Homemade Tater Tots: the effortless recipe for a kid-friendly appetizer

Tater tots are a delicious, tasty side dish that both kids and adults love. This easy homemade tater tots recipe is a million times more flavorful than the frozen ones, and can even be made so they're gluten-free.

If you enjoy customizing your recipes, you can add all sorts of delicious ingredients to your homemade tater tots to make them even more flavorful. A dash of chili pepper flakes, a pinch of Lawry's, or some crumbled bacon or cheese…anything goes when it comes to tater tots!

They're a great dish to serve as an appetizer or side dish with lunch or dinner. Tater tots can be fried, baked, or cooked in an air fryer. No matter which choice you go for, we're sure you and your family will love these effortless homemade tater tots!

Tips for the Best Homemade Tater Tots

Flour acts as a binder in this tater tot recipe and will help them stick together. If they're falling apart, you may need extra flour. Making sure to drain the potatoes properly will also help them stick together.

If you substitute the flour for cornstarch, these homemade tater tots are naturally gluten-free, unlike most store-bought tater tots. You could also use arrowroot powder as a binder.

Jazz up your homemade tater tots by adding bacon, pancetta, fresh chopped herbs like basil or rosemary, cayenne pepper, paprika, or your favorite cheese to them. Cheddar and parmesan are excellent options.

Have leftover mashed potatoes? Make tater tots! You can substitute mashed potatoes for whole potatoes in this recipe.

To make your tater tots crispy, make sure you cook them at a high enough heat.

For healthier tater tots, you can bake them or make them in an air fryer. For the oven, bake the tater tots at 425F for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through. To make homemade tater tots in an air fryer, fry them at 400F for 15 minutes.

How to Serve Tater Tots

Tater tots are a great side dish to serve with all sorts of dishes. Serve them with steaks, fried fish, crispy chicken cutlets, or sandwiches or burgers.

You can also put tater tots into casseroles, load them up with cheese, pop them onto skewers with bacon and veggies, or add them into breakfast bakes to make them into a full meal.

Tater tots are a great snack – serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. Ketchup, ranch dressing, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, and honey mustard dressing are all delicious.

How to Store Homemade Tater Tots

Put leftover tater tots in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Can I Freeze Homemade Tater Tots?

Absolutely! You can freeze uncooked tater tots for up to 6 months.

How to Make Homemade Tater Tots

Parboil the potatoes for 6 to 7 minutes. Drain them in a colander and let them cool.

Grate the potatoes, then squeeze out excess water with paper towels.

Place the grated potatoes into a large bowl. Add the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, dried dill, salt, and pepper to the potatoes. Stir to combine. Shape the mixture into tater tots.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.

Working in batches, fry the tater tots until golden and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain.

Garnish with parsley and serve hot.

Notes

The longer you let the potatoes cool, the drier they'll become and the crispier your tater tots will get.