Zucchini Tots
I love zucchini. It’s one of my favorite vegetables and it’s so versatile. I’ve made Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins, Zucchini Squares, Parmesan Zucchini Rounds, Sausage-Stuffed Baked Zucchini and Baked Zucchini Fries. I’ve also used it in collaboration with other yummy vegetables in recipes like my White Vegetable Lasagna and Barley Beef Skillet. Zucchini goes with everything, but my favorite pairing has always been Parmesan cheese. Zucchini and Parmesan are the new peanut butter and jelly, trust me. The original recipe for this used sharp cheddar (which is one of my favorite cheeses), so I decided to make a double batch and try it both ways. Parmesan was so much better. You can use any cheese you want really, but I highly recommend you go with Parmesan.
This recipe comes together very quickly and makes a perfect side dish or hors d’oeuvre. The tots are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and they make a great healthy replacement for tater tots. If you have kids who usually turn up their noses at vegetables, these zucchini tots could be a great solution. At only 27 calories each, these are tots you can feel great about! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Zucchini Tots
Ingredients
- 1 cup shredded zucchini, I shredded mine on the large holed side of a box grater
- ¼ medium onion, chopped
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
- 1 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (I use the smaller holed side of a box grater. Alternately, if you want to use canned grated Parmesan cheese you can use ¼ cup of that.)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400. Mist a 12 cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Wrap the shredded zucchini in a paper towel (or clean dish towel) and squeeze to extract any excess moisture from the zucchini.
- In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients until combined. Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared mini muffin tin and press down on the filling in each cup with the back of the spoon to compact them together.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the tops are beginning to turn golden. Run a plastic knife around the outside of each top while still in the muffin tin and they will come right out.
Notes
1 per tot, 2 tots are still 1, 3 tots are 2 (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) slightly adapted from The Two Bite Club
I love zucchini as well! Printed this and make them this weekend! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
I hope you loved it 🙂
Yum! I love tater tots and zucchini over potatoes sounds good to me!
I love tater tots too and I thought these were a really yummy sub. Hope you like them!
These look great! Problem: hubby cannot eat onions. Any suggestions?
You could leave them out and add a little more zucchini and maybe some onion powder (if he can eat that) or some garlic for flavor?
Made these today…they are great!
Can your husband eat scallions or shallots? They would also be good.
Forgot I had posted this comment! I made these at holiday time without onion (used a little onion powder) and they were great. Everyone gobbled them up!
What a terrific idea. I bet I could get my nephew who won’t touch a veggie to eat these!
I’m definitely thinking these would be kid-approved!
Hello
Thanks for the Zucchini Tots recipe.
I’ll create one for sure, my kids are gonna like it 🙂
If you don’t mind, can I submit your Zucchini Tots photo in http://www.foodporn.net ?
It’s a food photography site full of all DIY food pictures from members around the world. Or perhaps you’d like to submit by yourself? Let me know when you did, so I can share it.
Love the idea, love your recipes, check your page every day. I made these yesterday and it was a struggle. I doubled recipe, I spent 20 mins. squeezing moisture out. I use zuchinni alot and when making breads I learned the hard way. Tops were browned, underneath must mush. I took them out of pan put back in oven and kept turning them. I like my tots crispy and this worked for me. So after playing, I found a recipe I will use again. Thank you.
Nancy
Hm, that didn’t happen to me but I’m sorry it happened for you! I’m glad you were able to work it out. Nobody wants mushy tots. 🙂
What a great idea! I made these yesterday and they were a hit at my house. Can’t wait to make them again. Thanks! 🙂
I’m so happy you loved them!
After shredding the zucchini, I salt it and place it in a colander over a larger bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour. Most of the liquid will drain into the bowl.
Made these last night and brought them to a work pot luck today! Also made your cheesey potatoes recipe and they were both a hit! Thanks for the great recipes!
Hooray, I’m glad to hear they were a hit! 🙂
Want to make these tonight to go with dinner for our long weekend at work. I have shredded my own parm before and find that it takes A LOT to get to one ounce. When using the small hole on the grater, it makes it so light and fine. Do you find that also?
Yup, it piles fluffy when you grate it small!
I made these for dinner tonight and they were awesome! I have a feeling that I’ll be making these a lot.
I’m so glad!
These look amazing! I love little mini portion controlled foods.
Me too, Tami! Hope you like these. Love your blog 🙂
These were amazing. I made them last night for a dinner party and they were a huge success. Everyone loved them!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Awesome, I’m so glad to hear they were a hit! 🙂
The original recipe actually says you can use whatever cheese you want, so I don’t really see how this recipe is adapted at all from the original. The main reason I don’t like making recipes from this blog is that you typically use the same exact recipe and BARELY change it, and try to pass it off as your own magnificent creation. This isn’t your recipe by any means, whether you changed the cheese (as the original recipe said you could), or not.
What this post should say is you made the recipe from the Two Bite Club, but decided to try Parmesan cheese instead – as that website said you could – and you liked the result.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I feel I am very clear about stating the sources of my recipes and as you’ll see above, since i only used a different type of cheese and different breadcrumbs I labeled this as SLIGHTLY adapted. If you click on the recipe i used you will see that she “slightly” adapted it from someone else and that person did the same and so on. That is extremely common in food blogging. If i change nothing about a recipe i list the source directly, but if i use any different ingredients than the original I note the fact that it is adapted or slightly adapted. I always credit the source with a direct link. I also post original recipes and call them such, so anyone who reads my blog can tell the difference. Many bloggers post their recipe source as a tiny footnote but i credit any sources right at the top. If you are unhappy with this practice I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a lot of food blogs to follow. I’m sorry you don’t like making recipes from my blog. You are welcome to stop!
*grammatical errors courtesy of my phone*
The magnificent part about the internet is that you can take your thumb or forefinger, move it slightly, press down to click, and BAM- you’re no longer looking at something you don’t approve of!
Emily ALWAYS credits her sources. She’s not only following all legal obligations on her end, but she’s going above and beyond by linking the website. I’m going go assume you don’t have a pinterest or a tumblr or anything of that sort; almost absolutely nothing is completely original. Everything is adapted these days. If you don’t like one recipe, that’s fine; leave your feedback in the comments and explain your reasoning. If you don’t like her blog, then don’t read it doofus. Save yourself some time and scoot out of here.
Thanks, Joanna :). I try to always give credit where it is due. Of the 6 recipes displayed on the main page of my blog right now, 3 of them are originals that I came up with myself, so I would think it’s pretty easy to distinguish those from ones I’ve adapted or used from other sources. I appreciate your support. Thanks for reading!
She is not selling the recipes, she is sharing them with those of us lucky enough to know about her blog!! Find someone else to complain to, because we love everything she posts and don’t care where they come from 🙂
I just found youe blog Emily and I am so excited to try your recipes. Some people have nothing better to do with their time than critisize other people…I dont care if you created them all yourself or not… Im just happy I found them! 🙂 Keep it up! Ill let you know how they turn out!!
Adrienne
Ilove it when annoying people are wrong.
This is a direct quote from The Two Bite Club(:
“Okay, so when I saw this recipe I said to myself, surely Zucchini Tots can’t be a play on Tater Tots. Or can they? I was definitely intrigued.”
Oh wow, talk about shameful. Haha
Emily, I am so excited to try these!!!
to: Anonymous May 23, 2012 3:29 PM
i personally LOVE this blog. emily always cites where she got something from and its usually adaped to either be tastier or more WW friendly. do you check out a lot of other food blogs? in my experience, most of them tweak someone elses recipe or just make it as is and post about it.
your post is just really harsh and pretty snotty.. if youre so unhappy with the recipes on the site, why do you keep coming back?
emily, i for one love how simple and easy you make the recipes! cant wait for your busy life to settle down so i can feed the boy more of your EB goodness 🙂
-vanessa
Thanks, Vanessa! I’m glad you’re loving my blog. I can’t wait to start cooking and posting again!
Emily – These look amazing! I think it’s so awesome that you notate all the adaptations even small ones since you are making recipes with WW PP and we all know that even a different cheese or breadcrumb can change the PP values. It always amazes me how something so simple can make a recipe taste so very different (and oftentimes more perfect). Your blog is amazing and you do a great job of crediting other sources as well as throwing your own always amazing recipes up here. Your blog is my one stop resource for delicious health-friendly meals and I am so grateful to you for that! Yours is definitely one of the best food blogs out there and anyone who disagrees is free to look elsewhere. I would hope people would use this comments forum as it was meant to be used, to make comments regarding how the recipe cooked, tasted, etc. and maybe even (GASP) their own adaptations. You ROCK.
Thanks, Cassie :). Seasoned breadcrumbs vs plain bread crumbs ARE different points in the tracker so little changes can definitely affect the Points+ values. It’s definitely one of the reasons that I note when I have adapted a recipe, even in a small way! Thanks for understanding that. I’m so glad you’re enjoying my blog! Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂
emily – you rock! what i love about your site is that it’s a one stop shop for a bunch of great, healthy, recipes, whether original or adapted or slightly adapted or unadapted or mutated or WHATEVER! idc! they’re delicious and i’m thankful that you’ve put them all together on your blog so i don’t have to search around the internet…because the more you search around the internet, the more trolls you come across…ahem..anon…ahem. keep up the good work emily!
Aw, thanks, Savannah! I really appreciate your comment :). Thank you so much for following my blog and cooking along with me. YOU rock!
I have just found your blog today! I am loving what I see. I have my notepad right here making my shopping list up for next week. Thanks for the wonderful healthy recipes !
Sue
Thanks! Let me know what you end up making 🙂
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G !! I doubled the recipe and made 10 tots in a regular sized cupcake pan. I ran the ingredients through WW recipe builder and found that the ENTIRE doubled recipe is only 16 points. I ate 5 tots for dinner and was completely satisfied and happy as a clam. The combo of parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and zucchini is pure HEAVEN to me. As I ate some of the left-overs for breakfast this morning, I realized it almost tastes like stuffing and I might just try stuffing chicken with it. Thank you Emily Bites for getting me to my WW goal. You are the BEST ! Diane
Awesome, I’m glad to hear they work well larger. It does taste kind of like stuffing 0 great idea! Also, CONGRATULATIONS on reaching your WW goal!!! That’s amazing, you should feel great. 🙂
I LOVE your blog! I found out about it on the Weight Watchers message boards and I have been checking it pretty regularly for months. I have loved every recipe I have ever tried from your website. I did notice the above negative comment and it really annoys me. Your blog follows the same pattern that I have seen every other food blog. You shouldn’t feel bad about it. As a matter of fact, I found myself at the Two Bite Club blog a few days ago and I would have never found it if not for your post. Also, if you had just posted a link to their blog for the recipe then I would have never tried these! I know I am rambling but I love what you do and no one should make you feel bad about it!
Aw, thanks, Misty! I really appreciate your comment. I guess when you put yourself out there on the internet you leave yourself open to criticism. It does bother me, but luckily I’m over it now. Thank you for the great comment and for following my blog :).
I made these with dinner last night and they were a HIT with my family. We also tried the taco cups a while back and yummy!!!! I will definitely be back to try more of your delicious recipes.
Thanks,
Antoinette
Glad you loved them, Antoinette!
Made these last night and they were a huge hit. I doubled the recipe and the family ate every last one!! I have three boys (20 mos, 3 and 4) and they all loved them. Had to cut off the youngest one or he would have eaten them all!! A great way to use our garden fresh zucchini.
Yay, it’s always a good day when the kids are eating veggies excitedly, right? So glad to hear these were a hit 🙂
I’m going to have to try these, they look awesome!
I hope you love them!
These are truly fantastic, I ate the whole recipe for lunch today! Thank you for posting these, and thank you for this blog! I am new here, I think it’s fantastic you do all the leg work and share these point friendly (and worthy) recipes. My next on the list to try is the chicken tamale bake/casserole/hotdish 🙂
Thank you, Dela! I really appreciate your comment :). Glad you loved these. 🙂
LOVE THEM IF U EAT THE WHOLE TRAY HOW MANY POINTS PLZ??
8 P+
Will the mixture hold up well enough to bake small balls on a cookie sheet if I don’t have a mini muffin tin?
I haven’t tried that so I can’t say for sure but I think so!
Thank you so much for this great recipe. Made these this weekend and LOVED them. They came out perfect! I even baked them in my toaster oven. So yummy, thank you!
I’m so glad you loved them!
These are so good! Thank you for the recipe.
Happy they were a hit!
My family and I love these guys!!!
I have made theme several times and different variations. I have made them with a couple of pinches of garlic powder instead of the onions. I have also made them without the bread crumbs and increased the cheese by a couple of Tbls and they were great. Someone asked if they would hold up the shape without a muffin tin…. I think it would work, just make sure your squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Like Emily states in the recipes, this last step is very important as it makes the muffins crispy.
I shred my zucchini in the food processor then dump it all in a big doubled up tea towel, I pick up the towel up by the four corners and twist, twist, twist until there is no more liquid coming out.
Hope this help. Thanks Emily for a great recipe
Enjoy!
Antoinette
Thanks for reporting back on all your variations! Good to know for people looking for an even lower carb option that they can replace the bread crumbs with more cheese. Thanks for commenting!
I individually formed these into small little puffs to try to pass them off more as tater tots. I doubled the recipe and got 85 puffs. When cooking this way, you will want to turn them over after about 6 minutes to get them crispy all over. These are delicious. Thanks Emily!
I’m glad they worked out that way – thanks for reporting back! 🙂
I just made these for dinner. My kids liked them as well as my daughters friend. I just copied the recipe for her mom as well.. My only suggestion would be to generously grease the muffin tin.
Great healthy side dish! Thank you so much sharing!
Lorinda
Happy to hear these were a hit with the kids! 🙂
Not sure if I did something wrong but I put mine into a chopper to chop them up and followed the receipe mine had no liquid coming out of them not sure if I scooped to much I did 1/4 of a cup into each tin that is about what it took to fill it and only made 6 had to make another batch…
1/4 cup? I am guessing you made these in regular sized muffin tins instead of using the mini ones?
Made double batch of these and brought them to work. Had to make 25 copies of the recipe…Everyone loved them..Thank you for the great recipes.
Thanks, I didn’t relize there were different size muffin pans…This is the first time I tried one of your muffin receipes are they all made with the mini for the future…
Nope, just the ones that specifically say to use a mini muffin tin
Is it necessary to use bread crumbs? I’m assuming it’s to help hold everything together? I’m on a low carb diet and would love to find an alternative to the bread crumbs to attempt to make these. Any suggestions?
I was wondering if I make these tonight for a BBQ. Tomorrow how can I reheat them or can we eat the cold?
I was wondering if I make these tonight for a BBQ. Tomorrow how can I reheat them or can we eat the cold?
We shred and dehydrate most of our zucchini. Thanks for the great idea.
I love love this recipe. I love zucchini. Thank you for the wonderful recipes. I like how you have taken foods we all love an redo them to healthier versions. It is great when trying to be healthierto eat yummy foods too. So many great things on this site I can’t wait ro try. Keep up the great work!
Have to give this recipe to my sis in law she makes killer zucchini bread and chocolate chip zucchini cookies.. she is gonna love this.
Thank you–I will probably make these when I get home tonight as I have a giant zucchini sitting around the kitchen that is begging to be paired with cheese and eaten.
These were sooooo good!!!! Made them last night and my boyfriend and I loved them. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
Just made these tonight. I used my baby cupcake maker since I didn’t have mini muffin pans. They were perfect. My husband loved them, and he is picky. Thank you.
Emily, I do not share your love for zucchini but I know vegetables are good for me and I have monster zucchinis in my garden so I’ve searched out recipes to use it. Blech. Until these little delights! I followed your recipe exactly and tentatively tasted my first one expecting to throw them all away. Lets just say good thing thing I made a whole recipe so my husband could try them! He tasted one and said, “must not be much zucchini in these, they’re good.” I still don’t think he believes me that they’re actually good for us. Excellent recipe! You’ve converted me to a zucchini bite lover!!
FYI, I quadrupled the recipe and froze them and then reheated them in the microwave. Turned out good. I like them freshly baked best but reheated works ok too. I’m going to try them in the oven, lightly sprayed with cooking oil so they don’t dry out and see how that turns out too. Great recipe though!! Turned out great twice in a row!!
I think I may try to serve these at my daughthers birthday party. How do they taste at room temperature? Thanks!
Sorry I haven’t read all the comments but have you ever frozen these?
I made these this week and they are AWESOME!!!!! I used italian seasoned breadcrumbs and they were just yummy! I also put more zuccini in than called for, but for some reason, mine were smaller than what shows in the pictures here…still yummy tho!
Emily,
I just recently found your blog and I absolutely LOVE it! I use ‘my fitness pal’ and can never seem to accurately log in meals that are home made. Thank you so much for this! Also, I’m a teacher so having hand held lunches are perfect for me!
Thanks again!
Emily,
I just recently found your blog and I absolutely LOVE it! I use ‘my fitness pal’ and can never seem to accurately log in meals that are home made. Thank you so much for this! Also, I’m a teacher so having hand held lunches are perfect for me!
Thanks again!
Emily,
I have three letter for you…OMG!!!! These were SOOOO good!!! I am a potato freak and I have now been able to replace my love for potatoes with something SO MUCH better for me! Thanks so much!
Is it possible to make these without a muffin tin? Would they cook the same if i just place them on a cookie sheet?
These were really good. I actually completely forgot the onion but they still came out well.
Also, these can be frozen and reheated in the oven or a toaster oven if anyone is wondering. I haven’t tried a microwave though.
These were a hit with my kids! They are picky eaters and my son even 4! Yay!
Just made a double batch for a Christmas Eve party. Served with a bowl of KRAFT Creamy Horseradish Spread. Added a nice kick. thanks!
Do you think these would work with chopped can artichoke hearts instead of zucchini?
I just made these, and they are incredible. I don’t have mini muffin tins, so I just divided into the 12 portions, and put on a sprayed cookie sheet, turning once! My husband and son like them, too!
Thank you!
That last post is mine–just an update–made 2 more batches!! Will be great for snacks to take to work–if DH and DS don’t eat them all first!
These are so good!!
Aww Yeah! I’ve made these before and lost the recipe. I think I’ll try making them with leftover rice as a sub for the breadcrumbs for a gluten-free edition. ( gee. I hope that previous poster doesn’t find me!)
Tonight, I shall make these for the Tater-Tot monsters ( 4 and 1 year old boys) Mr 1 Year Old has been incredibly picky lately.
They didn’t like 🙁 Oh well. More for ME!
these were delicious! definitely use freshly grated parm cheese. i made 24 of them for my family and the kids were fighting over them!
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Thanks, they were really good! I served them with some grilled chicken breast and even my two-year-old (who usually refuses to eat even the tiniest bit of zucchini) loved them. Will definitely make them again!
I made some tonight for dinner to test them out, and they were delish, maybe a little plain because I didnt season them enough. I left out the onions, but added onion powder(I cant stand the texture of onions). Next time I make them I’ll add more onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and maybe a little kick. I will be making them again, on Friday for a potluck. Tonight I ate them with ketchup, cause they’re like tots. But I dont think I can serve them with ketchup at the potluck, any suggestions for a dipping sauce? maybe a bit fancier but still easy to do?
So I got to pretend I was a good cook, and made fancy things. I made these and the strawberry cheesecake bites for a potluck.
I seasoned the Zucchini tots, doubled the recipe, left out the onions, and they were gone before it got to my turn (good thing I ate some before I brought them)
and I made a dip/sauce for them
• ½ Cup Mayo (Olive oil)
• ½ Cup Plain Greek Oil
• 4-5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dill Weed
• ½ tablespoon lemon pepper
Its about 19 calories per tablespoon, and a tablespoon was enough for 2 tots.
http://emilybites.com/2012/02/cheesecake-stuffed-strawberries.html
And the only difference I made with the strawberry cheesecake bites was for easier serving, I used like 4 grahm crackers, crushed/blended fine put them on my serving dish, and after I piped the filling in I just put them top down on the bed of crumbs, rather than crumb-ing everyone.
I’ve made these more times than I can count! I love them, so yummy!
Emily, these are a HUGE hit my husband and son! I doubled the recipe and used the regular size cupcake pan and we had these for breakfast, YUM!!! I tell everyone on facebook about the recipes I try,keep on coming up with great recipes!
Just made this as a side for our dinner (steak shish kebobs) and I LOVE THEM. I just popped 2 in my mouth to “test” them before dinner. Since I had a yellow summer squash on hand, I added close to a cup of shredded squash. I also used Kraft RF parmesan and Kikkoman Panko breadcrumbs (because that’s what I had on hand). (I also use Eggland’s Best eggs, which I think may have a slightly different point value than reg eggs (??)) I put everything in WW Recipe Builder and it said the WHOLE batch was only 5 pts! (I got 16 tots with my squash addition)
Love this idea! What can I sub the breadcrumbs for? Gluten allergy here 🙁
Making these again in double batch tonight for 2nd time this week!
My adaptations included:
-using truffle salt
-subbed Grana Padano, as a suggestion from our local Italian grocer. This is a younger, Parm-Reg with same flavor and sharpness, however it grates much better and doesn’t crumble like regular Parm.
– added truffle cheese in one batch also.
Thank you to the commentator for the tip on getting excess moisture out of the zucchini – the salt, colander and paper towels really helped!
So far so good! Everyone I’ve given these too has devoured them and asked for the recipe – sending them right here to your page!
I keep coming back to this recipe. I think I have made it at least 5 times in the past 2 or so years and it’s always so satisfying. I serve the tots with marinara as a dipping sauce. So good! The only complaint I have is that my tots always stick horribly in my aluminum muffin pans. Normally, it’s worth the work to coax them out, but tonight I was in a rush and making a huge batch to take to work. I decided to try to drop the mixture onto parchment-lined cookie sheets instead. It was so much easier: no sticking and less fuss portioning than with the muffin tins. You will get less browning than with the muffin tin, so be ready to flip them over near the end and give them a few extra minutes in the oven. I’ve already eaten four…how many will be left for work tomorrow? 🙂
Can these be frozen? I have a large batch of zucchini I need to do something with. Thanks!
I know that this is way late – but I had to post. I made these for a girls’ brunch and everyone was making fun of me for trying to bring healthy food. One of the other girls brought bacon muffins to “counteract” my healthy zucchini 🙂 One, the zucchini tots were gone in about ten minutes, while the bacon ones sat untouched. Two, my dad tried the leftovers and is insisting I make them for Thanksgiving appetizer!
These are absolutely great!!
Hi, I recently came across your site and I am excited to try your recipes. I want to make this for my fussy 2 year old, but she is allergic to eggs. Any substitutes?
Thanks,!