My Pulled Pork Totchos Recipe (Loaded Tater Tots) is perfect for busy weeknights or game days. This easy recipe is topped with tender pulled pork, beans, cheese and is smothered in tangy BBQ sauce. It is always the hit of the party.
My family love tater tots (and so do I) so I have some great recipes to use them in, such as my loaded tater tot casserole and my bacon tater tot appetizer.
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Why this Pulled Pork Totchos Recipe is a Keeper
I love this easy and delicious recipe because it’s a quick meal that’s super fun. This new recipe is perfect to add to an easy dinner or appetizer stash.
- Ultimate Comfort Food: It’s a satisfying combination of crispy tater tots, savory pulled pork, melted cheese, and flavorful toppings.
- Crowd-Pleasing: It’s a hit at parties, game nights, and casual gatherings.
- Easy to Customize: You can easily adapt the toppings and flavors to your preferences. Just pop in the oven and bake. Perfect for fun family nights.
- Great for Leftovers: It’s a fantastic way to use leftover pulled pork.
- Quick Assembly: Once the pulled pork is cooked, assembly is quick and easy.
What are Totchos?
Totchos are crispy tater tots loaded with your favorite toppings. They’re like regular nachos but instead of chips, they’re tater tots.
Pro Tip for Toppings for the Totchos Recipe
Make a toppings bar and allow people to build their own.
Ingredient Notes and Variation Suggestions to Make Totchos
This recipe is super easy to customize. I like to take it to the next level by using different ingredients or trying different flavors.
Get the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions in the recipe card below.
- Pork: Pulled pork with BBQ sauce goes perfectly with the frozen tater tots.
- Protein Variations: Use lean ground beef, freshly shredded or ground chicken, ground turkey or vegetarian options like black beans or seasoned tofu.
- Tater Tots: A bag of tots is enough to enjoy this twist on nachos.
- Tater Tot Variations: Use sweet potato tots, Crispy Potatoes or other types of potato based tots.
- BBQ Rub: Make your own Best BBQ Rub.
- Spice Variations: Add chili powder, cumin, or smoked paprika to the tater tots before cooking.
- Cheese Variations: Use shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack, pepper jack, or a Mexican blend for this finger food.
- Topping Variations: Add your favorite nacho toppings like black beans, corn, black olives, jalapeno peppers, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, or pickled jalapeños.
- Sauce Variations: Use different BBQ sauces, queso, ranch dressing, or a spicy mayo.
Special Equipment Needed for the Tater Tot Nachos
Sometimes a specific piece of equipment is needed to make a recipe just right. In this case, all that’s needed is a crock pot.
- Slow Cooker: A crock pot, or slow cooker, cooks the pork low and slow to get the best flavor and texture. The best part is that you can set it in the morning and let it cook all day so it’s waiting for you after work.
How to Make Loaded Tater Tots Recipe
This loaded tater tots recipe comes together in just 3 easy to follow steps. Appetizers with tater tots are so easy and delicious, I come back to them again and again.
Get the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions in the recipe card below.
- Cook the Meat: Place the pork shoulder in a slow cooker. Add water and BBQ seasoning, and cook on low. When meat is cooked, remove and shred. Return shredded pork to the pot and stir.
- Bake the Tots: When ready to prepare the totchos, preheat the oven and spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the tater tots in a single layer and season with salt. Cook according to package directions.
- Assemble the Totchos: Bake in the preheated oven until crispy. Remove from the oven, spread the meat, baked beans and cheese over the top and return to the oven. Garnish with BBQ sauce and green onions.
Prep Ahead Suggestions for this Game Day Appetizer Recipe
Prepping totchos recipes ahead of time can really help to save time and kitchen space if hosting a party.
- Cook the Pulled Pork: This is the most time-consuming part. Cook the pulled pork ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Shred Cheese: Shred the cheese in advance and store it in an airtight container for cheesy tater tots.
- Prepare Toppings: Chop onions, jalapeños, cilantro, and any other toppings in advance.
- Make Sauces: Prepare any sauces (BBQ, queso, etc.) ahead of time.
- Cook Tater Tots: Cook the tater tots ahead of time, and store them in the refrigerator. This will help them to crisp up faster when reheating for recipes that use tater tots.
How to Store, Reheat and Use Leftover Pulled Pork
- Storing: Separately store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge so nothing gets soggy.
- Reheating: Reheat totchos separately in the oven or microwave and assemble with the desired toppings.
- Using Leftovers: Enjoy leftovers with homemade Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce.
Common Questions About This Nacho Recipe
Yes, feel free to make this in the oven or in the air fryer.
Crispy tater tots topped with too many toppings will become soggy.
Yes. To make it vegetarian, don’t add any meat and replace it with extra veggie toppings.
Absolutely, add hot sauce, peppers or a spicy BBQ sauce.
Expert Tips for Making the Tater Tot Recipe
- Use a Hot Oven or Air Fryer: A hot oven or air fryer ensures crispy tater tots.
- Layer Ingredients: Layer the ingredients evenly for balanced flavor in each bite.
- Use a Melty Cheese: A good melting cheese is essential for gooey goodness.
- Garnish: Garnish with fresh herbs or a drizzle of sauce for added flavor and visual appeal.
- Make Nachos: Feel free to omit the crispy potato tots and use tortilla chips to make regular pulled pork BBQ nachos.
- Serve Immediately: Totchos are best served immediately, when the tater tots are crispy, and the cheese is melted.
- Beef Totchos: Make totchos with brown taco meat. Cook ground beef in a skillet and add taco seasoning. Add your favorite toppings.
- Serve Recipe With: Serve this quick dinner, snack or appetizer with extra cheese sauce, Crock Pot Baked Beans or a Margarita.
More Recipes You Might Like
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Pulled Pork Totchos (Loaded Tater Tots)
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds Pork shoulder
- 1 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon BBQ seasoning
- 32 ounce Tater tots, 1 frozen bag
- 28 ounce Baked beans, 1 can
- 2 cups Monterey jack cheese, shredded
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- Salt
- 1 Green onion , for garnish
Instructions
- Place the pork shoulder in a slow cooker. Add the water and season with BBQ seasoning. Cook the meat on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- When the meat is cooked through, remove it from the pot and shred it. Return to the pot and stir to combine the meat and seasoning.
- When ready to prepare the totchos, preheat the oven to 425℉.
- Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and spread the tater tots in an even layer on the sheet. Spray the tots with nonstick cooking spray and season with salt. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until crispy.
- Remove the tots from the oven and spread the meat over the top. Top the meat with baked beans and shredded cheese.
- Return to the oven to bake for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.
- Before serving, top with BBQ sauce and green onions.
Christina’s Notes
- Use a Hot Oven or Air Fryer: A hot oven or air fryer ensures crispy tater tots.
- Layer Ingredients: Layer the ingredients evenly for balanced flavor in each bite.
- Use a Melty Cheese: A good melting cheese is essential for gooey goodness.
- Garnish: Garnish with fresh herbs or a drizzle of sauce for added flavor and visual appeal.
- Make Nachos: Feel free to omit the crispy potato tots and use tortilla chips to make regular pulled pork BBQ nachos.
- Serve Immediately: Totchos are best served immediately, when the tater tots are crispy, and the cheese is melted.
- Beef Totchos: Make totchos with brown taco meat. Cook ground beef in a skillet and add taco seasoning. Add your favorite toppings.
- Serve Recipe With: Serve this quick dinner, snack or appetizer with extra cheese sauce, Crock Pot Baked Beans or a Margarita.
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
My kids went crazy for this dish. Thanks for the great recipe!