German Style Tater Tot Salad

Potato salad is always a great accompaniment to many different dishes.  Likewise, tater tots just kick butt.  Why have they not been combined into a dish?  Good question.  I asked myself this and decided that I must find out.  I decided to make a German style salad which usually uses oil and vinegar instead of the usual mayo and is also served warm.  I will tackle the cold tater tot salad at some point but this was a great start.  Rage on!

Ingredients

1. 1/2 Bag of Tater Tots(16 oz.)
2. 5 Strips of Bacon, diced
3. 1/2 a Small Onion, diced
4. 1/4 C Sugar
5. 1/4 C Vinegar
6. 1/2 C Water
7. 2 Tbsp. Brown Mustard
8. 1 tsp. Salt and Pepper
9. Vegetable Oil

Quick Directions

1. Preheat oven according to directions on tater tot package.
2. Spread tater tots on a baking sheet.
3. Bake until about 5 minutes are left for tater tots.
4. Smash with fork and then finish baking them.
5. Pour a small amount of vegetable oil into a sauce pan.
6. Add bacon and cook on medium high stirring frequently.
7. When bacon is almost done, add diced onions and cook till translucent.
8. Add water, sugar, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper and mix well.
9. Bring to a boil and then simmer till begins to thicken.
10. Add tater tots and remove from heat.
11. Mix together.
12. Enjoy!

Detailed Directions

This dish is quick, easy, and delicious!  Start by spreading your tots onto a baking sheet and getting the oven preheated to the temp. the package calls for.  Toss them in and start dicing your bacon and onions.



Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into your sauce pan and add the bacon.  Cook on medium high heat for 5-8 minutes or until almost cooked through.  If you need to, add a little more oil to keep it from sticking.  Next, add the diced onions in and keep cooking till they begin to be translucent, about 5-8 more minutes.


Make sure to stir frequently.  This will help them to not stick and to make sure you don’t over cook them.



When there is about 5-8 minutes left for the tots, take them out of the oven and smash them with a fork.  You don’t need to do this step, but I felt it made for an interesting final product.  In other words, it is what I did so it is the rage style?


Good, you made the right choice when you smashed them too.  Stick them back in the oven and cook them till they begin  to brown and get crunchy.



When they are done, pull them out and set aside unless you have finished with the dressing steps already.


Once the onions are translucent, add the water, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper.  Bring this to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook until it begins to thicken up which doesn’t take very long, about 3-6 minutes.  Make sure to stir often.


Remove from heat and toss those cooked tots in and stir well.  And that is pretty much it, go enjoy this tasty dish with whoever you choose to share the rage with.  Rage on!







This dish is designed to be easy and tasty.  Removing a few steps like using potatoes and replacing them with tots.  If you decide to, you can also do this same recipe with regular potatoes.  I would probably use Yukon Gold potatoes but russets would work great too.  Decide whether you want to remove the skin or not, then dice them into a fairly even medium dice.  Boil them until fork tender, then add them to the sauce and mix like the tots.