7 Tater Tot Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

It's no surprise that tater tots are one of the best types of fries out there. While many folks will enjoy them for breakfast, some folks will also transform them into a tater tot hotdish or wrap up frozen tater tots in bacon for a simple, tasty appetizer. It's hard to believe that a ho-hum crinkle cut fry could come anywhere close to this humble spud-adjacent treat.

As I was snacking some tater tots as a side dish to my family's breakfast for dinner not too long ago, I couldn't help but realize that there was a massive difference in the texture, consistency, and flavor of the tater tots I was eating and a different brand that my partner had picked up from a different store the week prior. How could a product that's so simple and seemingly so standard be so different across brands? 

In order to decide if it was worth it to spend upwards of $8 on a bag of name-brand tater tots, I tested a variety of store-bought brands to see which was the tastiest. After cooking each according to the package directions, I resisted the urge to cover them in ketchup, and instead reviewed them solo based on factors like oiliness, crunchiness, and overall consistency. The proper tater tot should have a good balance of not being too oily (but also still indulgent) and should have a satisfying, crunchy bite as well. 

As its name suggests, these tater tots are indeed a great value. I'm the kind of person who never wants to spend more money than I have to on food, so it was great to know that Great Value offers a massive bag of tater tots that are nearly half the price of Ore-Ida ones. I would be even more convinced to buy them in the future if their quality was just as good as their price. 

Unfortunately, Great Value was a considerable flop in this great-tasting experiment. While the outside of these spuds took on a delicious golden-brown hue that was attractive and inviting, the texture on the inside of these potatoes really threw me for a loop. It was soft and spongy, and I couldn't decipher that what I was eating was indeed a tater tot. I got a little bit of crispiness on the outside of the tot, but the inside took on the texture of moist, goopy, and wet mashed potatoes. I also felt myself craving a bit more salt from these tater tots, along with any sort of flavor. A little bit of seasoning — like onion powder or garlic powder — could have gone a long way to save these tater tots from soggy despair. 

Tater tots are good, no matter what brand is making them. But, the fact that these were so mushy really outweighs the fact that they were so much cheaper than many of the other brands. Great value? Yes. Great texture? No. 

Stop & Shop is a popular grocery chain located near me in Rhode Island, so I decided to swoop in and grab a bag of its generic, store-brand tater tots (which it calls "tater bites"). However, after biting into a couple of them, it was clear that I had made a mistake in adding them to my cart in the first place. 

The first thing I noticed when I took these tater tots out of the bag was that they looked like they were made with shredded potatoes. While the other tots boasted a pale white or yellow coating on the outside, these were clearly (and as I came to learn later, unfortunately) made from mealy, poorly-textured shreds.

When I picked up one of these Stop & Shop tots, I immediately noticed that the outside was structurally weak; I could see holes penetrating the crust inside the tot. Most of the other brands, like Sonic and Ore-Ida, had a battered-like consistency on the outside of the tots that kept them from getting soggy, while these did not. There was absolutely no crispy crust to be seen anywhere near these tots. Instead, it tasted like Stop & Shop had leftover hash from another product, and just shaped it into these round barrels. 

The salty flavor on these Stop & Shop tots was more balanced than the other brands, and there was a slight prickle of garlic and onion in the back of my mouth. But texturally, these Stop & Shop tots were totally mismatched, which made this a product that I would not want to buy again. 

Ore-Ida is a portmanteau of sorts between the two states where potatoes are grown plentifully: Oregon and Idaho. The brand, which is now owned by Kraft Heinz, dominates the frozen french fry aisle at my local grocery store. Not only can you buy tater tots in several different crispiness levels, including the "golden" variety (which I sampled for this ranking), "crispy," and "extra crispy," but you'll also find twirls, crinkle-cuts, diced hash browns, sweet potato fries, straight-cuts ... you get it. It seems that this company has a monopoly on the frozen fry market. 

The first thing I noticed when I rolled these fries out of the bag was that they were very golden brown in color, so much so that they stood in stark contrast to the other, paler tater tots. And, it was amazing to see that these tater tots were so uniform when they came out of the oven. While other brands had several different shades of golden brown in a single tot, these looked almost like plastic replicas of one another. 

These tater tots certainly weren't as gluey and gunky as Great Value's tater tots were. But, I really missed out on that signature snap and crisp that I did get from some of these other higher-ranked tater tots brands. I feel that these tater tots fell a bit behind because they were very oily; all of that grease got soaked up back into the tater tot and turned it flaccid. Moreover, these tots smelled like used frying oil, and I felt that I could taste this rancid flavor with every bite. The seasoning on them was marginally better than Great Value, but it's clear that Ore-Ida has a lot of work it needs to do before it can claim one of the top spots. 

I am a BJ's Wholesale Club girl, through and through. So, I couldn't miss a chance to try a bag of its tater tots, which are packaged under the private-label Wellsley Farms brand. These tater tots are by far the cheapest out of the brands I sampled (based on the per-weight price), which would make them rather affordable for a large family. However, this massive bag of tater tots, which weighs a whopping 6 pounds, may not be practical for every family — especially if your freezer space is limited. 

My hopes were high for this brand, as the tater tots came out of the oven perfectly golden brown and beautiful — moreso than Ore-Ida and Sonic. I also thought that these tater tots developed a delectable crunch after their short time in the oven. But, I found that the flavor here was relatively lackluster. There weren't any particularly salty notes to carry the tater tot to success, and I was left unsatisfied after eating them. I ranked them below Sonic because they didn't have the satisfying bite and flavor that I really associated with a solid tater tot. But, the flavor didn't have the rancid undertone like the Ore-Ida tater tots had — and they were far more cost-effective. 

I think that the BJ's is on to something with its Wellsley Farms tater tots, but it still has some work to do. If you smother them in ketchup or melted cheese, I think that they would be a perfect side dish. But eaten solo, they're not the tot that I want in my life. 

Sonic is likely one of the most easily recognizable brands on this list, and for good reason. This food chain is associated with classic Americana — from drive-ins to roller-skating carhops that would bring your food right to you. It's whimsical and about as "experiential dining" as fast food gets. However, if you're like me and don't live anywhere remotely close to a Sonic drive-in, rest assured that you can get your hands on its famous tater tots, which are served as a fry substitute on its menu. 

This bag of tater tots was not as expensive as Ore-Ida, but it still wasn't as cheap as some of the other brands. And like Ore-Ida, these tater tots were very uniform — like perfect little golden puffs — which made them rather attractive on a plate. Clearly, though, looks aren't everything. 

Unfortunately (at least for me), these tater tots tasted like they came from a fast food place. There was a lacquer of frying oil that laced my taste buds and lips. However, I can appreciate that this flavor was not as rancid as the one Ore-Ida put forth with its tater tots. While the oiliness reinforced the fact that these tots were made by a fast food chain, it also made them much heavier and caused my stomach twist up a little bit. Moreover, Sonic fell into somewhat of the same trap as Ore-Ira and Great Value; its tots lacked the slight mealiness of the shredded potatoes that would have distracted from their oiliness. I also think that Sonic could have used more salt to offset the greasiness. The only way I could foresee improving these tots is to deep-fry them, so the oily flavor is warranted.

Market Pantry is one of Target's in-house grocery brands. I don't visit the store often, but I wanted to get a bag of its tater tots for this experiment because they fall between the cheapest brands on the list, Season's Choice and Great Value, and some of the more premium brands, like Sonic and Ore-Ida. 

Market Pantry's tater tots have a face that only a mother could love. WhenI pulled them out of the bag, I noticed that they were broken into very small pieces, and there were small flecks of black potato that were embedded inside of these tots. Like the Stop & Shop brand, there also wasn't a solid, uniform appearance to these tater tots. In short, they weren't attractive enough that I would want to serve them at a dinner party. 

Despite the shared likeliness between Market Pantry and Stop & Shop, the former's tater tots had a far superior flavor. they didn't have the same distracting mealiness of the Stop & Shop tots. Rather, the flavors all meshed together with a remarkable texture that I think any tater tot enthusiast could appreciate it. I was also very grateful that these tater tots had enough salt to make them robust and satisfying to eat without requiring generous squirt of ketchup to go with them. 

However, Market Pantry was too expensive, with a lacking quality to warrant adding them to my cart. I also wanted a tater tot with a little bit of crunch, and it's clear that these Stop & Shop tots were sorely lacking in that exterior texture department. 

Season's Choice, an Aldi brand, is and will always be a favorite of mine. I almost always have a bag of these tater tots on hand, so it was interesting to see how it would square up against more expensive brands from conventional grocery stores like Walmart and Stop & Shop.

The Season's Choice tater tots had the unmistakable crispiness that I missed with lower-ranking brands like Great Value and Ore-Ida. These tater tots had texture both inside and out, and I could appreciate how I could hear a little crispy crackle when I bit into each one. It's clear that these tater tots are made with shredded potatoes, rather the instant mashed potato mix-like structure of the other tots. Though, the shreds are not distracting and don't force you to rub your molars together to eat them. I also didn't notice any oppressive oiliness from these tots (despite the obvious marks left on the parchment paper), which sent my hand diving back for another couple bites. 

Although the texture of these tater tots was spot-on, I thought that the flavor left a little something to be desired. There could have been a bit more onion powder or garlic to boost these up, and I was also left craving the saltiness of the Ore-Ida tater tots. All in all, these tots were my top pick because the texture was really pleasant and because they weren't overly greasy and heavy. I could see myself eating these for breakfast or including them in my next casserole. 

I purchased several different brands of tater tots that were sold at grocery stores near my home in southern Rhode Island. I cooked a serving of each of the tater tots from frozen, according to the specific package directions on each bag. Since I'm a firm believer that tater tots are really only good when they're served hot, I sampled each one right after it came out of the oven without any dipping sauces. 

Ranking these tater tot brands was much harder than I anticipated. I looked at two primary areas for each brand: taste and texture. I wanted a tater tot that was salty enough to be satisfying, but was not greasy enough that it would override any of the natural potato flavor. Each tater tot also needed to be crisp, with a crunchy exterior and soft, yet not mashed potato-esque, interior.