Mar 23, 2014
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Some recipes are so simple to make that they leave you wondering: why didn’t I think of this before? These sweet potato tater tots recipe is one of them.
Two weeks ago, I was in New York doing a lunch demonstration at the Kids’ Food Festival —check out these carrot, hummus, avocado wraps!. After I finished the demonstration, a MOMables community member came to meet me and share some of her success recipes. In our conversation, she asked: have you ever made homemade tater tots? Me: no…. Her: It’s so easy!
So easy indeed. Just TWO ingredients. Just TWO! One of the better brands out there: Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil, Natural Cane Sugar, Cornstarch, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Tapioca Dextrin, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Spice, Salad Mustard (Distilled Vinegar, Mustard Seed, Salt, Turmeric, Paprika), Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid. That’s a long list!
Trisha, the awesome woman who emailed her recipe and technique, rolls hers into “tater tot shapes” by hand. Me? I use my handy cookie dough scooper and call it a day!
Of course, you can freeze these. Double your batch, scoop them onto a lined baking sheet and freeze. After an hour or so in the freezer, transfer them to a ziplock freezer bag.
The perfect thing to pair with these sweet potato tots? My copy cat Chick Fil A chicken nuggets. They are the closest thing to the original. Enjoy!
PS: I know I said “two ingredient” but salt… well, ¼ teaspoon doesn’t really “count” right? Depending how aged your Parmesan cheese is, you can omit it.
In case you are wondering how easy they really are to make, I’ve created a video just for you. Visuals always help, right?
Sweet Potato Tots
Ingredients
- 3 cups sweet potatoes cubed
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese plus more for rolling tots in
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Peel, cube, and measure 3 cups of sweet potatoes (about 3-4 sweet potatoes).
- Steam or boil sweet potatoes to the point where you can just put a fork through it but still too tough to eat. Drain (if boiling) sweet potatoes.
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- In a food processor, pulse sweet potatoes and parmesan cheese a couple of times; just enough to break potatoes up. Transfer to a bowl and fold them in a couple of times. You want to have a chunky mashed texture just like tater tots.
- Form into small balls with a cookie scoop or with your hands and a spoon. Once formed, roll each tot on more parmesan cheese – just enough to lightly coat it.
- Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, turning them at least once mid way through to cook evenly on al sides.
- Remove from oven, and serve.
Paul Brown
Thank you so much for information about this technique! My first time using my indoor grill and the chicken turned out fantastic!! Your instructions were easy to follow and yielded results even better than what I had hoped for. I look forward to delving deeper into your blog and learning even more. Thanks again.
Michelle H
I’m a bit confused by the freezing instructions. Like another reader was asking, should it be cooked, cooled and then placed into freezer? Or should it go into freezer uncooked? You did write “to cook again”, which means it has to be cooked first? Thanks in advance for clarifying!
Laura Fuentes
Michelle, it really doesn’t matter if you freeze these before cooking or after. if you cook them, they just need simple warming up. If you do not, then add about 3minutes to your cooking time. Enjoy!
Darlena Hnizdil
What dipping sauce do you have with these? just made them! They are quite sticky and oozy – stuck to my parchment paper so I think I did something wrong….taste good thought.
Stephanie Schneller
my kids just dip the in ketchup 😉
hamletta
I like the combination of sweet potato and chipotle pepper, so maybe a chipotle mayo?
Laura Fuentes
Yum!
Steffen
Dear Laura,
i just came across your awesome food blog and this amazingly easy looking recipe for tater tots. Unfortunately i still have two questions left and i really hope you can help me answering them 🙂
I always wanted to try tater tots and although with croquettes we have something quite similar here in Germany i never got over the craving for “real” tater tots. Given that i will probably have to wait like decades (if at all) to get the chance to try some tots (like all those other devilishly good looking and sounding stuff like Lucky Charms, Cheetos and so on xD), why not making them by myself, especially if the recipe is that easy? 🙂
But enough of the chit-chat… ^^
My questions:
– Since i’m a student and parmesan isn’t the most inexpensive cheese: Is it possible to substitute any kind of grated cheese for it?
– Is the additional cheese coating at the end (before baking) crucial or can i skip this step? (crucial in terms of important for the tater tots to get the right consistency/texture)
Thanks in advance! 🙂
– Steffen
Laura Fuentes
Hi Steffen!
I am glad you found my site. I know exactly what croquettes are (I grew up in Spain and we ate them often). These are shaped similarly but with not flour. Anyways, to answer your question, the parmesan is crucial to “binding” the sweet potato together. Otherwise, you have potato puffs. You can use a less expensive aged cheese but not one that easily “melts”. To save a few euros, the coating isn’t essential, just what’s inside. However, the coating gives it a crunchy texture. Oh! and you aren’t missing much by not having lucky charms, cheetos, etc. 😉 Enjoy the recipe!
Steffen
Laura! \o/
First of all thank you so much for your really (and i mean REALLY) fast reply! 🙂
Given that i really want to try tater tots i think i’ll have to save a little bit money for real parmesan then. 😀
100g sounds doable 😉
btw I’m still stuck at your website going through all the delicous recipes like the dairyfree Mac & Cheese (i definitely have to try it! btw: Is there any substitute for the sweet potato? Like a russet potato and adding some additional spices?)
Long story short: I love your website and we may write again, ’cause i’m pretty sure there’ll be more questions from a foodie from germany who wants to try and taste everything (even though it’s some processed and way too sweet breakfast cereal with marshmallows in it xD) 😀
– Steffen
Laura Fuentes
Hi Steffen! my pleasure. One substitute that will work for the sweet potato in the mac and cheese will be carrots. If you want a real macaroni and cheese recipe check this one out. 100g of parmesan won’t break the budget. this recipe yields a lot of them. Freeze them for later. Enjoy!
Steffen
Thank you so much Laura!
Carrots… of course… -.-
The Mac ‘n’ Cheese recipe withreal cheese looks even better than the one without… i think there is a Mac ‘n’ Cheese week incoming! 😀
Thank again so much for your help! 🙂
– Steffen
jenni
Hi Laura! My husband and I loved these but they stuck to our baking pan like nobody’s business. What do you use to line your baking sheet while they bake?
Laura Fuentes
Hi Jenni! I line my pans with either parchment paper or a silicone mat. I never bake anything directly on a pan.
Michelle
Anyone tried freezing these? Am I supposed to bake first, then cool and freeze? Or just prepare dough, then bake a few minutes longer to defrost?
Laura Fuentes
I freeze these all the time. Freezing directions are right on the recipe and in the post. Enjoy!
Donna
My family loves these. One thing that made it go a little quicker was take the mash and roll it out into a thin roll and freeze for about 45 minutes then just slice them onto the baking sheet.
Laura Fuentes
Fantastic idea Donna. Thank you!
Vicky MacDonald
I had a question about this recipe, emailed Laura, and she contacted me right away! Thank you so much for that! Made these this morning and only baked a couple to test them, and I honestly I wanted to bake them all! Delicious! I froze them just like Laura said. I can’t wait to bake & serve them for Thanksgiving! I did roll them in the Parm cheese, but then I flattened them just slightly so that they would turn more easily on the cookie sheet. These are fantastic!!
Laura Fuentes
I’m so glad these were a success Vicky!
Michelle Trim
I made these tonight. I made them as written, except used a hand masher and omitted the salt. They were too dry, in my opinion. The kids didn’t really devour them like I thought – my youngest only grudgingly ate one. I’m inspired by the recipe and would like to try again, only with butter and a little maple syrup in place of the Parmesan. They held together fine so I don’t think the cheese coating is essential. Thanks for posting this – at minimum it made a dent in my pile of organic sweet spuds from the CSA!
Laura Fuentes
I’m sorry they didn’t turn as moist as you thought.
Heather
Hello! I love love this idea! And 2 ingredients, even better. I will use my cookie scoop too, so easy. I will be sharing this recipe on a round up friday afternoon on my blog. I do hope this is ok. If not, please let me know and i will remove it right away. Have a great weekend!
Laura Fuentes
thanks for sharing!
Ned hanks
These are awesome. Helps fill a void in my taste buds, since I am not supposed to eat regular potatoes.
Laura Fuentes
I would appreciate you take down my recipe and my image from your website. You were not given permission to republish the full recipe and image from my website.
Matt
I can’t wait to make these for the boys. Your pictures are really amazing.
Laura Fuentes
Thank you Matt! Let me know how much they enjoy them! 🙂
Marion
Prepped these the night before and ready to go when I got home from work to put straight in the oven. Both of my little ones and even my hubby (who says he doesn’t like sweet potatoes) LOVED these. So easy to make. Just what I like.
Laura Fuentes
Success!
Brooke B.
These sound good! I might try it with organic white potatoes too, that’s what I have right now.
Laura Fuentes
those will work too!
Rachael
Would the kind of parmesan you get in the green contajners like Kraft grated kind work to bind them the same way? Or a shredded italian cheese blend? Thats what I have on hand…
Cyn Rogalski
I contacted the 4C company for the gluten content of my fav iced tea mix. They responded by sending me a list of their gluten free products. All 4C grated cheese products ARE gluten free. Just an FYI.
Laura Fuentes
Yes! 4C is gluten free with many of its products. thanks!
Tiffany C.
Love this! My boys would LOVE this!
Farah
Good Morning supergluemom, love this idea. I am following now for 3 months the paleostyle and i dont eat cheese. Any suggestions what i can use instead( eggs, chiaseeds, nutrional yeast?) ?
Laura Fuentes
Hi Farah! I haven’t found another “binder” that “sticks” the sweet potatoes as well as the cheese. Try 2 egg whites 1 yellow… let me know. I’d add 1/2 tsp cumin and up the salt to 1/2 tsp for additional seasoning.
lizzie
Xanthan Gum would probably work for binding if you can have that on the Paleo diet – I know it’s gluten free as it’s a great alternative thickener
Laura Fuentes
You are welcome to try it.
Brandon
cheese was invented in the paleolithic era
Laura Fuentes
While I agree that raw cheese and some cultured dairy can be considered primal, most paleo diets don’t allow it (sadly) 🙁