Junk Food Makeover: Tater Tots
Tater tots made with sweet potatoes. (Photo: Courtesy of Food Matters NYC)
Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside — we love tater tots. But rather than deep frying the white potato, we powered up our tater tots with some nutritional ingredients. We start with sweet potatoes, our favorite go-to potato, and add more nutritional with flax meal and quinoa flakes. We use avocado oil to crisp the tater tots because it remains stable at high heat — unlike most other oils.
4 sweet potatoes, peeled
1 tablespoon sea salt
Pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup sautéed white onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup quinoa flakes
¼ cup golden flax meal
1 ½ tablespoon avocado oil
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Mix together quinoa flakes and flax meal in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Finely shred potatoes in a fine box grater. Season the potatoes with sea salt. Put the potatoes into a colander and squeeze out the excess liquid. Put the potatoes into a medium-size bowl along with the egg, and mix well. Add the onion and stir to combine. Stir in the cayenne, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be malleable but dry. Form the potatoes into balls or tots. Coat the tots with the quinoa flax mix.
Heat avocado oil in a medium-size nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sear the tots until golden brown, turning them to get an even coating. Remove from pan and place on a sheet. Continue cooking in the oven for 10 minutes.
Serve immediately. This recipe goes great with our homemade ketchup.
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