Air Fryer Tater Tots (From Frozen)
This easy recipe for Air Fryer Tater Tots shows you exactly how long to cook tater tots from frozen. You can use any air fryer to make them including the popular Ninja Foodi and you can also use any bag of frozen tater tots.. Crispy tater tots can be used to make casseroles, breakfast burritos or even just eaten plain to save time in the kitchen. This will be one of your favorite easy air fryer potato recipes!
Tater tots are an American favorite food. They originated in the 1950’s at the Ore-Ida factory when the workers were wondering what they should do with all of the leftover bits of potatoes.
So, they bind them together with some flour and seasoning, deep fry them and then sell them in frozen bags at grocery stores. These days you can find them in every grocery store.
💭Who Makes The Best Frozen Tater Tots?
- Ore-Ida the original inventors of tater tots
- Season’s Choice brand at Aldi
- Great Value Brand at Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Tater Tots
- Alexia Brand
- Simple Truth Brand
Since air fryer tots are made to be crispy, they are usually baked in the oven at a high temperature. Instead of baking your tater tots, you can use your air fryer to cook them perfectly from frozen.
💭Why Air Fry Tater Tots?
An air fryer uses less electricity than turning on your oven.
The circulation of hot air makes sure they turn out golden and crispy.
Cleaning up is much easier than cleaning up a big sheet pan.
You don’t need to add any extra oil to air fry tater tots.
They tend to cook faster in the air fryer versus the oven.
💭 What Is The Best Air Fryer To Use?
Since air fryers started becoming popular, I became a huge fan. I personally love using my Ninja Foodi for all of my Air Fryer Recipes but some popular and highly reviewed air fryer brands include:
- Cosori
- Chefman
- Gowise
- Power XL
- Farberware
- Philips
- Nuwave
🥔Ingredients To Make Air Fryer Tater Tots From Frozen
Your Favorite Tater Tots: You can purchase whichever ones you enjoy from whatever brand you enjoy. Just make sure they are completely frozen up until you decide to cook them.
Your Favorite Seasoning: This is optional, but one of my favorite things to do is sprinkle some seasoning on the tater tots after they’ve been cooked for an extra layer of flavor. If you’re going to do this, make sure you purchase ones that are not seasoned already.
An Air Fryer: Making Ninja Foodi tater tots is my go-to, but you can use whatever air fryer you like or have.
📖How To Cook Tater Tots In Air Fryer
How long to cook air fryer tater tots is usually dependent on how big your batch is and what temperature you set it at.
After air frying many many batches in my day, I’ve found that setting the air fryer to 400 degrees for 20 minutes usually makes them perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside so long as you shake the basket every 5-7 minutes in order to evenly cook them.
I will also point out that these instructions are for 1 pound of frozen tater tots. Depending on the size of your air fryer basket, you may be able to add more but it’s important that they are not overcrowded in the basket.
💭How Do I Make My Tater Tots Crispy?
I find that the higher temperature is what makes tater tots crispy however some people like to spray their tots with a little bit of avocado oil spray before cooking.
In my opinion this isn’t necessary as you wouldn’t do that before putting them in the oven, but it may be worth a try!
🥘What Can I Make With Tater Tots?
- Instant Pot Breakfast Casserole
- Loaded Tater Tots Nachos or Totchos with Bacon
- Homemade Breakfast Burritos
- French Onion Tater Tot Casserole
- Homemade Air Fryer Tater Tots From Scratch
🥔More Air Fryer Potato Recipes
- Air Fryer Whole Sweet Potato
- Air Fryer Hash Browns
- Air Fryer Crispy Roasted Potatoes
- Air Fryer Potato Wedges
❔FAQ
Since tater tots are a brand name, in other countries including England they can be called potato crunchies, potato gems, potato pom poms or potato royals.
As always, this depends on your definition of health. A mixture of flour and potato is what you make it but could be healthy in any diet that allows carbohydrates. With the air fryer, they are not being deep fried in additional unhealthy oils which can deem them as a healthier option.
As always, this depends on your definition of health. A mixture of flour and potato is what you make it but could be healthy in any diet that allows carbohydrates. With the air fryer, they are not being deep fried in additional unhealthy oils which can deem them as a healthier option.
You can pan fry frozen tater tots in a skillet by filling your skillet with ¼ inch of oil then heating it over medium high heat. Place tater tots in and fry until golden brown flipping evenly until tater tot is cooked through.
If you are keto or low carb, finding tater tots may be difficult. You can either make your own or buy cauliflower tater tots and air fry them. I would use the directions on the package and start at 375 making sure to flip every 5 minutes until they are cooked through and crispy.
SAVE THIS RECIPE TO YOUR PINTEREST BOARDS
Air Fryer Tater Tots
Ingredients
- 16 oz Frozen Tater Tots
- 1-2 tsp Your Favorite Seasoning OPTIONAL
Instructions
- Add your tater tots to the air fryer basket. They can overlap, but make sure they are not 2-3 layers high to ensure even cooking.
- Air fry at 400 degrees for 20 minutes making sure to flip and shake the basket to evenly distribute every 5-7 minutes or halfway through cooking.
- Once cooked and crispy, toss in a bowl with your favorite seasoning.
- Serve hot.