Sriracha Tater Tot Bombs

For the past few months I've been seeing Tater Tot Bombs popping up all over the internet.  Everybody that writes about them tells how their family raves about them.  Every single recipe I've seen has been the same.  Each one is tater tots, bacon, cheddar cheese, and brown sugar.  OK, given both my career and hobby I've been involved in the culinary world for 26 years I understand the whole sweet and savory combination.  However, I don't believe you need to make that combination with everything that comes along.

Everything in place ready to roll

I'll admit that the most likely reason I don't completely buy off on the sweet and savory thing is that we don't eat many sweet things.  Then again, I tend to do things my way in the kitchen and sometimes disregard the accepted culinary dogma.  Besides, as I've said before, a recipe is a suggestion or just a shopping list.

Rolled up and ready to cook/smoke

Most days around 1700, the good wife and I will get something cold to drink and sit on the patio and talk or just watch the dogs do what they do.  This is usually the time I'll finalize plans for supper as far as sides go.  Since the good wife was on the phone with her sister and we were going to have leftover pizza for supper, I decided to do a small batch as hors d'oeuvres.  It was to be a time for experimentation.

Sriracha Tater Tot Bombs hot from the oven

I had some Smithfield Hometown Original bacon on hand that I decided to use.  I also had a small piece of Colby Jack cheese that needed to be used up so I used that instead of opening the cheddar.  Naturally the Sriracha sauce was in the cabinet so it had to be used.  The result was spicy bacony potato goodness.


Sriracha Tater Tot Bombs


tater tots, room temperature
bacon
cheddar or Colby Jack cheese
Sriracha sauce


Cut the cheese in 1/4 inch thick slices the length and width of the tater tots.  Cut bacon slices in half or thirds.  Run a line of Sriracha sauce down the center of each piece of bacon leaving a half inch bare at each end.  Place a piece of cheese and a tater tot in the center of the bacon slice.  Fold one end over the cheese and tot then roll to the end.  Place on a baking sheet seam side down.  Repeat until you have made all you want.  Bake in a 400F oven for 15 minutes.  Turn the tots over and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.  Serve hot.


I started with cutting the bacon slice in thirds but I had to stretch it too much to get any overlap.  A half slice works much better.  Since Colby Jack is a softer cheese than cheddar a bit more oozed out during the cooking than I thought would.  There was still plenty that cooked into the crevasses of the tater tots.  I only made 8 of these for each of us.  If you are going to be making a large batch for several people you should enlist help and make it group effort.
In between the time I started writing this and now, I made these again but with a twist.  The twist is that I smoked them instead of baking them in the oven.  I also used cheddar cheese on these.  I just used a couple of chunks of smoking wood that were laying around.  I'm not certain what they were but I believe they were cherry wood.  Use the smoking wood you prefer.  These weren't as crispy as the oven baked ones but if we hadn't been quite so hungry I'd have moved them to direct heat and crisped them up a bit.  If you're a fan of smoked foods then this is the way to go.  It only took 30 - 45 minutes  to get these smoked.

Smoked Sriracha Tater Tot Bombs ready to eat

If you want something a bit different with a kick then these are just the ticket.  If you want, try the Sriracha sauce with the version where they are rolled in brown sugar.  Heck, even I may give that a try someday.


Give these a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T