Tater-Less Cheesy Zucchini Tots — You’ll never miss the taters! Crispy, crunchy, and sooo good! You’ll forget you’re eating zucchini!
Recipe for Zucchini Tater Tots
I have fond childhood memories of tater tots. What kid doesn’t love tater tots? Submerging and smothering them in oodles of ketchup is the best.
It’s amazing how closely the texture of these baked zucchini tots resembles real tater tots, and after being dipped in ketchup you’ll totally forget you’re eating zucchini. I did as I proceeded to eat half the batch.
Bite-for-bite zucchini has far less calories and carbs than potatoes so you can eat way more of it. Nevermind that it’s breaded in Parmesan, but at least it’s baked rather than fried.
The tots are surprisingly crispy and crunchy on the outside, while the zucchini inside softens but retains some texture.
Best tots ever. You’ll never miss the taters!
Zucchini Tots Ingredients
To make the zucchini tater tots, you’ll need:
- Zucchini
- All-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
- Jerk or Creole seasoning (optional)
- Eggs
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Parmesan cheese
How to Make Zucchini Tots
This cheesy zucchini tots recipe is easy to make, although coating the zucchini chunks in the breading mixture does require some patience.
Here’s how the lower carb zucchini tots are made:
- Slice the zucchini (I quarter it into long spears, then slice the spears into 1-inch long segments).
- Sprinkle the zucchini with flour, salt and pepper, any optional seasonings or spices, and toss to coat evenly; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.
- In a separate large bowl, add the Panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and stir to combine.
- Using your hands, add about half of the floured zucchini pieces to the eggs for a quick dunk.
- Remove zucchini from eggs and transfer to breadcrumb mixture. Toss with hands or a spoon to coat evenly.
- Place zucchini on parchment paper-lined baking tray, spaced evenly and without touching.
- Repeat battering process with remaining zucchini and place on baking tray.
- Bake until lightly golden brown.
What to Serve with Zucchini Tots
These cheesy zucchini tots pair well with lots of different dipping sauces, including:
- Ketchup
- Parmesan dip
- Ranch dip
- Wasabi dip
Can You Freeze Zucchini Tots?
Yes, but I recommend baking the tots, letting them cool to room temp, and then freezing them. Don’t freeze them prior to baking as the zucchini will release moisture once frozen and change texture.
Tips for Making Zucchini Tater Tots
I used and recommend Panko breadcrumbs. They’re Japanese-style breadcrumbs and are sold next to regular breadcrumbs, but they’re larger, coarser, and get crispier in the oven.
You can spice up the breading mixture with jerk or Creole seasoning, or add chili powder or cayenne for extra oomph.
There are mild Parmesan undertones in these cheesy zucchini tots, and you could make Creamy Parmesan Dip to intensify the Parmesan flavor, but I love the tots with good old-fashioned ketchup.
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Tater-Less Parmesan Zucchini Tots
Ingredients
- 2 medium/large zucchini, sliced into tot-sized pieces, about 1/2-inch diameter and 1-inch long (I didn’t peel)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- salt and pepper, to taste
- pinch Jerk or Creole seasoning, cayenne, chili powder, etc. optional and to taste
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, fresh or green can
- ketchup, for serving (or Creamy Parmesan Dip, Creamy Wasabi Dip, Spiced Ranch Dip
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat, parchment, or spray with cooking spray.
- Slice the zucchini (I quarter it into long spears, then slice the spears into 1-inch long segments) and transfer zucchini pieces to a large bowl.
- Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper, any optional seasonings or spices, and toss to coat evenly; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, beat the eggs; set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, add the Panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and stir to combine; set aside.
- Using your hands or a slotted spoon, add about half of the floured zucchini pieces to the eggs for a quick dunk.
- Remove zucchini from eggs and transfer to breadcrumb mixture. Toss with hands or a spoon to coat evenly.
- Place zucchini on prepared baking tray, spaced evenly and without touching. You want the oven air to circulate freely on all pieces so they get as crispy as possible.
- Repeat battering process with remaining zucchini and place on baking tray. The process is messy and not every piece will be evenly coated and breaded. Overall, if most pieces are coated, you’re fine.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Start watching closely and checking after 9 minutes. Watch so the undersides don’t become overly browned or burn. Because all ovens, size of the tots, thickness of coating mixture, and personal preferences vary, cooking times will vary.
- Tots are best warm and fresh. Serve with ketchup or your favorite dip.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These look delicious, and finally a healthy tater tot! I need to make these, sneak some good veggies into our diet.
Thanks for the 5 star review and yes, tater tots don’t get any healthier than this kind!
These look delicious, and finally a healthy tater tot! I need to make these, sneak some good veggies into our diet.
Sounds like a great recipe! Easy to follow and a new and fresh idea of how to fix zucchini. Thanks for sharing!
julieblanner.com
Wow. These look absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to give them a try.
I’d eat a bowl of these with that Spicy Ranch Dip. YUM!
LOVE your blog. I just stumbled upon it and I couldn’t be more excited to start making some of these recipes, this one included!
Well thank you! :)
These look great! I have more squash in my CSA box this week (again), so I will be making these. I made totally different tots the other day (grated squash + cheese + breadcrumbs, yum!), but these look even easier.
They are easy and sounds like a great CSA box will be put to use :)
I wasn’t introduced to tater tots until I was about 14 years old (tragic!!). I’ve made up for lost time. :D *Love* your lightened-up version.
Hi Averie! This looks so good, and perfect for my kiddos… I’m always trying to substitute more veggies for them. I’ve made something really similar to this, only with eggplant! What is really fun is to try a bunch of different sauces (I’ve tried truffle ketchup, garlic aioli, and jalapeno aioli so far!)
I’m definitely going to try the zucchini though… any excuse to use Panko (ha!) and get my kids to eat their veggies. Seriously, it’s the bane of my existence right now.
Thanks for sharing this! :)
Hope your kids enjoy them and if they eat eggplant, I have a feeling these will be even easier for them to ‘tolerate’ :)
Wow – these look so awesome! Such a yummy (and healthy!) snack for the summer. Definitely going to be trying these. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning, Rachel!
What a great, creative idea for a recipe!
I’ll trade you a few of these for those Beach House Cosmos! One of my fave posts of yours in awhile! :)
Panko breads are fantastic! I love that you are on a breading, baking, dipping roll … sounds like my kind of eating style! I actually have only had tater tots a couple times (ikr?) but I’m loving this zucchini version! If I’m going to be dipping, it better have some nutrition, because I’m going to dipping a lot! :)
I’m a mega-dipper that can put down a bowl of dip or four, fast :)
I don’t know how you do it, Averie. So freakin creative!! My friend just started a food truck serving sliders and tots. I’m sharing this with him immediately :)
Todd you have amazing recipes and please let me know if your friend makes a million bucks with some zucchini tots :)
Love this idea..it might cause me to eat more zucchini! Plus it’s breaded in parmesan? Count me in, this looks awesome!
I actually didn’t have tater tots very often as a kid… My mom was more fond of making us fish sticks instead, so I didn’t really have very many tater tots until middle and high school when my friends’ parents made them at our sleepovers. It was really tempting to skip the popcorn and ice cream while we were watching movies and just eat tater tots instead! But since I don’t exactly have the same metabolism anymore, I’d much rather eat your zucchini tots. Yum!
Fish sticks rather than tater tots…we must have had the same mom :)
If that’s true, then it makes sense we both love baking (and running) so much! ;)
Zucchini is a glorious thing. We recently discovered baked zucchini chips. Well, let’s just say that we have a new addiction. Love this crunchy recipe!
Zucchini chips are the best and baked, nice job :)