The Frozen Food That Will Change Your Nacho Game Forever

Just when you thought the recipe for your plate of macho nachos was set in stone, along comes an idea so delicious, so ingenious, you'll wonder why you've never tried it before — swapping out that pile of ho hum corn chips and inserting a mound of tater tots in their place. Called "totchos," nachos sans corn chips still get a most excellent array of toppings: pepper jack and cheddar cheese, a helping of corn and black bean salad, sliced jalapeño peppers, and of course, dollops of sour cream and plenty of avocado slices to cool off the fire.

The tastiest tots are the foundation of this swap out, so be sure to consider your options carefully. Standard tater tots, like those made by Ore-Ida work just fine in this recipe. However, experimenting with sweet potato tots — or even tots seasoned with a packet of dry ranch dressing, taco seasoning, or your own blend of spices, like cayenne pepper, onion, garlic, paprika, oregano, and chili powders — creates a more fun platter to share among friends. Think of it this way: Adding seasonings to the tater tots at this stage is akin to making a regular plate of nachos using Cool Ranch Doritos instead of plain corn chips. It's just yummier.

Once you've landed on which type of tot you'll use, scatter a generous helping of them out on a greased baking sheet. They should be spaced out evenly to ensure that all of them get cooked thoroughly. Additionally, if one of the reasons you love nachos so much comes down to having some extra crunchy corn chips to nosh on, then making extra crispy tater tots helps you replicate that experience from a texture perspective. A spritz of flavored olive oil or melted butter helps to create more crispy spuds.

Next, you'll add the cheese and other toppings after the spuds cook up nice and crispy. At minimum, you'll want grated cheese. Cheddar is common, but mixing a variety of cheeses jacks up the flavor. Or, you may want to try whipping up some jalapeño and cheese sauce to pour all over the top of the tots. If you don't have a recipe for queso that you like, think about subbing in one of the Tostitos' cheese sauces, like Queso Blanco Dip, in place of your homemade dip.

After the cheese is melted, add layers of flavor by topping the treat with diced tomatoes, jalapeños, or even sweet peppers, salsa, corn, chopped green onions, and olives. If you prefer to eat this recipe with protein, try chopping up some leftover Thanksgiving turkey, ground beef, pork, or chorizo sausage, or even bits of fried chicken. If you're not keen on eating meat, then top your totchos with some seasoned black beans or a helping of a three-bean vegetarian chili to give them some extra heartiness.

The presence of tater tots in your nachos suggests more than just an inviting post-game snack. It has all the earmarks of a mash-up going on. In other words, nachos aren't just a fool-proof treat on game day. They're also candidates for a tater tot nacho breakfast skillet.

This starts with much of the same ingredients as the appetizer version of the dish. However, in addition to the tots, a fried egg, bacon bits, refried beans, and a bit more salsa turn this tatery dish into a huevos rancheros upgrade. 

If you still want to make it even more breakfast-like, swap out the tater tots for some flat breakfast hash browns, the kind you'd get when you go through the morning drive-through at McDonald's. Put the totchos in a skillet and bake until the cheese practically bubbles over the side, and you'll forget why you ever thought that nachos were limited to just dinner. Viva la breakfast tatchos!