Welcome to IBIH to all of you newbies coming over from Pinterest! Please check out the Recipe Index for more creative low carb and gluten free recipes, or head over to the Cookbook page to download The Gluten Free Low Carber! There are lots of fun conversations going on over on the IBIH Facebook Page, so I hope you’ll join us over there! You can also follow on Twitter, Pinterest, and/or subscribe to IBIH by email or RSS so you don’t miss any of the new recipes being posted weekly! I love hearing from all of you, so please do feel free to comment or leave feedback anytime! Enjoy!
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.
Print
Cheesy Cauliflower Tater Tots
- Yield: At least 50 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 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.
- Category: Side dish
- Cuisine: Tater tots
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!
New to the low carb lifestyle and need some help? Try my free 3 day kickstart plan to get into ketosis fast! Then follow it up with any of my 12 free weekly menu plans – complete with shopping and prep lists!
In other news, for a limited time I’m bundling my Amazon best-selling e-book The Gluten Free Low Carber with my first two issues of the IBIH ezine for only $9.99 – that’s a discount of over 50%!
You’ll get over 75 original recipes that can’t be found here on the blog for less than 15 cents each! And it’s some of my best work yet if I do say so! Need some low carb side dish recipes to complement your ham or turkey? Or some decadent low carb dessert recipes to WOW your guests??? I’VE GOT YOU COVERED!
Get more information on the books here, or simply click the Add to Cart button to download now!
All three for just $9.99!
I’m really dying to try this recipe. I have Lupus and having that means no Nightshade veggies. What a bummer for me, I’m not a fan of meat or dairy. lol…So I have been looking for different recipes with other veggies. Primarily cauliflower, squashes and greens. I have to say I loved potatoes, but they were easy to give up. Its the tomatoes that are killing me lol, they are in everything! I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe.
Thank You,
Cheryl
It would be hard for me to give up tomatoes too Cheryl – I love Italian food especially! But these are super yummy too – hope you like them!!!!
OMG! So yummy! Thanks for a great recipe.
You’re welcome Kristin, thanks for the feedback!
carbs are key to being healthy people!! these look great. but please don’t try to restrict yourself to a low carb diet. just switch up your unhealthy carbs like fried French fries for healthy carbs like sweet potatoes and cauliflower and milk.
I disagree that carbs are the key to being healthy – that being said, sweet potatoes and cauliflower are certainly good for you!
I am going to try this with bbroccoli
Ooooh, let us know how it comes out!
I’m so bummed, because I had the same experience as Val – EPIC FAIL!
I definitely followed the instructions about cooling … in fact I tried cooling for even longer than required. But I just ended up with a liquidy mess (the cauliflower wasn’t over processed, but the liquids would just sort of ooze out of it).
It didn’t hold it’s shape while piping, so I put it back in the fridge for another hour+ and then just tried dollops with a spoon. After 14 minutes in the oven there was a watery mess all over the pan and surrounding the flattened lumps. I turned the oven up and cooked it for longer but it wasn’t browning. Then when I tried to lift one with a spatula it completely fell apart. Then I tasted it and it was really gross!
I love cauliflower and cheese. What am I doing wrong?? I’m a fairly experienced cook. :(
Sorry you had a bad experience with it Mani! The only thing I can think that might have gone wrong is the cauliflower was too wet. Did you microwave it or boil it? I ask because it should dry out in the microwave – if you boil it you’ll never get the right consistency to the mix. Thanks for the feedback!
What an awesome idea. I love cauliflower, but I do crave fried foods in all their delicious glory… :)
I made these last week and froze a batch (so I wouldn’t eat em!). Today I took them out of the freezer and warmed them in the oven for 10 minutes, I have to tell you, they were as good as the day I made them. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Good to know that they freeze well, I’ve always wondered! Thanks and glad you enjoyed them!
I made these with a few modifications, given that you had mentioned your trouble when frying them. I actually followed the recipe exactly and piped them onto a cookie sheet. I then put them in the freezer for at least an hour. Next, I took them out, brushed them with coconut oil and dipped them in coconut flour, kind of like you would do for fried chicken or something like that. I then refroze them for until I was ready to fry them. When I fried them, I dipped them in egg and then put them directly into hot coconut oil and butter. They stayed together and you could actually eat them with your hands. Delish! Next time I would add some garlic and more salt and pepper, but for my first attempt, they were pretty good! Thanks for the recipe!
Wow. That sounds like an interesting addition to the recipe. I was just showing the recipe to my husband last night. I will add this modification to it and check it out. We love cauliflower in just about any form. Thanks for sharing.
I made these today, and while they are SOOOO tasty, I was racing against the clock and my 4-year old’s need for food. I should have waited until I had taken more time to let the cauliflower cool properly in between steps. BUT I must say that I see great potential for these as a staple on our lowcarb menu. I didn’t fry them today, but I’m thinking of frying them the next time in bacon fat. Oh yeah…
These look incredibly delicious. We have often made cauliflower like mashed potatoes. And, of course, we love Cheese Cauliflower. My mother-in-law had a fantastic recipe for it that we continue to use.
Thanks for sharing.
I was super inspired by these!! I am dairy free so I had to modify these a bit but they turned out great!!
Way to make it work for you Elizabeth! Glad you liked them!
Ok, so before I try this recipe, how do we get access to the easier e-book version? Also, I’m wanting to use unsweetened soy milk since I don’t do dairy AND my suggestion would be some nutritional yeast and smoked salt to replace the cheese (I don’t do the non-dairy cheeses either).
Lastly, more clear directions on softness after microwaving would be nice. I don’t have a microwave, so I’d have to bake or steam the cauliflower.
Thanks!
-Missy
Hi Missy,
The 2.0 version of the tots is available in my e-book, The Gluten Free Low Carber, which you can download using the link in the post, or find in the sidebar. If using the web recipe, just cook the cauliflower until tender, and drain it really well. The e-book version uses riced cauliflower and I would recommend baking it to soften, rather than steaming. Interested to hear how the soy milk and nutritional yeast work out – enjoy!
yumm! its awesome.
Well. This recipe was a mess….like some of the ones above my first batch was more like a watery pancake….so I decided to just throw it in a deep baking dish and just see what came out of it…..after 20 minutes (or so) I checked up on it and realized it had dried up; so I took it out of the oven scooped them into the baking sheet with an ice cream scooper and they held their shape. Then baked them another 10-15mins and they came out great!!! Delish
Thanks for the comment Silvi – this recipe is definitely a pain to make, but the flavors are great! Glad it all worked out!
Dipped these in chimichurri and it was the perfect condiment!
gonna try this soon!
I love this recipe! I included it on my blog:
http://blog.shopdirtylaundry.com/posts/2013/4/5/61-the-dirty.html
ENJOY!
how you figure these are low carb is beyond me. Cauliflower alone is 85% carbs.
Cauliflower is low in net carbs because of the fiber it contains, that’s why you’ll see it featured in many different recipes on pretty much all of the low carb blogs out there. I hope you try it – enjoy!
I’ve been substituting Cauliflower mash for mashed potatoes for months and no one in the family is the wiser. Adding egg whites was a stroke of genius! I’ll try these soon. Thanks!
I pinned these so long ago, but I think I really need to try them soon. I think this week maybe!
Do these taste ‘eggy’ at all?
I don’t find the flavor eggy at all personally, mostly you taste the cheese and the cauliflower is slightly sweet to me. Hope you like them!!!
Instead of making this into individual pieces I put it into ramekins, it was mmmmmmm good!
These tots look yummy!! Why so high in carbs? 18 carbs?
Well that was for the entire batch which has an entire head of cauliflower in it which does contain some carbs. If you’re serving it as a side dish you can easily get 4 generous servings out of one batch which would be about 4.5g net carbs per serving.
I’m going to try these for a dinner party on Wednesday. my husband doesn’t eat cauliflower so i won’t tell him whats in it. I always keep instant potato flakes on hand in case recipes are too watery, it works well for absorbing liquid.
Hope these were a hit Jenny!
I wish you had pictures from the instructions. :\ I am from Germany and sometimes the instructions given are a little hard to understand. But I think I got it all figured out now and I will try them soon :) Look delishes!!
Sorry about that Lisa – I hope it works for you and if you have any questions about the instructions you can leave them here or on the facebook page which I check into a few times a day! Enjoy! :)
I’m afraid I have to report an epic fail with this recipe. After 25 minutes in the oven, my tots were BARELY starting to brown, and they fell apart when I tried to remove them from the cookie sheet.
I think the problems I had may have had to do with the following issues:
1. the ratio of cauliflower to egg depends on the word “medium”
2. microwaves can cook very differently
3. what exactly qualifies as “cooked oatmeal consistency”
I suspect my cauliflower might have been too big, which may have meant I didn’t have enough egg in my mix. I’m thinking a weight of florets, maybe? My microwave is probably smaller/older than most, which might mean my cauliflower wasn’t sufficiently cooked before pureeing — maybe if I knew what I was looking for. Like, should a fork go in easily, or what? Because after five minutes my cauliflower was really only slightly softened. Maybe my florets were too big, too — I just cut off the big florets, didn’t cut them into smaller pieces. And cooked oatmeal — maybe if we could see a photo of what you mean? Mine looked sort of like cooked oatmeal, but it was very wet — I had puddles in the bottom of the food processor. I’d really like to try this recipe again, as the photos of the finished product look fantastic and clearly numerous people have had success with it! But I just feel like I was SO far off that I’m not sure how to fix whatever I did wrong.
So sorry that they didn’t work for you Val! It really is a pain to make them with this method which is why I love version 2 from the e-coobook – it’s easier and so much tastier! I’m going to email you that recipe so you can try them again if you want to – they are crispy and delicious, I promise! :)
Hi,
would you mind emailing me this recipe as well?? id like to try them without frying them as grease upsets my tummy. :)
Would you mind emailing me this recipe?
Thank you!
David Watson
These sound great, however I don’t understand the choice of low but high fats?
This has got to be the best idea I’ve ever seen! I love it!
Thanks Russell, hope you like them!
Had you thought to coat in a flour/cornmeal mixture with a dash of white pepper before frying. Just might give you the crunch you are looking fo.
For people who aren’t concerned about gluten it would probably work great, thanks for sharing!
I just got a big bag of green cauliflour given to me… do you think it would work for these? i found this post on pinterest while searching for something to do with it
I don’t see why not and I bet they would look really cool!
they look good.. but i dont have a microwave.. might give it a shot using the stove anyway.
I’m sure it will work on the stove, just make sure to drain as much liquid out of the cauli as you can!
My daughter is on a high protein low carb diet for seizure control. No potatos allowed! I made these tonight but I added some cream cheese and chickpea flour to the recipe. Then I drizzled some olive oil on the tops and cranked up the oven for a few minutes at the end to skip the frying phase. They turned out well- she actually ate them which means they’re a hit!
So glad your daughter liked them! Thanks for sharing your tweaks with us!
These loos so good. I like the cauliflower tots crispy exterior. Thanks a lot for the delicious recipe.
Thanks Amruta, they don’t stay crispy very long though so you have to eat them quick! The new recipe that’s in the book actually has a much better texture and you don’t even have to fry them!