Paleo Sweet Potato Tater Tots

I am so excited for you guys to get your hands on my friend Ciarra of Popular Paleo‘s brand new book, The Frugal Paleo Cookbook. We all know that enjoying a Paleo diet and cooking our food from scratch using whole, natural and organic ingredients can get a little pricey. Especially when compared to a standard American diet.

By choosing the right ingredients and the proper cooking methods, you can stretch your budget much further and save time in the kitchen. This is exactly what Ciarra helps us do with her debut cookbook. This busy mom of two is all too familiar with the balancing act of keeping everyone happy with flavorful food, finding the time to make healthy meals and managing the grocery budget.

With her expert skills in the kitchen, Ciarra has created The Frugal Paleo Cookbook to help us eat healthy, without skimping on flavor or going broke. The Frugal Paleo Cookbook is packed with affordable, easy to make and delicious Paleo recipes!

Click HERE to pre-order The Frugal Paleo Cookbook NOW!

Ciarra has been so kind to let me share her Paleo Sweet Potato Tater Tots recipe with you here! This is a favorite amongst kids and adults alike.

SWEET POTATO TATER TOTS

I’d like to say that I came up with these sweet potato tater tots for my kids, but we all know the truth. Adults love these just as much as kids do! Tater Tots are an irresistible crunchy side dish, which can actually be made Paleo-friendly thanks to a couple of sweet potatoes—not yams—and some good-quality oil for frying.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
2 to 2.5 lbs (908 g to 1.1 kg) yellow sweet potatoes (not yams)
1/2 cup (118 mL) Paleo-friendly fat (I prefer lard, duck fat, avocado oil or coconut oil)
pinch of salt (I like coarse-grain Celtic sea salt)

Prep:
Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Wash the sweet potatoes and poke a few times with a fork. Place the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and set aside to cool to room temperature. This will take a few hours, so plan ahead.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the skin. It should easily slide off when you drag the back of a butter knife across it. Discard the peels.

Using a box grater, shred the sweet potatoes. The potatoes should be somewhat sticky from having the intrinsic sugars activated from the baking. In fact, it’s the natural sugars from the sweet potatoes that act as the binder for the tot.

Use a tablespoon or something comparable to scoop out spoonfuls of shredded potato. Working one at a time, roll the potatoes back and forth in the palm of your hand a few times, then squish the ends flat to create the classic tater tot shape. Continue working until all the potato is used up.

Now move to frying the newly formed tots. I like to use an 8-inch (20-cm) cast-iron skillet because it is narrow with high-sides. This means less oil is needed, which saves money. There is some flexibility between which Paleo-friendly oil to select, but in general animal-based fats will yield a better flavor, so my vote is for lard from pastured pigs or duck fat. In the event you don’t have these on hand, avocado oil works great—as does coconut oil. Avoid oils with low smoke points like olive or bacon drippings. They won’t fry properly.

Melt or heat your chosen fat in a small, high-sided pan at just shy of high heat. Don’t max out your dial, but get it pretty close.

When the oil is hot, fry 5 or 6 tots at a time, working in batches. Frying only a few at a time will keep the oil temperature stable. This means the tots will have a crispy outside and a creamy inside.

Each side only requires about a minute or so to brown, so keep a close eye on the tots and always be ready to turn and/or remove them. The end caps don’t generally need frying since the oil level is likely high enough to brown the edges.

Once the Tater Tots are golden brown, remove them from the oil and transfer to a surface lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat until all of the tots are cooked.

Season with salt (I like coarse-grain Celtic sea salt on these) and maybe a sprinkling of House Seasoning (from page 187 of the book) for an extra kick. Serve with your favorite Paleo dipping sauce or use these to make Paleo Hotdish (on page 48 of the book)—more commonly known as Tater Tot Casserole.

[pin-embed url=https://www.pinterest.com/pin/188025353169912066/ size=large description=true]