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Cheesy Tater Tot Bacon Bites

Tots + cheese + bacon = awesome, flavorful snacking!

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Tater Tot Bacon Bombs Horizontal 1
Image: Jono Elderton for 12 Tomatoes

I get excited about snacks and appetizers combining my favorite cheat foods into one ‘explosive’ morsel. Tater tot bacon bites are the ultimate expression of this sentiment, mixing bacon, melted cheese, sriracha hot sauce, and little bites of golden fried potatoes into a specially wrapped package. It’s the type of food fun that makes game days, celebrations, or kids sleepovers more memorable – there are never any left over!

Tater tot bites are simple to make, and can be cooked quickly in the air fryer. Using the air fryer limits some of the mess while cutting down on the amount of oil (bacon fat) it takes to cook. All you need to do is build them and then pin each one with a toothpick and pop them in the tray, and they’re ready in just ten minutes. All of the flavor elements can either be taken out or substituted, so that you can make them more kid friendly, less messy, or suitable for a range of different palates.

Tater Tot Bacon Bombs Vertical 1
Image: Jono Elderton for 12 Tomatoes

For this recipe I used processed, individually wrapped cheddar cheese slices, cut into thirds, but really any cheese slices will work. Easy slices are malleable and easy to wrap with bacon around the tater tot in a gooey layer of deliciousness. A degree of cheesy mess is inevitable – you’ll need to clean your air fryer out thoroughly after making the bombs – but the sriracha spice mixed with melty goodness and the crispy crunch of a tater tot is delightful!

My preference is to use middle bacon to wrap up the tater tots, as there is more meat than just streaky bacon alone. Middle bacon pieces still get that crispy, crunchy outside that you look for in a good bacon wrapped product, but without the amount of greasy oil. Taking a bit of the rind away prior to cutting your bacon strips also helps limit the final fat content to much more acceptable levels!

Tater Tot Bacon Bombs Vertical 2
Image: Jono Elderton for 12 Tomatoes

The final important tip is to pre-cook your tater tots for at least ten minutes prior to wrapping them up in hot sauce, cheese, and bacon. Pre-cooking the tater tots means no disappointing soggy, half-cooked bites. The tater tot bites will be cooked hot in the middle, so you won’t need to overcook the bacon bundles to get them perfect! Pre-cooked tots are also much easier to work with when wrapping and pinning (trying to pin a frozen tater tot looks and feels ridiculous).

These cheesy tater tot bacon bites are not going to win any culinary awards, but they are healthier than deep fried alternatives and will make your tastebuds happy! Sometimes when you’re relaxing it’s great just to sit back and enjoy a tasty morsel of air fried happiness on a toothpick!

Tater Tot Bacon Bombs Vertical 3
Image: Jono Elderton for 12 Tomatoes

Makes 20 bombs

15m prep time

20m cook time

10m inactive

5.0
Rated 5.0 out of 5
Rated by 1 reviewers

Allergens: Gluten

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Ingredients
  • 8-10 oz tater tots (around 20 individual)
  • 6-7 individually wrapped cheddar cheese slices
  • 4-5 bacon rashers (streaky or middle bacon)
  • Optional: Sriracha hot sauce (or hot sauce of your choice)
  • Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation
  1. Pre-cook the tater tots in an air fryer for 10 minutes at 400°F.
  2. While the tater tots are cooking, cut cheese slices into 3 strips, lengthwise. Remove rind (and superfluous fat) from bacon and cut into strips of 2-3 inches in length.
  3. Remove tater tots from the air fryer and cool enough to allow handling.
  4. As the tater tots cool, lay out 2 strips of bacon in a cross pattern. Add 1 cheese slice (going in the north-south direction) and a line of sriracha sauce. Take a tater tot and place it on the "south" end of the vertical strip of bacon. Wrap the tot first vertically, then horizontally, to form a box.
  5. Hold bacon and cheese in place with a toothpick, then place into the air fryer tray.
  6. Repeat the process until all tater tots are gone, or until bacon runs out. Depending on the amount you are making and the air fryer size, you may need to do more than one batch.
  7. Cook for 10 minutes at 400°F, or until bacon reaches the desired level of crispness. Note: Cheese will leak from the gaps, so be careful handling them!
  8. Remove tater tots from the air fryer, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then serve immediately with sriracha (or the dipping sauce of your choice).

Recipe adapted from BENSA Bacon Lovers