8 Tater Tot Brands Ranked Worst To Best

There's nothing quite like a piping hot tater tot to satisfy a craving for delicious starchy slides. A quintessential comfort food that works with classic ketchup or an elevated condiment like truffle aioli, these little potato puffs bring a crunchy exterior and super soft interior to your plate. You can enjoy them as a quick snack thanks to the freezer-friendly packages that you can make in the oven, air fryer, or even the microwave if you're in a hurry. You can also try unconventional ways to use frozen tater tots: Add upgrades and toppings to transform these little potato puffs into nachos or create a delicious crust on savory mac and cheese.

Tater tots are a staple on many casual dining menus, but the top brands replicate this tasty side at home. Some restaurants even market tasty tots for home cooking using the same recipe. We tested top brands to find out which were the best. Taste and texture were big factors, of course, with the right balance of crisp and soft getting the best marks. They needed to taste savory while still working with condiments like ketchup to bring a balanced flavor. We looked at the nutrition facts, especially for tots with some extras like vegetables mixed into the blend. Finally, cost and availability were a consideration, since tots are a go-to budget-friendly side we can throw together quickly in our home. If we had to search to find a specific brand or style, chances are they wouldn't work well for us.

There are plenty of fast food fries in the freezer case but not many tots, so the Sonic version is definitely worth trying for fans of the drive-in chain. At Sonic, you can get them loaded with cheese, chili, or both. But to replicate these delicious tots at home, just pop a few in the oven or air fryer for a crunchy exterior and starchy inside. Not all stores carry them, and they only come in one size, so Sonic tots might require some extra effort to track down.

These have a light dusting of salt included, so you won't need to season them much, if at all. We liked them with ketchup, but you can also put cheese, chili, or even gravy on top to make a savory snack. These stay together well and don't stick to the pan if you make them in the oven, which was the most noticeable difference between these tots and others that we tried. The taste was pretty similar, but these were a bit easier to clean up.

At around $5.50 for a 28-ounce bag, they're a bit pricier than some of the store brands but very tasty and have a nice amount of crunch on the outside. If you're a big fan of Sonic tots and want to save a little by making them at home, these are worth the cost. But otherwise, stick with a cheaper tot that is easier to find at the store.

If you want tots in a flash (and let's be honest, who doesn't?), McCain Quick Cook Tasty Taters should be in your freezer. Even though most tots are done in less than 20 minutes in the oven, these cut that time almost in half. They cook in just 12 minutes in the oven and for only six minutes in the air fryer. We turn to tater tots for a convenient snack or side dish on busy weeknights for our family, so this faster cooking time was a real win in our book.

In addition to convenience, they have a nice crispy exterior and soft interior. These tots are on the smaller side, which helps them cook faster. But that wasn't a deal breaker for us, since we just added a few extra to the tray and ended up just as happy. If you're using them in a casserole and want larger pieces of shredded potatoes, the smaller size might be an issue; however, that's also up to personal preference. For those who want the fastest-cooking potato sides, McCain rises to the top, whether you go with tots, fries, or hashbrowns.

These are more expensive than other options, costing around $6 for a small 20-ounce bag, although we saved a couple of dollars by using a store loyalty card. Because of the higher price, we'd probably not buy these again unless we knew that time savings was a really big deal for a particular meal.

Ore-Ida has plenty of potatoes in the frozen food aisle, including everything from fries to tots to hashbrowns. The tater tots are crispy and golden brown with a soft shredded potato interior. They don't have any noticeable seasoning, but work well with ketchup, mayo, or even in casseroles. If you want something smaller for a cute appetizer, pick up a bag of mini tots. If you like even more crunch, go with the extra crispy version.

These are a fantastic and versatile option that's widely available, which is the main benefit of Ore-Ida over other brands. When we need to pick up tater tots, we know that these tots can be relied on to get crispy and stay together. When we put them side by side with other tots, they were one of those that didn't fall apart or stick to the pan. We used the oven to cook a sizable batch, but you can also make tots in the air fryer and Ore-Ida provides clear instructions for a variety of cooking methods directly on the bag.

The 32-ounce bag costs between $6 and $7, although you can often find Ore-Ida on sale if you shop around. The main reason that they ended up further down on our list than we expected was the high cost of this brand. The five-pound bag is a budget-friendly $10, but takes up a lot of room in the freezer.

For those who like sweet potatoes in place of standard potatoes, Alexia's tots are the best around. Compared to standard tots, these little puffs are a bit smaller and more cube-like than cylindrical. They also have a much sweeter flavor and softer texture overall. If you want them to be a bit crispier on the outside, bump up your oven's temperature by 5 to 10 degrees or let them go in the air fryer for an extra minute or two. They don't do as well in the microwave, since they tend to get mushy quickly.

The downside to any Alexia tots is the price, since a 20-ounce bag is more than $6.50. They're on the expensive side and come in a smaller package than some of the more budget-friendly offerings. So if you're looking for a convenient snack, this fancy upgraded version might feel like more of a splurge than you want when shopping for simple tots.

These are a favorite way to get extra veggies for our family, especially for the younger members who aren't thrilled at the sight of a sweet potato but will crush a bowl of tots. We like a dusting of cinnamon sugar, which turns these tots into a dessert, but you can also mix a little bit of cinnamon syrup into your creamy condiments for something warm and sweet. Any upgrade to baked sweet potatoes works for these tots.

The Safeway store brand, Signature Select, has a large pack of tater puffs. They're a bit pricey for a store brand at around $4 for a 32-ounce bag, but they taste great, and you can get extra savings with a store loyalty card.

These are as crispy as some of our top favorites, but it's the seasoning blend that sets them apart from other tots you can get in the same freezer case. It's subtle, and we likely wouldn't notice the extra bit of flavor, especially salt, unless we were trying them side-by-side in a comparison. But if you want a hint of extra depth, these are the tots for you.

They ended up slightly lower in our overall rankings just because of price. If they were as budget-friendly as other store brands, they'd be higher. But we still liked these and would buy them again, especially if we were already shopping at Safeway and didn't want to make a special trip to another store to save just a few cents. You can use them in a casserole or classic Minnesota hotdish as a rich, starchy potato element that's sure to please a crowd. Just don't be surprised when it costs a little bit more overall.

The store brand from Giant has a large 32-ounce bag, so be ready to enjoy quite a few helpings of tots if you go with this option. At just over $3.50 for a giant bag (in more ways than one), they're almost half the price of a similar name brand bag in the same freezer case. The downside is that you have to go to Giant to get them, so it might not be worth the special trip for a little savings if you don't have this grocery store nearby.

When we tried the tots, it was hard to tell the difference between this version and those from pricier brands. When put side by side on a tray in the oven, they looked the same, and our entire family agreed during a taste test. These are slightly bigger, but only when we really scrutinized them. Given that they're also cheaper, it makes this buy even more appealing.

They're budget-friendly and good for those who eat a lot of this side, but take up a lot of freezer space. You also can't reseal them, so you might want to store them in a resealable bag to prevent freezer burn. If you really want to get the best savings, get the massive 80-ounce bag for around $7.50. You really have to love tots to give up that much valuable freezer real estate, but it's one of the best values out there.

The Wegman's store brand tater puffs come in a 32-ounce bag for a great price. Like other name brands, they have a crispy exterior and soft interior and were almost indistinguishable from pricier options. They cost just under $2 for this massive bag, making them the most budget-friendly option that we tried. You'll have to use a sturdy clip or resealable bag to close the top once they're opened, but that's an easy extra step given the amazing price.

If you're looking for the best taste and texture, these are a close second behind our number one choice and very similar to most other traditional potato tots on our list. But the low price tag is what makes these stand out from the rest.

There aren't any artificial colors or preservatives, which is similar to other brands. But Wegman's products focus on this, and you don't have to decipher a lengthy ingredients list if you go with the store brand. This can make shopping easier, which we're all about.

Lamb Weston uses Idaho-grown potatoes for superior taste and texture, and the interior was super fluffy and light. They also had a slightly richer flavor, one of the few traditional potato tots that stood out. These super crispy tots also have a nice exterior crunch, which we appreciated and held up well with ketchup. They didn't stick to the pan, kept their shape, and were on the larger side. If there was an attribute we wanted in a tater tot, these had it.

The price was mid-range, around $5.20 for a 28-ounce bag. There are definitely cheaper options out there, but these were the only tots that we would go out of our way to find and that we could justify spending a little more to purchase. Fortunately, we saw them at multiple major grocery store chains, so availability was pretty good as well. Lamb Weston doesn't offer a lot of styles, and the options focus on crispiness rather than extra seasonings. That worked for us because we like to customize with toppings and dipping sauces, but if you like a lot of salt, pepper, or other flavor directly on the tots, you'll need to add that yourself before putting them in the oven or air fryer. 

They'd be great as the base for a breakfast casserole, adding plenty of crunch along with rich potato goodness. It was ultimately the better taste and texture that moved these to the top of our list.

To get the most accurate results, we broke out the air fryer and preheated the oven to cook up hot, crispy tots. Trying brands side-by-side was the easiest way to see even the most minute differences, since we just assumed that all tots were the same. While the contrasts weren't extreme, even small shifts in the amount of salt and the coarseness of the shaped shredded potatoes could make the end result taste and feel different.

We considered taste and texture, looking for tots that had a crispy exterior with a soft, hot interior. Those with the best outsides tended to have richer insides as well and kept their shape all the way from the freezer to the pan to the plate.

We also looked at price, since tater tots are generally considered a budget-friendly item, and those that included some extra nutrition for picky eaters. We tend to dip our tots in classic ketchup, but a few would work especially well in a breakfast casserole or as a foundation for toppings like chili or cheese. We also made note of which required a special trip to get or were harder to find. The last thing we wanted when adding this convenient snack and side to our weekly menu was to run all over town just to track them down. Using this criteria, plus input from our entire potato-loving family, we narrowed it down to the best of the best tots you can buy.