I have seen Broccoli Tots on tons of blogs and a video or two. The videos always make things look so easy but they tend to make things look a little too simplistic at times. I wondered if it would be as tasty as they looked and if they were really as easy to make as the videos make it look.
I used this Broccoli Cheese Tots recipe from Popsugar.com as the basis for my dish. (click for link to original recipe).
Verdict:
It wasn’t quite as easy as the videos made it look, especially if you don’t have super knife chopping skills, but it was still pretty easy. Chopping the broccoli into small enough pieces looks so simple on the video but in reality took about 10 minutes or so of the recipe time. If you have a food processor that doesn’t puree everything this would be much simpler. The broccoli needs to be chopped finely and the florets are easy to cut but the stalks took some work.
We really liked the flavor. I used a bit more cheese and added a bit of extra black pepper. My son was NOT a fan of the texture but he still ate them. To me they had the texture of a slightly overcooked tater tot.
I served these as a side dish with an entrée and spinach salad.
Broccoli Tots
Ingredients:
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2/3 – 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 2 eggs, beaten
- salt and pepper
- ranch dipping sauce, if desired
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Bring a well salted, large pot of water to a boil. Place the broccoli in BOILING water for 2 minutes.
- Drain well and rinse in cold water to stop cooking process.
- Chop the broccoli finely so there are no chunks.
- Saute the onion in butter over medium heat until translucent. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit before adding to broccoli.
- Stir in cheese, garlic powder, bread crumbs and eggs to broccoli/onion mixture. You want the mixture to roll fairly easily in your hands so add extra bread crumbs if needed. Mine needed almost 1/4 of extra bread crumbs.
- Using heaping tablespoons roll between your hands to make a tot. Place 2″ apart on parchment paper.
- Bake for 10 minutes and then turn tots over. Return to oven for another 8-10 minutes until cooked through.
- Serve hot with ranch dipping sauce if desired.
What's for Dinner Moms? 
These look really good. I wonder if you could use frozen cut broccoli instead of taking the time to cut fresh into small pieces. Would it have the same texture?
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You may need to add more bread crumbs too because of the extra water in frozen broccoli. It has to be chopped really finely like individual little green pieces from the florets tiny. So, it would still need to be chopped even if you use the frozen broccoli
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That makes sense, I will have to try these, they look yummy! 🙂
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Thank you! And as I always say make them your own! Try different spices if you like or frozen broccoli!
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No fun when the video doesn’t match what it’s supposed to be like! But the ingredients look great! Good job, Kat!
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I’ve tried to make these before and the found the breadcrumb/egg mix just clumped together and didn’t really coat the bits of broccoli very well. I ended up putting the whole mix into a casserole dish and baking as opposed to having individual portions. Although your recipe is slightly different to the one I used.
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The broccoli has to be chopped super fine. Like individual pieces of the florets fine, and they should be moist enough to hold their shape but not too dry. Cut back the bread crumbs if they were too dry. The mixture was sticky but really rolled well. They held together as they baked
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Thanks for the tips. It tasted good, but thought they could have been so much better, so next time I will try your advice.
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Also, it took quite a bit of mixing to get the mixture to evenly mix everything together.
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These look and sound very interesting! I love broccoli so something to try for sure!
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Easier if you have a food processor. I asked Santa for one this year. I will have to be good until the end of the year to see if I get one.
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hahaha I hope you get one Marci!! YEs it makes doing these things so much easier
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I’ve seen these & always wondered about them! Thanks for the critique, Marci! Now I know 🙂
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Wow these loo really delicious. I love broccoli and this is something I should be making
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I hope you like them!
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