Zucchini Cauliflower Tater Tots (WFPB)
This recipe should be of great interest to you if you resonate with any of the following:
- you have a picky child who doesn’t eat much zucchini or cauliflower
- you have an abudance of zucchini
- you love finger food
- you love fun food
- you love food you can dip
- you love healthy food that is cheap
These little tater tots are so yummy! They are a little time consuming with the cooking time, but they’re worth it. You can’t even taste the cauliflower. You could definitely experiement with broccoli, carrots, yellow squash, etc instead of zucchini and cauliflower. Let me know if you do!
Although I’ve never managed to have leftovers, I think they would keep well in the fridge and heat up nicely in the microwave.
To make it an even more complete meal, a pan of roasted chickpeas, baked tofu, or a hummus tomato sandwich would pair nicely. Honestly, I’m too lazy to cook that much, and we just eat tater tots as the main meal. Potatoes get a bad rap, but honestly it’s just the deep-fried, cheese-and-sour-cream-covered variations we need to cut back on. Potatoes, like all whole, plant foods straight from the ground, are a nutritious, filling food we can eat plenty of and see health benefits from.
Made of pure vegetables, these fun tots are addicting and delicious! You can experiment with different vegetables.
- 5 medium-large Russet potatoes
- 1 zucchini (you'll use 1 cup of grated, squeezed-out zucchini)
- 2 cups riced cauliflower (fresh or frozen)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
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Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Boil potatoes until very tender and almost gummy, about 20-30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, grate zucchini and squeeze all the liquid of out it by placing it in a thin towel and squeezing it over the sink. This step is important to achieve the right texture! Measure 1 cup of grated, squeezed zucchini.
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Measure 2 cups of riced cauliflower (I buy it frozen, but you could also put some fresh cauliflower in a food processor until it is small like rice) into a big bowl, add the 1 cup zucchini.
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When the potatoes are tender, drain very well in a colandar, then add to the bowl. Mash with a fork or potoato masher until no chunks remain. Add salt and pepper and stir well. It should be the texture of stiff mashed potatoes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Form tater tots with your hands by rolling some mixture into a ball and pressing the ends flat. I made mine a little over an inch long. Makes about 40-50 tater tots, depending on size. (If you run out of space on your baking sheet or get tired of forming tots, you can quickly cook some potato pancakes on a skillet on the stove top.)
Place tater tots on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
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Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip with a spatula and your fingers, then bake 10-20 more minutes , if desired, for optimal crispiness until golden on all sides. You can turn the broiler on a for a few minutes to brown them up even more.
Serve with ketchup or your favorite dipping sauce!
For more traditional tater tots, you can brush these with olive oil or grapeseed oil before baking, but they don't need it!
Quick question on this recipe. I struggle to judge “medium” sizes for the potatoes and zucchini. Any chance of getting weight or volume measurements? The flavor was awesome, but texture didn’t seem quite right and the total didn’t really firm or brown very well. Thank you!
That’s a good idea to weigh, I guess I need to get a scale! Did you squeeze the liquid out of the zucchini? If you don’t, it will be too watery. I’ll add some tips to the recipe to ensure the proper texture before baking. So grateful for your feeback!