Your Breakfast Burrito Is Missing Smash Tots For Extra Crispy Bites

It's hard to imagine a better way of starting your day than a breakfast burrito, and that's even before we bring tater tots into the mix. The breakfast sandwich has taken on many forms over the years, and everything from a bagel to a kaiser roll makes a beautiful morning meal in its own way, but something about a breakfast burrito just works. Maybe it's the fact that all the ingredients are snugly wrapped up so you get a good balance of every element in each bite. Maybe it's that southwestern and Mexican ingredients like chorizo and salsa go so well with eggs. Whatever the reason, when a perfect breakfast burrito comes together, it's pure magic. And then somebody had the great idea to get creative and add tater tots. We truly live in a blessed time. So how do you make something perfect even better? You smash those tots.

One thing your standard breakfast burrito is usually missing is some kind of crunch, and while hash browns can help with that, tater tots have that extra crispy fried exterior that really brings the texture. The only problem? That fluffy inside, which is so nice when you're eating tots by themselves, doesn't serve much purpose in a breakfast burrito. You want maximum crunch — and smashing your tots achieves that. Crushing them greatly increases the surface area as they cook, giving you a top notch crust of thick, fried potato that can hold up to even the soggiest of burrito fillings.

Of course, nobody makes their own tater tots from scratch. You're probably working from frozen, but you still have a few options for smashed tots. If you're baking them in the oven, cook them according to the normal directions for about 10 minutes. Then pull out the tray, cover the tots with something nonstick like parchment paper, and use a spatula or the back of a small pan to smash them down. Cook for another 10 minutes or so until they are crispy and golden brown. For a smaller amount of tots, pan fry them: Cook in oil for 10 minutes, then smash them one by one with a spatula, and let the tots fry in the remaining oil until crispy.

Once you've got your smashed tots, it's just a matter of what to pair them with. Outside of the normal breakfast burrito suspects, spicy peppers like Hatch chiles are a great partner with potatoes, so are chopped bell peppers and onions for a breakfast scramble style burrito. And don't forget that you can flavor the tots as you fry them. A dash of chile powder, smoked paprika, or cayenne adds a nice pop of heat to your crispy tots that will go great with eggs. As crispy smashed tots prove, the breakfast burrito innovation should never stop.