Tater Tot Salad

Intro: Tater Tot Salad

I've always loved tater tots as a kid and wondered what it would be like to reinvent the potato salad.  

There are a million potato salad recipes on the web but none of them use tater tots.  

I chose one of  the simplest and healthiest recipes and substituted in the tots.

Enjoy and please be honest about likes, dislikes and suggestions for improvement!

STEP 1: Ingredients

1 28oz bag Oreida Extra Crispy Tater Tots (seasoned)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (olive oil based)
1 tablespoon parsley
Zest of half a lemon
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch of salt & pepper to taste

STEP 2: Cook the Tater Tots

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.

2. Open up the bag of tater tots and lay them about 1/2 inch apart from each other on a flat cookie sheet.  You can grease the sheet if you want to prevent them from sticking after they are cooked. 

3. Bake for 22 minutes.  The instructions are very specific about not overcooking them.

4. After they are done remove from oven and let cool on stove for about 15 minutes.

STEP 3: Mix the Ingredients

1.  Measure out 1/2 cup of mayonnaise and put into a big red mixing bowl.

2.  Chop up about a tablespoon of parsley and mix into mayonnaise.

3.  Grate half the lemon skin into the mixture.

4.  Cut the lemon in half, and after cleaning out the seeds squeeze the lemon juice into the mixture.

5.  Mix the ingredients till the juice is absorbed. 

STEP 4: Fold in the Tater Tots

1. Put about half the tater tots into the bowl and carefully fold them into the mayo mixture until all the tater tots are coated.  

2. Fold in the rest and mix very slowly.  

3.  At this point you can add salt and pepper to taste but keep in mind this particular brand is already seasoned.  

4.  Transfer mix into a nice clean smaller bowl and refrigerate about an hour or so before serving!

NOTE: On my first attempt  the lemon juice overwhelmed the flavor so you might want to start with a smaller amount of juice.

Comments

[Suuz]

I am going to make that today I will post it so u all can see

[sherrycayheyhey]

This looks like a total dad food, you should enter it in the father's day contest :)

[sansoy]

thank you! i'll take your advice on the fathers day contest!

[jessyratfink]

Yum! Sounds like great cookout food. :D

[firefly68]

I am definitely going to try these, I love Tots! (Must be genuine Ore-Ida brand, nothing else comes close to their unique flavor.) If you cook them till they're very brown they should hold up long enough to eat it all.LOL Not sure about all that lemon; maybe I will stick with my regular recipe which is oniony and garlicky with spicy brown mustard, a little Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and plenty of fresh pepper. With some of I8nite's Awesome Hot Pepper Medley on the side! And a nice rare steak. Mmmmmm.

[l8nite]

I make something like this but like caitlinsdad said I use french fries, bottled salad dressing (ranch or bleu cheese) and crispy bacon. I call it bachlor tater salad... Maybe the better brands of tatertots hold up well, I'll have to give it a try, Im always open to a new twist....

[caitlinsdad]

Hmmm, taters tots are not the most robust when being tossed around in mayo. Maybe you could try with steak fries next time. Add bacon, peppers, mustard, chopped eggs too. Don't know why, but this makes me want to make a tater tot Canadian poutine.