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This low carb recipe idea was born when I was eating a bowl of the Cheesy Cauliflower Puree from last week and I had some leftovers. Since the cauliflower was so like potatoes in texture, I thought it might work the same way as potatoes in other low carb cauliflower recipes. So I decided to try and make low carb & gluten free “tater” tots out of them.
Well my first attempt was a disaster! I heated some oil in a pan and piped the cauliflower puree out of a pastry bag – but within a few seconds they disintegrated into the oil. Right away it was clear that frying them this way wouldn’t work.
I mulled it over the rest of the day, and the next day I had a brainstorm.I cooked a new batch of cauliflower but for half as long as I do for the puree. I then ran them through my magic bullet with some cream, butter and cheese but only on pulse until I had a partly chunky consistency. Then I whipped a few egg whites and folded the cauliflower mixture into it to give it some body. I put that mixture into a pastry bag and piped it into one inch lengths onto a greased cookie sheet. This time I baked them for about 10 minutes to dry them out and firm them up -THEN I pan fried them!
It worked! You can skip the frying because they are good right out of the oven, but the frying definitely adds a more authentic feel to them.
Now a brief disclaimer. If you eat one of these low carb cauliflower tots, and then a real tater tot or hash brown, it’s going to be different. You can’t get quite that same crunch as a potato out of it–though they are crunchy to a degree. If you are someone who has decided to eliminate potatoes and other starches from your diet though and you miss eating french fries, tater tots, or anything with a crispy fried coating, then these cauliflower tots are going to taste like heaven to you! They did to me and I’d only been eating low carb for a week! Even my four year old ate some, and he’s very picky.
Great as a low carb side dish for dinner, they also work well with breakfast. Try them alongside these other low carb favorites: Cream Cheese Pancakes, Spinach, Goat Cheese & Chorizo Omelette, or Eggs in a Cloud.
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Cheesy Cauliflower Tater Tots
- Yield: At least 50 1x
- Category: Side dish
- Cuisine: Tater tots
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar
- 4 egg whites
- salt & pepper to taste
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Clean and trim the cauliflower, adding the florets to a microwave safe bowl. Add the cream and butter to the bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes.
- Add the cauliflower and cheese to a magic bullet or food processor and blend until still chunky – kind of like a cooked oatmeal consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
- Chill for at least half an hour.
- Whip the egg whites to a stiff peak. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the cauliflower mixture to lighten it up. Then fold the cauliflower mixture into the rest of the egg whites and gently mix until combined.
- For best results, chill for another half hour or they won’t hold their shape as well.
- Fit a pastry bag with a round or star tube with about a 3/4 inch opening. Spray the inside of the bag with nonstick spray. Gently squeeze out 1 inch sections onto a greased cookie sheet, cutting with a butter knife as you go.
- When finished, bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes (or longer if you’re skipping the frying) until puffed and slightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and serve – or heat 1/4 inch of oil in a saute pan and when it’s very hot add the tots. It doesn’t need long, a minute per side to turn them golden brown and crispy.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
These are still tasty after they cool but they start to lose their crunch only minutes after they come out of the oil so if crunch is what you’re after, eat them right away!
Regarding nutrition info on these, I will give you the info per batch of tot mix but depending on how large you make them, etc, I have no idea what the breakdown would be per tot. Also, I don’t know how many calories would be added by frying them after baking since it’s hard to quantify how much oil would be absorbed. To lower the calories, use half and half instead of heavy cream, and substitute a lowfat cheddar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 50
- Calories: 864
- Fat: 63g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Protein: 47g
Download your copy of The Gluten Free Low Carber Cookbook today, to get the recipe for version 2.0 of these cauliflower tots! The flavor and texture are better, they are easier to make, and they are baked in the oven, no frying necessary to get this beautiful crispy exterior! You guys are going to love these!
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I was curious if anybody had tried baking these and then after, cooling slightly, putting the pan in the freezer to freeze individual tots & frying at a later date? I love mashed cauliflower and this sounds so great! I was thinking that would be a great way to prep a bunch and have on hand for our late work nights. I am thinking about trying this today but wanted to see if anybody else had experimented with this idea first. Can’t wait to try these!!! :) Thanks for the creative recipe Mellissa!
Hilary
a.k.a Anonymous :)
Your welcome Hillary! let us know if the baking, freezing, then frying works out! That would definitely be convenient if it works so I may even try it myself!
Have you tried baking this recipe without microwaving the cauliflower. That might make them crisper like tater tots
If you mean puree the cauliflower while raw and then bake them, no I haven’t. It would be an interesting experiment though so if you do give it a try I’d love to hear how they come out! Let us know! Thanks!
These look AMAZING! I’m trying to cut down on dairy though as well so I’ll have to sit the recipe out :(
It would be challenging to make them without dairy but not impossible I think! Use olive oil and chicken stock, maybe some garlic powder or onion, a little extra salt to replace the cheese flavor so they aren’t bland, you might need an extra egg white to help bind them but I would try it out and see. I may test this myself at some point…
I used almond milk (original flavor) and whole foods has cheddar flavored cheese made with palm oil :). Tastes the same to me :).
Great! I’m so glad you were able to make this work for you dairy free! I hope your comment will help others with the same issues! Thanks!
For calorie sake, would it work using fat-free Half and Half instead of cream?
It would definitely increase the carbs in it but if that’s not an issue for you then I don’t see why not. You could add a little ff cream cheese to the cauli before folding in the egg whites if they didn’t get thick enough with the ff half and half too. Hope it works for you!
What is it with men and kids hating cauliflower??? Yay for finally getting your to eat some AND actually like it! I’m flattered! Cayenne and Nutmeg?!?!? Totally stealing that! Sounds yummy!
WOW , finally …I get my men to eat Cauliflower and liken it . Thank you so much , just to add a little OOMPF use a bit of Cayenne and Nutmeg …YUMMOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Now this is inspired my dear. Such a cool idea. I love that when they didn’t work you went back and tried again. Wonderful!
Thanks Kim! Try, try again, that’s my motto! Haha! So glad I did though because I love them now! I’ll be working on improvements for next time and posting any updates!
These tater tots are amazing and I’ve been inspired to feature them in my Friday Food Fetish roundup. And I’ll be sharing on Pinterest. Please let me know if you have any objections and KEEP IT COMING!
JW – Thanks for the feature! It’s always an honor to get included in your FFFR! I appreciate it very much! :)
KA – thanks for checking back! Hope you like them and as always please share with the rest of us if you find a way to improve on them!
Hey Anonymous (if that really IS your name – ha ha!), THANK you for that comment because I was wondering about frozen cauliflower and how it would work but worried it would be too soggy! Love your idea of drying it out first, then adding the butter and cream! Glad it worked for you and you saved me having to experiment myself! Of course then I would have gotten to eat them so it would have been ok! :)
nice! checking back for the cauli-tots. how cute are they?! super glad i picked up some cauli at the store last night. can’t wait to get home and try! :)
Just made these. I used frozen cauliflower instead. So I cooked it in the micro without the cream and butter (it would make it too watery). After it was mostly cooked I drained it and then added the cream and butter. put back in micro for about a minute to let butter melt. Then I put in food processor with cheese, salt and pepper. THEY ARE YUMMY! I baked in oven and plan to crisp them up right before dinner.
Thanks Anonymous! I was wondering how these would work with frozen cauliflower! I’ll have to try it that way also!
Thanks Balvinder! They are fun for kids especially and passed my picky four year old’s taste test so I’ll be making these again!
Wow! this is a great idea of eating your cauliflower.
Valerie, you’re not kidding! These would be great with ketchup (no good for low carb unless sugar free) or even as a vehicle for spinach artichoke dip (low carb legal…yay!) Let me know if you experiment with them and how they come out!
These look so good to me! I’m thinking they’d be great with some type of condiment or dip. That might ruin the whole low carb idea but yum!!!
They are fantastic! I served them up with my homemade tomato ketchup (for the lack of better term.) Used honey instead of sugar and slowly roasted tomatoes and added spices. Yum!
Thanks Jay!
Hey Heidi! I probably wouldn’t fry them next time either because they really were pretty good out of the oven. For those who are jonesing for something crispy though, the pan frying definitely delivers! Let me know if you try them!
What if I used Greek yogurt insteadof heavy cream will it still work?
hey did you ever try out using yogurt instead of cream?
I don’t see why not, but it would add a tangy flavor to them which might not be a bad thing. Let us know how they turn out if you try it!
What about a dairy free version? Think it’s possible?
The cheese is integral to the tots holding together in this recipe so I don’t think so.
Ok thanks for the reply!
Mmmm….lipsmacking goooooooooood…;P
Tasty Appetite
Awesome idea! I probably wouldn’t deep fry these, but the baked version sounds delicious. Even if they’re different than real potato tater tots I think they look great!