Tater Tot Waffles

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

9 Comments

5 from 3 votes
4 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
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Crispy Tater Tot Waffles are crazy crispy, easy, and fun! As a grilled cheese, with bacon and eggs, or loaded with toppings, they’re great for breakfast or dinner.

Move over Hash Browns, the ultimate side dish for all Breakfast Recipes has arrived! 

Tater Tot Waffles on cutting board

TATER TOT WAFFLES

No peeling, no chopping, and no watching the skillet to flip at the exact right time, these Tater Tot Waffles are the easiest hash browns ever! With only 2 ingredients, unless your tots need extra salt, you get crispy potatoes that taste delicious and are the perfect side for almost anything. Use Tater Tot Fries instead of fries, hash browns, or sandwich bread for any meal.

You can serve Tater Tot Waffles so many different ways! Dip them in Fry Sauce at lunch or serve Tater Tot Waffles with brunch favorites. A delicious easy dinner idea is to serve Tater Tot Waffles with a bowl of Beef Chili. Check out the topping ideas and variations later in the post. Easily make the ultimate grilled cheese with Tater Tot Waffles too. 

Tater Tot Waffles are great way to use up leftover takeout tater tots (or french fries) since the waffle iron gets them crispy again without overcooking them. Just pop them on the waffle iron as soon as it’s hot and in 10 minutes you’ve got round two of a side dish instead of throwing the tots away.

EASY BREAKFAST RECIPES:

Tips for Perfect Tater Tot Waffles

  • Make sure your frozen tater tots are thawed to room temperature. If you forgot to take them out of the freezer in time, pop them in the microwave for a minute or two on high.
  • Place the tater tots close together on the waffle iron plate. You don’t want any gaps. If you have a Belgian waffle maker you could layer some tots on top for thick Tater Tot Waffles.
  • Watch your fingers! That waffle iron plate is hot, so unless you are closely supervising this isn’t a good recipe for kids to try on their own.
  • Secure top of waffle iron as tightly you can (without breaking it). The tots will get thinner and that’s okay, this will cook them all the way through without burning.
  • Once they’re nice and crispy remove them with this food flipper that won’t crush your waffles (our favorite kitchen tool ever).

Tater Tot Waffles in belgian waffle maker

VARIATIONS ON TATER TOT WAFFLES

  • Potatoes: You can use most other frozen potatoes for Waffle Tots. Try sweet potato tater tots, shredded hash browns, home fries, or Potatoes O’Brien. Depending on the type you use, you may need to add more seasoning and flavor.
  • Seasonings: Toss your thawed tater tots in a tablespoon of your favorite seasoning blends like a Cajun seasonings, Taco Seasoning, or Ranch Dressing Mix before cooking.
  • Veggie Tots: Try the waffle iron method with those new Veggie Tots, like Cauliflower Tots or Broccoli Cheddar Tots, for an easy dinnertime vegetable side dish.

Toppings for Tater Tot Waffles

  • Loaded Tater Tot Waffles: Top like a loaded baked potato with crumbled bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and chives.
  • Tater Tot Waffles and Lox: Spread a thin layer of crème fraîche (or softened cream cheese) over Tater Tot Waffle. Top with a couple slices smoked salmon, capers, thinly sliced red onions, and sprinkle with dill.
  • Tater Tot Waffle Sloppy Joes: Cut 1 full Tater Tot Waffle in half and use halves as bread for your favorite Sloppy Joes Recipes.
  • Tater Tot Waffle Pizzas: Spread each waffle with Pizza Sauce and top with mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza toppings. Broil until cheese is melted.

MOST POPULAR BREAKFAST RECIPES

Tater Tot Waffle Grilled Cheese

Cook first waffle until crispy and golden brown, and set aside. Repeat with a second waffle and leave on waffle maker. Cover waffle with slices of American cheese. Place first waffle over cheese and line up grids as best you can. Close lid at least halfway, enough that the heat melts the cheese, and cook until cheese is melted. Serve Tater Tot Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup!

HOW TO STORE TATER TOT WAFFLES

  • Serve: These Tater Tot Waffles are best served immediately but can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
  • Store: You can refrigerate leftover Tater Tot Waffles in a zippered plastic bag for up to 4 days. Line with a paper towel to absorb moisture.
  • Freeze: For best taste and texture, it’s not recommended to freeze these Tater Tot Waffles. If you do freeze, place in a freezer safe bag and reheat from frozen in the oven.

Tater Tot Waffle from top down

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Dinner, then Dessert

Tater Tot Waffles

Crispy Tater Tot Waffles are crazy crispy, easy, and fun! As a grilled cheese, with eggs, or loaded with toppings, they're great for breakfast or dinner.
Yield 4 servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Tater Tot Waffles in a stack
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil , for brushing
  • 32 ounces tater tots , thawed
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

  • Turn on belgian waffle maker and brush lightly with oil.
  • Line up the tater tots tightly next to each other.
  • Sprinkle with salt and close and turn, cooking for 5 minutes on high heat until crispy.

Nutrition

Calories: 401kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 970mg | Potassium: 601mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg

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Tater Tot Waffles collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Mine fell apart when I was getting them out. Any idea what I did wrong. They were very crispy but just would not come out?

    Reply

    1. Oh no, that’s frustrating. Did you remember to use approximately 1 Tablespoon of oil to brush the top and bottom of the waffle iron before you added ingredients?

      Reply

  3. These were fantastic! We are huge fans of the tots so I had to try them and they didn’t disappoint!

    Reply