Homemade Potato Tots

It’s funny what we miss when our access to grocery stores and abundance is limited.  In the days when our freezer was plentifully packed, a bag of Ore-Ida Tater Tots might have called to join burgers as part of our dinner menu. But a recent trip to the grocery store found the freezer shelves bare of frozen potato treats. My pantry has a full drawer of potatoes right now, and we were hungry for comfort food. I decided to make my own potato tots.

Instead of being fried, these tots are baked. They use two types of potatoes, which helped me to lighten the load in my spud drawer.

I like these potato tots because they’re crunchy outside, but creamy inside, have a little heat, and are a fun project for these homebound days.

I adapted this recipe from one by Damaris Phillips. She combines par-cooked russet potatoes with raw red potatoes, then adds flour, seasoning, and oil and bakes the batch in mini muffin pans.

Making the Tots

The first step is to briefly cook the russet potatoes, with skins on, to keep the potato flesh intact. After cooking, the potatoes release their skins easily. I ran the side of a fork over them to get this done. While the russets cool, you can mix together some flour and seasonings.

I added more seasoning than Phillips calls for—a bit of onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper—these together give the tots a bit of a Cajun flair.

Once the russets have cooled, grating and then tossing them with the flour mixture helps to keep them from clumping together. Next, a grated red potato—skin and all—goes in with a bit of olive oil. I used two forks to help distribute everything easily and then dug in with my hands as well.

Baking the Tots

Phillips’s recipe called for using a scoop to transfer the mixture to greased mini muffin pans, but I found that my hands worked best for this task, too. While Phillips sprayed her tots with cooking spray before baking, I opted for a light brush of olive oil on the tops of the raw tots to help them brown in their first session in the hot oven.

After fifteen minutes of baking, the edges of the tots are golden and crispy. But they’re not finished yet! Flipping each tot and tucking under the strands prepares them for their second baking. Another brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt is all they need before going back in the oven to complete the cooking.

When the tots finish baking, they are golden brown and crispy.

A sprinkle of freshly snipped chives livens the plate, then ketchup and mustard are ready for their supporting roles.

For us, these potato tots combined comfort food and pantry-friendly cooking.  The recipe can be easily doubled for those times ahead when we gather together in big groups again. Sounds good to us!

Homemade Potato Tots

Dawn Dobie

Crispy potato morsels that are fun to make and use pantry ingredients

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Cooling time for potatoes 15 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 pound medium russet potatoes -about 2 potatoes
• 1 large red potato --4 ounces total
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil—divided (see below)
• Fresh chives snipped into small pieces
• Ketchup and mustard for dipping

Instructions

 

• Place the russet potatoes into a medium pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat to medium and cook until halfway done, 5 to 9 minutes. Drain, then while holding each potato with a kitchen towel, remove the skin from each by scraping with the side of the tines of a fork. (The fork will also allow you to dig out any blemishes). Discard skins. Allow potatoes to cool for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray two 12-cup mini muffin tins generously with cooking spray.
• Measure out 1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil to use in potato mixture. (The rest will be for brushing on top of the tots before they bake.)
• Mix the flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper in small bowl.
• Grate the par-cooked russets with a box grater, using the large holes, into a big bowl. Toss the strands of potato with the flour mixture, using two forks to separate the strands. (Mine clumped together quite a bit at first.) Then grate the red potato into the mixture in the bowl and drizzle 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil over everything. Gently combine everything with the two forks and by hand.
• Using your fingers, scoop about one tablespoon of the potato mixture into each mini muffin cup, filling each to the rim, pressing flat with your fingers. Brush each unbaked tot with olive oil. Bake until brown at the edges, 15 minutes. Remove from oven and using two spoons, flip each tot so that the underside can brown. Tuck any stray stands of potato into each cup. Brush the tops with a light coat of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Return to the oven and bake until browned, another 10-15 minutes. (I baked mine 12 minutes.)
• Remove from oven and again using two spoons to cradle each tot, transfer to platter to serve. Sprinkle with freshly chopped chives.
• Serve with ketchup and mustard for dipping.

Notes

Recipe can be doubled.

1 ½ teaspoons of Cajun seasoning (like Tony Chacere’s) can be substituted for the salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper.

Adapted from a recipe by Damaris Phillips