Crispy Baked Tater Tots

A few years back, when I was still living in D.C., I went to a bar as part of my friends’ pre-Kickball league dinner and drinks tradition.  It just so happens that the bar had tater tots.  At that time, probably almost five years ago now, I hadn’t had a tater tot in years, probably since I was a little kid.  I suppose its almost fitting that we’d eat tater tots right before playing a little kid sport of kickball.

Over the next few years, it seemed that the tater tot trend wasn’t going away.  Numerous restaurants, including places that weren’t just crummy bars, had tots and many were very very good.  One of my favorite places, Sticky Rice, had some of the best tots around, which is actually odd since its an Asian restaurant.

Anyway, that brings me to now, when I saw I recipe for a quick and pretty easy baked tater tots recipe.  I knew I was going to make them, so I opted for last night along with a fresh salad with tomatoes, almond slices, feta cheese and mustard vinaigrette.  The recipe comes from Pennies on a Platter blog. The only mistake I made with these was not crushing the potatoes up enough. I think one other change I would make is to sprinkle the chips over the tot after it goes into the egg. See below.

Ingredients:
Recipe from Pennies on a Platter

8 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup flour
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups potato chips, crushed (you can use a quick pulse on your food processor)
1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400.

In a medium pot, boil potatoes until barley fork tender. Drain and return to pot. Using a masher, mash potatoes while adding milk, a little at a time. Continue to mash, leaving them lumpy and a bit dry. You may not use the entire 1/4 cup of milk.

Add potato chips, eggs and flour to three separate bowls. Set out a piece of parchment paper and form small 1 inch balls of potato and place on parchment. Once ready, roll each ball into flour, then egg and finally sprinkle with potato chips to coat. Place on a baking sheet and when all are finished, bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy!!