in the oven. To reheat tater tots in the oven, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook the tots in a 350ºF oven for 15-20 minutes. Check the tater tots halfway through the cooking time to make sure they’re not burning or getting too crisp on one side. Some ovens burn hotter than others, so you may need to turn the heat down halfway through! To reheat tater tots on the stove, drizzle a little olive oil in a pan and turn the burner to medium heat. Cook the tater tots until heated through, about 7-10 minutes, making sure not to stir them too often (you run the risk of breaking them apart if you stir too frequently).
Looking for healthy side dishes?
We love making your favorite sides a little healthier without skimping on flavor. A few of our top healthy side dishes:
Incredible No Mayo Potato Salad Vegan Italian Pasta Salad Perfectly Creamy Polenta Recipe Crispy Baked Fries with Garlic Aioli Crispy Sweet Potato Fries Seriously Simple Three Bean Salad Roasted Butternut Squash with Pickled Onion
Looking for healthy snacks?
When we’re not eating homemade tater tots, we reach for healthy snacks. A few of our top healthy snacks:
Healthy Loaded Sweet Potato Rounds Vegetable Hummus Tortilla Rollups Pesto Grilled Cheese Dippers with Marinara Homemade Za’atar Pita Chips Classic Homemade Hummus Chipotle Vegan Queso Dip
Looking for vegetarian meals?
Though we’re not 100% vegetarian, we eat vegetarian meals on the regular. A few of our top vegetarian meals:
Spinach Artichoke Red Rice Casserole Creamy Vegan Pasta Marinara Greek Nachos with Cilantro Drizzle Refried Bean Tacos
This homemade tater tots recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free. No reviews
