What Are Tater tots and How Can I Use Them?

Tater tots rewards a little know-how: how to choose them, cook them, store them, and substitute in a pinch. Browse 7 recipes to cook with them.

Key Points

Bite-sized cylinders of grated seasoned potato, invented in 1953 by Ore-Ida from leftover fry scraps.
High heat is everything: bake at 425°F (220°C) or hotter in a single, uncrowded layer to crisp them.
Cook straight from frozen; thawing first makes the outside mushy and the inside watery.
A crunchy casserole crown over ground beef; add late or uncovered so they brown, not steam.
Keep frozen at 0°F (-18°C), never thaw and refreeze, and re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven, not the microwave.

What are tater tots?

Tater tots are bite-sized cylinders of grated, seasoned potato, par-cooked and then fried or baked until the outside is crisp and the inside stays fluffy.

They were invented in 1953 by the Ore-Ida company as a way to use up the potato scraps left over from cutting french fries. The name is now a registered trademark, though most people use it for any potato puff.

The texture is the whole appeal. Because the potato is shredded rather than left whole, the inside cooks up soft and a little gummy while the high surface area gives a shatter-crisp shell. That contrast is what makes them work as both a side and a casserole topping.

They come frozen and ready to cook, which is how nearly every recipe uses them. There is no fresh version to track down.

Cooking With Tater Tots

For tots eaten on their own, the oven is fine but high heat is everything. Bake at 425°F (220°C) or higher, in a single layer with space between each one, so they crisp instead of steaming.

Crowding the pan is the number one reason tots come out pale and soft. A few minutes in a hot air fryer does the same job even faster.

Their other life is as a casserole crown. Spread a single layer over a filling of ground meat and vegetables, and they bake into a crunchy, golden lid.

Tater Tot Casserole, Buddie's Burger & Tots Casserole, and the wildly popular White Trash Casserole all do exactly this, trading a mashed-potato or biscuit top for the crackly tot crust.

When topping a casserole, add the tots toward the end or leave the dish uncovered so they brown. Buried under a lid or sauce, they go soggy and lose the only reason they are there.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Tots are built for dipping and for soaking up rich, savory flavors. Ketchup is the default, though plenty of people reach for ranch or melted cheese, and a fried egg broken over a plate of them is its own small meal.

In casseroles they go with ground beef under a cream-of-mushroom sauce and a handful of sharp cheddar.

The biggest mistake is a low oven. Tots need high, dry heat to crisp; bake them at 350°F (175°C) and they turn limp and greasy instead of golden. Push the temperature up and give them room.

The second mistake is thawing them first. Tots are designed to go from freezer to hot oven; letting them sit out makes the outside mushy and the inside watery.

Cook them straight from frozen.

Substitutes

For a side dish, frozen hash browns or potato puffs are the closest stand-in and crisp up the same way. Crinkle-cut or shoestring fries give a similar potato-and-crunch payoff if you are not set on the tot shape.

As a casserole topping, a layer of frozen hash brown patties or shredded hash browns gives the same crunchy potato lid. You can also top with thin-sliced potato rounds, though they take longer to cook through.

In a pinch you can make a rough homemade version: squeeze shredded par-boiled potato dry, season it, shape small logs, and fry them. It is more work than it sounds, which is why the freezer aisle usually wins.

Buying and Storing Tater Tots

Tater tots live in the supermarket freezer beside the fries and hash browns, sold by the bag under the Ore-Ida name and plenty of store brands. Bags should feel loose and the tots should rattle freely; a solid, clumped bag has thawed and refrozen and will cook unevenly.

Keep them frozen at 0°F (-18°C) until you cook them, and they will hold for months past purchase. Never let a bag thaw and refreeze, since the second freeze turns them mushy.

Cooked tots are best eaten right away. Leftovers go soft within minutes, but a stint back in a hot oven or air fryer re-crisps them far better than a microwave, which only steams them limp again.