Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups
These Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups use just five ingredients and are a perfect appetizer or snack for parties, gatherings, or watching the game at home. I think they’d also be great as a side dish or as part of a brunch spread! My family raved about these and I can’t wait to make them the next time I get together with friends. These mini tater tot cups are perfectly bite-sized and pack a ton of flavor! The tot cups get crispy in the oven and are filled with melted cheddar cheese, salty, smoky bacon, a little dollop of cool sour cream, and a sprinkle of fresh chives. They’re so good! Not only are these Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups a simple, tasty finger food, but each one is just 50 calories or 2 WW Point on Weight Watchers! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here!
Storing and Re-Heating
If you make these for a crowd it’s highly unlikely you’ll have any leftovers! However, if you’re not planning to serve these all at once, I’d recommend only adding the sour cream to the ones you plan to serve now. You can add the bacon and chives to all the cups and then store any you don’t use in the refrigerator until you’re ready to re-heat them. Once they’re heated you just add sour cream and eat. To re-heat, I just put the tater tot cups in my air fryer at 350 for a couple minutes and they got crispy all over again!
Ingredient Notes
- Tater Tots: Just make sure you use regular sized tater tots, not the mini ones. I didn’t count how many come in a bag, but I bought a standard sized bag of frozen tater tots and I’d say this recipe used about half the bag, which means you can make it again!
- Cheese: I used shredded cheddar cheese made with 2% milk (so reduced fat). Cheddar is definitely the classic flavor for a “loaded” potato, but you can mix it up if you have other cheese on hand! A pepper jack or colby jack cheese would be tasty!
- Bacon: I pretty much always use center cut bacon in my recipes, because it’s just a leaner cut of traditional bacon. It tastes great and crisps up beautifully. I always buy Oscar Mayer brand, but any brand will do. If you’d prefer to substitute turkey bacon, that will work as well.
- Sour Cream: I use light sour cream in this recipe, and that’s usually what I have on hand. If you have regular or fat free sour cream, either one will of course work great and will just slightly alter the nutrition information.
- Chives: I love the fresh, mild onion flavor of chives, and since they’re tiny they work especially well on these Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups! If you have scallions on hand, you can definitely use those instead.
More Tasty Lightened Up Appetizers for Parties
Although these Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups are super versatile and perfect as a side dish, breakfast, or snack, I mostly think of them as an appetizer or finger food for parties or get-togethers. If you’re looking for more tasty lightened up finger foods, check out my Bisquick Chicken Sausage Balls, Taco Dip Bites, Tomato and Goat Cheese Bruschetta, Caprese Wonton Bites, Goat Cheese Mushroom Tartlets, Olive Tapenade Goat Cheese Crostini, Ham and Cheese Twists, Loaded Potato Rounds, Cheesy Apple Walnut Bruschetta, Buffalo Chicken Taquitos, Pepperoni Pull Apart Muffins, Caprese Tarts, Cheesy Spinach Pinwheels, Enchilada Cheese Rolls, Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts, Pizza Logs and many more in my recipe index!
Mini Loaded Tater Tot Cups
Ingredients
- 48 regular-sized frozen tater tots
- 3 slices center cut bacon
- 2 oz shredded 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup light sour cream
- 1 teaspoon chopped chives
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425. Mist a 24-count mini muffin tin with cooking spray and position two tater tots into each well. Place the muffin tin into the heated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- While the tots are baking, cook the bacon to crisp according to package instructions, and then let it drain on paper towels. Crumble or chop the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
- When the tots come out of the oven, use something circular that’s either flat or rounded on the bottom and about 3/4” – 1” wide (I used the back of a serving utensil) to push into the center of each pair of tater tots, pressing down the center to form a cup (see photo in post above). Place the potato cups back into the oven for 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly amongst the cups. Return the cups to the oven for another 5 minutes.
- Remove the cheesy potato cups from the muffin tin and transfer them to a serving platter. Top each cup with ½ teaspoon of sour cream and then sprinkle the crumbled bacon and chopped chives evenly amongst the cups. Serve immediately.
Notes
50 calories, 4 g carbs, 0 g sugars, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 g protein, 0 g fiber, 136 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
1 per piece (P+ calculated using a WWPP calculator an the nutrition information provided) Adapted from Gourmet Garage
Ok….now these look fabulous and I will definitely make as is, but I’d love your suggestions about making some of them vegetarian. You knew you’d get that question…lol. Thanks!!
Haha, you can absolutely skip the bacon to make them vegetarian, or you you could always try using a meatless “bacon” like the ones from Morningstar Farms or Lightlife! I pretty much always enjoy Morningstar products, so although I haven’t tried their “bacon,” I’m guessing it would be tasty and add that salty, smoky flavor.