I picked up a 1 lb. bag of fresh cauliflower "rice" because I wanted to try it but wasn't sure how. Of course, making my own cauliflower rice would be less expensive. But I like the idea of buying a pre-chopped bag because I think the cuts would be more even, and I didn't want to risk some of the cauliflower turning into paste or puree at the bottom the food processor.
A few days later, a recipe for cauliflower "tater" tots came across my email, and I serendipitously had all the ingredients at home already. This recipe is baked, not fried. Nor is it grain-free or vegan. I made some modifications to accommodate what I had on hand.
The tots bake with a nice outer crisp but the inside is soft with the cauliflower giving a little bite just like a tater tot. I love having fun with food and this would be great for parties.
Cauliflower Tots Recipe
Time: 10-15 minutes prep; 55 minutes cook
Yield: Makes about 52 tots (about 6 servings as an appetizer or side)
Ingredients
- 3 cups cauliflower rice, uncooked
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- Nonstick spray
- 1 bunch of scallions, minced
- 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 large egg, lightly whisked
- 1 large egg white, lightly whisked
- ¾ cup panko bread crumbs
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| In this photo, I'm using a jalapeño instead of ground cayenne pepper. And the parm cheese is not pictured. |
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high hat. Sauté the cauliflower rice for 2 to 3 minutes, and season with kosher salt and black pepper. Most of the cooked cauliflower should have lost its opaque white color but not mushy. And the salt helps pull out some of the moisture. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, press the prepared cauliflower rice with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture. Transfer to a large bowl.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray it generously with nonstick spray. The spray and contact with the baking sheet is what gives the tots color. If you don't have nonstick spray, use a vegetable oil to coat the parchment paper.
Add the scallions, parsley, cheese, garlic powder, cayenne, egg and egg white; mix to combine.
Add the panko bread crumbs and mix to combine. Season with salt and black pepper. If the mixture does not bind well when forming the tots, add more bread crumbs as necessary. I needed more bread crumbs and eyeballed about 1 tablespoon more.
Scoop 2 teaspoons of the mixture and form it into a cylindrical shape. (If you want larger tots, 1 tablespoon works but I wouldn't go any larger than that. And of course, you'll end up with a fewer number of tots.) To shape the tots, I found that making a fist around the mixture helped the mixture stick together. I pressed the ends to flatten them out. Then, I lightly rolled the tot in my palm to smooth any bumps. Keeping my hands wet with water kept the mixture from sticking to my hands. I rewet my hands every 3-4 tots. This was the most time consuming part of the recipe. (I wonder how the mixture would work pressed through a large round piping tip into long strands that can be cut in to tot size.)
Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. Spray the surface of the tots with nonstick spray or brush with a vegetable oil.
Bake for 17 to 20 minutes until they’re golden brown on the bottom. Flip the tots and bake 10 to 15 minutes more to get the other side all golden. Serve warm, with your favorite dipping sauce. Ketchup really adds to the tater tot taste and an aioli makes it gourmet for a party.
Cooking notes: When I first made these, I had half of a jalapeño pepper left over from another dish, so I used that instead of cayenne so it didn't go to waste. I deseeded and deveined the jalapeño and finely chopped it. The tots were not spicy from this amount of jalapeño, so using cayenne pepper adds more heat. I also only had 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and used 1/4 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano to make up for missing cheese. So you can adjust the amount of cheese to your liking and use other cheeses.
If you want the color of the tots to be less green, you can use less scallions. There were 10 scallions in the bunch I used, so you can really see them throughout. As the tots bake, they flatten a bit on the baking sheet but the shape holds up for the most part.
I love how these turned out and couldn't stop eating them because they are bite size!
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