I Make My Chef Friend’s 3-Ingredient Tater Tot Appetizer Every Year for the Holidays

I attended a chef friend’s New Year’s Eve party a few years ago, and it changed the way I see tater tots forever. Normally I associate the frozen potato bites with kiddie meals with lots of ketchup, but my friend Pete made them into a posh party appetizer with just three ingredients.

It’s a simple riff on the caviar-on-potato chips trend that surfaced in the 2000s, thanks to celebrity chefs like Martha Stewart and Tyler Florence (no, it was not invented by a TikTok celebrity). Instead of potato chips, this appetizer uses hot, crispy (and slightly greasy) tater tots. When combined with the tang of sour cream and the fresh brininess of fish roe, they make a fun, high-low party appetizer that always garners a chuckle — and a request for seconds and thirds. 

Not only is this appetizer deliciously luxe-tasting, but it’s also actually fairly thrifty. Of course you could splash out on a jar of pricey osetra caviar, but I have a better way. Stop by an Asian supermarket like HMart or a grocery store with a good seafood department and pick up fresh salmon roe (aka ikura) instead. It’s the same bright orange beads of fish roe you see at sushi restaurants. At about $6 an ounce, ikura is a thriftier way to get that fresh, briny pop of pricier caviars without taking out a second mortgage. 

As if the good folks at Ore-Ida knew what I was up to with their tots, they’ve come out with a tot variation called Crispy Crowns (a winner in this year’s Kitchn Grocery Essentials!). They’re the same seasoned, shredded potatoes, but instead of being formed into little sausage shapes, Crispy Crowns are flattened into quarter-sized pucks — the perfect size to hold a dab of sour cream and a few fish eggs. Did I mention that they’re extra delicious paired with sparkling wine? Party on!

It’s important to serve these tot-etizers when the potatoes are still warm; they lose their charm once cold. Heat up about five potato crowns per person according to the package instructions; I find that my air fryer produces the crispest results. (A bit of catering math: a 30-ounce bag of potato crowns contains about 90 pieces. One half of a bag will serve about nine people, five pieces each. Figure you’ll need about 1 1/2 ounces of roe to top 45 tots.) 

To make the assembly a breeze, I put sour cream in a squeeze bottle with a tiny bit of water to thin it out. Once the hot tots are arranged on a serving platter, it’s a breeze to give each of them a squirt of sour cream. Then I use a tiny spoon to dot a small amount of fish eggs on top of the sour cream on each tot. 

You may want to heat up more tots while you are serving the first platter … these bites disappear fast! 

Buy: Ore-Ida Crispy Crowns Seasoned Shredded Potatoes, $6.99 (on sale!) for 30 ounces at Instacart; Eco Falls Wild Salmon Caviar, $11.99 for 2 ounces at Instacart

What’s your favorite thing to add to tater tots? Tell us about it in the comments below.