Skinny Baked Cauliflower TotsHave I told you about my cauliflower obsession? Seriously, I love cauliflower a lot. I also love tater tots – I can’t resist making a whole batch of them every weekend with a side of ketchup.

Today I decided to marry the two. I ran out of potatoes and thought I’d try cauliflower instead.  After all, why not? It’s much healthier, plus I won’t feel guilty eating like a million of these little cauliflower tots. They are also baked so that’s another plus.

Skinny Baked Cauliflower TotsThe mixture for this recipe is pretty simple and easy to put together. You’ll need 2 cups of cauliflower (obviously..), an egg, 1/2 cup of minced onions and 1/4 cup of bell pepper (I used red although, the bell peppers are completely optional), 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, cheese and salt + pepper to taste. Oh and I almost forgot, I also used 1/4 cup of minced cilantro but you can also use parsley instead.

The only pressure point to the recipe is chopping the cauliflower. I chopped it in the food processor but only pulsed it 3 or 4 times, no more than a few seconds because it can over process very quickly. If you are not sure or think you’ll mess it up, I suggest just chopping it up with a knife real quick.

Next mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, shape them into little tots and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ketchup, eggs, for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Skinny Baked Cauliflower Tots

4.49 from 35 votes

Skinny Baked Cauliflower Tots

By: Layla
Cook25 minutes
Total25 minutes
Servings 30 -40 tots

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a nonstick cookie sheet with cooking spray or lightly grease with oil. Set aside.

    Steam cauliflower in hot water for 3-5 minutes or until nice and soft, drain and chopped with a knife or blend in the food processor ( just a few seconds.)

  • In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Spoon about 1 tablespoon of mixture in your hands and roll into small oval shaped tots.
  • Place on the cookie sheet 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking until golden.
like this recipe? Rate & Comment below!

Skinny Baked Cauliflower Tots Skinny Baked Cauliflower Tots



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119 Comments

  1. So delicious! All the kids at a pot luck gobbled them up. Muffin pans take MUCH less time then rolling! Just a little bit of oil (if even necessary) in each muffin spot, scoop with a 1/4 c. scoop, press into the pans, and pop into the oven. I have doubled the recipe, but quadrupled it today making about 20 “muffins”.

  2. Next time I will press the excess moisture out of the cauliflower and onion after food processing!

  3. Thanks for such a great recipe! We are just starting a vegetarian diet. I made these, however, I added a few extra twist. I didn’t make tots. I made nuggets. I added 1/4 cup more bread crumbs, and I breaded them lightly with panko. I’m sure they are not as “skinny” anymore, but they were delicious! After 10 days of vegetarian meals, some good, some I will never revisit again, these were the biggest hit at our table. They are wonderful with my homemade BBQ sauce!

  4. I’ve tired these a couple times now and I really liked them. I’m always looking for new side dishes and this one wasn’t added to the list. YUM!!

  5. Awesome! Whole family loved them. Omitted the onions and peppers so my four year old would eat them. Doubled the recipe and cooked half and stuck the second half of the batter in the fridge and cooked those later. Question….how do these freeze? Or can I freeze the batter for future use. If so, I would make jumbo batches at one time and freeze so we could eat these all month! Thanks for the recipe…. Great kid friendly snacks while making sure they get their veggies! Also, good for the rest of the family too… Good snack to manage blood sugar, and weight!

    1. They’re very healthy in so many ways! as for the freezing, I like to freeze them either after shaping or after baking. I find it much easier to freeze after baking tho.

    1. Yes! Be sure to defrost it first and squeeze all the water out of it.

        1. If we use pre-riced cauli, about how much would we need?

          1. Yes, following the question about using frozen cauliflower rice instead. Such a convenience, but HOW MUCH? Thank you! 😃

  6. These were awesome! It’s really nice to have tater tots that are flavorful and not greasy!
    I did add an extra egg white per egg (I tripled the recipe since I used a whole head of cauliflower) + extra breadcrumbs and everything stayed together just fine! I did process the onion, pepper & onions pretty well in the food processor, maybe 20 pulses, since I didn’t want things chunky. Then I pressed it in a fine mesh strainer to get out the extra liquid.
    Also, since I don’t like my hands smelling like onions, I wear disposable clear gloves (you can get a 100 ct bag at the Dollar Tree).
    I baked half for lunch until golden brown and lightly baked the rest, then flash froze & freezer-bagged them. And they were great out of the freezer a week later!

  7. Wanted to add a recent discovery. I sometimes don’t measure ingredients 😉 And with these, for awhile I was putting in too much shredded cheese. That resulted in my taters looking like flat round cookies! (the cheese was melting causing this).

    Now that I’ve gone back be very careful with the amount, wow! I think you can be off a bit on the egg amount, or onions, or even the amount of cauliflower. But not the cheese. That’ll mess things up!

  8. Parece delicioso! Voy a hacerla para probar. Saludos Desde tierra del fuego.

  9. On the 21 day fix Beachbody do you know if it would just be considered a vegetable and probably a healthy fat? What it be any car because of the breadcrumbs

  10. Does it need to be fresh cauliflower or can we use frozen to make this and other cauliflower recipes? If using frozen, perhaps thawing it first(?)

  11. Soooooooo lovely – I couldn’t shape them (the mixture was a bit lose and wouldn’t hold the shape) so I popped them in greased muffin tins and cooked for slightly longer – delish!

  12. I added a dash of cayenne pepper, gave it a yum

  13. I love these! make them all the time. To continue the low carb theme, try almond meal (not powder) instead of the bread crumbs, also try a low carb Marinara sauce instead of usually sugar heavy ketchup. And for easy clean up, I use parchment paper and put a spoonful of the mix on it, then shape them in the pan.

    No matters how you do it, they are delicious!

  14. How do you suggest reheating them if you freeze them after baking?

    1. Yes, you can freeze them after shaping or after baking.

  15. My one year old loved them! I made this for dinner 🙂

  16. These look great! Can you freeze if you have leftovers?

  17. I LOVED these! I had the same problems some others had mentioned about getting them to stick together, so I added an extra egg white. They worked much better after that!

  18. I love all the unique ways people are using cauliflower these days. A friend and I were talking last night about the need for warm comfort food when it’s cold outside, but that it’s hard to eat “healthy” comfort food. This will fit the bill for sure. I will have to share this recipe with her! Thanks.

  19. I am making these for my sister, who can’t have gluten or dairy. I replaced the cheese with soy cheese. I don’t know how to replace the parmesan, so I just left it out. Used corn meal instead of bread crumbs.
    They don’t hold together well at all, I couldn’t even get the tot shapes, so they’re just mounds. I chopped the cauliflower up as finely as shown in the picture, so that doesn’t seem to be the problem. Just put them in the oven, so I’ll see how they hold together once it’s time to turn them.

  20. I’m going to have to learn how to veganize these. They look great. I was a little disheartened by the egg lol. Replacing the cheese is easy. Egg replacer is kinda pricey.

    1. Aww I’m sorry to hear that!The egg is what keeps everything together and to be honest I haven’t tried the tots without it. How about trying it without the egg and see what happens. If you do try it without the egg let us know how it worked out. Best of luck! 🙂

    2. Ground flax seed in water. Works great as a egg replacement, tastes great and adds omega 3! I tablespoon water to 3 tablespoons flax meal = 1 egg.

  21. I just made these today. I used the cauliflower, egg, cheddar cheese and some onion powder. (I was in a hurry) They turned out great! Thank you so much for the recipe. I am going to try them ‘your way’ the next time. I like parmesan cheese but just didn’t have any on hand.

  22. I made these last night but subbed breadcrumbs for crumbled gluten free Chex cereal (I also made DIY chicken fingers with the same cereal), and they were delicious but I had similar problems as some other commenters with them not sticking together. One egg didn’t seem enough, and two didn’t seem to help. I was able to smash them together enough to make some little fritters/tots, but wasn’t able to shape them much at all. Still, they were tasty and I will be making this recipe again!

    1. Shannon, thanks for the tip on the gluten free breadcrumbs! If you have issues with them sticking together feel free to add more breadcrumbs and that should solve the issue.