Our homemade tater tots are easy to make! We use leftover mashed potatoes to turn them into mashed potato tater tots!
Homemade Mashed Potato Tater Tots can be baked, fried or even air fried in our case. Nothing beats a homemade fresh tater tot! I boiled up one red potato for my daughter and turned it into a bite size fun toddler lunch for her. She thinks it’s the ultimate toddler snack and I think it’s a great mommy snack too! Toddlers can easily pick these up and make no messed – they’re fun and delicious.
Kay has really taken a liking to potato lately. She’s pretty obsessed with baked potatoes right now too. She loves when I make Air Fryer Baked Potato with dinner! They’re the best baked potatoes in our opinion. It has a salty, garlicky seasoned crust and the inside is perfection. Nowwww on tot the tater tots! I hate buying something I can make at home and if I can make it at home for a fraction of the cost, even better! Long gone are the days picking up already made items in the freezer section. I remember living off half that stuff growing up.. WHAT were my parents thinking?
First off it’s expensive, it’s processed EVEN if it’s organic. People automatically assume since something is non-gmo and organic it’s healthy. If you buy an oreo or an organic chocolate sandwich cookie – it’s still junk food! Everything in moderation am I right? I let you in on something hilarious.. when we went to the Gluten Free and Allergen Expo, Chris tried Late July’s Ranch Tortilla Chips and said it’s a healthier dorito. It’s not healthier.. it’s just non-gmo and organic making it a healthier option over the other but still not healthy to consume a bag.
I just prefer that I make stuff at home if and when I can. Especially when it’s as easy as these tater tots! Kay loved snacking on some of the mash while I prepared the tots and they cooked up in less than 15 minutes in our Avalon Bay Air Fryer. Homemade Mashed Potato Tater Tots are our new favorite to make and eat too! They’re nice and soft in the middle and perfect for little toddler hands. We love to enjoy them with some organic ketchup on the side. I haven’t tried freezing them so if you do let us know how they turn out! I always get iffy when freezing a potato product due to the moisture in a potato. They always turn out to be a watery mess. With these we rather just make quickly and enjoy while they’re hot out of the air fryer. So, so good! Oh and if you do not have an air fryer you can put these in an actual fryer, bake them on an oil greased baking sheet. The reason I use the air fryer is because I can control the amount of oil. I don’t mind having fried food but we like to limit the frying when we can. Especially when the air fryer makes them this good!
Homemade Mashed Potato Tater Tots
Ingredients
- 1 red potato
- 1 teaspoon oil (you can use any oil)
- 1 teaspoon minced onion
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop up your potato and place in a pot with water and boil the potatoes.
- Once the potatoes are little more than al dente remove from water. (You want them slightly harder than you would for mash)
- In a separate bowl mash the potatoes with the oil, onion, salt and pepper.
- Set your air fryer to 379 degrees. Form the potato mixture into tater tots and bake for about 7-8 minutes. Give a toss and then bake another 5 minutes.
Nutrition
I plan to make these with sweet potato and we’ll definitely update how they turn out as well! I’m sure they’ll be just as good, if not sweeter! <— get it? 😉
Once your neighborhood kiddos get wind of these they will be banging your door down! And if my husband found out…he would be too. That man has long had an obsession with Tater Tots!
I haven’t had tater tots in a long time. These look easy enough to make up in a jiffy for the kids as an after school snack or a starch side to dinner.
these are sooo good! you can even make them in the oven or a traditional fryer the same way.
I saw the comment you made about freezing potatoes, I have had good luck with freezing mashed potatoes. I wanted to make them ahead of time for the holidays and did a test small batch and when I first starting heating it after being frozen it did look a mess. It was runny and grainy and I thought this is a bust, but when completely heated it came together beautifully. It actually needed more liquid. So now I make 10lbs of mashed potatoes a couple of weeks before and take out 2 to 3 days ahead of time to defrost and put them in my crockpot on warm in the morning, easy peasy. You really cannot tell they have been frozen. BYW can’t wait to try your tater tots.