These homemade tater tots are packed with tons of broccoli and baked in the oven making them a really healthy side dish or snack!
So, apparently when you live in the desert, spring means that it’s 90 degrees outside! We went on a trip to Iowa last week to visit my husband’s family and to introduce Eli to his two great grandmas. It was really nice to be around family and the weather was a welcomed change from what we’re used to. Most days were between 20-30 degrees F and we even got to see some snow!
Then, we got home last night and I woke up to 90 degree weather this morning. We currently have the AC blasting and I’ve already decided there will be no more going outside until November. I’m really not ready for this heat and kinda want to move to Iowa!
In happier news: 4 Ingredient Broccoli Tater Tots! If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little obsessed with making tater tots. So far I’ve made these awesome zucchini ones, these spaghetti squash ones and don’t forget these apple and smoked gouda gems 🙂 Homemade tater tots are a bit of a labor of love, but they are so worth it! They’re much healthier than the frozen ones and they’re great for adding extra veggies.
The only ingredients are potatoes, broccoli, salt and olive oil. And, I feel like salt and olive oil should be free ingredients so there’s really just 2 ingredients! They’re packed with 8 cups of broccoli so you definitely get your veggie servings in, but they’re also potato-y and delicious! I would recommend making 2 batches because they won’t stay around for long!
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4 Ingredient Broccoli Tater Tots
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 40 1x
Ingredients
- 3 large russet potatoes
- 2 (14 ounce) bags frozen broccoli florets that have been thawed, or 8 cups steamed broccoli florets
- 2 teaspoons salt, plus more for sprinkling on top
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and cook potatoes for 20-30 minutes, until fork tender but still have some give in the middle. Drain water and let potatoes cool until they are comfortable to handle. It’s best if they are still warm.
- Once potatoes are warm enough to handle, remove the skins either with your fingers or with a potato peeler.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grate potatoes on the large side of a box grater and place into a large bowl.
- Place the broccoli into a food processor and blend until it’s in very small pieces, 30 seconds – one minute. You may need to do it in two batches. Place broccoli onto a kitchen towel and squeeze all excess water out.
- Add the broccoli to the grated potatoes along with the salt and mix everything together. Make sure to mix very well because if you have pockets that are mainly broccoli the tater tots won’t form together as well.
- Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use your hands to form small cylinders with the mixture. Use about 1 tablespoon per tater tot. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes to allow them to firm up.
- Brush the top of each tater tot with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle each one with salt. Bake tater tots until browned a crispy, about 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway though.
Notes
Recipes makes 30-40 tater tots depending on how big you make them.
These tots freeze very well. Freeze before you cook them and make sure to separate them so they don’t stick together. Can be frozen up to 3 months in an air tight container.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 65 mins
- Category: Side, Gluten Free, Vegan
If you like these, then you will also love:
4-Ingredient Zucchini Tater Tots
Two-ingredient tater tots. Love the beautiful green color the broccoli gives these. I wouldn’t otherwise think to make tater tots, but your post and pictures are pretty persuasive. Glad you got a reprieve from the heat for a few days!
These are so easy to make, but so much healthier than normal tots and super delicious! Loving this.
Can you use white rice instead of potatoes
Hmm, I’m not quite sure they would hold together as well but if you put it all in the food processor it might
These sound so yummy & easy to make (and maybe also a way to get kids to eat broccoli?!). You are totally the queen of healthier tater tot recipes 🙂 I worked with a company at an expo recently that makes millet tots – their version of a tater tot but only made with millet. Interesting right?
how many grams of potato would you say 3 large ones are? large is a bit subjective, I always get it wrong 🙂
Hmmm, good question! I’ll have to weight next time because I’m not really sure how many grams, but I just use the largest russet potatoes I can find. I hope that helps!
Can sweet potato be used instead of russet potatoes?
You could try! Russet potatoes are more starchy so they stick together better, but it might work 🙂
Oh…my!!! These sound WONDERFUL!! (So do the others, so I’m definitely going to try them all – even found some vegan smoked gouda that is fantastic, so I can keep it entirely vegan!)
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy!! 🙂
Seems like a silly question but after you freeze them to firm up do you bake them then freeze again to heat up later? Cause no way my daughter wants to wait 40 mins for her food and I’m awful at planning ahead haha
Hi Kat, I think they would take the same amount of time to bake from frozen whether they were pre-cooked or not. You could pre-cook them, freeze them and then leave some out to thaw in the morning and then bake them, that probably wouldn’t take too long! I hope that helps 🙂
These are delish. Kept tasting them while making them! Added garlic powder – can use other seasonings. Found several versions online but always had eggs & cheese [non-vegan], panko or bread crumbs. Sparingly drizzle or mist olive oil onto cookie sheet evenly. To form them quicker, dust a linen towel with flour, scoop as much as a medium size potato [if you take more, they will be harder to handle and will tend to break] and roll between hands like cigars. Then roll them into smaller logs onto towel. Once desired thickness is reached, roll them onto greased cookie sheet or mist with oil making sure all sides have been oiled before setting in freezer to firm up. It is winter now so I just covered them with towels and set them on the deck railing where I can keep an eye on them. Cut with knife dipped in flour to prevent sticking and bake as directed. Hope this helps make faster tots.
In a diff. website, a reader suggested using a pastry bag to form tots.
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them! I like your idea to make them a little quicker to prepare 🙂
I was just about to make these when I saw the recipe, BUT I have 2 questions….
1. Will they still turn out ok if I use Idaho potatoes instead (if so, how many will be similar to 3 large russet potatoes) ?
2. Is it ok if I use fresh broccoli instead of frozen?
(Sorry of this posted 2 times, I had to add to my 1st question..)
Hi Courtney! I think they would turn out fine with Idaho potatoes. If they’re on the smaller side I would probably use two of them for each russet potato. Yes, fresh broccoli will work great! I hope you enjoy 🙂
I was wondering if raw brocolli would work? And then it would be cooked just once once when baked all together. Or should the brocolli be cooked beforehand? Maybe they hold together better that way? Not sure which is best but figured I would ask! Thank you????
Hi Aubrey, I haven’t actually tried it with raw broccoli before so I can’t say for sure, but I’m guess it would probably work as long as it was blended into really small pieces 🙂
Love these, great for nibbles with drinks. Would caulflower work too, guess I should try 🙂
You’ve attached the wrong video to “Broccoli Tater Tots”… the video on this page is for “crispy potato tacos”… Where’s the correct video?
Please help cos I want to make this weekend for a party
Hi Connie, the tater tot video is actually just right before the recipe card, just scroll down a little bit and you should see it. Sorry for the confusion 🙂
Thanks for the quick response… Great video and mine came out good… thank you
That’s great to hear!
Where did you get your kitchen towel from ❤️
I think I got it a few years ago from World Market 🙂
These are wonderful, but I followed your measurements and came out with 100 tots. Not a problem, just a heads up!
Oh wow!! I’ll have to make it again and see what I come up with! Maybe I just made mine a little larger?
These are fantastic! I found this recipe while I was doing a whole30 and craving my usual broccoli tots with breadcrumbs and cheese. These were such a hit with me and my family that they will replace our old recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!!
Good but too salty I would start with a teaspoon …
I encourage people to adjust spices to their liking
They turned out pretty good. My blender blended a little too much, so the broccoli was moosh, which still worked fine, but it got messy. All-in-all the end result was great and my kid loved them and it got him to eat broccoli, but far too much time was spent on it. I feel better off buying the frozen tater tots and having a side of deliciously roasted broccoli. I encourage my fellow cooks to give it a shot, but I probably won’t be making them again purely based on time and mess.
A little salty. I did 2 tsp kosher salt BUT I did add some shredded mozzarella for flavor/binding/moisture purposes so that may have contributed. Tried to cook in air fryer but due to differences 375 for 30 min is entirely too long. If you’re trying these in the air fryer I’ve been having success with 350 for 20 min and even then it’s slightly too brown – may go for about 18 min next time.
I did a 1.5x batch and ended up with around 60ish tots or so so I could make some for the freezer. I did make big ones as well, I used a scoop which I think was a 1 Tbsp or slightly larger scoop.
This sounds amazing! There’s a similar frozen product we get from Whole Foods that my 2 year old loves but it’d be great to make them myself! Is it possible without a good processor though?
Thanks! You should be able to do it without a food processor if you can chop up the broccoli into very small pieces with a big knife!
Can I cook these in the air fryer?
Yes, they can be cooked in the air fryer but I haven’t had a chance to play around with temperature and timing so I would just keep an eye on them closely!
Great video – it took me less than a minute to understand how to make this healthy tater tots! I’ll definitely try to make it for my kids this weekend. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
That’s great to hear!! I hope they enjoy!