How to Make the Best Homemade Tater Tots from Scratch
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These homemade tater tots are like nothing you’ve ever experienced. If you think you’ve had a good tater tot, wait until you make them yourself. They are crispy on the outside, with a pillowy soft, fluffy interior and perfectly seasoned and fried to perfection in schmaltz or beef tallow. The simple ingredients create a wonderful homemade tater tot recipe and I bet you will never buy another tater tot again. That classic tater tot texture you expect from the freezer aisle isn’t here in these; they’re softer and crisper on the outside and so much better!
This recipe is for a gigantic batch of them to have one big day of tot-making and freeze them for later. This is a great way to use up potatoes from your garden that are going soft in storage if you have the freezer space, otherwise pare this recipe down for a smaller batch! I spent 4-5 hours on this batch from start to finish. It was exhausting, but future me is thankful because my family loves tater tot casserole, but I don’t love purchasing tater tots from the store when I have a metric ton of potatoes on hand. Having your own homemade tater tots is both rewarding, much healthier, and tastes better, too, especially if you fry them in schmaltz like me!
What Variety of Potatoes Should You Use
When making tater tots, for best results you want a starchy variety. The structure of the tater tots relies on that starch content to hold together well and not need tons of flour added to it, so stick with potatoes like russets. Other varieties are yukon gold, king edward, and maris piper; but if you’re purchasing your taters from the grocery store, you’ll have the best luck finding russets and they’re usually rather cheap and go on sale a lot. I grow yukon golds and kennebec and both work pretty well for growing tots, but the red variety does not hold up at all. Low starch varieties, like the red skin potatoes I grow, do not work very well for this recipe and are prone to falling apart which is a sad day with all the effort (but they can up and store beautifully).
Equipment You Will Need:
- Pressure cooker
- Food processor with grating blade or box grater/cheese grater
- Mesh Strainer
- Non-stick silicone mat
- Large Bowl
- Bench Scraper
- Cast Iron frying pan or a deep fryer
- Slotted spoon
- Cooling rack
- Baking sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Paper towels or brown paper
Ingredients:
- 20 pounds russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs fresh milled flour, plus extra for dusting
- 3 Tbs salt
- 1 1/2 Tbs onion powder
- 1/2 Tbs garlic powder
- 1 Tbs smoked paprika
- 1 Tbs black pepper
- 2 pints of schmaltz or tallow, for frying
Let’s get to cookin’!
Step 1: Prep the potatoes
Rinse and scrub 20 pounds of potatoes. Drain. Place potatoes in a pressure cooker and cook for 3-4 minutes depending on the size at high pressure and once time is up do a quick release. Remove the potatoes and lay out on a cookie sheet to cool until just cool enough to handle. You can also par boil the potatoes, but if you choose to do it this way, be prepared for excess moisture so drain and squeeze it out of the potatoes after step 2.
Step 2: Shred the potatoes
Using a food processor with the shredding blade, run potatoes through to grate. Add potatoes to a very large mixing bowl as you work. I have to work in batches because my pressure cooker will only fit about 4 pounds of potatoes at a time.
Step 3: Season the potatoes
To the shredded potatoes, add:
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbs fresh milled flour (I used hard white wheat)
- 3 Tbs salt
- 1 1/2 Tbs onion powder
- 1/2 Tbs garlic powder
- 1 Tbs smoked paprika
- 1 Tbs black pepper
Stir to combine. Bring your muscles if you make a 20 pound batch like I did because you’ll be stirring for a bit! Taste the potatoes to make sure they’re seasoned to your liking; I normally have to add additional salt but it’s easier to start low and add more than take it away.
Step 4: Roll & Form the Tots
Place a non-stick mat on your counter and dust it with flour. Roll about 1 cup of potato mixture into a tub and cut into preferred tater tot size pieces. Roll them in your hands to get them nicely shaped after cutting. The first time you do this it’s hard, but you will figure out a process that makes shaping them way easy and you get on a roll. Promise. Place each formed tater tot on a parchment lined baking sheet or counter to wait while you work. Repeat this step until all of the potato mixture is gone. This is the part that takes the longest and really helps you have have a nutty friend show up half way through to help you mentally and physically survive this :D (looking at you Anneliese!!).
Step 5: Par Fry the Tots
To a cast iron frying pan, add in schmaltz or tallow and heat the oil over medium heat.
Once oil is preheated, working in batches, add the tater tots to the pan of hot oil, cooking for 1-2 minutes per side. If you are par-frying and freezing for later, you only want barely light golden color on the tots. Once they’re finished frying, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon to a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet lined with paper towels or brown paper to drain excess oil. Sprinkle with a little salt. Allow to cool completely.
Step 6: Flash Freeze
Place the cooled tots on a baking sheet in a single layer and flash freeze for several hours or overnight.
Step 7: Store
After the tots are frozen, break them up off the cookie sheet pan and place portions into a freezer bag or vacuum sealer bags. I aim for about 1 pound of tater tots per bag. Vacuum seal, label with contents and the date, and store in your freezer for 6 months to 1 year for best flavor.
To use:
Remove tots from the freezer and air fry, bake in a preheated oven, or fry frozen tots in tallow or schmaltz until golden brown and crispy. In my air fryer, they take about 20-25 minutes from frozen and are so good! Serve with your favorite dip or pile them on top for a yummy tater tot casserole and enjoy not needing yet another thing from the grocery store! Store any leftovers in an airtight container and heat in the air fryer when ready to eat to crisp them up.
Feel free to pare this recipe down to a smaller batch! :D When I do something, I really do something!
Enjoy!
How to Make the Best Homemade Tater Tots from Scratch
Equipment
- Food processor with grating blade
- Large bowl
- bench scraper
- Cast Iron Frying Pan
- slotted spoon
- cooling rack
- paper towels or brown paper
Ingredients
- 20 pounds russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp fresh milled hard white wheat flour plus extra for dusting
- 3 tbsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 pints schmaltz or tallow for frying
Instructions
- Rinse and scrub 20 pounds of potatoes. Drain. Place potatoes in a pressure cooker and cook for 3-4 minutes depending on the size at high pressure and once time is up do a quick release. Remove the potatoes and lay out on a cookie sheet to cool until just cool enough to handle.
- Using a food processor with the shredding blade, run potatoes through to grate. Add potatoes to a very large mixing bowl as you work.
- To the shredded potatoes, add the seasonings. Stir to combine. Bring your muscles if you make a 20 pound batch like I did because you'll be stirring for a bit! Taste the potatoes to make sure they're seasoned to your liking; I normally have to add additional salt but it's easier to start low and add more than take it away.
- Place a non-stick mat on your counter and dust it with flour. Roll about 1 cup of potato mixture into a tub and cut into preferred tater tot size pieces. Roll them in your hands to get them nicely shaped after cutting. Place each formed tater tot on a parchment lined baking sheet or counter to wait while you work. Repeat this step until all of the potato mixture is gone.
- To a cast iron frying pan, add in schmaltz or tallow and heat the oil over medium heat.
- Once oil is preheated, working in batches, add the tater tots to the pan of hot oil, cooking for 1-2 minutes per side. If you are par-frying and freezing for later, you only want barely light golden color on the tots.
- Once they're finished frying, remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon to a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet lined with paper towels or brown paper to drain excess oil. Sprinkle with a little salt. Allow to cool completely.
- Place the cooled tots on a baking sheet in a single layer and flash freeze for several hours or overnight.
- After the tots are frozen, break them up off the cookie sheet pan and place portions into a freezer bag or vacuum sealer bags. I aim for about 1 pound of tater tots per bag. Vacuum seal, label with contents and the date, and store in your freezer for 6 months to 1 year for best flavor.
To Use:
- Remove tots from the freezer and air fry, bake in a preheated oven, or fry frozen tots in tallow or schmaltz until golden brown and crispy. In my air fryer, they take about 20-25 minutes from frozen.
