Waffle Iron Hashbrowns

Good morning!  Today's post is going to be more on a technique than an actual recipe, so it will be short and sweet!  Back at the end of the year last year, I posted about making crispy hashbrowns, and while those are lovely, easy and simple, these are nearly foolproof.

I say nearly, because fools are always inventing ways to make something that seems foolproof not work.  But I honestly can't see how someone could mess this up.

I love tater tots; always have, and I always will.  The problem I have with them, though, is that in order for them to be truly crispy, you either have to fry them, or bake them for about 35-40 minutes in a high degree oven, thus heating up the entire house.

No fun in the summer.
Also, who wants to go through all of that effort for a single serving of tater tots?  Not me!
The solution?  Make your tater tots in the waffle iron.  They're crispy, golden brown and delicious, and even flatten together to make a hash brown-y goodness!

Here's the grocery list for this one:

Tater tots

Nonstick spray

Ketchup, optional

So, to start off with, take your waffle iron, and crank the heat setting all of the way to the hottest setting (mine is 5, but use the hottest setting on whatever your iron is).  Once it is preheated, give it a quick spray with some nonstick spray.  Load it up with some tater tots.  I wasn't sure how many to put in there, but if I wanted a full on waffle affect (there were a few gaps in my ending tater tot waffle), I should have shoved a few more on the iron!

Once your tots are loaded onto your waffle iron, close the lid (you may have to squish it down.  My waffle iron doesn't have a floating hinged lid, so it closed down on the back tater tots just fine, but kind of hovered over my front tater tots.  I just smashed it down, until the tater tots thawed out, then they smashed down on their own).

After just a couple of seconds, you get rewarded with the amazing smell of lovely hashbrowns, and within about 5 minutes, you have perfectly cooked tater tots/hashbrowns.  These are crispy, delicious, and in definite rotation in our house!