Basic Potato Tots Recipe
Who can resist fried potatoes? Eat just one french fry, hash brown, potato chip, or latke, and the next thing you know you’ve inhaled a man-size serving. Potato tots, with their piping hot, fluffy interior capped in a crunchy fried layer, are no exception. Don’t forget the ketchup.
This recipe was featured as part of our Make Your Own Potato Tots project.
- 1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes (about 2 medium), scrubbed
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups canola oil, for frying
- Heat the oven to 450°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Place the potatoes in the oven and bake until easily pierced with a knife but still firm in the center, about 35 to 40 minutes. (If you have 3 smaller potatoes, cook them about 25 to 30 minutes.) When cool enough to handle but still hot, peel away the skin using a paring knife and discard. Shred the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater. Transfer the potatoes to a large bowl, sprinkle in the flour and salt, and mix until combined.
- Measure 1 teaspoon of the potato mixture and roll into a short cylinder about 1 1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining potato mixture.
- Line a second baking sheet with paper towels; set aside. Add enough of the oil to a large frying pan to reach about 1/4 inch up the sides and set over medium-high heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Check to see if the oil is hot by submerging the handle of a wooden spoon or wooden chopstick till it touches the bottom of the pan—the oil should bubble vigorously. When it’s ready, fry the tots in batches of 8 to 10 pieces (do not overcrowd the pan), turning once, until medium golden brown on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the paper-towel-lined baking sheet and season with salt. Serve immediately with your desired dipping sauce.
- To freeze, let the fried tots cool, then transfer to an airtight container or zip-top bag. Arrange in a single layer and place in the freezer. To reheat, heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Evenly spread the tots in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until hot, about 15 minutes.

SIMIHOUND, you just form them into a cylinder with your hands so they look like the photo above. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW
What kind of cylinder? What could I use?
flour acts as a binder;so try using corn starch,and see if that works.
BTW, I have found that if you let fried foods cool and then spin them in the salad spinner, you can get rid of a LOT of oil. Then you can freeze them and reheat in the oven, and they are still nice and crispy.
asthmaticeog, gf gf. funny! Anyway, the flour is just a bit of a binder. I would say try forming and frying a few to see if the texture suits you. If not, for sure try subbing in a non-wheat flour. Let us know because I'm sure other gf people out there are curious. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW
My girlfriend has celiac disease (that's right, a gf gf). What does the flour do exactly, and since there seems to be so little of it, anyone know if I can eliminate it or sub a non-wheat flour?
chicken nugget, not adding seasonings in this basic tot makes it more adaptable to anything else you want to do. I think this is great! Making it for the grandkids
Anyone try this with sweet potatos yet?
more and more I am seeing Sulphites, added to most of the potatoe products. Try reading a few labels and you too will be surprised. And as I have a family member who is prone to seizures, which can be caused by Sulphites, I try & make as much as possible from scratch...so I know whats in their forkfuls! I would make these in a heartbeat to avoid the additives.
seasoning salt? onion powder? nothing? you'd think even the basic ones would have some seasoning...
I'm sure these taste delicious as most things fried are. However, 99% I will never make these; I never deep fry at home. I would try baking them however, spritzed with olive oil.
Well, they aren't exactly store bought, but isn't that why you make stuff at home? The mashed potato consistency really doesn't turn me off, but I am going get some shredded hashbrowns and try it that way. The biggest issue will be the ability to bind it all together...also, you would need to blanch raw potatoes to get a jump start on cooking them... As for rolling long cylinders, I tried that at first and it will work. I rolled it in parchment paper, but it's just as fast to shape them with your hands like you would sushi rice. I have a small fry daddy and they turned out pretty good. I also ground up some bacon in a meat grinder and added that to the mix, along with some granulated onion and garlic...good stuff!
I didn't like that they came out tasting like mashed potatoes rather than tater tots. Next time I will not precook the potato at all and just shred it to see if that has more of the tot consistency.
I thought that "potato tots" were one of those foods that could only be made in a factory. I'm impressed, Chow. But couldn't you roll long cylinders and just cut them into tot-sized pieces? And is frying a chopstick really the best way to see if oil is hot enough? That's new to me. I'm too lazy to try, but I'm looking forward to hearing people's experience with this one . . .