Baked Broccoli Tots
Hello again! I thought of another good recipe to share during this quarantine time. I know a lot people out there when this all first started began hoarding toilet paper (I still don’t quite understand that, but that’s for another discussion). I know that the first thing I ran to the store to stock up on was frozen veggies, especially not knowing at the time when I’d be going back to the store or if they were going to stop stocking fresh vegetables or not. Thankfully I’ve been able to pick up a beautiful produce box each week from one of our local farms and that has made me very happy. Yesterday, I threw some pork tenderloin in the crock pot for some BBQ sandwiches and I remembered about the frozen broccoli that I had in my freezer so I made these yummy things for a side. I’ve been making them for years. I am not a fan of regular tater tots (I know, I know, who doesn’t like tater tots? Pick me) but when I came across the recipe for these I knew they would also become a regular addition to our more casual meals. They may look difficult, but they are super easy to make. This recipe was adapted from gimmedelicious.com
PrintBaked Broccoli Tots
An easy side dish that pairs well with burgers, BBQ pork sandwiches or just about anything. And they sneak in some extra veggies to your plate as well.
- Yield: 20 tots 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Easy
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked or frozen broccoli, coarsely chopped (you will finely chop it later)
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/3 cup cheese (I like using sharp cheddar, but feel free to add one that you like)
- 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (I like to use the whole wheat panko crumbs)
- 1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (you can use italian bread crumbs here, but I just use plain and add my own seasoning)
- 2 TBL fresh herb of your liking, parsley, rosemary, cilantro, etc. Note 1
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- dash of crushed red pepper (you can omit this if you’d prefer)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and then spray with oil (I do this for good measure so they don’t stick as they cook)
Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 1 minute and then drain and run under cold water so it stops cooking. Drain well.
Finely chop the broccoli (use your cuisinart or other small chopping tool to get it nice and fine). Add the broccoli to the remaining ingredients and mix well. Scoop about 1.5 tablespoons of mixture into your hands, squeeze into a ball and then form it into a tater tot shape. Here’s Shafer observing this process.
You may need to rinse your hands about halfway through this process. Place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake them for 20-24 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking time.
Notes
Note 1 – I didn’t have any fresh herbs on hand last night so I just added some dried basil to go with my garlic powder and crushed red pepper. Toss these up however you like! You want more of an italian flare then use parmesan cheese and italian herbs. Mexican? Use cheddar, cilantro and cayenne. It’s up to you!
I like to whip up a little sriracha mayo to dip these into. Last night I through together some mayo, ketchup, sriracha and a dash of worcestershire. Super yum!
Here’s a little pic of Shafer being extra cute to make me smile today.
