Bacon Wrapped Tater Tot Bombs
The most amazing tater tots ever, baked to crisp bacon-perfection. It’s so good, you’ll want to double or triple the recipe!
I have been sick with the flu for the past couple of days, feeling extremely fatigued without any kind of appetite. That’s when Jason offered to cook me breakfast, my favorite meal of the day, except all we had was bacon, cheese and tater tots. But before I could even think about ordering breakfast delivery, I just knew I had to make these tater tot bombs I’ve been seeing all over Pinterest.
And yes. The name definitely lives up to its hype. These tater tot bombs are, well, bomb. No joke. Now I haven’t used the word “bomb” since middle school but hey – that word describes these perfectly. And these tater tots may even have some epic powers because after eating about 20 of these, my flu magically went away.
Flu or not, I’ll still be making these weekly. I just have to remember to double the recipe because these are very hard to share!
Bacon Wrapped Tater Tot Bombs
Ingredients
- 2 cups frozen tater tots, at room temperature
- 1 ounce sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4-inch squares
- 4 slices bacon, quartered
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
- Working one at a time, wrap each tater tot and cheese square in a piece of bacon. Repeat with remaining tater tots, cheese squares and bacon pieces. Dredge each tater tot in the brown sugar, pressing to coat.
- Place tater tots seam side down onto the prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, using metal tongs to turn at halftime.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Very good recipe!
A few observations:
tater tots at room temperature are more fragile than you think
it takes more bacon than you realize to wrap a tater tot
Check with your wife during cookie season before using all the brown sugar!
1. Yes, tater tots can be fragile, but only if they’ve been sitting out at room temperature for a very long time.
2. Bacon length – that’s really dependent on your taste preferences and how “stretchy” the bacon is. I found that 1/4 piece of bacon is more than enough – anything more is just overkill and too much bacon-to-tot ratio in my opinion.
3. Checking with wife during the holiday season – yes! Good thinking! 🙂
Tried to make them and they were a complete disaster this way. All the sugar burned after 10 mins and smoked up my entire house. I’ll cook the bacon, cheese and tater first and then add sugar see if it works next time.
Oh no! That should really not be happening. I’ve made this at least 5 times and I’ve never had any issues with the sugar burning so quickly. I worry that maybe your oven temperature is not calibrated and it may have been set way higher than it should have been. I highly recommend using an in-oven thermometer – it’s a life-saver!
Chung-Ah, first you should get an award for your saintly patience! I haven’t laughed this hard at ‘questions and comments’ in years. Lord, it’s just a quarter inch cube of cheese!
People, she had the flu, with all the accoutrements! She used what she had; tatter tots, bacon and cheddar cheese. She was healed! Praise God (or Or-Ida). This isn’t particle physics, but it is organic chemistry. Your elements are potato, bacon, cheese. Got it!
I haven’t had Tatter Tots in years, but you have given me good reason to rush to the store this morning and get a five pound bag. Bless you.
Your comment made my morning. Thank you!
Ha…I was thinking the same thing as John above. the comments were just making me shake my head. If people want to try it with a different ingredient WHY do they think YOU would know how it is going to turn out…lol….like he said you were very gracious with your answers!! good job and thanks for what I’m sure is going to become a football party staple!! Can’t wait to try them!
Good Lord, someone who agrees with me.
Love your reciipes, here in Ecuador we don’t get the name brand frozen or packaged items so made these from scratch with homemade cheese and fresh bacon from the butcher. A few twists and turns and voile! delicious! Thanks for your inspiration in the kitchen!
PS. got a good homemade panko?
I’m so glad you tried this with homemade tots! As for the panko, I actually do not have a homemade recipe just yet but it’s on my bucket list!
You call for frozen tater tots at room temperature……
Should the tater tots be frozen or should they be at room temperature? Or is your kitchen at 32 degrees?
That’s exactly what it means, Keith. Frozen tater tots at room temperature. If the recipe were to say “tater tots, at room temperature”, that can be misunderstood as cooked tater tots at room temperature. Does that make sense?
Sorry Chungah, I was just being silly. Frozen tater tots at room temperature are no longer frozen tater tots LOL.
Anyway, thank you for the idea. My girlfriend and I are making them right now 🙂
Keith, why are men so stupid????? Stay out of the kitchen!!!
Made these last weekend for a cocktail party and they were an absolute hit. I made 4 times the original recipe amount and they didn’t last past 5 minutes out of the oven.
I made a couple slight changes to the recipe. First; I used pepper jack cheese to add a little bit of heat. Second, I added chile powder to the brown sugar to add a bit of BBQ flavor to them. Lastly, I found that they cooked best at 375, and they didn’t need to beturned halfway through cooking (and the bacon was still very crispy).
Thanks for sharing the recipe; people loved them.
Would it be possible to make this with vegetarian bacon? My daughter loves cheese, and loves tater tots even more, but has been veg since 2001.
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot say for certain if using veggie bacon will work. Please use your best judgment to make the appropriate substitutions to fit your dietary restrictions.
Made these for a Halloween party and called them wolf chow/werewolf chow. Huge hit! I made six dozen and they were wiped out before the party was half over AND I won for most creative/original snack and for creepiest snack. Awesome recipe! Thanks!
Tip: don’t try to soak up the excess oil by draining them on paper towels. The sugar sticks to the paper. Learned that the hard way. Use a wire cooling rack with paper towels under it.
can you make these ahead of time and freeze them?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I made these for my husbands birthday BBQ and they were definitely a hit! However, I would recommend using a bigger piece of bacon. Rather than a cutting the bacon into 4 pieces I’d try 3 or 2. The bacon was too small. I stretched it over the tator tot but it popped open leaving the tot exposed. Still really, really good but next time I’ll use larger strips of bacon.
Hazel, it really depends on your bacon preferences and how thick your bacon cut is. I found that using quarter-pieces of bacon is more than enough but please feel free to use more as needed.
Not a fan of cheddar but the recipe sounds amazing. Any other ideas for a different kind of cheese or maybe make sans cheese?
Yes, these should be fine without the cheese.
If you are not a cheddar fan, I would try gouda or havarti or Swiss or mozzarella……OR whatever cheese you like. OR just make without any cheese at all!!!
Not to sound like a dummy, but how do you place the cheese and tot? side by side or on top of each other under the bacon? Is it one end cheese one end tot? Or bacon over cheese and tot stacked?
You can stack the cheese on top of the tater tot and simply wrap the bacon over both. Hope that helps!
Correction: cook ahead of time
could you cook these I had a time and then rewarm them in the microwave?
Suzanne, you can certainly give that a try but these are best when served immediately.
Looks incredible, I’m wondering if you could stick half a jalapeño in there with tot and cheese, then wrap in bacon and dredge in brown sugar?
I don’t see why not – that sounds amazing!
That is how we make them in TX. I roll slices of jalapenos in there and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve as appetizers.
These were AMAZING!!!
I might do it with chicken instead of taters.
Does the cheese completely melt in the process of baking? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but I wouldnt like for the cheese to melt and get stuck on my pan. I want these
Yes, the cheese completely melts. I also recommend lining your pan with foil or parchment paper just in case the cheese melts out. Clean up will be a lot easier this way!
These really are the bomb! 🙂 First time I made them I was out of cheese so jus did bacon & tots. Wasn’t sure I’d like the brown sugar so only did half the batch….and when the sugary ones came out all caramelized and crunchy, I regretted not doing the whole batch.
Second batch I got the cheese but then worried I wouldn’t like the cheese with the brown sugar, so I only used cheese on half the batch.
Can you see where this is going? lol Anyone who hasn’t made them yet:
1. Just do it already…they are awesome!
2. Follow the recipe and have no worries…the flavors are perfect together!
Thanks! This is my new go-to appetizer for casual get togethers! 🙂
I don’t understand why so many people are having such difficulty with such a simple recipe. It isn’t as if it is convoluted or technical. A third grader could wrap a quarter of a strip of bacon around a small piece of cheese and a thawed tater tot, then coat it in brown sugar, and put it in the oven. If you want to vary the recipe then do it, if it fails, that’s on you and no one else. Can you color inside the lines yet? This will likely not even get posted, but I find all of this extremely insulting to our host. It is enough to make a person rue the day they ever posted a recipe.
I agree. This is not that hard people. Should be easy.
I have been thinking this exact same thing while reading every single one of these comments. I totally agree. I admire Chunga for not giving a similar retort. The recipe could not be simpler or explained more clearly. I also am incredulous as to how much confusion there is over such a simply stated recipe.
Yea Dan . Agreed. Way over thinking going on here. Be creative people have some confidence in you’re ability !
Do you use a whole piece of bacon or a half slice? Im making these for this weekend Nebraska vs Miami Football party! Cant wait.
Sheri, as indicated in the recipe, you will be using quarter pieces of bacon.
I could be wrong, but I am imagining that the bacon is sort of crispy/chewy but not crunchy, and the tot inside is soft. I wonder what would happen if you flash fried or shallow fried the tots first to make a crispy crust but not really cook them, then wrapped them up and baked them.
The textures of the bacon and the tater tot really complement each other here. But if you prefer extra tot-crispness, you can certainly fry them before, but I just worry that it’s an additional step to such an already easy recipe!
I made these a couple of weeks ago for my boyfriend who of course loves both bacon and cheese..A LOT! he caught me making these, and wasnt too sure about them. Then he ate them and couldnt stop talking about them. I will definitely make these again!