Tater Tot Skewers make a fun party appetizer or snack. Tater tots and bacon threaded on a skewer. What’s not to love about that?
You’ll be the hit of the party with these tater tot skewers. Be quick or they might all get gobbled up before you even take one for yourself. Or make a second batch for yourself. Yeah. Even better idea.
To make your party table extra fun you could add Air Fryer Chicken Fajita Kebabs and Salad Skewers to make a trio of skewers.
Crispy tater tots and bacon are baked on a stick, then sprinkled with cheddar cheese and green onions. Serve these skewers with plenty of dip for dunking. They’re perfect for book club meetings, birthday parties, or potlucks.
Or, make them for an afternoon snack and win the best snack award. Be sure to supervise young kids with these tater tot skewers, since the sticks are sharp.
How to Skewer Tater Tots
You can make your own Air Fryer Tater Tots if you’re feeling ambitious, or use frozen. Putting the tater tots onto the skewers can be tricky. Frozen tots are too hard, and trying to skewer them is dangerous. Simply defrosting them at room temperature leaves them dry and crumbly, and they’ll crack and crumble – not fun.
I found the easiest way to skewer tots is to bake them for about 15 minutes first. That will give them time to defrost in the center, but will allow the outer layer to crisp up and hold everything together.
What about the bacon?
For tater tot skewers, you’ll want to thread the bacon around the tots. To do this, start by pushing a tater tot onto a skewer. Don’t push it down right away – keep it near the skewer tip.
Now, poke the skewer through one end of a piece of bacon. Add a second tot, pushing everything down the skewer only as far as you need to. Pull the bacon up over the second tot, and pierce it with the skewer. Repeat, pushing everything down the skewer as you add more tots. Keep going until you reach the end of the bacon – I was able to fit about 5 tater tots on each skewer.
Keeping everything toward the tip of the skewer lets you weave the bacon around the tater tot. Otherwise, it will be too fat to push down and won’t reach the end of the skewer.
Why cut the bacon in half?
Cutting the bacon into two long strips keeps it from being too wide and floppy when you try to add it to the skewer. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of bacon flavor in each bite.
What dip should you use?
There are so many dipping options. You can never go wrong with Ranch dressing – it’s always a crowd-pleaser. But you can also try blue cheese, wing sauce, nacho cheese, or even barbecue sauce.
Print Tater Tot Skewers
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 35 Minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 10 Servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 1 lb. frozen tater tots
- 1 lb. bacon
- 4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 Tbsp. chopped chives
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 325°F.
- Pour the tater tots onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until softened and slightly crisp.
- Meanwhile, slice each piece of bacon in half to form two long strips.
- Push a tater tot onto a skewer. Don’t push it down right away – keep it near the skewer tip.
- Now, poke the skewer through one end of a piece of bacon. Add a second tot, pushing everything down the skewer only as far as you need to.
- Pull the bacon up over the second tot, and pierce it with the skewer. Repeat, pushing everything down the skewer as you add more tots.
- Place the skewers in a single layer on the baking sheet and return to the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until the bacon is crispy and the tots are golden brown.
- Sprinkle with cheese and bake 1-2 minutes, until melted. Immediately sprinkle with chives.
Can the tater tots skewers be made ahead of time and reheated?
Dorothy, I’ve never tried it but I think it should work fine. After you cook them the first time, everything will be crisp. It will soften a bit in the fridge. But if you heat them back up at a high temperature until heated through, I think they’ll crisp back up.