It’s America’s National Tater Tot Day so we are definitely using it as an excuse to enjoy some more comfort food!

Today we are bringing you a recipe that will be perfect for a super bowl night. And don’t we all love a good game? Looking forward to that! Good food and family night.

So today it’s all about that TV comfort food. We went searching for a great recipe to encompass all of those things for you guys and we think we found just that!

We got the recipe from Smokin’ & Grillin’ wit AB which is a YouTube channel that definitely caught our attention.  

We hope you like and try it. We sure did! 

Ingredients:

• Tater Tots (1 big bag or 2 small bags frozen but you decide the quantity you want to prepare)
• 1 large Onion (diced and sautéed)
• Ranch Dressing Dry Mix (2 heaping tbsp)
• Sour Cream (2 – 4 heaping tbsp)
• Yogurt or Buttermilk (2-4 heaping tbsp)
• A mix of Smoked Cheese & Cheddar Cheese (1 cup shredded)
• Cheddar Cheese (1 cup shredded)
• Monterey Jack Cheese (1 cup shredded – optional)
• Thick Cut Bacon (5 – 6 slices, diced)
• Green Onions or Chives (3 – 6 or 1 small-medium bunch)
• The meat of your choice for topping (leftover pulled Pork, Chicken, or even some extra Bacon)
• Salt and Pepper (to taste)

For the Cheese Sauce

• All-Purpose Flour (2 tbsp);
• Salted Butter (2 tbsp);
• Milk (237 ml/1 cup/8 floz)
• Smoked Paprika (1/4 tsp)
• Salt (1/2 tsp)
• Pepper (1/4 tsp)

Preparation:

Prepare your tater tots on a baking sheet (in the oven) or frying them in a deep fryer or a deep skillet, following the instructions on the package.

Dice your bacon and fry it until it renders most of its fat and browns a bit. Grate your cheese and dice your green onions or chives in the meantime.

As soon as the bacon has reached the point where you want it to be, take it out of the pan and put it onto a plate lined with greaseproof paper. Now we are going to put to good use that fantastic bacon fat that is left in our pan.

We are going to sauté the onion in that fat on medium-high heat!

While your onion is frying, start preparing your sour cream sauce. Place the sour cream and the yogurt or buttermilk in a bowl and add the ranch dressing dry mix. Mix everything really well and taste. You can add more dry mix, sour cream, or yogurt if you feel like it… It’s up to you and your taste.

Next, add in some of the diced green onions or chives and mix again.

As soon as the onions have started to caramelize and really get to that specific brown caramelization color, take them out and into a bowl.

If you decided to prepare your tater tots in the oven, you will serve them by sprinkling some smoked cheese & cheddar cheese on top of them, followed by some green onions or chives, the ranch dressing mixture, and the caramelized onions. Or any other order really… It’s up to you how you want to add your toppings.

If you decided to fry your tater tots then it’s time to prepare your cheese sauce to make it even more indulgent! As if it wasn’t already….. J)

Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour to it. Mix it well and let it cook until the flour is not raw anymore. If you have a lot of bacon fat leftover, you could also do this in the bacon fat.

As soon as the flour is cooked you can slowly add in the milk whisking as you do it. After the milk start adding the cheddar cheese a little at a time whisking as you do it. Add cheese until you reach the consistency desired and if the sauce becomes too thick you can add a little bit more milk to it. Next, you will add the smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

Now it’s time to assemble our fried tater tots.

Place the tater tots on a large plate or a platter and sprinkle the meat topping of your choice on top of them. Next, add the cheese sauce on top of the meat and the caramelized onion on top of the cheese sauce. Next comes the bacon, the ranch sauce, and the green onion or chives. But the order of the toppings is really up to you…

Enjoy! 🙂

Tip: Another meat topping option would be some pastrami. It all depends on your taste buds. Just go for it guys!

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