These homemade Broccoli Tots are an easy low carb substitute for tater tots that even the kids are sure to enjoy! They’re an easy way to get broccoli on the table without complaints and they’re perfect dipped in ranch dressing!
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For me, the hardest part about low carb isn’t that I’m not eating carbs…it’s that I have to plan ahead for every meal and come up with food that my family will also eat at dinner time.
I mean, I refuse to cook two separate meals, so I’ve gotten really good at creating low carb recipes that even my kids like. Pretty proud of that, actually. 😉
Broccoli can definitely be hit or miss with kids, but I turned it into a sure thing this time around with these Keto Broccoli Tots!
We all love eating food with our hands, especially when there is dip involved!
We serve these broccoli tots with our keto ranch dressing, sugar free ketchup, or keto cheese sauce as the dip and the whole family just inhales these!
These make a great side for a burger on our keto hamburger buns or our keto sloppy joes.
Ingredient Notes:
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Broccoli – We always prefer fresh broccoli – it has such a better texture and flavor, in our opinion. You’ll steam the broccoli for a short time in the microwave to get it just a little tender before the broccoli gets processed and turned into tots!
Cheese – Broccoli and cheese are a perfect combination! We’re using a mix of both Cheddar and Parmesan cheese in these broccoli tots.
Almond Flour – You’ll be using almond flour in this recipe in place of breadcrumbs. When combined with the egg, it’ll help hold all the broccoli and cheese together and will bake up nicely in the oven!
Seasonings – Just a simple mix of garlic powder, onion powder, and salt!
Kid Friendly!
A bit of prep work, but overall quite simple!
Perfect for dipping!
Reheats well in the oven or air fryer if you have leftovers!
How To Make Keto Broccoli Tots From Scratch:
Steam the Broccoli – First up we’ll need to steam the broccoli a bit to soften it up. You can do this easily by adding the broccoli florets to a microwave safe bowl along with a couple of tablespoons of water and covering it tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave for 4 minutes and allow it to sit still covered for 2 more minutes. Remove the plastic wrap carefully and drain the water from the bowl.
Process – Next go ahead and add the broccoli to a food processor or blender along with all of the remaining ingredients including the almond flour, egg, cheeses, and seasonings. Process all of that good stuff up until you have a finely ground mixture that can easily be shaped by hand into tots.
Shape – We like to use a small cookie scoop to get perfectly sized tots. Scoop out a portion of the broccoli and roll it into a tot with your hands. This goes quick and the mixture is easy to work with.
Bake – Once you’ve shaped the the broccoli cheese mixture into a tot place each one onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spritz with some non-stick spray. The broccoli cheddar tots are ready to bake! Bake for just 15 minutes and these are ready to serve!
These should work wonderfully in an air fryer! Line the basket with parchment paper that has holes poked in it for air flow. Arrange the tots in a single layer with space between each. Air fry at 350 for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.
My Favorite Air Fryer
Our favorite air fryer is the Cosori 5.8qt Max XL.It’s a good, classic air fryer with a simple to use interface and over 10k positive ratings on Amazon. This is one popular air fryer, for good reason!
FAQ’s:
Yes, leftover broccoli cheddar tots will freeze well for up to three months if you store them in a freezer safe bag. Thaw in the fridge before reheating in the oven or air fryer.
Much like the classic tater tot, these are little bite sized chunks of veggies that kids and adults both love. We swapped the potatoes for broccoli, added in a bit of cheese for flavor, and baked them for a healthier take on the tater tot.
These are delicious on their own as a side dish or snack, but dip really takes things up a notch. Ketchup, ranch, and cheese sauce are our go to dips for broccoli tots.
More Easy Low Carb Snacks & Side Dishes:
- Keto Mozzarella Sticks
- Keto Avocado Fries
- Air Fryer Zucchini
- Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
- Cream Cheese Sausage Balls
Broccoli Tots
Ingredients
- 10 ounces broccoli florets
- ¾ cup Parmesan
- ¾ cup grated cheddar
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the broccoli florets in a mixing bowl along with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and microwave for 4 minutes. Let sit for 2 minutes.
- Carefully remove the plastic wrap and drain the liquid from the bowl.
- Add the broccoli to the bowl of a food processor or blender along with the remaining ingredients.
- Process until you have a finely ground mixture.
- Use a small cookie scoop to scoop out portions of the mixture and then shape with your hands into tots.
- Place on the prepared baking sheet and spritz lightly with nonstick spray to help the tots crisp up in the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Serve hot.
Athena says
The flavor of these was excellent! However, they were mushy in texture and definitely not “tots.” I baked mine for 15 minutes as instructed, and they were brown on the bottoms but still too mush to pick up. I then stirred in more almond flour, reportioned, and then stuck them in the air fryer. The outcome, while delicious, still weren’t finger food consistency.
Lorraine Donahue says
Pretty good. A bit too much garlic for me. I would up the amount of cheese by 1/4 cup and decrease the garlic to 1/4 tsp.
Barbara A Casey says
Can I use rice flour or regular flour?
Karly Campbell says
We’ve only tested this as directed. I’m not sure how either would work here.
Laura says
I’m planning to make these for St Patrick’s day (they’re a little green right?) and I was wondering if you thought they would be ok if I formed them into tots in the morning and kept them in the refrigerator until I was ready to bake? Sometimes it really helps to get a head start on dinner. Thanks!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Laura! I think that would work fine, though I haven’t tried it! Enjoy!
Teri T says
I just made this tonight. Really good! I used a cookie scoop but mine must have been bigger than yours, I only got 19 tots. But still worked out great. I did use a 10 oz. frozen broccoli florets bag. After cooking I cut a small bit off the corner and drained all the water out really well before cutting the bag open. Thanks for a fun recipe!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Teri! So glad you liked the recipe, even if the tots were a bit bigger than expected. 🙂
Michelle Sullivan says
I hate to be one of those people but here goes. Can I use anything else besides almond flour? I just don’t like it. I’ve tried I promise I have, It’s just gritty to me. Maybe I’m buying the wrong kind. Anyway thanks for the recipe sounds delicious.
Karly Campbell says
We make our cauliflower tots with coconut flour, so I’m betting it would work well here too. You might drop it down by a tablespoon or so and see how it holds together. 🙂
Eddy says
I thought I read that you could use frozen broccoli for this recipe.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Eddy! We’ve only made this with fresh broccoli.
Eddy says
Karly, Ok thank you for responding. We may try the frozen ones just to see what happens.
Collette says
These tasted great so thank you, but how did you get them to hold their shape, mine ended up flat so cooked hem in a mini muffin tin instead but its not ideal
Karly Campbell says
Oh, I think the muffin tin idea is smart! Mine did spread a bit, but they still held the shape pretty well. My guess is that you just had more moisture in your mixture – did you drain all the liquid from the broccoli after you microwaved it? You could always add a bit more almond flour or Parmesan to help them stick together if the mixture seems overly wet, but it hasn’t been an issue for me.
Collette says
Thank you! I think Id rather add more dry ingredients option than use the muffin tins again as even with some oil they still stuck! 🙂
Alan Knox says
If you cant get onion powder. Can you use onion salt.
Karly Campbell says
Sure, but you’ll want to be careful not to use too much as things will obviously get salty.
Erica says
Can you cook these in an air fryer?
Karly Campbell says
Yes, I included information in the blog post.
Carol says
Could you use ground pork rinds instead of the almond flour?
They sound yummy!
Karly Campbell says
I’m not sure if they’d hold together as well or not. You could certainly try though!
Janet Holmes says
You have amazing recipes. Thank you for sending them to me.
Karly Campbell says
Thank you, Janet!