Homemade Tater Tots
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Say goodbye to those frozen bags of tots! This homemade version is easy, freezer-friendly and better than store-bought!
There’s no shame in the frozen tots game. But after trying these homemade tots from scratch, there’s absolutely no going back to the store-bought version.
And the homemade version is super easy to whip up – special equipment like a potato mill or potato masher are not required here. All you need is a cheese grater to shred those parboiled potatoes and a clean dish towel to squeeze out as much moisture as possible (for maximum crispness, of course).
From there, you can add in your desired seasonings, form them into beautiful little tots, and throw them into some hot oil to let these babies get amazingly crisp and golden brown.
All that’s left to do is serve these with some ketchup and you’re set. And if you manage to have some leftovers, you can freeze them for next time (up to 1 month)!
Homemade Tater Tots
Ingredients
- 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a Dutch oven and cover with cold salted water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until parboiled, about 6-7 minutes; drain well and let cool.
- Using a box grater, finely shred potatoes. Using a clean dish towel or cheese cloth, drain potatoes completely, removing as much water as possible.
- Transfer potatoes to a large bowl. Stir in flour, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and dill; season with salt and pepper, to taste. The mixture should be workable but dry. Form potatoes into tots.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until it registers 360 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer.
- Working in batches, add tots to the Dutch oven and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.*
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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You know garlic and onions currently still grow in the ground and exist as real vegetables and they actually both store incredibly well. THERE’S NO REASON TO EVER USE GARLIC POWDER OR ONION POWDER. Despite what you may think, you soire in the proccesed food section of the grocery store has not ended until you give up the vegetable powders. Hate to break it to ya.
You, sir, need not be rude. Many who feel the need to steer clear of processed foods can absolutely go nuts dehydrating their onions, garlic and more, to make their own powdered versions. I have done so myself in the past. I feel that the flavor dispersion is greater and the dried version adds a lovely undertone that only fresh cannot always provide. I LOVE fresh and powdered. I do buy the best powdered I can afford, but it’s not always realistic to use fresh, depending on a ton of different factors including that you just ran out or as in this recipe, the moisture level wouldn’t support them keeping shape.
LeJoy, Very good reply as to why you need dry powdered spices for this recipe–Another tater tot recipe makes use of dried chopped onion for the EXACT reason you mention–to keep a drier mixture. I love onion and garlic–and try to keep both dried and fresh on hand.
I made these today. I found the potatoes to be very sticky and difficult to shape. Wetting my hands after every 6th tot or so helped with this problem. May be I did something wrong that caused this. I’m not sure.
I don’t like the mess of frying so I decided to bake half of them to see how they turned out. The fried batch was delicious and didn’t even make it off the paper towels onto a plate before my hubby and I had gobbled them up.
The baked ones didn’t brown at all, even after 20 minutes and a temperature increase. They were mushy and didn’t taste very good. So I decided to try and fry them to brown them. This worked fantastically, even better than just frying because the tots held their shape better. They tots tasted even better, too.
In conclusion, this is delicious recipe, but it is also a lot of work. I think I’ll stick to store bought tots!
I have been fascinated with tater tots since I came here in 1970 – have copied and pasted everyone’s ideas on another sheet of paper so that I can cross off what doesn’t work, if I need to make adjustments. I like the idea of baking the potatoes first and I think I will do that before trying the original idea of boiling them. Thanks everyone for your ideas. Will add comments later if I have any brilliant ideas like you all had.
I just want the ones from the restaurant.
Oh, please do not fry in oil! I make some very similar to this and shape them then place on parchment paper and bake at 400 degrees. If you really feel the need to use oil, you can lightly spray before you place in the oven and turn about half way through baking.
how long did you bake it?
These look delicious! I never even thought to try to make my own tater tots!
To make hash browns, many ppl do the same thing…boil and then squeeze out the excess water. To save a lot of time and work, bake your potatoes first, then shred, then follow the rest of the recipe. You’ll find it a thousand times easier!
I can’t wait to make these.
These are delicious and taste great with sour cream too. I actually made a sauce with equal parts of ketchup and sour cream to dip them in. Wonderful!
Great Idea– of Sour Cream and Ketchup– I’ve only mixed Ketchup with Mayo to make a type of Thousand Island dressing (without chopped sweet pickle relish) BUT your idea sounds much better. Thanks
I parboiled my potatoes whole for 6 minutes. Then I let them cool completely. I shredded them in the food processor and it took maybe a minute. If you use russet potatoes there is no need to remove water. I deep fried them at 350 degrees for 5-6 minutes until nicely golden brown. They are so amazing!! I didn’t use the oregano or the dill. That combo just didn’t sound good to me. I will never buy store tots again. I have reheated them in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes and they come out perfect. I would never heat them in the microwave as they would lose their nice crispness. My husband and son love them. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Carol, I agree with you– Use either oregano OR dill OR neither…a dill/oregano combo does not work for me even though I love both herbs.
Also Thank you for your other suggestions.
Would this work with sweet potatoes?? Just a thought.
Yes!
I have a campfire themed dinner potluck in a couple weeks and I am designated to bring appetizers. This is perfect! There are a few allergies so I am going to try using rice flour…. I hope it turns out!
Also, I will be cooking these there, and I don’t have access to a stove top. Do you think a BBQ would be work well? I’m weighing my options between pre-frying, freezing, and re-heating on the bbq or only prep and cook there on the bbq. Any suggestions to which would be better?
I should also mention I am planning on making them into skewers with bacon, and melting cheddar cheese with green onions. It will be served with ranch sour cream!
Did I just make you hungry?
Yes!
Unfortunately, I have not tried this on a BBQ so I cannot really say with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
I would put a cast iron skillet on the bbq with oil and fry them like that.
Is there any way to incorporate leftover mashed potatoes into this lovely recipe? I have about 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes (smashed, more than mashed – still lumpy pieces of potato) that have sour cream and cream cheese in them. This looks like a fun recipe to try to use them up. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you, Penny
Yes, that sounds amazing!
I wonder if you could make them with sweet potatoes or yams?
That sounds amazing! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment.
These are the best tots I’ve ever had, and that includes “housemade” restaurant tots!
Did you know that if you add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp (depending on amount of oil) ground ginger to your hot oil then add the tots (or any other food) the oil does not absorb into food?
The interwebs does not seem to support your theory….
I didn’t want to mess with frying so instead I cooked in a waffle maker. Yum, crispy edges all over and no frying. Delicious.
Does anyone remember tater tots from the grocery that had little bits of onion in them. These were my favorite but you can’t find them anymore. They were so flavorful! I’m going to try this by finely chopping some onion or chive and adding in. Let you know on the outcome. Thanks for the recipe.
I just made this and they were delicious! Everyone who had some loved them as well. Thank you for this recipe.
Just finished cooking them up! Here’s my thoughts:
1) I may have boiled the potatoes a little too much? Once I started to shape the tots, they became more of a mashed potato consistency. This might have caused the rest of my trouble.
2) Used a pastry bag and it made perfectly shaped tots.
3) Threw the first dozen in the deep fryer. They fell apart.
4) Second batch I fried on the stove top, in about 1/3 inch of oil. They held their shape this way.
5) The final consistency was not what I look for in a tater-tot, but again that could have been caused by possibly over boiling the potatoes in the beginning.
6) The dill was a bit overpowering for me, but I don’t like dill, so I’m not really sure why I added it. 🙂
They were fun to make! I ended up taking about 2 hours to finish them so I think I still see bags of frozen tots in my future, but these were good!
I made these today and they were lovely. We are not used to tater tots in Ireland but I will definitely make these again. Looking forward to trying out more of your recipes.