This page may contain affiliate links. So, I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my link. This post is about making your own delicious Home Made Tater Tots!
Frozen tater tots are good, but homemade tater tots are better!
My husband Steve turned me on to these. For instance I was a skeptic. I had thought that homemade tater tots wouldn't be worth the trouble to make, but boy was I wrong!
The first time Steve made tots, he and Toby ate most of them and only left a few for me.
So, I implored him to make them again, but this time leave me a substantial amount and also write down his recipe! Lucky me...he did!
Some History and Info About Tater Tots
The founders of Ore-Ida created tater tots in 1953, and they were first sold in stores in 1956. The genesis of tots came from when the company's founders, Nephi and Golden Grigg, were trying to decide what to do with leftover small bits of potatoes. One day GENIUS struck, and one of the brothers decided to add some spices to the scraps, roll them into small cylinders and then deep fry them. Lo and behold the Tater Tot was born!
Eater.com has a great article called "The Tater Tot is American Ingenuity at Its Finest." It's a fascinating read about how the Griggs' brothers turned their invention into a frozen food empire. Further, their company Ore-Ida was named as such because the flash-freezing plant that they bought was on the border between Oregon and Idaho. 🙂
The name "tater tots" is actually a registered trademark of Ore-Ida, but many people including myself use the name as a generic term. Moreover, a fun bit of trivia about tots (from Wikipedia) is that today Americans consume 3,710,000,000 tots per year! That's a LOT OF TOTS!
Making Tots is Easy as 1, 2, 3, 4!
Making your own tots is really easy and the results are out of this world!
#1: Boil and grate potatoes
#2: Mix your grated potatoes with flour and some awesome seasonings!
#3: Form the potato and seasoning mixture into tubes, and cut into 1 inch pieces for the tots
#4: Fry until golden brown!
I forgot..there is a #5...ENJOY!
Enjoy these straight out of the fryer hot and delicious! You'll be begging for more!
Are You Ready to Make These Tots? 🙂
I hope by now you may be convinced that making your own home made tater tots is easy and definitely worth your while.
Pretty much EVERYONE loves tots as far as I know! Kids, adults, and dogs will gobble these up!
Easy, delicious, and budget friendly, they are superb as a snack or as a side to accompany your main meal.
And you can also make them your MAIN MEAL! For example, here's a great recipe for Tatchos which are tots smothered with cheese and all sorts of good stuff!
Moreover, feel free to adjust the seasonings to whatever you have on hand...even just salt and pepper will do nicely!
Some Other Recipes You May Enjoy!
Delicious and Easy Egg Fried Rice!
In conclusion, sign up to get the latest recipes and culinary inspiration! Join me by signing up here. 🙂
Cheers!
Grace
Delicious Home Made Tater Tots!
Equipment
- cheesecloth
- box grater to grate the potatoes
- Deep Fat Fryer
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Russet potatoes peeled and kept whole
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ ts basil leaves
- 1 ts garlic powder
- ½ ts onion powder
- 1 ts Jalapeno seasoning mix you can omit this or use cayenne for a spicy kick!
- ½ ts black pepper
- 2 ts salt reduce the amount if you are watching your salt
Instructions
- Prepare a large bowl with ice cold water. Peel the potatoes but keep them whole.
- Bring a large saucepan to the boil. Add a pinch of salt, and boil the peeled potatoes (kept whole) for 7 minutes. Drain and then add to the ice cold water for 3 minutes to cool the potatoes down.
- Using a box grater, grate the potatoes. You may want to heat up your deep fat fryer to 300F at this time.
- Place the grated potatoes into cheesecloth and squeeze to reduce the water content.
- Mix the flour and all the seasonings together in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated potato to this mixture, and mix with your hands to ensure the grated potato is thoroughly incorporated into this mixture.
- Take the potato mixture, and form it into tubes approximately ¾" diameter. The use of wax paper may help make it easier to shape the potatoes.
- Cut into 1" pieces to make the form of a tater tot.
- Deep fry the tots in batches, making sure not to overcrowd, approximately 5 minutes until golden brown. Drain on paper towels!
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