Baked Zucchini Tater Tots make for a veggie-friendly side dish, appetizer, or snack. Made with fresh zucchini and russet potatoes, these 4-ingredient zucchini tots are sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Gluten-free, vegan.
Tater tots have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I feel strongly enough about this that they would beat out French fries any day.
But, as we know, the true “guilty” part comes from all the oil that those golden little nuggets are fried in. So to remedy this and make a feel-good tot, I’ve altered a few things.
First, combining fresh zucchini with potatoes ups the veggie factor. Potatoes get a bad rap and they shouldn’t. Packed with vitamins and minerals, protein, and fiber, there’s a lot more to the humble potato than it gets credit for.
Zucchini, a high source of vitamin C and antioxidants, also has anti-inflammatory properties and aids with digestion.
I find the step of mixing together the grated zucchini with the boiled and grated potatoes, along with the forming of the tots, to be quite therapeutic.
While you can mix it with a large wooden spoon or spatula, I like to use my hands to make sure the two vegetables are evenly incorporated.
Then, if you have little helpers in your household, forming the tater tots would be a fun job. I enjoyed it all on my own, but it certainly goes faster with an extra hand or two.
Once the tots are laid out in even rows on a baking sheet, they are brushed with a bit of olive oil, sprinkled with a touch of salt, and transferred to the oven.
This brings us to the second part of making a feel-good tot: baked, not fried. These baked zucchini tater tots taste so good out of the oven, you’ll wonder why you ever had fried tots in the first place.
If you are in need of another easy, smile-inducing side dish that makes the gluten-free cut, definitely check out Cindy’s kid friendly pasta salad.
Other Zucchini Recipes:
Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Socca Pizza with Summer Squash, Green Beans, and Pesto
Baked Zucchini Tater Tots Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large russet potatoes, peeled
- 1 large zucchini (about one cup when grated)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (lessen or omit if not oregano fan)
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more for sprinkling
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a low boil. Boil potatoes for 20-30 minutes until they are soft. You'll want the potatoes soft enough that once grated and mixed they have an almost gummy starchy consistency.
- Once soft and cooled off enough to touch, grate potatoes and then place in a large mixing bowl. Grate zucchini (using side with smaller holes), squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and add to the mixing bowl.
- Add oregano and salt. Stir to evenly combine mixture, then use your hands to make sure ingredients are completely incorporated.
- Using a teaspoon, scoop out slightly heaping teaspoons, then roll into a cylinder tot shape. Cylinders should have a mostly smooth texture. Place tots in even rows on cookie sheet. With a pastry brush, brush olive oil over tops of tots. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Gently turn tots over with spatula or carefully with your fingers (they may slightly stick and using your fingers is sometimes easier to avoid tearing). Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
- Serve zucchini tater tots immediately with ketchup or other dipping sauce.
Ido says
You are comparing this as being better than fried but you still use oil. GOOD NEWS! No oil is needed at all!
You can bake these on parchment paper and they will turn golden brown and crunchy without any oil at all. They need to bake a little longer in the oven, but skip that unnecessary added fat and calories. These are soooo good! :)
Faith says
I was wondering if I could make these oil-free and they still be crispy. Thanks so much for the comment! Can’t wait to try.
Cindy says
These tots look GREAT! I have some zucchini lovers in the house, I am trying this for sure!
Ellen says
Bummer. This was a flop for us. They tasted fine, but didn’t hold up to baking. There wasn’t much “tot” to these tots for us. We did better with frying them, in terms of shape. Maybe longer in the over would help…..like doubling the bake time?
Tessa says
Hi Ellen! I made them tonight to help troubleshoot and they came out as directed. I have a few ideas that might help…1.) there still may have been extra liquid in the zucchini causing it not to bind well with the potato mixture, 2.) the potatoes should be soft enough that they are a gummy starchy consistency once grated, so that the tots form nice and mostly smooth cylinders, and 3.) it is possible that if the tots are too big that they can have a hard time binding and fall apart. I’ve added these notes to the recipe in case they are helpful.
Kacie says
Can these be frozen either before or after baking?
Faith says
I was wondering if I could make these oil-free and they still be crispy. Thanks so much for the comment! Can’t wait to try.