Crispy cauliflower tots that are low carb and keto-friendly. These tots are soft on the inside and crispy on the outside. They make a delicious side dish or snack!
I love making vegetable tots, especially cauliflower tots and over the years I’ve shared many homemade tot recipes. But most of the ones I previously created use panko breadcrumbs. This recipe does not use traditional breadcrumbs.
How to Make Cauliflower Tots
- To make cauliflower tots, you need to first rice the cauliflower. You can use pre-riced cauliflower as well but I like ricing my own in a food processor because I can rice the cauliflower more finely.
- It’s best to use fresh cauliflower. Frozen cauliflower retains a lot of moisture and may make the batter too wet to work with.
- Then, stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Scoop up tablespoons of cauliflower batter and form into a tot shape. Make sure to compact them really tight so that they don’t fall apart. This process will allow squeeze out excess moisture so that the tots will crisp up.
- The tots are then coated in a parmesan cheese breading. Then they are baked until crispy.
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauce. Sriracha mayonnaise, sugar-free ketchup, low carb marinara sauce are all good options.
Low Carb Breading using Parmesan Cheese
One of my favorite ways to make low carb recipes crispy is with parmesan cheese. Parmesan is a dry cheese. When baked, it develops a crispy texture. I used a similar process for my baked avocado chips and air fryer zucchini chips.
I used shredded parmesan cheese and then ran it through my food processor until the cheese became the size of breadcrumbs.
The tots are then coated in the cheese. When the tots cook, the cheese will melt and then crisp up over the tots, giving the tots a crispy cheese coating. So delicious!
You might like to try my keto zucchini tots, too.
Keto Cauliflower Tots
Ingredients
- 3 cups riced cauliflower (approximately 300 grams)
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese finely grated
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
Breading
- 1 cup parmesan cheese finely grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place cauliflower into a large microwave-safe bowl and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until tender (cauliflower does not need to be super soft, it only needs to be just cooked). You can also steam cauliflower until tender if you do not want to use the microwave. Let cauliflower cool for about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the cauliflower tot ingredients (except breading). Stir with a spatula or large spoon until evenly mixed.
- Scoop out 1 (packed) tablespoon of batter. Squeeze batter between your palms to compact it and drain out some of the excess liquid. The batter does not need to be bone dry, you just don’t want to keep any of the liquid that comes out as you are compacting the batter to form your tot. You should do this over the sink so that the liquid does not go back into the batter bowl.
- Use fingers to mold into a cylinder/tot shape. Set aside and repeat with remaining batter.
- Spread a thin layer of parmesan breading onto a flat surface. Briefly roll each tot in parmesan breading. The cheese should loosely stick to the tots since they are still very moist. Place onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 25 minutes total. After 15 minutes, briefly remove tots from oven to flip them over and then continue baking for another 10 minutes or until surface of tots are golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce.
Notes
- For the riced cauliflower, I put cauliflower florets through my food processor because it breaks down the cauliflower into smaller pieces than pre-riced cauliflower.
- You can use pre-riced (fresh) cauliflower but you may want to roughly chop them down a little more before using.
- Avoid using frozen cauliflower because it retains too much moisture.
- To get the parmesan cheese to be a finely grated texture, I used shredded parmesan cheese and then ran it through my food processor until the cheese became the size of breadcrumbs. See photo above in post for reference.
- You can do this by hand with a knife if you don’t own a food processor.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
They were amazing and honestly tasted like potato tots. I made a homemade ranch dip for them and it was a perfect pairing. It only made 24 tots for me which is fine. I used frozen cauliflower but once I cooked it I wrung it out with a potato sack towel and I couldn’t believe the amount of water that came out. I made sure they were super dry using this method. I cooked them in the air fryer at 400 degrees for 8 minutes and turned them once while baking. I also sprayed both side with cooking spray which gave them a nice brown crust. Thanks for posting the recipe.
We’re so glad they worked well in the sir fryer! Thanks for sharing you experience.
Thank you for all these wonderful recipes. I can’t wait to try the cake in a mug ones
We hope you love the recipes!
Is there a vegan version (without parmesan)? Btw, everyone talks of Parmesan, whereas the mother of hard cheeses is the Swiss SBRINZ. Ask for it at your cheese shop.
The cheese is what makes the tots crispy and we don’t have a vegan sub.
I’m a tater tot addict and now I have to give up potatoes for my diet. I’m going to give this try bless you
So glad you found the recipe – we hope you love it!
When do you incorporate the coconut flour?
Step 3
How does this recipe freeze? Can you make a big batch and freeze them for later?
the tots freeze well
I love panko! Hi! I am enjoying looking through your posts…great recipes …will have to try! Thank you! ~Blessings, Rosita
hope you enjoy!