Paleo Cauliflower Tater Tots
Meet my few food obsession: Cauliflower Tater Tots. With a crispy exterior and fluffy, tender interior, you won’t believe that these tots are tater-free!
When it comes to replacing flour or potatoes, I’ve come to rely on cauliflower with great results. It provides a wide range of textures with a pleasantly sweet but not distinct flavor. One of my favorite uses for cauliflower is my flourless Cauliflower Wraps.
This recipe started out as an attempt at cauliflower fritters but I found that when made thicker and smaller, it replicated tater tots. I love that this recipe requires no deep frying. I’ve seen many recipes for homemade tater tots that call for deep-frying in coconut oil, which eliminates the unhealthy aspect of frying in vegetable oil. Still, I find deep frying intimidating, expensive and time consuming. I much prefer this easy pan-fry method.
You can enjoy these cauliflower tater tots plain or with your favorite dipping sauce. Homemade ketchup would make a more traditional pair, but I whipped up an easy Lime Avocado Sauce for dipping. You only need an avocado, a lime and a pinch of salt!
Cauliflower Tater Tots: the ingredients
Cauliflower, the star ingredient, replaces the potatoes with a shockingly similar texture and flavor. It creates a moist, tender inside with a crispy crust.
Eggs work as the binder and allow the inside to become tender and fluffy. Egg substitutes will not work in this recipe.
Coconut flour is my flour of choice for grain free baking. It plays an important role in the cauliflower tater tots by absorbing excess liquid to prevent soggy tots. The whole recipe uses only 4 teaspoons of coconut flour, but even though it’s a small amount, it is important.
- ½ head large cauliflower
- 1 Tbs. coconut oil/butter/ghee
- 2 eggs
- 4 tsp. coconut flour (stir the flour with a fork, then measure) (get coconut flour here)
- ¾ tsp. unrefined salt
- ½ tsp. Herbes de Provence, crushed (optional)
- 2 tablespoons (about) coconut oil/ghee/lard for cooking the tots
- 1 avocado
- Juice of 1 lime
- Salt, to taste
- Mini ice cream scoop, find it here or at a cooking store
- Piece the cauliflower into florets, then place the florets into a food processor. Pulse for about 10 seconds, until it resembles fine grains of rice.
- In a large skillet, heat the 1 Tbs. of oil over medium heat. Add the crumbled cauliflower, stir to coat, then cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove the cover and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until softened. Turn off the heat and let cool until no longer hot.
- Optionally, transfer the cauliflower to a bowl, but I prefer to save the time and I mix up the batter right in the skillet. Add the coconut flour, eggs, salt, and optional Herbes de Provence to the cauliflower mixture and stir until well combined.
- Heat another skillet over medium heat and add a spoonful of cooking fat to coat the bottom.
- To make the tater tots, I highly recommend using a mini ice cream scoop, which is also called a "cookie dough scoop" and you can find it here. This is an easy way to get uniformly-sized, ideal-height tater tots. Using the scoop or just a spoon, drop the batter onto the hot skillet. If using a spoon, use ½ Tbs. of batter per tot and make it about ½ inch thick.
- Cook until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook until the other side is golden. (To flip the small tots easily, I push the tot to the side of the skillet and use the side of the skillet to tip the tot onto the other side.)
- Add more fat to the pan and repeat with remaining batter.
- Enjoy while warm with optional Lime Avocado Sauce. To make the avocado sauce, blend the ingredients in a food processor until creamy.
- Tots are best within an hour or preparing. Store leftover tots in an airtight container in the fridge and warm briefly in a skillet or in the oven before serving.
Do you use cauliflower as a potato replacement? What is your favorite use for cauliflower?
Wellll….., I think I’ll try to use these for making Potato Oles bravo, supreme Nacho-style mexican dish (from Taco John’s). should be very yummy! and MUCH healthier. Will also add avocado/guacamole topping.
Oh! I’m so excited to try these! My hubs is diabetic and, poor guy!, loves potatoes. Cauliflower has replaced taters in our house. There are two cauliflower dishes I cook regularly for him. Matter of fact, while I’m writing this some freshly steamed cauli is cooling in the kitchen to be turned into cauliflower “pizza crust” that I’m going to use as “noodles” in a lasagne.
I just read this recipe to him and he can’t wait to try it! Looks like we’re having burgers and tots tomorrow night!
I added a tsp. of cornstarch for crispiness and ran the cauliflower through the salad spinner after washing to eliminate moisture. Excellent appetizer or sidedish! Try a dipping sauce of grated horseradish mixed with avocado, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
Thanks Lauren.
Hi Lauren, I am using Stevia sweetner instead of honey. I am trying to cut out as much sugar as possible. I love your recipes but want to know what is the ratio of stevia to honey.
I am trying to limit carbs. Can you give me the nutritional info on these tots?
You have some great recipes. I am allergic to cow’s milk, whole egg, peanuts and gluten.
I have found recipes on your site I can use. Thanks!
The flavor of these were really good, but mine wouldn’t stay together at all 🙁 I used what I would deem a large head of caulk, but there’s a chance my “large” may not be the same as your “large”–thus meaning I may not have used enough binder (eggs/coconut flour). It may be a better idea to let us know how many cups of riced cauli to use since sizes vary greatly in heads.
Can you give me nutritional facts. Looking at carb content
I never was a big fan of cauliflower… thought I would try this to see if it would be a way that I could eat it… YES! These were very, very good, and I will be making them again! Thank you!
This is my new favorite food! And even better with the dip. I used chicken salt and ground corriander seeds to season and found it easy to add more flour, etc to get a good consistency. Mine did end up looking like mini pancakes but next time I my season with vanilla and cinnamon and have them for breakie. So delicious, thanks.
These are just great, thanks. Much easier now that stores like Costco and Trader Joe’s are selling packaged cauliflower “rice” that has already been processed!!