Are Tater Tots Gluten Free? (& A Tater Tot Recipe)

Last Updated on July 2, 2024

What are tater tots and are they gluten free? Plus a recipe on how to make your own tater tots – because nothing beats homemade!

What Are Tater Tots?

If you’re from the UK, you may know tater tots better as potato croquettes. Tater tots are small cylinder shapes of potatoes that have been grated, and then deep-fried. They are usually served as a side – and deep-fried cylinders of crunchy goodness! They’re called tater tots, as “taters” is a short for potato.

What Are The Tater Tots Ingredients?

Ingredients for tater tots will differ depending on where you purchase them from. However, the typical ingredients in tater tots are:

• potatoes
• oil
• flour
• seasonings

Are Tater Tots Gluten Free?

As the main ingredient in tater tots is potatoes, you would think that they would always be gluten-free. However, that is not the case. While potatoes are gluten-free, brands will sometimes use wheat flour to help the tater tots go extra crispy.

It’s always worth noting that when you order tater tots in a restaurant, although they may not contain gluten – it’s likely they’ll share a fryer with foods that do contain gluten, which is a huge risk of cross-contact. It’s always best to check with your server before ordering and make them aware of any allergies you have.

Gluten Free Tater Tots Brands

If you’re looking for tater tot brands that carry a gluten-free label, they’re unfortunately aren’t too many. However, there are a few brands that do not contain any gluten ingredients but do not make any gluten-free claims. Let’s take a look.

Ore-Ida

Ore-Ida is the leading brand of tater tots in the US. And guess what? They confirm that their tater tots products are gluten-free! The following potato products are safe when following a gluten-free lifestyle.

• Golden Tater Tots
• Extra Crispy Tater Tots
• Onion Tater Tots
• Golden Crispy Crowns
• Ready in 5 Microwaveable Extra Crispy Crowns
• Mini Tater Tots

The ingredients in their golden tater tots are:

• potatoes
• vegetable oil blend
• salt
• yellow cornflour
• dextrose
• sodium acid pyrophosphate
• dehydrated onion
• sodium acid sulfate
• natural flavor

You can find out more about their range of products here.

Other Brands

There are a few popular brands that do have tater tots that do not contain any gluten ingredients. However, they do not make gluten-free claims, which makes me reluctant to recommend them. If you’re celiac or particularly sensitive to gluten, I would recommend sticking to Ore-Ida. If you’re comfortable with potentially consuming small traces of gluten, Birdseye and Lamb Weston both do not contain any gluten ingredients.

If you’re looking for organic tater tots that are gluten-free, they seem impossible to find. If you’re looking for an organic option, it may be best to make your own.

Gluten Free Tater Tots Recipe

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many gluten-free tater tots available. Because of this, you may want to try making your own – as you really don’t need many ingredients at all! And everything tastes better homemade. Let’s take a look at this delicious gluten-free homemade tater tots recipe from Don’t Mess with Mama.

Ingredients

The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are:

• 4 large potatoes (peel and dice)
• 1/2 of yellow onion (dice)
• 2 cloves of garlic (finely chop)
• 3 tablespoons of lard or coconut oil 
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1.5 tablespoons of arrowroot powder
• sea salt
• black pepper
• paprika

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 400F
2. Grab a bowl and toss your potatoes with lard (or oil), garlic, and onion
3. Add your mixture to a large pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes (ensure potatoes are soft). Take them out and let them cool.
4. Add mix to a food processor and blend until you have pebble-sized pieces of potato (be sure not to over pulse)
5. Put the mix back into your bowl. Add the pepper, salt, paprika, Parmesan, and arrowroot powder. Try not to mash the mixture, you just want to combine it – try using a spatula
6. Now it’s time to make the tots. There are two ways you can do this:

Sushi Style

• Grab a piece of parchment paper and add around one cup of the mixture to the paper. Now it’s time to use the paper like a sushi roller! You want to roll the mixture until it’s around 1 inch thick. Then unroll the paper and cut your tater tots 1-2 inches in length

Freeze Style

• Line a freezer-friendly sized pan with parchment paper. Add the mixture to the pan; it should be around 1 inch thick.
• Freeze for around 30 minutes. Take out of the freezer and cut into tater tots

Cook

• Using parchment paper, line a pan. Leave some space in between the tater tots when you lay them on the baking pan. Bake for around 20-25 minutes. Your tater tots are ready!

Read more about: Do Mashed Potatoes Have Gluten?

Conclusion

I hope this article has helped to answer the question: are tater tots gluten-free? And given you an insight into the gluten-free brands of tater tots we can enjoy. While they aren’t too many gluten-free brands, the leading brand of tater tots is – which is great news for us, as they’re definitely my favorite!

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