Air Fryer Frozen Tater Tots
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These delicious air fryer frozen tater tots are out-of-this-world and the best way to eat homemade tater tots! Perfectly crispy with fluffy centers, this air fryer recipe is so easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes. These are seriously the best tots, ever!
You are going to love these tater puffs with an incredible crunch! Frozen tots are some of our guilty pleasures, and using the air fryer creates perfect tater tots that taste deep fried but are much healthier for you!
These air fryer tater tots are a great side dish that can be put on the table within minutes. They also happen to be super kid-friendly and easy to customize!
Whether we are making tater tot casserole, mini tater tots, tater tot nachos, or loaded tater tots, the options are infinite for this quick recipe.
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Serve these crispy tots alongside your favorite main dishes or with a sprinkle of sea salt for movie night. I love making these air fryer tots with my air fryer basket because the results are always the same: crispy, golden brown, and perfectly soft in the center!
This recipe is one of the easiest things we’ve ever made. Once you cook these potato bites in the air fryer, you’ll never go back to deep frying these tots with oil or baking them in the oven! Serve these perfect bites with your favorite dipping sauces or seasonings for the perfect combination of simple, but succulent flavors.
These are the perfect tots, and the best part about them is that they deliver maximum crispness levels. You will seriously want to make this recipe all of the time because it is that easy of a recipe.
👩🏽🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- Lots of variations: You can serve these homemade tater tots anyway you would like! Whether you’re enjoying these as a single meal or addition to your favorite burgers or sandwiches – you will love customizing these tots!
- Simple to make: This recipe is so effortless! With just a few easy steps, you’ll learn how to cook frozen tater tots in the air fryer in about 15 minutes!
- Minimal ingredients: You need just two ingredients for this recipe! If you’re just making tots, then the only other ingredient you’ll need is olive oil cooking spray.
- Way Healthier! This is a lightened up way to cook a classic, childhood favorite snack. You don’t need a deep fryer to get super crispy air fryer tater tots! If you can, use an organic frozen version!
- Naturally vegan and gluten free! Tater tots are just grated potatoes – so they are great for most dietary restrictions!
🥘 Ingredients
This ingredient list is just a general idea of what you will need. For the full measurements, scroll down to the recipe card! You can easily find these ingredients at any local grocery store.
- Tater tots: One bag of frozen tater tots is all you will need. We have not tried this recipe with homemade tater tots.
- Oil: Just a touch of olive spray oil is what you’ll need to make sure these tots get ultra crispy! You can use any type of neutral vegetable oil for these potato puffs.
- Salt is optional, depending on whether your frozen tater tots are already pre-seasoned!
🍽 Equipment
- Quart-Sized or Larger Air Fryer
- Baking Sheet or basket for air fryer
📖 Variations
- French Fries: Instead of frozen tater tots, try making frozen french fries. The cooking time may slightly vary.
- Leftovers: If you have leftover tater tots, consider turning them into loaded tots or making them into a tater tot casserole. To make loaded tots, load these homemade tots with cheddar cheese, beans, sour cream, chives, pico de gallo, and so much more. Kind of like a twist on nachos!
- Sauce: Serve these tots with ranch, honey mustard, dijon mustard, ketchup, sour cream, guacamole, bbq sauce (like our yummy vegan barbecue sauce), or any favorite dipping sauce.
- Spices: Change up the flavors of your tater tots by adding your favorite seasoning! Taco seasoning, chili powder, cajun seasoning, or even curry powder would all taste great with these potato nuggets.
- Sweet Potato Puffs: For a more nutrient-dense option, substitute these homemade tots with sweet potato puffs instead.
🔪 Instructions
Preheat, Toss with Oil: For best results, you will want to preheat the air fryer to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, place the frozen tater tots in a single layer in the air fryer basket and lightly spray with oil. Toss tater tots.
Cook & Toss: Put the basket into the air fryer, then set the heat to 390 degrees F or 200°C and the time to ten minutes. Press start. At the ten minute mark, remove the basket from the air fryer and toss the tots – give them a good shake!
Place Back in Air Fryer: Return the basket to the air fryer. Set the heat to 390° or 200°C and the time for another 15 minutes. Press start to continue cooking. Toss the tater tots. Note: for smaller air fryers, you will have to cook these in multiple batches.
Serve: Remove the air fryer tater tots from the basket and serve with your favorite sauces.
❓FAQs
How do you make extra crispy tater tots?
Make sure to coat the tater tots in spray oil and cook them in a preheated air fryer! If you have stored these tots in the fridge, you can also reheat them in the air fryer at 350 degrees for a few minutes to get them super crispy again!
Do you need to thaw or defrost the tots first?
No you don’t! In fact, I don’t recommend thawing the tots, it will make them more soggy instead of crispy. The key is to air fry straight from frozen.
Do you preheat the air fryer?
Yes, you will want to make sure to preheat the air fryer for this recipe. That helps to ensure the tots cook evenly, getting them perfectly crispy every time! If you forget to preheat your air fryer, the tots will still cook well, but you will have to adjust the cooking time to get that restaurant-quality crunch.
Can you pan fry tater tots or cook them in the oven?
Absolutely! To Pan Fry: Place some oil in a pan over medium-high heat, then add the frozen tater tots to the pan. Cook until golden brown. To Cook In The Oven: Preheat your oven according to package directions, place the potato puffs on a baking sheet and cook until golden brown. The oven will take longer than the air fryer to cook.
👨👩👧 How to Serve
Serve these air fryer tater tots as a side dish to almost any of your favorite meals!
- Great as a side for breakfast or brunch
- Along with sandwiches or burgers
- With vegan tacos or any Mexican main meal
- With salads and other party snacks
💭 Expert Tips
- Ensure tater tots are evenly coated in spray oil to make sure they don’t stick together and are golden brown when finished cooking.
- Cook tater tots frozen, directly from the freezer, do not defrost first.
- Always preheat the air fryer, prior to cooking, to ensure you get the crispiest tater tots in town!
- Cooking time and air fryer settings may vary depending on the make and model of the air fryer and if different air fryers brands are used.
- For best results, enjoy warm.
- Store these leftover tater tots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. To avoid soggy tater tots, reheat the tater tots in the basket of your air fryer (at 350 degrees F for 5-8 minutes) until crispy.
🥔 More Air Fryer Recipes!
- Crispy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
- Air Fryer Mozzarella Sticks
- Air Fryer Tofu Nuggets
- Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes
- Air Fryer Quesadilla
- Air Fryer Yuca Fries
- Brussels Sprouts in the Air Fryer
- Air Fryer Tortilla Chips
- Air Fryer Ravioli
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🎥 Watch How to Make It
Air Fryer Frozen Tater Tots
These delicious air fryer frozen tater tots are out-of-this-world and the best way to eat homemade tater tots! Perfectly crispy with fluffy centers, this air fryer recipe is so easy to make and ready in about 30 minutes. These are seriously the best tots, ever!
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 226kcal
Ingredients
- 18 ounces tater tots frozen; or 500 grams
- Spray oil
- salt optional, for additional flavor
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer for five minutes at 390·F or 200°C.
- Place the frozen tater tots into the air fryer basket. Lightly spray the tots with oil. Toss tater tots and respray to ensure oil has covered all the tots.
- Put the air fryer basket into the air fryer, set the heat to 390°F or 200°F for ten minutes. Press start and continue cooking. After 10 minutes remove the air fryer basket and toss the tater tots to ensure they don’t stick together.
- Return basket to the air fryer. Set the heat to 390F/ 200C and the time for a further 15 minutes. Press start and continue cooking. After 10 minutes, toss the tater tots again and cook until golden brown and crispy.
- Remove from the basket and serve in a serving bowl with your favorite sauces.
Notes
- Ensure tater tots are evenly coated in spray oil to make sure they don’t stick together and are golden brown when finished cooking.
- Cook tater tots frozen, directly from the freezer, do not defrost first.
- Always preheat the air fryer, prior to cooking, to ensure you get the crispiest tater tots in town!
- Cooking time and air fryer settings may vary depending on the make and model of the air fryer and if different air fryers brands are used.
- For best results, enjoy warm.
- Store these leftover tater tots in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. To avoid soggy tater tots, reheat the tater tots in the basket of your air fryer until crispy.
Nutrition
Calories: 226kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 546mg | Potassium: 338mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g
Seriously never making tater tots any other way again! Super easy and the texture is perfect!
Awesome!! So happy to hear that! 🙂
I love tater tots, especially when they have that crunchy crust! These look so good that I think I’ll make them for breakfast tomorrow.
Yay! These are a perfect side dish for breakfast! Can’t wait to hear how you like them!
This is seriously the best way to cook tater tots. They come out so perfect and crispy in way less time than the oven.
I know right? I won’t be cooking tater tots any other way from now on!
Gosh these looks so crispy! Delicious dunked in your favorite sauce and they hold up so well!
Totally!! They are such a great snack!
They look so golden and crispy – fabulous!
Thanks Helen! Enjoy! 🙂