Homemade tater tots you say? Why yes, I said it. I’m a huge fan of tater tots, and have always been. As a matter of fact, I used to make tater tot nachos back in high school, and that is probably when I began falling in love with them. The standard around my house has always been french fries, for the most part, and then I began incorporating tater tots into the menu from time to time to see if my kids would like them as much as my wife and I do. I’ll admit, they are a bit neutral when it comes to the tater tot, and as I want to keep pushing them into loving them, I decided to make an attempt at making them myself.
I only did this as we were completely out of frozen tater tots, however I did have some potatoes sitting around. I was up for trying to recreate the classic tater tot, and I think I did them just right.
Let’s get started.
- 3 cups of Canola oil
- 4 russet potatoes, peeled and cleaned
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- additional salt for seasoning
Add the oil to a medium pot and bring to a medium heat.
Start by grating your potatoes with a box grater. Use the course grate, and carefully grate the potatoes into a large bowl.
Once your potatoes are completely grated, get a large, clean kitchen towel out and dump the potatoes into the towel. Fold over all of the edges, and ring out all of the moisture from the potatoes. Amazing right? Who would have thought there would be that much liquid coming out of those potatoes!
Add the potatoes back to the bowl. Â Add in the seasonings, flour, and egg. Mix well until you have a glue like texture.
To form your tater tots, take a little over a tablespoon of the potato mixture and shape it into the shape of a tater tot. There’s no science to this one, so if you want to form them into various shapes, feel free. Repeat this until all of the tots have been formed.
Once the oil is heated to 350 degrees, carefully add a few of the tots into the oil. I used a couple of spoons to carefully place them in the oil.
Cook the tots until they are golden brown, then remove them with a slotted spoon or kitchen spider, and sprinkle a bit of salt onto them. Repeat this with the rest of the tots.
I’ll admit that these tots surprised me a bit. They were everything you would expect in a tater tot but a bit more dense than a traditional Ore Ida tater tot. Overall, my wife and I were pleased, and the kids were still neutral. Go figure. So if you are in a pinch and need to make some tater tots, give this one a shot.
Homemade Tater Tots
Ingredients
- 3 cups of Canola oil
- 4 russet potatoes peeled and cleaned
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 egg beaten
- additional salt for seasoning
Instructions
- Add the oil to a medium pot and bring to a medium heat.
- Start by grating your potatoes with a box grater. Use the course grate, and carefully grate the potatoes into a large bowl.
- Once your potatoes are completely grated, get a large, clean kitchen towel out and dump the potatoes into the towel. Fold over all of the edges, and ring out all of the moisture from the potatoes. Amazing right? Who would have thought there would be that much liquid coming out of those potatoes!
- Add the potatoes back to the bowl. Add in the seasonings, flour, and egg. Mix well until you have a glue like texture.
- To form your tater tots, take a little over a tablespoon of the potato mixture and shape it into the shape of a tater tot. There's no science to this one, so if you want to form them into various shapes, feel free. Repeat this until all of the tots have been formed.
- Once the oil is heated to 350 degrees, carefully add a few of the tots into the oil. I used a couple of spoons to carefully place them in the oil.
- Cook the tots until they are golden brown, then remove them with a slotted spoon or kitchen spider, and sprinkle a bit of salt onto them. Repeat this with the rest of the tots.